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I am old and seasoned so this might not work for you, but I just ask, "what grade would you like for jethrow to have? Don't look back. I teach children to provide both math and life lessons. Worrying about grade are a distraction.
Can I just say, school was always easy for me, my school system didn't really "stretch" my mind whatsoever. Then I hit AP calc and started getting big fat Fs and Ds, I had NEVER LEARNED TO STUDY or APPLY MYSELF. Not because I was purposely being lazy, but because anyone with a fairly good memory and ability to string complete sentences together could get an A in that school. Thank God I took that class and tasted failure and learned how to actually work for grades before I hit college, and thank God the teacher gave me a dose of reality, I needed it!
Our son, who just received his doctorate from the top University in the country in his field, said that failing English as a 10th grader was the best learning experience that he had in school. He needed to retake the class, which wouldn't have happened if the teacher would have allowed make-up work or extra credit to allow him to get a C- or a D.
He realized that you needed to actually do the work assigned by the teacher and that you can't BS your way to every A. Just like TimeMachine he learned that he needed to work for grades and actually study.
How do you deal with parents who think a B is bad? I've had a few parents contact me and insist I change the way I teach because their child, who usually gets A's, has a B+ in my class (this is the first year I've taught freshmen). I'm thinking a B+ is good so where's the problem. Every year, these are my most vocal parents. This year, because I'm teaching three classes with advanced freshmen (9th graders taking 10th grade geometry), they are coming out of the woodwork. They are the first ones to pin the principal's ears back about how I just don't teach right. How do you disarm them?
Shouldn't you be focusing your energies on finding a new job
I agree with the posters who said you should not inflate grades to appease parents. You will lose the respect of students (and their parents) who are earning the A's. I know I don't have as much respect for the teachers that give out unearned A's.
I would start by complimenting the parent's child since that always helps. You can say something along the lines of how you noticed the kid is bright or something. Then I would tell the parent that the child in question is doing well but is not performing at the same level as the students in the class getting an A. This lets the parent know other students are getting A's, and they are just doing better than the child in question. Believe or not, telling a parent that their child is not the best actually can be helpful. It lets the parent know that the student is not being treated unfairly but is just not at the same level as the top students.
As for college, my kids attend private school, and all students certainly do not get A's in private school. This does not seem to hurt the student's college acceptances. In fact many private schools have 100% of their kids go to college, and many of those kids are not straight A students or even A/B students. I think colleges suspect grade inflation when they don't see SAT scores and quality essays that are in line with the student's grades.
Our son, who just received his doctorate from the top University in the country in his field, said that failing English as a 10th grader was the best learning experience that he had in school. He needed to retake the class, which wouldn't have happened if the teacher would have allowed make-up work or extra credit to allow him to get a C- or a D.
He realized that you needed to actually do the work assigned by the teacher and that you can't BS your way to every A. Just like TimeMachine he learned that he needed to work for grades and actually study.
My dd is drowning with two AP classes and two honors classes but it's all good. Her only lament is that her friends all learned to study in middle school and she's learning "When grades count". She gets that she's never had to study until now and that she just doesn't know how. It's too bad life lessons like this cost kids scholarship opportunities. No one does them any favors by letting school be easy.
Dd wants to go to med school. She'll never survive if she doesn't develop study skills now.
I'm so glad that these sorts of bits of idiocy don't affect my life where I teach.
Yes...it is a whole different world in public school. Which is why I actually preferred working in a Title One school....half the parents did not speak English, the rest were either too busy trying to scrape by or get high to complain about anything. Very rare did parents complain about anything. They had gratitude, and were nice to work with, if I ever saw them...which was close to never.
Yes...it is a whole different world in public school. Which is why I actually preferred working in a Title One school....half the parents did not speak English, the rest were either too busy trying to scrape by or get high to complain about anything. Very rare did parents complain about anything. They had gratitude, and were nice to work with, if I ever saw them...which was close to never.
The one thing I miss about the charter school I worked at is the gratitude of the parents. Too bad it came with low pay, lousy benefits and unsafe over crowded and ill equipped classrooms (chemistry). I'd love to have the building and supplies and pay and benefits I have now and the families who sent their kids to the charter school.
Not that I'm looking for gifts but I've never even gotten a thank you note from a parent where I am now. I have a drawer full of little trinkes and notes from kids/parents at the charter school. Every Christmas, they'd send in things like scented hand soap (chemistry lab) or a pack of paper for the printer. It was nice to know what I did was appreciated. Unfortunately, I couldn't pay my bills or deal with the stress of badly overcrowded classrooms that weren't safe to conduct labs in so I had to leave. I swear I would have had a stroke by now if I was still doing labs wihth 35 kids in that little, ill equipped room.
Needless to say, we will be paying for ACT prep. She needs to rock that test to make up for graduating with a 3.5. (This is really sad that we even have to worry about her graduating with a 3.5. It's NOT A BAD THING. It would NOT be better for her to have stayed back, gotten A's and never learned to study or balance a heavy load. She will need those skills later.)
Unfortunately, when it comes to college admissions it really is all about the grades and most parents understand that. Bs are bad if your child wants to go to a very selective college.
She should also learn to play the grades game if she wants to go to medical school because college GPA and MCAT scores are the most important elements of a medical school application.
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