<p>I’ve gotta agree again. I hear comments like this a lot…but I’ve gotta wonder how many of the people making these comments, had parents that would have made the same comments. A couple generations back, if a student brought home some bad grades…the natural reaction wasn’t “what did that teacher do!?”…the blame was pinned on the student. There certainly is such a thing as a bad teacher…but students should also be able to compensate for that by learning the material on their own. When they get to college, it is an assumption that they will be able to do that.</p>
<p>Getting an A- in a class is nothing to be ashamed of…and it’s nothing that an extra couple of hours studying each week won’t fix. </p>
<p>I’ve seen this so many times though. Students that took pre-calc/calc in high school…then they get into college and can’t even do fairly basic algebra…because they are no longer being guided along and actually have to learn how to “solve problems,” rather than just plugging the numbers in and solving the equation. There are several students that I tutor in algebra that took calc in high school and did great. Get to college, and they don’t even really know how to solve rational functions, solve multi-variable systems of equations, or derive equations of conics. Sure, these are some of the more complicated parts of a college algebra class…but they are things that should come as fairly second nature to someone in higher mathematics. I’ve seen students come to college after completing calc in high school…start college calc, and just progressively drop lower and lower down the totem pole. I’m tutoring a student in intermediate algebra right now that actually took calc in high school. He had to drop down about 3-4 levels because he just wasn’t prepared for it.</p>
<p>I’ve seen very few instances where the teacher was truly at blame for this. Regarding calculus teachers wanting it “their way,” that is not going to go away anytime soon. Most calculus teachers want you to use the best and most efficient way to solve the problem. There’s a big difference between getting the right answer…and truly understanding the concept and being able to use the quickest most efficient way possible to derive the answer.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine how frustrating it would be to have neurotic parents breathing down your neck and phoning administrators to tell on you because their children have an… A-! It’s almost comical.</p>
<p>This post reminds me of a hs IB science teacher. I am still miffed years later because my D was failed the class, and she never contacted us. (D was getting overwhelmed that semester, but hid the failures. Long, sad tale). When the GC called in the teacher to our meeting and suggested a letter go home for all students with D or F, her indignant reply was, “well you’d have to send A LOT of letters”. Argh… these were all serious, college-bound students.</p>
<p>Fast forward 3 years. My other kid who was particularly good at the subject (and many others) thought the same teacher was really terrific. He even bought her a gift at the end of the year. Go figure.</p>
<p>What I am about to say is not a reference to the OP. Very often the teacher gets blamed when in reality there are many things going on: 1. The student does not belong in the class but was put there anyway 2: the student does not put in the work that is necessary, and then gets upset because " the teacher gave me a C." In our HS the kids who are very smart ( top 5%, kids that get 2300 on the SAT the first time etc) have to work VERY VERY hard to earn their A or A+. Many do not realize this and then get upset when they do poorly. This is currently happening in my daughter’s classes.</p>
<p>And that is a big part of what it comes down to. Some kids have more of a natural aptitude for certain subjects than others do…and much of the impression that a student gets of a teacher depends on their grade. I’ve had classes with so called “horrible” teachers, and I’ve absolutely loved them. Quite frequently, a teacher is branded as being a horrible teacher because they have a hard class…and students feel that it is the teachers fault that they didn’t do well. I’m sure there is some justification for that belief at times…but generally speaking, it is not up to the teacher to guide the students through every single question or problem. Students need to learn to utilize the concepts effectively and apply them to a number of scenarios.</p>
<p>I have always wondered why the average sociology professor’s rating is 3.7/5 on rate my prof, and the average physics professor’s rating is 2.5 at my university :)</p>
<p>I agree with you comfortablycurt. The students who have a natural aptitude are going to do well, providing they put the time in. These kids really have the ability to teach themselves, if you will. Last year my daughter was in honors geometry and she hated the teacher. This motivated her even more- she worked hard and got her A+.</p>
<p>Twogirls, there are certain subjects that are very dependent on the teacher. It would be very difficult to self-teach Spanish. When it comes to STEM subjects, you could learn everything up to the end of undergraduate level just off of the internet.</p>
<p>The same is true at my school. I’m in Social Problems this semester…and his ranking on ratemyprofessor is like a 4.2/5. It’s not an easy class…but it’s not as study intensive as math or physics. Both my math and physics professors have rankings that are around 2.8-3. I read some of the comments for my math and physics professors, and there are people saying that they literally “do not even explain how to do the problems.” Which is not true in the slightest bit. I even have less mathematically inclined people that are in my classes right now…saying that the professor doesn’t even tell us how to do the problem. That’s kind of funny though. Because I’ve been there every single day…and I’ve heard numerous comprehensive descriptions of how to do the problems. The people that are doing best in my math class are the people that get together with me for a study group for two hours twice a week. I’m averaging about a 98%, and the 5-6 people that come to my study group are all averaging at least a solid B to a low A. The others in my class that don’t come to the study group? Maybe managing to hang on to a C.</p>
<p>Study groups are another good idea for the OP’s daughter. If one person understands this concept, another person understands that concept, and another person understands the other concept…by working together you can sort the problems out, and everyone benefits.</p>
<p>What I tried to convey ( unsuccessfully) was that my older daughter did not like her Spanish teacher, did not over exert herself, and ended up switching out. My younger daughter currently has the same teacher and loves her. To the poster who suggested study groups- great idea.</p>
<p>^Actually, I’m currently teaching myself French. But then, I have so much experience as a student and as a teacher that I should be able to teach myself :).</p>
<p>Agreed that one needs to be careful before blaming the teacher, but in the calculus example I gave, in the end, I do believe it was the teacher. He got a ‘5’ on the AP Calculus exam.</p>
<p>I was in OP’s shoes 3 years ago. Tears all freshman year because of Honors Geometry. I tried my best with extra books and practice problems etc etc. She just didn’t get it. Her only C in high school and a B- second semester because teacher felt bad for her and let her do silly extra credit. She got into great schools but still mentions how I didn’t pull her out of Honors when she asked. Big lesson learned for when son gets to high school. Our HS you can only drop down to “non-Honors” (where you don’t have to memorize the proofs!) after week 3. My two-cents: hire HS tutors or make it up in summer if she gets a D.</p>
<p>If she gets a D ask if she can retake the class…with a different teacher. Whenever one of mine struggled in a class and 2 of the 3 did with a math class, I called the teacher and asked how many kids were in the class and how many had As, Bs, Cs, Ds or were failing just so I could discern if it was just mine that was struggling or if there were “lots.” Generally if “lots” are struggling the teacher will slow down and/or offer tutoring. But I still think an outside tutor can help. If there are understanding and communication issues with the teacher being tutored by the teacher won’t help.</p>
<p>^I disagree. There is a difference between a teacher one-on-one and a teacher in a lecture type setting. Sometimes the student isn’t even willing to try working one-on-one with the teacher, but when they are, often it is beneficial as the teacher can then address the specific issues of one student rather than trying to herd 25-30 of them along together.</p>
<p>My favorite HS teacher taught Calculus. He was a retired army general. He would have 4 people solve the previous nights homework on the board, briefly discuss it, correct it. (10 min) Then go over new concept (10-15 min) and immediately assign homework which we had the rest of the class to work on (30 min). He’d go sit back at his desk–we were free to work on the homework (or do whatever we wanted actually) alone or together in groups. If you had questions a friend couldn’t answer he was right there waiting at his desk for individual help. If a lot of the class had the same questions, he would get up and re-teach it.
We only had 2 or 3 tests for grades (just like midterms and final). No homework grades, no pop quizzes. No homework grades but you had to do the homework because you could be the one at the blackboard the following morning.
He said it was a college level course and he would grade the same way. He said he would teach it and be available but doing homework and learning it was our responsibility.</p>
<p>Your daughter may have an “invisible” disability, a visual processing problem. If so, there is no way for her to know it or anyone else from observing her. Get her tested by a “developmental optometrist” . You can find one by going to the website COVD.org, I think. My daughter who is intellectually gifted has that problem. If it turns out that is the source of your student’s difficulty, then there are ways it can be accommodated and worked around so that she will be able to succeed even at an Honors or A.P. level in these same courses, once the visual processing difficulties are understood by all involved (if there are any).</p>