Posted on 11/18/2011 1:45:25 AM PST by MacMattico
So my student gets the report card today and quite frankly expects her high 90 gpa to continue. All of the grades I've seen have been high. She wanted to keep her average, each quarter, above a 90 to receive a special award at the end of the year for never having a quarterly average below 90 in the past 4 years. It's a big deal to the kids, I know it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it's important to them.
Two years ago, I found grading errors (averaging and such) and had to complain all the way up the chain to have that fixed. Last year, they didn't want her in honor society, probably I've learned because Mom knows their flaws and isn't quiet about it. There were also grading errors.
First quarter this year, she receives an average of 89.9. No rounding up. So out of honor society, no award at the end of the year, overall average down.
Now I feel it's personal against me and not her. The teachers I know and know her well--all high averages. Math and Science, where they placed her in a different sequence from last year-- low 80's, and she was telling me all quarter how easy the math was (and I saw at least two 95 exam grades). They had to keep a journal in math all quarter and on the last day of the quarter were asked to hand them in. He would not accept hers because it wasn't in one of those marble notebooks! All the papers, dated each day, stapled in order, but 0 credit! Science was said to be somewhat "subjective in his lab grading". Subjective science?? These two teachers have been there a while and I swear they rigged this to punish us for speaking up!
Well said.
Years ago I decided that I am of well above average in intelligence, reading comprehension, and mathematical ability. In the vast majority of cases where I find instructions unclear, I don't blame myself.
What I would ask you is, was this a test of reading comprehension or was it a test of subtraction? If the former, then I think we would agree that the question could have been clearer.
If the test was intended to guage the students understanding of subtraction, was it successful? That is, do we properly conclude that the student does not understand that she should use subtraction to find the difference between a quantity of one thing and a quantity of another?
For some reason I found that the two chemistry instructors I had, in high school and college, were both lacking in the ability to properly apply logic and the ability to clearly craft a technical question. The result was that I could understand exactly what was taught in the class, but I couldn't manage to consistently choose the answer that the instructor intended on an examination.
The result was that I was usually successful in challenging the instructors during the review of the exam, but this created a conflict with the instructor which obviously made them unhappy with me because it diminished them in the eyes of the other students.
The useful idiots who teach want to create more useful idiots. Some teachers just can’t stand the idea that one of their students disagrees with them OR may be more successful in life.
I agree that the black and white page was confusing the question but the phrase “ how many more” is used for subtraction. If it had said “how many” then you would have a point. Explain to your daughter that anytime she sees the phrase “how many more” that she is to use subtraction.
Good ole metmom. Why don’t you go back to DU?
Good ole metmom. Why don’t you go back to DU?
Despite the best efforts of the academic elite, I expect that your children will eventually rise to their full potential in life if they consistently apply themselves.
No. And no syllabus was given.
I can completely understand how a first grader would come to that conclusion. If you hadn’t of explained to your daughter why the teacher marked it wrong, she could have encountered other similar questions and been confused. Nobody will believe me, but I’ve been described as “quietâ€, “a calming influence†and never had a problem with any teacher before the last couple of years. I started being “that mother†so to speak when I had to bring a corrected math final exam to the Principal in 6th grade— the teachers mistakes I had corrected!
Ha!
Lol!
I thought it was you have 6 red ballons, and then you have 5 blue ballons, how many more ballons do you have? (5!)
I always got mad at the 4th or 5th grade math where they tried to teach addition. Even had a name for it - confused me all to heck.
16+13 = ?
Well, 16 is close to 20, and 13 is close to 10, so:
20+10 = 30.
BUT, you had 16 and not 20, so subtract 4:
30-4=26.
Oh - don’t forget about the 13, which is 3 more than 10, so:
26+3 = 29.
So the answer to 16+13 is 29!
My one daughter could wrap her head around it this way or the normal way. My other daughter, like me, could only get it the normal way. She would come back with the right answers but marked wrong, and would need to do it over again. I would write a note back - that’s okay - she got the right answer. Give her whatever grade you want!
Of course that was 4th grade. In high school where good grades mean A LOT in getting into colleges, it is much more important. My son (11th grade) has straight A’s so far. Except for missing an A in 9th grade by 0.1%. He tried to get extra credit but no luck. Oh well.
But if there seemed to be some monkey business I would speak up. My daughter just related a story where she spoke up today on conservative issues while the history teacher was doing some stupid “game” on equality (frikkin Commies). We’ll see how that plays out.
So I’m wrong to post “insignificant” subjects (to a group of people that always seem to give me good advice) but it’s ok for you to take the time to post and knock what I wrote down? How abbot ignore my post? It will quickly go away as new ones appear.
If the paper is in black and white, ALL the balloons are the same color, so couldn’t the answer be 0 if the question is how many MORE of this color is there?
The teacher should have explained there was a problem with the balloons being the same color and not marked it wrong but “x”ed it out as not valid and explained the problem at a first grade level.
have fun when she goes to college.....
and for the record, that prof made me ready for the real world where bosses have routinely asked me to do things that may make no sense what so ever and yet they sign my pay check
I found your post and your warped values, not so much insignificant, but appalling and worthy of mockery. Poor kid.
BTW, she's the one, on her own, who went in and talked to these teachers one on one after I emailed them and she found out today that they made several mistakes. We're all human. Her grade rose 10 POINTS in one class and 5 in another. I think her school is pretty good overall and know many of the teachers personally. How many times does this happen to kids that feel like they can't question what a teacher says or does? I have a MS in Education and I'd say about 40% of the people I graduated with were going to turn out to be great teachers. So I look out for my kids with that other 60%. No, I am not a teacher, as my husband and I chose to run a small business instead.
I also know that a few years back if you graduated with a degree in teaching Math, Science, or a foreign language you were almost guaranteed a job as there was a shortage. I went to school with many of these people that didn't know all that much Algebra themselves, but are now trying to teach it to our children. So, yeah, I will check what's going on with my daughter and she has learned how the system works and to respectfully ask questions. She's 13 and I give her tons of credit for her accomplishments.
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