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Old 10-30-2013, 06:10 PM
 
Location: Interior AK
4,731 posts, read 9,906,933 times
Reputation: 3393

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If the teacher's instructions weren't clear enough to allow your kid to complete it in a normal manner (i.e. get the usual A), AND the teacher couldn't be bothered to grade the work to provide necessary feedback to the students, I would definitely have a discussion with the teacher. At that point, it's not about whether your kid is a perfectionist or you're an overbearing parent or extra credit being available... it's about the teacher's method being ineffective.

While it won't kill your kid to get a B, someone else's kid could actually fail the course because of the teacher, not the student. A parent of a lower acheiver may not even notice the discrepancy, but you did and are in a position to do something to correct the problem... not just for your kid, but for other students as well.
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Old 10-30-2013, 06:19 PM
 
10,599 posts, read 17,800,123 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by momtothree View Post
My daughter is an overachiever all on her own. She is also competitive and driven to succeed. Again all on her own. (well she takes after her dad but he doesn't pressure her)

She knows I am very pleased with her if she gets what I call an "honest" grade. Meaning as long as there aren't any zeroes for missed assignments and studies hard. So if she got a C, I be fine with it. But she thinks I am too "nice". lol She makes straight A's and always has. She had a threat of a B and it nearly killed her. She brought it right up the next week. I throughout all of this encouraged her and told her that B isn't the end of the world. It's truly isn't.

She is better about it now in Middle School but still makes straight A's. She has a teacher that didn't return any papers back to the kids OR put in grades on the online system till almost end of the quarter. Unknown to me, kid had been asking her every week or so if she could know what her grades are etc and teacher would tell her she would get around to it.

Well quarter ended and due to a few quizzes where kid skipped a few steps and didn't show fully the work, she got C's on them which brought her overall grade down to a high B. She was very sad as she wished she had known that the teacher was looking for ALL the steps and could have corrected herself on the next few quizzes. She approached teacher and asked if she could do any extra credit to bring up her grade or attend tutoring. (teacher offered tutoring credit points to C or below kids for attending allowing them to bump up their grades) Teacher told her no and that she should be proud of her B.

I then got an email from teacher basically but nicely lecturing me on how I should be pleased that kid got a B etc.

I showed it to kid and she said she never said anything about me and how ridiculous as I would have been happy with a C. So I am not sure how to respond or just ignore it and let her think I am an overbearing hyper mom driving her kids to the brink if they don't bring home an A?
Bite your tongue and ignore it - something that would be difficult for me. I could think of a hundred cutting replies. But I've learned over the years with these people.

She will hold it against your kid.

Don't even respond to her. Any engagement will feed her ego. If she feels "sorry" for your kid she's likely to even give her a break as opposed to the opposite - grading her low/hard to "make a point" or lecturing and meddling etc.
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Old 10-30-2013, 06:31 PM
 
7,672 posts, read 12,729,724 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons View Post
If the teacher's instructions weren't clear enough to allow your kid to complete it in a normal manner (i.e. get the usual A), AND the teacher couldn't be bothered to grade the work to provide necessary feedback to the students, I would definitely have a discussion with the teacher. At that point, it's not about whether your kid is a perfectionist or you're an overbearing parent or extra credit being available... it's about the teacher's method being ineffective.

While it won't kill your kid to get a B, someone else's kid could actually fail the course because of the teacher, not the student. A parent of a lower acheiver may not even notice the discrepancy, but you did and are in a position to do something to correct the problem... not just for your kid, but for other students as well.
She is known as a hard ass of a teacher and it's "hard" to get an A in her class. Teacher said to class that only one kid got an overall A and she hopes to see more at the next quarter.

I might inquire at the office to see what the policy is on teachers entering grades or returning papers. Every school is different so I don't know about this one since it hasn't come up as an issue.
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Old 10-30-2013, 06:36 PM
 
Location: Denver 'burbs
24,012 posts, read 28,346,006 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by momtothree View Post
She is known as a hard ass of a teacher and it's "hard" to get an A in her class. Teacher said to class that only one kid got an overall A and she hopes to see more at the next quarter.

I might inquire at the office to see what the policy is on teachers entering grades or returning papers. Every school is different so I don't know about this one since it hasn't come up as an issue.

Being "hard-ass" is one thing, being unclear and nonresponsive to your students is quite another. Students should not have to guess what she's looking for.

She doesn't teach chemistry does she?

I'd follow up with asking about the school's policy regarding posting grades and returning papers.
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Old 10-30-2013, 07:11 PM
 
Location: Interior AK
4,731 posts, read 9,906,933 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maciesmom View Post
Being "hard-ass" is one thing, being unclear and nonresponsive to your students is quite another. Students should not have to guess what she's looking for.
doesn't matter if it's kindergarten or college! Even in higher learning, where vague instructions are used to teach attentiveness and reasoning skills, timely and detailed feedback is necessary... vagueness with lack of timely, appropriate feedback is inexcusable. There's a huge difference between designed for difficulty and designed for telepathy!
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Old 10-30-2013, 07:22 PM
 
7,672 posts, read 12,729,724 times
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It's a math class. So I can see her doing a "short" method that shows the right answer but the teacher apparently wanted the longer method. And I do have to take what my kid says with a grain of salt if the teacher was or wasn't clear on what she wanted. But I will listen closely to see if anything else pops up and I do agree that the grades should be posted or returned so they can self correct or know what to study etc.
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Old 10-30-2013, 07:56 PM
 
Location: Interior AK
4,731 posts, read 9,906,933 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by momtothree View Post
It's a math class. So I can see her doing a "short" method that shows the right answer but the teacher apparently wanted the longer method. And I do have to take what my kid says with a grain of salt if the teacher was or wasn't clear on what she wanted. But I will listen closely to see if anything else pops up and I do agree that the grades should be posted or returned so they can self correct or know what to study etc.
If the teacher has returned the graded assignments, it's easy enough to look at them and see if there were clear instructions to use the long method and show all steps. If those instructions were verbal, then it's a word against word argument, which ultimately can be solved by including the printed instructions on the quiz/test/assignment.

I had this EXACT same problem with a few math teachers in my time -- my short method answers were correct, and I could repeat and explain them with the long method if challenged -- and I successfully argued my diminished grade be overturned because the instructions did not clearly state that showing the long method (or one method over another) was required for the assignment.
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Old 10-30-2013, 08:49 PM
 
3,086 posts, read 7,585,910 times
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If it were me I would reply, if only for the fact to have a paper trail that you received the email and replied.

My response would be something like, thank you for your note, however I have no problem with the grade and would guess my daughter must have talked to you about her feelings on it.

Regarding the grades being entered, I would indeed inquire to their policy on it. Our district requires all grades be entered within 5 days of the assignment being completed, partly for this exact same reason. They want no one to be surprised at a final grade at report card time.

That is a very fair expectation.
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Old 10-30-2013, 08:57 PM
 
Location: Richmond VA
6,870 posts, read 7,819,972 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kitkatbar View Post
I'm kind of in the middle on this. On the one hand, it sounds like your daughter honestly earned the B. She is not entitled to any extra credit to bring up a B.

However, I don't consider it best practice for a teacher to not post the majority of grades until the very end of the marking period. Grades should be given out each week to allow students to track their progress so that students who want to improve can change what they're doing in a timely manner, rather than finding out weeks later that what they've been doing was ineffective. At many schools it is policy that gradebooks must be updated online at regular intervals, or that X many grades must be put in per week precisely for the reason of avoiding the scenario you described.

I would send an email to the teacher (and if you don't get an appropriate reaction, send it to the principal) saying you are not disputing the grade, however that your daughter is a serious student who cares very much about her performance and wants to get regular feedback as to how she's doing. Explain the plain facts about when grades were put in and request that in the future they be updated more regularly so that your daughter (keep it about her, not you or the teacher) can make changes immediately when she's learning something incorrectly.
I agree with most of this....this is the whole purpose of the online gradebook. Keeping it up to date should be policy and is possible that the teacher is aware that if you complained to the principal she could get in trouble. Her opinion about your expectations for your daughter are irrelevant.

However, I would not bother to correspond further with the teacher at this point. Focus on the next quarter and consider discussing with the principal if the teacher continues to fail to notify you of your daughter's progress.
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Old 10-30-2013, 09:53 PM
 
Location: Georgia
4,578 posts, read 5,623,610 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopes View Post
In addition to this, she is going to be in for a surprise when her college professors don't allow her to do extra credit to raise her grade to an A. A's aren't really real if extra credit was needed to get them. She'll be in for a rude awakening because college grades are mostly based on test performance. It's a whole new ballgame from high school where teachers assign homework to help the poor testers past class or the average students to get A's.
Well, if the teacher is going to offer an opportunity to the struggling C and below students, why would he stop a B student from wanting an A? The "C" isn't real, either, if extra credit is needed to get there. I think the teacher is wrong on this -- either offer opportunities for ALL the class, or NONE of the class to improve their grades, not just to a select few.

The teacher is being pretty condescending, in my book, to extoll the virtues of a "B." The teacher is lazy for not keeping up with their grade posting and not providing the necessary feedback to help the kids correct their mistakes and then shrugging when someone wants to excel and tell them that being "above average" is perfectly ok.
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