Just a little?
All year ds13 has had to deal with a math teacher who, for whatever reason, puts the kids down. This is an advanced, compacted class, (8th grade and High school Math I) that goes at a quick pace. She'll say things to the kids in front of the other kids, like "You're lazy." or "You're not that good in math." Earlier in the year, she called my ds out for making a mistake and somebody laughed. DS was mortified. She told a friend's son "You won't be going on to math at the high school."
Fortunately and unfortunately, she's pregnant, which means her negative presence has been sporadic, but so has her teaching.
Our ds13 is getting prepared to register for high school. The process begins with the teachers making recommendations for honors or regular classes. All of ds's teachers recommended he take honors except for his math teacher. She told him that his lack of attention to detail would mean that honors math would be too difficult for him. He was crushed.
I've read that the last thing you want to do is hold kids like ds back in math over things like careless mistakes. That they will develop those skills as they mature but they need the higher level thinking.
This is a kid who, because he was grade-skipped, essentially learned four years of math in two. Yes, he doesn't go back and check his work, especially his homework which he rushes through, but we've been trying to teach him how to manage these things on his own by gently stepping back. Overall, he's still doing fine. He's not failing the class. He received Bs the first two quarters and a C this quarter. In all of his other courses he's received all As for the past two years. He slipped in one other class this quarter, because of time management issues. Again, if we don't back off a little so he can feel the consequences of blowing things off in 8th grade, before it counts, then how is he supposed to learn?
Ds is also in an advanced ELA class, and apparently some of the kids with him weren't selected for honors English. These are not kids who are failing. These are bright kids. When my eldest went through high school, kids weren't expected to be perfect in order to be selected for honors classes.
In the end, we have the last word. He wants to take the honors and we fully support that. In fact, I think it would be foolish to hold him back and potentially hinder the rest of his high school years. It's not easy to get into honors if you didn't start out that way.
All this is to say, I believe he had a bad teacher this year who was mired in a lot of negativity. I think this is bit of "You think you're so smart? Well, I'll show you that you're not." What if we weren't paying attention, what if we bought her advice hook and line? How many other kids are being told, bluntly and through inference, that they're not good at math and it's too hard for them?
Vent over. Thank you.
Oh, and I will be writing a letter about her negativity once he's nearly done. She's proven in the past to be vindictive. When I asked her about something she'd done she went to my ds the next day and berated him for saying something and "misunderstanding" what she said.
Last edited by KADmom; 03/26/15 06:12 AM.
