How do you deal with an utterly obnoxious, judgmental and unbearable teacher?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>My APLAC teacher has been horrible the entire year and I just can't stand her anymore..I'm just glad the year is ending soon..</p>

<p>Throughout the entire year, she has been unnecessarily rude and opinionated.
During the beginning of the year, she lost assignments which caused people's grades to drop. She also took around 3-4 weeks to grade our essays, which was somewhat inconvenient, as she would lecture us as to why we haven't improved significantly.</p>

<p>One of my friends mentioned this to one of the other APLAC teachers, and it ended up circling back to her.
She then proceeded to spend the entire period ranting about how her teaching style is different and revolutionary and we need to learn to be more open minded. She took our her National Board Certification plaque and waved it in our faces, as though this proved she was a good teacher.
"Look at this! Look at it!"</p>

<p>After this, she stopped grading essays by hand and had us peer review, then gave us whatever grade our peer gave us. We improved even less after that.</p>

<p>She always talks about how people in the Northwest are incredibly judgmental and arrogant, and that people in the South are mellow and open-minded. (She moved to WA from Georgia)</p>

<p>We never do this, and if we ever did, certainly never maliciously. She always brings in satirical articles about Seattle and has us do rhetorical analysis and criticizes who we are and how we differ from other parts of the country.</p>

2

<p>She also has a tendency to overreact to many things…as the National Board Certification example demonstrates.</p>

<p>We were doing rhetorical analysis of another Seattle article in class, and she kept telling us that everything we were saying was wrong.
So, one of the students in our class asked her to demonstrate how what she feels is legitimate rhetorical analysis.
She overreacted and claimed we were “putting her on the spot”, and said she was not very good at timed writing.</p>

<p>In another case, recently, my grandmother passed away, so I had to go to a funeral in California.<br>
I wasn’t aware that there was a quiz during the time that I was gone, so I missed it. I had informed her previously that I might have had to leave for a funeral because my grandmother was dying, but she told me I could just make it up. </p>

<p>After I came back from the funeral, she told me that there was a policy, where you cannot make up quizzes after 48 hours. I explained to her that I had a funeral, therefore I couldn’t have been present for the quiz, and I was still in California during the time the makeup period would have been, but she still refused.
I also explained to her that I wasn’t aware such a policy existed, but she said that it was on the syllabus. </p>

<p>This was the first time I had ever heard of such a policy.</p>

<p>The next day, she printed out 20 or so posters and put them on every wall of the classroom, on the whiteboards, everywhere. On the posters were written “48 HOUR POLICY - NO ASSIGNMENTS CAN BE MADE UP AFTER 48 HOURS, THIS APPLIES TO EXCUSED ABSENCES ONLY
PER MY SYLLABUS, WEBSITE, STUDENT HANDBOOK AND FIRST WEEK OF EXPECTATIONS”</p>

<p>Overreaction, much?</p>

3

<p>Bump…
…</p>

4

<p>The year is almost up. I wouldn’t worry too much about anymore. </p>

<p>But you should mess with her. Her overreactions are humorous.</p>

5

<p>I tell my kids, this is real world. Difficult people are everywhere… learn from the experience. Learn to deal w/ her while keeping your integrity. And DONT pour gas on the fire… people like her want respect. Try to respect her while not losing your values.</p>

6

<p>I don’t know. I have a B- in the class because of that missed quiz…and it’s unlikely my grade will recover. Her quizzes are generally 50-60 pts while her homework assignments are each worth 1 or 2…</p>

<p>Considering that she’s getting paid for her incompetent half-assed attempt at teaching, I really don’t SHOULD have to deal wuth her.</p>

7

<p>I have to note that one of my kids had a hs teacher I thought was a nutjob. A few years later, I think this guy deserves extraordinary credit for how he formed her, intellectually. The crap he put her through paid off- both in terms of what she did learn and how she approaches her own work.</p>

<p>But, that doesn’t mean your teacher is right. Is there a school policy about make-ups? Can you take this up the ladder? Would she be allowed to decline a make-up for a kid who was sick for a week or in the hospital? That doesn’t make sense.</p>

8

<p>She lied about the south thing by the way.
People are blatantly racist and dogmatic in the South.</p>

9

<p>Its a shame. But she won’t be the last knuckle head teacher that you will have to put up with. All you can do is pass the class and go on. Being opinionated is the way of a grade school teacher. A good high school teacher should welcome all cogent opinions and engage discussion. I agree that it’s a big failure.</p>

10

<p>Is it really right that we have to just have to deal with their incompetence?</p>

11

<p>

</p>

<p>Pray tell, what do you mean by south?</p>

<p>VA, GA, or MS? </p>

<p>NORTH Mississippi is close minded but SOUTH Mississippi has lots of old hippies and liberals (at least Gautier/Ocean Springs). Many people are in favor of Gay Rights etc.</p>

<p>Also, San Diego can be defined as south. And Kansas City is certainly south of Calgary.</p>

<p>So when you say south do you mean: 1. South Dakota, 2. South Carolina or 3. New South Wales?</p>

12

<p>MOst schools have a policy about missed work- that should supercede the policy of the teacher. If she still refuses to let you make up the quiz, I would get the Dean of Attendance involved, and then your parents. She sounds a bit whacky- eventually the administration will figure it out if she really is, but unfortunately it may be too late to help you!</p>

13

<p>You should film a video in her class. Present it to the administration and see if she’s willing to be cooperative after.</p>

<p>Real answer: You’ll have to put up with her. The year is almost over and if you gave up now then the previous months will have all been a waste.</p>

14

<p>Is it really right that we have to just have to deal with their incompetence?</p>

<p>Get over the “right” part… or things being fair. It’s a hard lesson to learn but it’s the real world. Learn the lesson, you will benefit in the future, that is the most you can hope for.</p>

15

<p>2 words u know wat they are use them and don’t look back</p>

16

<p>Go to your principal and report her. Even if it is the end of the year, you should at least make one last stand to get the grade you deserve.</p>

17

<p>Well, I just learned that she might be teaching AP Lit next year…a class I’m taking.</p>

18

<p>Guys, what should I do? She still won’t let me make up the quiz. Her argument is that “the educational value of the quiz” has been lost, and that it doesn’t have a very big impact on my grade.</p>

<p>It does! My grade for the qtr is a D. If I did the quiz it would go up to at least a B+ or an A.
I calculated my potential grade using her weights…as things go now, unless she’s planning on assigning 350+ worth of assignments in the gradebook, I will never be able tonget anything higher than a C or low B…and the likeliness of her assigning that much is very very low. Usually she has 300 pts total per semester.</p>

19

<p>Sorry, *350+ pts.
:frowning: My GPA is going to drop to a 3.7 if this goes on.</p>

20

<p>You’re still telling us what she says. What about the folks above her? Did you take this further? And consider not taking AP Lit. Also, if this one class drops your gpa significantly and you have concerns about your record for college, speak with the guidance counselor or someone who deals with that. In the case of my kid’s nutjob teacher, the GC ws able to explain that blip on her record.</p>