Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Advice needed on very difficult teacher

All I can say is Wow. What is this teacher thinking? How is your daughter doing?
This is just scary.

Thanks again for the good words. There's no update from the principal yet and I'm not pushing it because I have a deadline tomorrow. More later this week.

The principal just called.

There are two pieces of good news: he agreed that some of Miss T.'s practices are absolutely wrong and informed her of this fact yesterday. The other good news is that for the first time, I felt like he was talking TO me and not AT me. He seems genuinely concerned about this problem and he clearly wants to resolve it. The problem from my perspective is that I'm not sure he realizes its extent.

As an example, I had to remind him about her rigidity and her policy of marking things wrong if the student didn't use her method (even if the answer is correct). I used specific examples like not allowing kids to regroup in subtraction (they can't write anything; they just have to remember) and forcing them to write a row of zeros in a problem like

123
x102

Etc. I emphasized that she announced on back to school night that she knows there are different ways of doing math, but in my class you do it my way or get it wrong (i.e. my kid is not making this up). At that point the message seemed to sink in a bit, and he told me that yes, "my way or the highway" is not a sound pedagogical approach. Ya think?

I finally told that when I see this level of rigidity in a profession where flexibility is key, I begin to suspect a lack of knowledge. I was careful to say that I don't know if this is the case with Miss T. (because I don't), but that something is driving the rigidity and lack of knowledge is one plausible explanation. Ouch.

Finally, he said that she admitted she'd given a post-test of the entire fifth grade curriculum six weeks into the year and called it a pre-test. But she said that the problem was that it was "rushed." I countered with "Six weeks into school is ample time to know what's in the curriculum and calling the pre-test "rushed" is not an option at that point. Ouch again. He had to concede that one.

I'm beginning to feel like a jackhammer, but it seems to be the only way to get through the barrier.

Go Val, go Val!

Maybe not a jackhammer, but one can tunnel out of prison with a spoon, you know. Every little bit helps. Of course, you don't have years for this endeavor, but you're making good progress, so it must be a big spoon.

I am so pleased to hear that this is turning in a positive direction. Many may benefit.

Good for you.

I really hope that he is listening-- and that the teacher in question doesn't just RETALIATE and punish your DD.


That seems to be what my attempts to discuss DD's class with HEr teacher have led to, which means that I'm going to have to escalate that one more than I'd like.

Would you help me understand something? I may be missing the pre-test/post-test issue as I have been operating under the understanding that a final exam or exit exam for a unit (often called a post-test), when given prior to teaching was termed a pre-test and could be used to identify how much students knew in advance, and which area(s) to concentrate on as a class and/or individually. For those students achieving above a cut-score, there may be curriculum compacting or even a skip to the next level of the material. This is pre-test, n'est-ce pas? Would you fill me in on what I may be missing, or how this may work differently in different schools?

Indigo I think I this case the teacher was claiming this was a test revising the previous years work and berated the children for not having learned enough the previous year. Which is a different kettle of fish to doin as you state in order to identify children who already know what is coming.

The primary problem was that the test had little relationship with what she thought she was testing and she had no idea of this. From what Val has said.

Thanks for taking the time to explain this, because it was not clear to me earlier.