Help me help DD survive a really grouchy teacher

[Anonymous]

She’s very lucky that she’s only had one bad teacher all of these years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is the issue OP?

More than grouchy?

Is it grading?

It’s a lot.

She’s older and old-fashioned, strict, stern. Shouldn’t be teaching middle school, for sure.

I think she has confusion with online assignments. She will apparently get on kids about turning in assignments, and then gets mad when the kids SHOW HER they were already turned in, with timestamps! Then she deems those kids disrespectful. She’s also really slow in grading and will get on kids about their grades when she hasn’t even graded all their assignments to bring up their individual grades. I hope that makes sense. I think it’s just time to retire and she’s taking it out on the kids.

Oh! We have one of these at our current middle school. We told our kid to take screenshots and photos, to become the kid that is in the face of the teacher to alert them that DC has turned in the work. The teacher is inflexible and should retire. Now I wonder OP if we have the same teacher.

[Anonymous]

My son has a grouchy old curmudgeon this year who has similar issues with the technology. My son has taken a position of extreme respect toward the teacher. He also refrains from getting in the teacher’s face when a mistake is made. When the teacher gave him some pretty cutting feedback (I’m sure what he said was true, but he wasn’t nice about it) on an oral presentation, my son respond with an email thanking the teacher for taking the time to provide feedback then he explained how he’d address the criticisms to improve his next presentation. Since that email, he’s been the favorite student and the teacher is genuinely nice to him and they even now chat outside of class.

So I guess my advice is that she needs to let it roll off her back and maintain a respectful attitude. If she gets all bent out of shape about how unfair it is, it will only inflame the situation.

[Anonymous]

She's going to have a few of these in Middle school and high school. They figure it out, by the time that they are in high school. Dont fix it for her. As long as she is studying for tests, turning in assignments and doing what is part of her assignments she will be fine. Stir clear. We do that as adults, with problematic people. Its good training

[Anonymous]

It’s not okay for the teacher to be acting like this, and nobody should be told to put up with it. You should speak to the administrator in charge of this teacher and be clear about what is happening. Your kid needs to know that we don’t put up with negativity and nasty comments at any time in life. You need to stick up for your kid. That’s your job, when she was born, did you hold her and think that you would be okay with sending her to school everyday to be in a negative situation and just let her suffer? I doubt it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son has a grouchy old curmudgeon this year who has similar issues with the technology. My son has taken a position of extreme respect toward the teacher. He also refrains from getting in the teacher’s face when a mistake is made. When the teacher gave him some pretty cutting feedback (I’m sure what he said was true, but he wasn’t nice about it) on an oral presentation, my son respond with an email thanking the teacher for taking the time to provide feedback then he explained how he’d address the criticisms to improve his next presentation. Since that email, he’s been the favorite student and the teacher is genuinely nice to him and they even now chat outside of class.

So I guess my advice is that she needs to let it roll off her back and maintain a respectful attitude. If she gets all bent out of shape about how unfair it is, it will only inflame the situation.

I respect this. Kudos to your son. Imagine being a good teacher for 30 years and then since 2020 the shift to technology being completely exponential and demands a lot of learning at the same time that student and parent respect for teachers has plummeted and at the same time there’s a teacher shortage so there’s covering for other teachers during planning times….it’s a lot. My teens have had not so great teachers and I have taken the same stance—I had bad teachers and you can handle this. Treat them with respect as they are the adults here. Having bad teacher is also a learning opportunity (surely you’ll have a crummy boss when you’re older—here’s some practice).

[Anonymous]

If enough parents complain hopefully she will retire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My advice is she's lucky to have gone this long without a bad teacher, she's in the home stretch now, just do what she knows the teacher wants even if it's ridiculous, and be VERY well-behaved. If she's made it 8 months she can make it 1.5 more.

+1

Students can either keep going to their parents for advice, or they can bond with their classmates over war stories. They can either become anxious or bitter, or develop a sense of humor and learn how to look at the big picture. As her parent, help her keep the big picture in mind (it's middle school, not an AP class and she doesn't need this teacher's recommendation for college) and make sure she laughs about it.

My daughter does orchestra and was recently in pit which was led by the band teacher. She was warned by numerous people about the band teacher's grumpiness. Even the orchestra teacher told the kids to come to her with any questions instead of the band teacher. The orchestra kids ended up laughing at all of his insults instead of taking them personally and had a good experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not okay for the teacher to be acting like this, and nobody should be told to put up with it. You should speak to the administrator in charge of this teacher and be clear about what is happening. Your kid needs to know that we don’t put up with negativity and nasty comments at any time in life. You need to stick up for your kid. That’s your job, when she was born, did you hold her and think that you would be okay with sending her to school everyday to be in a negative situation and just let her suffer? I doubt it.

DC had a teacher just like this in MS last year. A total mess. She lost papers, input grades wrong. We did complain to the department head and the principal when it impacted her grade but they DID NOT CARE and the grade was never changed. I think they think they can get away with this level of incompetence and they can.

Teachers are human and they can make mistakes but the bad ones are the ones who are nasty about it and then don't take any responsibilty.