<p>So it's the end of the first quarter, and I'm just hearing that the textbooks for Physics C were not distributed until this week. I've never been the type to criticize a teacher's instruction style (or lack thereof), but I do have a problem with not giving the kids at least the tools to self-study until it's too late for grade improvement.</p>
<p>I'm disappointed that my kiddo didn't tell me sooner, but he's at the age where he doesn't want to rely on Mom and Dad to solve his problems. </p>
<p>Today I was so sad when he said, "What does it matter?" about studying for this class. He's always worked really hard to overcome his obstacles, and has accomplished much because of that. I realized too late that he hasn't had the support needed to be really successful, and now he has given up. His first B is NOT the end of the world, but is totally unneccessary, IMO.</p>
<p>Considering how far to complain about this. Any input? (Please be gentle).</p>
<p>What instructional materials did the teacher use while the textbooks were not available?</p>
<p>There are free on-line physics textbooks on the web. Seems like the teacher could use those (with printouts available for those students who do not have a suitable means of accessing the web pages).</p>
<p>My experience with many of the more advanced classes is that the textbook is not always critical - particularly with science where so much of the material is online and or provided through other sources (e.g. additional packets). If I were in shoes and decided to address the issue, I would first assume that I might not have the whole story. Simply email the teacher and let him know you understand your son just got his textbook. You can ask him how the text is being used, was there a delay (beyond what was planned), and if so does he anticipate this being a problem in the long term and is there anything you think might be helpful for your student in terms of catching up. Anything along those lines - just don’t go in assuming the issue is 100% the teacher. The kids have a lot on their plates and sometimes they can’t quite juggle it all. </p>
<p>We were in a similar situation with APUSH they didn’t have enough text books so my did get one. She was told that the teacher would post the assigned reading on line but he would <em>forget</em> and by the time he got around to it the she would end up a week behind the rest of the class. These happened several times. She was told more text books were “on order” but he did know when they would arrive. I finally told her to find out the ISBN number and <em>I</em> would buy her the text book. When she went to ask the teacher for this information he seemed surprised and said some students had dropped the class and there were extra text books on the shelf! </p>
<p>Definitely some missing information here. Textbooks supplement the class, they certainly are not the entire content of a well taught class. Big question is - did the teacher test for material taught? If so, your son should have the material needed to be able to do well on tests taken to date. If he relies on using a textbook this is a good reason for him to pay more attention to what the teacher presents instead. Good practice for college courses that do not rely on a textbook for the material presented. Especially in the sciences, textbooks can be out of date in so many areas by the time they are published. Your son needs to adapt to how things are done and not rely on a single method of learning.</p>
<p>Suffice it to say, I found out that I am not the only concerned parent and that others have already gone up the administrative chain. Certain key players at the school were already on the case. There are additional concerns from others regarding instructional abilities. Thanks for the input everybody, but it seems as though the path was already laid out for me. I’ll just be another parent chiming in at this point (which is pretty nice - when you have several kids, it can sometimes feel like you need to intervene too much, and I worry about being labeled as a chronic complainer).</p>
<p>At this point I would recommend purchasing “Cracking the AP Physics C exam by Princeton Review” or a similar book. </p>
<p>Already done! Thanks!</p>