I feel that my English teacher is unfairly grading my essays; what should I do?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

This year I’m taking AP Lang, and have only received D’s and C’s on my essays. When I talk to my teacher, she usually only tells me things like “You’re new to this school, you still have to learn the ropes” or “I don’t know what to tell you; each essay is different.” Sometimes she’ll point out specific problems with my essays, but they’re usually really small errors. For example, in one of my essays I said that school should’ teach students more current information like the contents of the constitution." Instead, I should have said “school should teach students more information we currently use, like the contents of the constitution.” My teacher told me that word choice was one of the main reasons she gave me a C-. She also told me that she wanted to give me a D but she was being nice.

I think the real issue is that she grades based on her opinion. She either agrees with your paper and gives you a good grade or dislikes it and gives you a bad grade. We have to read our papers aloud before turning them in, and each time I tell my classmates my grade for my essays they always tell me that I don’t deserve the grade I got. One guy told me that my essay was his favorite, another girl said it gave her goosebumps, and today, another girl said it was phenomenal.

So why does she give me the bad grades that she does? I’ve come to the conclusion that she’s a little biased toward new students, and I honestly think it’s unintentional. I talked to a Senior, who was new Junior year and took the same class, who said she had the same problem. She told me that she felt that our teacher gave her bad grades because she wanted to prove to her that her grades at her old school didn’t mean at much as this one. She said that when she told our teacher she never got anything below an A at her old school, her teacher replied that it was a new school and basically that she wasn’t at the same level as the students who’d already been there (which is basically what my teacher has told me).

Now that I’m aware of the problem, I’m not sure what to do. I’m thinking of going to another AP English teacher, asking them to read my essay and seeing what they have to say, but is that a good idea? Any advice would be really helpful.

Thanks!

2

I would start by asking your current teacher for her grading rubric and for specifics on what you could improve with your writing. You could also ask her to show you examples of previous essays that she graded an A. Try to leave at the door the preconceived idea that she has a bias against new students. Be as collaborative as possible!

3

From your earlier thread regarding physics:

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2102877-i-just-got-a-50-on-my-ap-physics-test-should-i-drop-the-class.html
and look at what your English teacher has said:

So this is probably the reality - you are not on the same level as your classmates

Now reread what else you wrote here:

I think you nned to relook objectively - the issue is not the teacher. Nor is it you, per se, but the fact that your old school was not at the same level.

As for next steps, I agree with @momofsenior1 . Good luck.

4

You also should have capitalized “Constitution”.

5
  1. Start with the teacher. Make an appointment or go to her help hours and say that you would like more specific feedback on the essay. In fact you would like to keep revising this essay until you can get at least a B. I did this one time with a teacher…I really wanted to learn what she wanted.
  2. Ask her if there are any books that could help you. One that talks about sentence structure and things like using transitions between thoughts, etc.
  3. Ask for examples of what a D vs B essay looks like.
  4. If she will work with you, then great! Keep at ,this. In the future, bring in drafts early and work with her on that.
  5. If she wont’ do anything helpful, then go to the head of the English Department. Tell them that you are wanting to learn what is expected at ABC HS, and that you didn’t get actionable feedback so you went to office hours and she would not work with you. Can they suggest a path forward?
  6. Also get a tutor to help you…Your National Honor Society will probably have some.
6

I would ask for feedback and ask if you can revise and have her re-grade. (You won’t get that grade, but you’ll learn how to write an A paper!) That will also show that you can choose a topic she doesn’t like and present it well. She will she you want to learn and that this isn’t grade grubbing.

At the end of the year, you should hope to get a 4 or 5 on your AP exam. That would be great! An A and a 2 is a sham…