Teachers who aren't good at teaching

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I need to vent and poll the forums here.</p>

<p>This is my senior year, and I have an awful line up of teachers. My grades are suffering because of this. Many of my classmates agree, but I want to see what people think from an outside perspective. Let it be said that these classes are pretty much filled with the kids from the top 10%-15% in our senior class.</p>

<p>AP English Language - doesn't like to give out A's, gave out one A to a person who sucks up to her every day, resents students who know the answers to questions and know what they're talking about, likes students who needs her to explain stuff (she's young, and I'm guessing she doesn't like to feel threatened?)
I had a friend who had her last year. This friend was only getting low B's and C's in the course. She made an effort to talk to the teacher, and she would hand in papers ahead of time for the teacher to correct. She would make all the corrections the teacher recommended before handing in the final draft, yet her grade didn't change. Another one of my friends didn't do well in this class last year, yet got a 4 on the exam.</p>

<p>APUSH - is known to be a really good teacher, has best AP scores in school, lectures in class and assigns whole chapters for us to read and outline independently, gives essay quizzes only and detailed tests
For our quizzes, she takes one fact from the book (not from the notes or anything we've discussed in class) and makes us write the standard 5 paragraph essay on it. This is extremely frustrating because, after spending hours outlining and studying everything, she will test on, lets say, virtuous republic, a topic that takes up less than 10 sentences in our book. I'm to the point where I don't even want to waste my time studying, because it is most likely on one detail I won't remember anyway. She likes to test on the stuff we would never have focused on. She doesn't tell us what to focus on, and her focus seems to be different from the material the class focuses on.</p>

<p>Honors Theology - weird. Doesn't even give us that many notes, skips around the book, she may mention one minute detail briefly one day in class and expect us to remember it for the test. My guidance counselor says she just likes to "hop" from one thing to the next. She gives multiple choice tests with an "answer not listed" option which brings everyone's grades down. She told us to write an essay on "the primacy of peter." I wrote the essay and everything I wrote in this essay was correct. However, I only got half credit because she apparently wanted all these other specific examples. However, she never made any effort to communicate to us that she wanted these things, so I feel like I'm being penalized for writing what I thought she wanted to the best of my ability. I'm not a mind reader.</p>

<p>PreCalc - a notoriously bad teacher, doesn't teach and our textbooks are 10 years old and have no examples, when she tries to go over problems she'll do them wrong or plug in the wrong numbers. She'll give us formulas, but she'll never show us how to apply them to anything. We'll then get tested on how to apply these formulas and we don't do well.</p>

<p>I'm taking two other classes, but those teachers aren't horrible. They're not good, but I'm not stressing over them. I feel like the school won't do anything about this because we're a archdiocese catholic school and we're poor. Last year we even had a morality teacher who had to take a leave of absence go to rehab for a couple of months, and he's still here.</p>

<p>Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe it's just senior year stress coupled with the fact that I'm severely burnt out. I just don't think this is right. My guidance counselor told me that they were preparing us for college by not telling us what they expected of us, and instead letting us guess (oftentimes incorrectly). I just feel that with so many of the students having the same problems as me, that something just isn't right.</p>

<p>Why do you guys think? Does anyone else have this problem?</p>

2

<p>Yeah, I think we all do. Except me, but I'm just lucky.</p>

3

<p>my problem is more that I have good teachers rather than easy ones. </p>

<p>Example:
I had a regular physics class that was harder than the honors physics class (different teacher)--honors kids thought that the highest grade in regular physics was an A- because we just weren't that good. Those kids got A+s and went into AP Physics B with me and a couple others in regular physics thinking it would be a breeze. AP Physics is taught by the same guy who teaches regular--all of the honors kids are failing. I'm holding on with a C. </p>

<p>But yea, I feel your pain. I have an AP Stats teacher who is a mathematician first and a teacher second, if you know what I mean. He means well, but teaches pretty poorly (also has a Cuban accent which makes him sound like Tony Montana, but whatever). I'm 8th in the class with an 85--and this is a class with like half of the top 5%. When you're trying to get straight As, understanding the teacher is key. And I just can't follow him sometimes.</p>

<p>Best bet is to self-study. That's all there is really.</p>

4

<p>The teachers get a lot better in college. You actually start looking forward to lectures. :)</p>

5

<p>I have that same problem, just have to deal with it.</p>

6

<p>I was fortunate enough to be blessed with really great teachers in HS (except for one idiot Spanish teacher who had no place in a classroom...I might as well have repeated 1-2 for all the new things I learned)...but I can understand why you'd be upset. :(</p>

7

<p>feel the same. You're not the only one. I'll think of you whenever I'm silently *****ing.....anyways, do your best. It's only hs, and we'll be in college soon enough...no teacher will stop anyone from their dream! you have more ambition than any of these freaks they let teach us</p>

8

<p>Ack! My AP World teacher is driving us all crazy. He gives us power point lessons that give different information, even different dates, than the book, and then plays movies that have either nothing to do with what we are studying or only confuse us more. We have a test tomorow after almost everyone was absent for the PSAT, so first period (my class) didn't get the notes, so now we have to figure out what the test will be on on our own. </p>

<p>Also, my philosophy proffesor at my CC is really quite awful. I'm really disapointed as philosophy is one of my favorite subjects. He drones on and writes unintelligibly on the board and I really think I got a C on the midterm we had on Monday..bleh.</p>

9

<p>Most of my teachers are alright, except for maybe my science teacher. Two weeks on significant figures???? She also will just start rambling on and on about anything remotely related to the subject matter, so if you have a question, make sure you have 10 minutes for the answer. She's really a great and helpful person, but her teaching methods are a little questionable.</p>

<p>For anyone who is having trouble: Don't be afraid to ask the teacher for help! Independence is a virtue, but if you have any problems with anything in class, just ask a teacher. If you attend a large school, ask another teacher if you don't feel comfortable asking your own. For the poster above who talked about the AP World teacher, all he/she needed to do was drop in to the classroom later and ask the teacher what will be on the test. Then if they don't want to say, then you can figure it out for yourself. No one expects you to have all the answers.</p>