Hey everyone, I’m a junior atm and I’ve been doing good for the most part when it comes to grades. However, my English teacher is HORRIBLE. AP English is hard in my school so I settled for regular English III. We have multiple teachers for English, and in most cases, they aren’t very difficult if you do your work correctly.
My English teacher, however, is very strict on grading. So far this quarter, every daily grade assignment she’s given to us, the class average has been FAILING. For example, we had analysis questions for a short story. I worked on them for like an hour, turned them in, and I got it back as a 30! I was really confused because the paper said “missing information.” I checked and, I had answered all the questions fully. I double checked and, all the answers were there. Yet, I got a 30 on this assignment! I think the one bad thing about this teacher is that she’s an AP English AND a regular English teacher so she grades really hard!
I’m very worried because all my other friends have 92-97 in their classes because their English teachers are really easy while this 30 has brought my grade down to a C… in a regular class. I’m a smart kid, so having a C in a REGULAR CLASS is unbelievable for me. Junior year is the most important and I fear my rank may fall from top 25% if this keeps up! I’m really worried that this may effect my chances at college.
Also, it’s my first time on this website
Did you meet with your teacher to ask what additional information she was looking for? Your best bet is to genuinely try to understand and meet her expectations.
Well, for starters, see if you can switch sections. If that doesn’t work (and most likely it won’t), I’d suggest discussing with your teacher ways to improve your grade. For instance:
So did you ask her why you got a 30 if the grading rubric was not clear?
I’m not convinced the issue is the teacher. A harsh grader is not a “bad” teacher. Also, while you can vent here, no college wants to hear you say that you had a “bad” teacher. A teacher will enhance the experience, but ultimately, you are responsible for the learning.
Hey at least you’re getting graded. I had a teacher that lost my work, Notebook and folder and I was doing worksheets multiple times because she lost stuff. Oh well that was years ago, made freshman year of high school not fun.
But seriously, just talk to the teacher and ask what she is looking for in your writing specially. A harsher grader, while it may get you a lower grade, will give you a better foundation in writing compared to if a teacher said, ok you turned something remotely close to the prompt, you get an A.
Also if you don’t do well here, you have many other grades to make up for it if you excel in other classes. And one C will not keep you out of college or probably even an F depending on where you’re aiming.
Take this assignment and go to her and ask what did not meet the assignment criteria. Say that you want to learn what she is looking for.
Take what she says and redo that assignment. Bring it back. Keep doing that until you get an A. Then you know what she wants. I once did this in HS…I didn’t get what my teacher wanted but worked with her until I could get an A- on the assignment. After that I did much better.
If she won’t work with you (but most likely she will), then talk to your guidance counselor or the department head. Show then the assignment, what you did, and say you talked to the teacher but she woudl not work with you to understand what was wrong.
