<p>So my teacher put in final grades, and I have an 89.04%. </p>
<p>My teacher has this thing about participating in class. Everyone starts out with 35/50, and every time you participate you get 2 points. You can't go over 50/50. Points can be taken off for sleeping, etc. but she's very vague on how she adds and takes off points. </p>
<p>At the beginning of the semester I knew I was going to be in a tight spot at the end, so I rose my hand for everything. At the last office hours (aka tutorial, study hall) before finals, I asked my teacher what I had and she said I had 50/50. So today my teacher put everything in the gradebook, and I randomly had 40/50. I just thought this was a typo so I emailed my teacher right away, since a 50/50 would give me a A-. </p>
<p>My teacher replied to me that everyone who did not come to the final exam day got 10 points off their participation. I did not go to school that day because I was already done with all my finals (including the one in her class), so I decided to stay home and start my summer a day early. Yeah I know, I should have went to class but I didn't know she would do something like this. </p>
<p>Theoretically I should have an A- right now, but she just takes off 10 points for practically no reason at all. Can teachers take points off your grade because you don't go to class? She has never done anything like this before, nor did she tell us. At this point, I don't think how hard I worked is an issue. </p>
<p>What do you guys think? Also, how should I persuade my teacher to give me my points back?</p>
<p>It might be too late to correct if final grades are already in.</p>
<p>Yeah, some teachers actually do participation grades, I’ve had teachers put them in the gradebook before. Honestly, yeah, she should have told you guys ahead of time, but I think she can take off points if she wants to for all not being there on exam day.</p>
<p>I still think you should ask her about it though because I have had teachers in my school who changed their minds after talking with their students.</p>
<p>Yeah talk to her, really try to get those points back. I know the importance of participation points. In my Spanish class we get up to 300 participation points, they are worth just as much as our final.</p>
<p>She isn’t going to give you an A. I had a teacher like that this year. He gave these quizzes where you had to memorize quotes from the book we were reading. And not important ones just really abstract ones. You also had to remember specific details that were not related to the plot at all. The specific details made up 50% of our final. And these specific details weren’t even the ones he told us to study for (he said study the quizzes). There are some teachers who just won’t give you an A (although my theory is that he hates kids).</p>
<p>You might go to the school counselor and ask what you need to do to appeal a grade.</p>
<p>My daughter had a teacher this year who refused to let her make up missed homework when she had an excused absence. She even put down a “zero” for a homework check on the day she was absent. My daughter made a “B” for the year in the class, but it is not going to be counted towards her high school GPA, so she and we just let it slide. Interestingly enough, the teacher isn’t coming back next year.</p>
<p>I’m fairly certain my daughter would have had an A were it not for the bad grades when she was absent. Grrrr!</p>
<p>I thought participation grades were generally minimal - I did not participate in class discussion at all in AP English for the first two quarters, and my participation grade for each quarters was like, 47%… I still ended up with mid 90s? How much of a big deal is participation?</p>
<p>I mean, I didn’t have a final for AP World, but I still showed up - just to check in, and it turns in that we were in fact supposed to show up, as was the case with most APs unless your teacher specified otherwise. Anywho, though what you did was not wrong or bad, per se, perhaps you shouldn’t go after your teacher too vehemently as it wasn’t personal, considering everyone who took the day off also had their grade lowered.</p>
<p>Oh wow! I posted earlier but did not realize that this might be a situation where a student refused to take the AP test in an AP class. Is that the case?</p>
<p>My personal opinion is that AP class grades should not be assigned until after the AP tests are graded. And for students who don’t bother with the test, an F is in order. Just my opinion. That said, the teacher did have a duty to be transparent as to how the course was graded.</p>
<p>In most cases, there’s really nothing you can do.
I’m in color guard and it’s a class where you can get credits.
One time, I went to Mexico for a church trip and missed a winter guard show and rehearsals. I went from an A+ to a B+ immediately after that. </p>
<p>I even tried to explain that I already asked permission and it wasn’t just some arbitrary get-away. He continued to deny it and made it my fault. He also never put my extra credit in. Would’ve had a 4.0 if not for this damn misunderstanding.
Sorry, but sometimes we just gotta suck it up.</p>
<p>Email and talk to your counselor. They might be able to work out your score with your teacher. We have participation points as well, but I think it’s only 10% of our grade…</p>
<p>I wouldn’t email the counselor if I were you. That’s directly questioning the teacher’s discretion and will probably include principal involvement. Totally unnecessary.</p>
<p>Why are you so caught up over the 10 points? Do not create over the 10 points because teachers and staff will talk, and that’ll be really bad if you’re applying for college in the years to come. In college, nobody offers an “appeals” process for grades. You work it out with the professor if they’re willing or suck it up.</p>
<p>Write an apology, and make it good and sincere. Obviously, this teacher thinks you’re a B student. Show some maturity, and his
or her opinion may change. State that you were unaware of the expectation of attendance on exam day and that you’ve learned a valuable lesson about personal responsibility. Demonstrate that you value the teacher, the class, and the time it will take the teacher to fix this grade. </p>
<p>If that doesn’t work, and only if that doesn’t work, have your parent email the teacher.</p>