Teacher doesn't actually teach anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to complain to the head of school. I'm assuming this is a private. No public would do this.

Yes, it's a private, and K-12, so at least the C- won't affect admissions! I think a complaint to the HoS seems a bit excessive, though? I've talked to a few other parents, vaguely, and they all love this teacher. He does seem friendly, but...

[Anonymous]

YouTube videos for instruction (which he should be providing)

[Anonymous]

When my son took art in high school (so the grade mattered) and started getting C’s. I asked him what was going in and he said the teacher didn’t teach. He would explain for 5-10 minutes what he wanted and then had students work independently. I was skeptical but his friend who actually is a good artist said it was true and only the students who already knew how to do art would get A’s.

So I sat down with him and we watched YouTube videos of the art assignments. I found ones very similar to his assignments on shading, drawing 3-D figures, etc.
He would practice and I had fun drawing with him. Then he would practice again and get better, then he did a final third one. I had him label them 1st try, 2nd try, 3rd and he turned all three tries in. The teacher then clearly saw he was trying and there was improvement and started giving him A’s.

I think when he was really pressed for time he may have turned in one of my drawings as the second attempt but clearly labeled his last drawing as his final try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t worry about the grade as it won’t go into her transcript for colleges. It’s art.

Of course it will.

lol. In 8th grade? Sure, Jan.

Art in high school will. This isn't complicated.

wut

[Anonymous]

I’ve never heard of this before. He does the assignments, turns them in on time and he gets a C? Art is usually a gimme when you do the work.

Talk to the teacher. Since so few are excellent at art he must give Cs to 90% of the students.

[Anonymous]

Teachers that don’t actually teach is the new normal. Be glad it’s just art class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to complain to the head of school. I'm assuming this is a private. No public would do this.

Yes, it's a private, and K-12, so at least the C- won't affect admissions! I think a complaint to the HoS seems a bit excessive, though? I've talked to a few other parents, vaguely, and they all love this teacher. He does seem friendly, but...

I don't know, it seems pretty important to me - not your child or their grades specifically, but the philosophy that a teacher doesn't need to teach and yet the student is still expected to meet a certain standard. That's patently unfair and it's something that could occur for other topics, so someone high up needs to think this through.

Talking to the head of school (or whoever else) doesn't preclude trying to work with your child to improve their artistic skills, of course. You can do both. But the fact remains that this teacher is not being fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t worry about the grade as it won’t go into her transcript for colleges. It’s art.

Of course it will.

How does 8th grade art enter into a college transcript?

[Anonymous]

This is a middle school elective. How can you be this concerned?

[Anonymous]

I don’t know, but I will tell you that the 2 times (in their whole school careers) that my kids were in danger of failing a class, it was in an elective. For DS- PE one year, and for DD- art one year.

It used to be these classes earned an A (or at worst a B) for showing up with good attitude, doing the work & trying your best etc. Most teachers still grade that way but not all.

My DS actually got a D in PE one quarter in middle school (and C’s for the rest, after I spoke with the teacher). The teacher was grading on actual skills- things like throwing a football through a hoop from x distance, catching x amount of thrown softballs etc. And my DS stunk at those skills. He has gotten A’s in PE every year both before and after that year. 🤷‍♀️

My DD nearly failed art one semester and ended up having to plead with the school counselor for help. She struggled badly with her pottery assignments, despite trying her best. I think she ended up with a C in there- at the last minute with intervention from the counselor. She did not take any more art classes. 🤣

In both cases, other students were apparently having similar issues. Large well rated suburban public school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t worry about the grade as it won’t go into her transcript for colleges. It’s art.

Of course it will.

lol. In 8th grade? Sure, Jan.

I hate when 30 year olds who have never watched a single episode of the Brady bunch say this. Girl, that word. It does not mean what you think it means. Meaning, you say this enough that we know it's the same person, and you're never really accurate in its use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t worry about the grade as it won’t go into her transcript for colleges. It’s art.

Of course it will.

I’ve never heard of a grade from 8th grade going on a transcript unless it’s specifically a high school class

[Anonymous]

There’s an art teacher like this at Deal too! He gives out shit grades, even if kids are making an effort. And then he doesn’t enter the grades into the grade book on time and loses assignments so it’s impossible to stay on top of the bad grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YouTube videos for instruction (which he should be providing)

Private school parents don’t want to do this. They are paying for a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t worry about the grade as it won’t go into her transcript for colleges. It’s art.

Of course it will.

I’ve never heard of a grade from 8th grade going on a transcript unless it’s specifically a high school class

+1,000,000 of course it won’t. What idiots to think it would!