Lo and behold we are still having issues in this class which was completely unbeknownst to us until recently when mid-terms came out. We spoke to DD8 about the incident from my original post and thought that was that. DD has not mentioned anything else to us and the teacher has not contacted us with any issues.
DD's grade for the 1st and 2nd quarter has been an A. Now for the 3rd quarter she is getting a C. I contacted the teacher to find out what was going on and was told that DD doesn't pay attention to her instructions and then hurrys through the assignments so she doesn't have homework. Then the teacher proceeded to tell me how many times she goes over the instructions with the class and how she does examples, then asks questions, has the students do any example, then does the practice examples, then repeats the instructions again, then asks the students to reread the instructions and so forth. By my count, the teacher is repeating herself at least 6 times before the students are allowed to start working. I think she was trying to explain to me that there is no reason for DD to not understand the worksheet since she goes over it so many times, but that statement explained to me what part of the problem is.
As a bit of background - this teacher started out as a remedial teacher and some of you may argue with me, but I think that has a lot to do with how she presents the lesson - she is teaching to the lower curve and isn't good at handling the upper curve. DD comes into her class from her gifted pull-out and DD mentioned she is sometimes late. We plan on asking the gifted teacher to try to mind the time better so DD isn't a distraction in a class she is having issues in. I also know several of you have mentioned DD should be able to at least fake that she is paying attention or be respectful enough to sit through this type of over-instruction. But the unnecessary, excessive, reduntant, repetitious, superfluous(get my point!)manner this teacher is using is like poison to DD's ability to stay focused. How can I nicely explain to the teacher that she is basically shooting herself in the foot with DD by not just letting her do the worksheets? Mind you, these aren't brain surgery worksheets - they are singular vs. plural and possessive nouns, etc.
DH and I have already talked with DD and explained she has to do her best to pay attention and not rush through her worksheets. We have reminded her to not fiddle with things in class and leave other students alone. We have even given consequences at home and will continue to do so. I realize a C in 3rd grade doesn't mean much in the long run but dropping from A's to a C in a couple weeks tells me we have a problem and although I know DD has her part in this situation I honestly don't think this can all be blamed on her. I also want to know why the teacher didn't contact us if there was a problem.
I've asked the teacher to have DD bring her work home for us to review since the teacher said she encourages students to take their work home and DD hasn't brought anything home for a long time. I've also asked if DD can read if she does get her work done to an acceptable level to try to give DD a reason to pay attention and do a good job on her work.
Okay let me have it - what can we do to make this situation better? - what should we have done differently? DD will have this teacher in some capacity for the next couple years and I don't want to burn any bridges but we need to figure this out sooner rather than later.
