@shoot4moon I don’t think chemistry counts for what he currently wants to major in. He would need a 4 or 5 to receive credit. Either way he wants to do well. That would be great if he could study what he needs to at the sessions. After tomorrow we should be able to know more about what can be done. He will be studying for and taking the exam no matter the outcome.
As I have become older and wiser, I have figured out how to fight my battles differently. If he likes the teacher, I would encourage her to enable a variety of study methods. She is making a dedicated effort to correct an issue: I hate to see her hands slapped too hard. As a fellow educator, I agree with the poster above who questioned who was mentoring her, and how much. It’s brutal to get through the AP curriculum in the time allotted, and takes a level of skill and strategies that only comes with mentoring and practice.
By the way, sometimes it’s easier to lose communication with jargon. I’m not sure if everyone knows what i meant by “adaptive learning”. For example, DD1 happens to work for a test prep company that uses apps. When you make a mistake, you get an explanation and more of that type of question. When you get a question right, you get less of that type of question. That’s what I mean by adaptive learning. If your child uses Quizlet, they use adaptive learning. Worksheets are typically “fixed”- the only way that she could use worksheets adaptively is if she analyzed the wrong answers of each student individually and gave them a targeted worksheet. Nearly impossible. I don’t know of adaptive prep materials for the AP Chem test, but maybe Khan Academy?? I would assume their materials are adaptive, although my kids have never used them. Quizlet might have study materials that are adaptive as well.
A mandatory "after school " class is expanding the school day. My guess is the school will have a fit about this. Ours would. Teachers do need to understand that there are certain things they cannot do. This is one of them.
The only time I fought a teacher was when a7 th grade teacher was giving extra credit if kids didnt use bathroom ever during class. Um no. Just no. Principal sided with teacher. Went to superintendent who called the principal at night within half an hour after reviewing my e mail and calling me. Told him to knock it off immediately. A friend in the district on school board said it came up as a deficit during principals salary review.
I am so very glad I talked my daughter out of being a teacher. Sadly, it has become a thankless profession subject to criticism not matter what one does. At least OPs child is graduating, and as another person commented, no one will care in college if this student ever attends class or study sessions. My guess is there won’t be study sessions at that high school next year. Problem solved.
Oh so misunderstood.
It’s not “thankless” when a teacher is questioned for making unreasonable demands on students. The teacher is free to offer study sessions after school if she likes, and to offer extra credit for attending those sessions, and to give whatever homework assignments she feels is appropriate. But the problem in this case is requiring attendance outside of classroom hours and penalizing those students who are not willing and/or able to attend through their grades.
It’s the school equivalent of an employer who demands that workers regularly put in uncompensated overtime.
The teacher’s time is uncompensated as well, right? She’s doing this after school, on her own time? Volunteering to do more to help the students? While I do understand the problem the mandatory aspect poses, I am surprised at the lack of gratitude, that’s all.
“The teacher’s time is uncompensated as well, right? She’s doing this after school, on her own time? Volunteering to do more to help the students? While I do understand the problem the mandatory aspect poses, I am surprised at the lack of gratitude, that’s all.”
Many AP teachers are evaluated by how many 4 or 5 scores students get. Thus a teacher who mandates extra study sessions may not be acting out of the goodness of her heart. If she was she acting with a pure motive, she wouldn’t punish student who didn’t attend. This is an abuse of power. Nothing to be greatful for.
Post #51 & 56. I always appreciate the extra time teachers put in. It is a very hard job, and you cannot make everyone happy. That is why my S does not want to say anything that can be a personal attack on her and is instead questioning the school policy that is being overlooked. And he has support from many of his other teachers. It’s the rules of the school. Is it ok to pass his tests, do his homework and class work, but fail the class for not staying for study sessions? Other people may be ok with that, that’s ok. We are not.
My school does this too, but only the after school work is mandatory. I can take it home and complete it and get credit. It’s the same policy, full credit or no credit… but it doesn’t require attendance. While this helps for students serious about the test and credit, I don’t understand why we have to be forced to be serious and take the exams. If I want to get credit, I’ll do what it takes to get it. If that includes study sessions for me then I’ll attend. This particular class was just taken for rigor (AP Lit) because I already have AP Lang credit and didn’t want to drop down in rigor. But I’m being forced to spend hours outside of normal classwork to achieve a score I don’t need.
Also teachers (at least in our district) are required to stay until 4:00 pm by the terms of their contract. That is more than an hour after the school day ends. So no the teacher is not uncompensated. And if she is just using the session to hand out worksheets rather than working with students then she can still grade papers or whatever else she would have been doing without the study sessions. Does not seem like a good use of study session time.
Our classes don’t end at 3, and teachers come in early, not stay late, under the terms of their contract. I would think there are no teacher contracts which mandate the holding of extra study sessions beyond class time (unlike, say, the contract the student and/or his parents signed, acknowledging such study sessions as part of the course).
Around here, it is not unusual for schools to have after-hours commitments. If the track team performed poorly,the coach may mandate extra practice; if the baseball team is working on some new strategy, the same. If the school play is behind schedule, the cast has extra practice. The band always has extra practices before competitions or major concerts. The choir may change songs at the last minute and that too, causes after school practice. At all those events, participation is required, even if any one particular student is performing adequately and doesn’t really benefit from the extra session. Probably there are arrangements which can be made in the event of economic necessity, but it doesn’t come up often to my knowledge. I’m just puzzled as to why parents seem so much more willing to accommodate other electives like band or track, rather than AP Chem.
Because extra practices for band and track will still be outside the school day. Now, if the mandated extra track practice, which was not announced at the beginning of the year, occurred at the same time as a student’s calculus class, I’m quite sure parents would be up in arms.
Teaching is not a six-hour day job. Teachers who treat it that way are in the wrong profession, and give credence to the forces that say they’re overpaid. Staying after 2:30 is just competent teaching.
Next, I agree she’s probably doing this because she’s on notice over poor AP grades from last year. Teachers are often judged based on that kind of metric. Which I think is ridiculous, but that’s the world we live in.
Giving them worksheets with no supervision or guidance is not teaching. It’s babysitting.
(Signed, wife of a hardworking teacher who is taking a break from teaching AP science this year because the hours are brutal, though Honors Bio and A and P are not much shorter…if you’re doing it right.)
No wonder we have such a shortage of AP science teachers. How many of us would willingly venture into this fray? Not many, I’m sure.
This is exactly what my parents would have expected me to do, and they got angry if I spoke out about anything or rocked the boat in any way. Kudos to you, OP, for having his back and not just assuming that the teacher is right because they’re the teacher.
Truly, I know of no other profession in which teens are encouraged by their parents to doubt the professional’s expertise/authority. Perhaps it is justified in some cases, but it certainly isn’t going to encourage others to enter that profession.
If the paper my S signed in the beginning of the school year is legit, as in going through the proper channels and being approved by the school board, fine, so be it. He will accept it. It is not wrong to question or doubt someone’s expertise or authority in a respectful manner. You have 1 teacher going against the policy’s of the school. And we may find out she has the right to do that. You have a few students questioning this. Not attacking the teacher, just trying to get answers since no other teacher in the district has ever done this before. I don’t see this as a problem. I encourage my S to follow his heart and question things that may not seem just. Things will not always go his way. But he tried to find the truth for himself. If that makes me a bad parent, ok.