We recently moved and started 9th grade in one of the most competitive schools in this Public school district. My daughter was all A’s in 8th grade while taking advanced courses including finishing Algebra 2.
Now at the end of first semester, her grades are as follows.
Eng 1 H 85%, French 2 H 60%, human Geo AP 85%, Geom H 89%, Comp science 87%, Bio H pre AP 82%.
So basically she went from all A’s to all B’s with failing foreign language. She wants to pursue a career in IT, computer sciences programming etc. As usual, she tries her best not to study at home finishing home work and assignments at school so she can “relax” all evening.
What should we do now? I know we have to make some changes but don’t know where to start. Please help.
I would suggest you hire a French tutor to help. You should also speak with the teachers and get some feedback.
As the parent of a teenager, I understand the desire to “relax” all evening; however, this will likely need to change as she is now in high school. Several hours of homework per night should not be out of the norm. Kids at this age may have no clue how to study either.
There are several things I can think of that would be helpful:
Go back and look at the make up of the grade for each class - what percentage is each category (homework, exams, quizzes, labs, etc.) - did she not earn all homework or assignment points because she didn’t do them or they were late? In my daughter’s French class, some points were earned by conversing with the teacher in French - it was easy to overlook earning these. Keep in mind that keeping up with homework assignments (graded or not) helps prevent the need to cram come exam time so it is important to do homework even if it is not graded.
Were her final grades a surprise to you? You should have access to her grades throughout the semester that might help you be aware of how she is doing - and where she could use some extra guidance. You could review them once a week with her to see if there are missing assignments or specific areas where she could have done better.
Maybe a conversation with the French instructor might be in order - maybe French in 8th grade at the old district/school covered different (or less) material. Is she better off in French I for second semester and then back to French II for sophomore year.
My daughter’s experiences are that not all teachers are created equal - some are better at explaining things than others. She has depended on on-line resources for extra instruction in areas that weren’t clear from classroom instruction.
Hope these help! Good luck to your daughter!
Her semester exam grades are actually much better compared to homework assignments daily work where it was like 70’s etc so there is definitely room for improvement on day to day studying. She did not work towards any extra credits which is such a shame.
In terms of French, I was thinking should we just move her to French 2 Regular from French 2 Honors?
Doing the homework/daily work helps both with the hw grade and towards studying for exams. Some teacher grade the content of the homework where others just grade that it was completed.
She definitely should take advantage of extra credit if it is available - I always thought of those as free points.
I missed that French was honors - I think you should meet with the french teacher to understand your daughter’s gaps - if she didn’t learn everything that the other students in the district did in middle school, moving her to regular from honors probably won’t help.
Also, what about finals? This may be the first time she’s experienced them and may have had no idea how to prep for them.
Your daughter just has to work harder in high school then she did in a less demanding school last year when in 8th grade.
It is possible that roots of the grade issues (beyone the whipping through the homework as school thing) are disinct for each class. Meet with the teachers and the guidance counselor. Remember that you are all on the same team togehter. Collect all of the input, and help your kid work with the teachers to find out new strategies for studying.
“As usual, she tries her best not to study at home finishing home work and assignments at school so she can “relax” all evening.”
That’s incompatible with an honors course load. She may have been placed based on junior high grades, but her comment makes it appear she is lacking the internal motivation she needs to perform well in the more rigorous classes. So talk with her guidance counselor and teachers to hear their observations, but ultimately it is your daughter’s decision to rush her homework. She has to change her viewpoint before any tutor’s efforts will have a fighting chance. Tread carefully.
Many kids don’t realize what it takes as freshmen, sophomores and juniors to prepare themselves to submit their strongest application possible in senior year. Computer Science is a highly competitive major. There are many colleges with 60%+ acceptance rates in general but only 10-12% acceptance rates for the CS and engineering departments (even for females). Freshman year (so far) won’t sink her, but going forward, too many B’s in CS, math, and science classes isn’t going to get her to where she wants to be.
“she tries her best not to study at home finishing home work and assignments at school so she can “relax” all evening.”
Relaxing all evening is just not done with honors classes in a suburban US high school. My two daughters are past high school, but in high school both they and their friends worked ALL evening at least 5 evenings per week. It was very common to see and hear papers coming off the printer around about midnight. Frequently I would take the papers up to them so that they could save the time to come down and get them. She is also already taking an AP class in 9th grade. This is barely compatible with sleep.
Your daughter has to understand that high school is a big step up. She either needs to stop taking honors classes and AP classes, or commit herself to spending a LOT more time studying.
Also, I agree with the comment about a French tutor. In learning a language it is important to actually use the language outside of class. I had a tutor in high school (one day per week) and also used to watch hockey games in French but have not been able to find them where we live now. There are French movies on Netflix. A tutor will help a lot. One option might be to take a French immersion class over the summer, but that would take a significant amount of commitment and time. Moving back to French 2 regular might also make sense.
What does she think? What’s her spin on the problem?