Teacher situation (long) -- UPDATES #26, #56, #141 (mini), #151, #165

[Coley]

An update for anyone who might be curious:

The principal has not followed up with me since our meeting several weeks ago. I have no idea what may or may not have transpired with the science teachers at the school. I am disappointed that she did not follow up as she stated she would; however, I am not entirely surprised.

Good news: DS did indeed earn an A for all the work he put into that science unit. He feels proud of himself for what he accomplished and for doing well on it. That's a positive. He also learned a valuable lesson about why it's important to plan his work ahead of the deadlines.

The class has started the next science unit. In reviewing the schedule DS brought home, it appears that the kids have been allowed to do much of the work in class. I would have to say that some confusion continues because the kids were given a deadline of today to complete an assignment; however, the homework website says it's due Monday the 30th. I don't know how anyone is supposed to keep this straight. It appears that there are fewer assignments this time around.

DS told me today that some of the kids are still finishing work on the previous science unit. Evidently, the teacher has allowed them to continue work on the B and A layers even though the deadline passed. They have to do this on their own time. DS's opinion is that this is unfair because he put in all the extra time before the deadline, and these other kids will have the possibility of earning the same grade he did even though they're so behind. I can't say that I blame him for feeling that way about it. (Of course, I could speculate that perhaps the kids were allowed extra time as a result of my meeting with the principal, but I really have no idea.)

That's all I know. If I ever hear from the principal, I will post an update. Thanks again to everyone for their ideas and suggestions!

[Sophia]

My concern would be that your son doesn't get access to materials because they are being used by the students catching up.

[Zilla]

Plus there might be a built in penalty for late work.  As in percentage.
 
OR other parents complained along the lines like you did (rightfully so!) and the teacher had to give an extension.  Based on this thread, I think it's the latter.

[Coley]

Plus there might be a built in penalty for late work.  As in percentage.
 
OR other parents complained along the lines like you did (rightfully so!) and the teacher had to give an extension.  Based on this thread, I think it's the latter.

Yep, I'm thinking the same -- either a deduction for late work or that the teacher was required to give an extension. Like I said, I'd just be guessing about that though.

[GSNW]

I would be on this teacher if I were you.  Just an email saying, "Schedule says x, your website says y, please clarify," is not out of order. 

[AnnaJ]

An update for anyone who might be curious:

The principal has not followed up with me since our meeting several weeks ago. I have no idea what may or may not have transpired with the science teachers at the school. I am disappointed that she did not follow up as she stated she would; however, I am not entirely surprised.

Good news: DS did indeed earn an A for all the work he put into that science unit. He feels proud of himself for what he accomplished and for doing well on it. That's a positive. He also learned a valuable lesson about why it's important to plan his work ahead of the deadlines.

The class has started the next science unit. In reviewing the schedule DS brought home, it appears that the kids have been allowed to do much of the work in class. I would have to say that some confusion continues because the kids were given a deadline of today to complete an assignment; however, the homework website says it's due Monday the 30th. I don't know how anyone is supposed to keep this straight. It appears that there are fewer assignments this time around.

DS told me today that some of the kids are still finishing work on the previous science unit. Evidently, the teacher has allowed them to continue work on the B and A layers even though the deadline passed. They have to do this on their own time. DS's opinion is that this is unfair because he put in all the extra time before the deadline, and these other kids will have the possibility of earning the same grade he did even though they're so behind. I can't say that I blame him for feeling that way about it. (Of course, I could speculate that perhaps the kids were allowed extra time as a result of my meeting with the principal, but I really have no idea.)

That's all I know. If I ever hear from the principal, I will post an update. Thanks again to everyone for their ideas and suggestions!

Congrats to your son on the A, it sounds as though he did great work.

I have a suggestion about the bolded above - this is an opportunity for your son to that the only thing he can control is his own work.

There may be a good reason the other students have been given more time; as you say, it might be what you said in your meeting, or another parent might have also talked to the teacher or principal. 

The teacher may have looked at how many students earned an A, and if she thought there were too few she only had a couple of choices - either lower the amount of work needed for the A (which would have been really unfair) or extend the deadline.  The principal may have suggested an extension based on misunderstood due dates.  Or it may be a screw up on the part of the teacher. 

I think it's reasonable to point out to your son that a) this is a 'life is not always fair' moment and b) he has completed his extra work and can relax a bit while all of those other students are struggling to keep up with the current work and chase that A for the last set of assignments. 

[Coley]

An update for anyone who might be curious:

The principal has not followed up with me since our meeting several weeks ago. I have no idea what may or may not have transpired with the science teachers at the school. I am disappointed that she did not follow up as she stated she would; however, I am not entirely surprised.

Good news: DS did indeed earn an A for all the work he put into that science unit. He feels proud of himself for what he accomplished and for doing well on it. That's a positive. He also learned a valuable lesson about why it's important to plan his work ahead of the deadlines.

The class has started the next science unit. In reviewing the schedule DS brought home, it appears that the kids have been allowed to do much of the work in class. I would have to say that some confusion continues because the kids were given a deadline of today to complete an assignment; however, the homework website says it's due Monday the 30th. I don't know how anyone is supposed to keep this straight. It appears that there are fewer assignments this time around.

DS told me today that some of the kids are still finishing work on the previous science unit. Evidently, the teacher has allowed them to continue work on the B and A layers even though the deadline passed. They have to do this on their own time. DS's opinion is that this is unfair because he put in all the extra time before the deadline, and these other kids will have the possibility of earning the same grade he did even though they're so behind. I can't say that I blame him for feeling that way about it. (Of course, I could speculate that perhaps the kids were allowed extra time as a result of my meeting with the principal, but I really have no idea.)

That's all I know. If I ever hear from the principal, I will post an update. Thanks again to everyone for their ideas and suggestions!

Congrats to your son on the A, it sounds as though he did great work.

I have a suggestion about the bolded above - this is an opportunity for your son to that the only thing he can control is his own work.

There may be a good reason the other students have been given more time; as you say, it might be what you said in your meeting, or another parent might have also talked to the teacher or principal. 

The teacher may have looked at how many students earned an A, and if she thought there were too few she only had a couple of choices - either lower the amount of work needed for the A (which would have been really unfair) or extend the deadline.  The principal may have suggested an extension based on misunderstood due dates.  Or it may be a screw up on the part of the teacher. 

I think it's reasonable to point out to your son that a) this is a 'life is not always fair' moment and b) he has completed his extra work and can relax a bit while all of those other students are struggling to keep up with the current work and chase that A for the last set of assignments. 

Yep. It's another opportunity for DS to learn that life isn't always fair. He's had several of them the past few weeks over various issues. To DS's knowledge, at the time of the deadline, only two other kids were in line to earn an A. Perhaps there was an evaluation of the process that led to that low number initial As. I'm all for that. Process problems shouldn't stand in the kids' way. And that was my bigger-picture concern when I met with the principal.

[AnnaJ]

It does seem like those "life is not fair" moments happen in clumps, don't they    I remember a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon where Calvin's father gave him the "life's not fair" talk and Calvin grumped back "But why isn't life not fair in my favor?"    Sort of like I feel about it!

[magicdomino]

Plus there might be a built in penalty for late work.  As in percentage.
 
OR other parents complained along the lines like you did (rightfully so!) and the teacher had to give an extension.  Based on this thread, I think it's the latter.

These could be kids who wanted A's or B's, but couldn't come in early, or work during their study period.  We were discussing earlier in the thread how unfair it was that trying to get anything better than a C required working in the classroom outside of the regular class time.

[artk2002]

Plus there might be a built in penalty for late work.  As in percentage.
 
OR other parents complained along the lines like you did (rightfully so!) and the teacher had to give an extension.  Based on this thread, I think it's the latter.

These could be kids who wanted A's or B's, but couldn't come in early, or work during their study period.  We were discussing earlier in the thread how unfair it was that trying to get anything better than a C required working in the classroom outside of the regular class time.

Never the less, exchanging one unfairness (far too restrictive conditions and deadlines) for another (extending the deadlines, unfair to those who worked hard to meet them) isn't the way to deal with the problem.

My opinion of the competence of this teacher (and of the school in general) is not very high.

[Coley]

Plus there might be a built in penalty for late work.  As in percentage.
 
OR other parents complained along the lines like you did (rightfully so!) and the teacher had to give an extension.  Based on this thread, I think it's the latter.

These could be kids who wanted A's or B's, but couldn't come in early, or work during their study period.  We were discussing earlier in the thread how unfair it was that trying to get anything better than a C required working in the classroom outside of the regular class time.

Never the less, exchanging one unfairness (far too restrictive conditions and deadlines) for another (extending the deadlines, unfair to those who worked hard to meet them) isn't the way to deal with the problem.

My opinion of the competence of this teacher (and of the school in general) is not very high.

It does seem like they are fixing one problem by creating another. I don't know what other options the teacher/school would have to level the playing field for the kids who may not have had sufficient resources to earn an A by the original deadline. I'm hopeful that this will be a one-time occurrence -- as in the teacher/school learned something from this last experience and are working to ensure that it doesn't repeat itself in future science units.

At present, DS has started the A-layer work for the current science unit. Ironically, he was ready to take the B-layer quiz on Monday, but he wasn't allowed to because she didn't have it prepared yet. Despite that, she let him start the A-layer work anyway so he'd have something useful to do in class. Yesterday, there was a substitute and busy work. To my knowledge, the kids have through the 30th to complete all the work on the current unit. We'll see what happens.

I am genuinely disappointed that the principal did not follow through with me as she said she would. That is rather unimpressive. Even if she had nothing new to report (couldn't get a meeting scheduled with the teachers yet, etc.), she could still contact me to let me know she's working on it.

[Sophia]

One thing I noticed is that the teacher had:

• Videos in class
• Busiwork when substitute was there

I can almost understand doing one or the other.  But both?%#$#$%

[JacklynHyde]

I waded through all 12 pages of this thread.  What worries me the most in this situation is the possibility that your son (and other kids) will have their curiosity squished by the burden of the work.  It looks like the idea is to build upon the basics and delve into deeper thinking (Bloom's Taxonomy has been mentioned), which is commendable.  How many students decided that they just couldn't make the extra time and effort, so they must not be good at science?  YIKES!  That is the ultimate in rudeness on the part of the teacher.