Poor teaching skills

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.

I agree, unfortunately. My kid is NOT dumb and has always been all As and all AP/Honors classes.

This year there is an AP teacher who is just terrible. Assigns videos to learn the content. Says before tests that she made the test as hard as possible and there will be some tricks AS WELL as things she didn't teach. WTF? The class has had several tests where the entire class failed. Like, spectacularly failed. And she gave the entire class retakes. How is that teaching? The kids hate her. The parents hate her. And, she has single-handedly killed my child's love of the subject (a stem class where DC got an A in honors the year before).

I had college professors like this, so maybe there's a silver lining of your kids being prepared for a small number of teachers to just be awful?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d loooooove to see parents come in to model lessons.

Well, parents aren't teachers. I don't have your education and experience. So that would be a dumb thing to wish for.

So parents that have no education and experience with teaching, and are receiving all information secondhand from their students have permission to just come on here and bash teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class Grade Distributions should be available. Current and past. Trends should be of interest, there for all to see, by class, by teacher. Obviously, not identifiable by student. There needs to be transparency ... Ms Jone's 5th period class has half the students failing. Gee, something's wrong. Could be student performance. Too often parents think, certainly someone ... Dept Head, Principal, someone is paying attention to class grade distributions, at least periodically.

Or, possibly, it could be that Mrs. Jones fifth period class has an increase of ESL students or something else. Not everything is the teachers fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d loooooove to see parents come in to model lessons.

Well, parents aren't teachers. I don't have your education and experience. So that would be a dumb thing to wish for.

Plenty of non-teachers say it’s an easy job so come on in and try it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d loooooove to see parents come in to model lessons.

Well, parents aren't teachers. I don't have your education and experience. So that would be a dumb thing to wish for.

So parents that have no education and experience with teaching, and are receiving all information secondhand from their students have permission to just come on here and bash teachers?

My student is nearly 17 and a straight A student. So, yes, they are capable of telling me what is happening and I'm able to see it from how the tests are administered and the class is doing. And you should really get a thicker skin.

Criticism is not "bashing teachers." Perhaps use it as a period of self-reflection. A LOT of the criticism teachers receive is unfair, I agree with you. But that doesn't mean none of it is. And in terms of my kids AP class upthread, it is absolutely warranted. She's dreadful. All of the kids hate her. All of the parents hate her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class Grade Distributions should be available. Current and past. Trends should be of interest, there for all to see, by class, by teacher. Obviously, not identifiable by student. There needs to be transparency ... Ms Jone's 5th period class has half the students failing. Gee, something's wrong. Could be student performance. Too often parents think, certainly someone ... Dept Head, Principal, someone is paying attention to class grade distributions, at least periodically.

They are available. Email the teacher (or the principal) and politely ask for one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class Grade Distributions should be available. Current and past. Trends should be of interest, there for all to see, by class, by teacher. Obviously, not identifiable by student. There needs to be transparency ... Ms Jone's 5th period class has half the students failing. Gee, something's wrong. Could be student performance. Too often parents think, certainly someone ... Dept Head, Principal, someone is paying attention to class grade distributions, at least periodically.

We seem to think that we have all the answers. Grade distribution is available to everyone. Just ask...There is also a point of contact for grade distribution. At our school, it is the assistant principal. We sit down quartley to go over grade distribution. We need to also put an action plan in place for those that are failing. Also, at the high school level, students are usually grouped, by periods, according to their academic abilities. It is not unheard of to have a below, low, on and above grade periods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d loooooove to see parents come in to model lessons.

Well, parents aren't teachers. I don't have your education and experience. So that would be a dumb thing to wish for.

So parents that have no education and experience with teaching, and are receiving all information secondhand from their students have permission to just come on here and bash teachers?

My student is nearly 17 and a straight A student. So, yes, they are capable of telling me what is happening and I'm able to see it from how the tests are administered and the class is doing. And you should really get a thicker skin.

Criticism is not "bashing teachers." Perhaps use it as a period of self-reflection. A LOT of the criticism teachers receive is unfair, I agree with you. But that doesn't mean none of it is. And in terms of my kids AP class upthread, it is absolutely warranted. She's dreadful. All of the kids hate her. All of the parents hate her.

You are contributing to teacher bashing by “criticizing” teachers on a forums almost solely dedicating to bashing FCPS and teachers. I think you need to self-reflect on why you are contributing to this trend. My skin is already thick, which is why I don’t care about your comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or itt could be something wrong with the way the students study (or more likely, don't study).

One of the classes I teach is non-honors and there are two A's among the 55+ students. These students are always on task, do all the in-class practice, do all the homework and study for quizzes and tests.
Most of the others put their pencils down and get on their phones the moment I've finished the lesson and it's time to practice. Some don't even bother taking notes. If you try to take the phone away, they argue or put their heads down and sleep. They don't do the homework at all or copy the key. They don't review on review day and copy the review key to turn in. Then they whine about their grade.

My kid does assignments, comes to reviews, homework is always done. He also has a tutor. Summative is 70% of his grade. SEVENTY. Homework and study guides are the remaining 30. Maybe don't put such a big emphasis on tests.

That sounds reasonable. Homework should be no more than 10%. Formative should be no more than 30%. That leaves summative at least 60%. Seventy percent is reasonable.

Lol! I am a parent not a teacher, but 70% is totally reasonable. That other 30% is like a freebie. Do your really think your kid's grade should be much higher than the grades she is getting on tests???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.

I 100% agree with the OP. Clearly a bunch of insecure, triggered teachers feel the need to put the blame on the parents, but if what OP is saying is true, the teacher is not doing a good job teaching. There really is no other explanation.

[Anonymous]

FCPS actually requires that summative tests and projects be weighed significantly more than homework: "Homework for practice or preparation for instruction may account for no more than 10 percent of a quarter grade."

If your student's homework is being weighted at 30%, then the teacher may be out of compliance.

https://www.fcps.edu/academics/grading-and-reporting/secondary/homework-and-makeup-work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.

I 100% agree with the OP. Clearly a bunch of insecure, triggered teachers feel the need to put the blame on the parents, but if what OP is saying is true, the teacher is not doing a good job teaching. There really is no other explanation.

There's clearly some teachers who are just terrible teachers, but it's also possible that in this one section the kids are all pretty poor students (and parents who don't hold kids to high standards). Without context, it's hard to know.

A different poster upthread gave a series of reasons why it was pretty obvious an AP teacher was bad. OP didn't explain, other than poor grades. Well is most of the class just not turning anything in? Or is the teacher giving quizzes including concepts never covered in class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d loooooove to see parents come in to model lessons.

Well, parents aren't teachers. I don't have your education and experience. So that would be a dumb thing to wish for.

So parents that have no education and experience with teaching, and are receiving all information secondhand from their students have permission to just come on here and bash teachers?

Yup....all the time and then will be surprised and angry when their kids have teacher trainees because all the good teachers left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.

I 100% agree with the OP. Clearly a bunch of insecure, triggered teachers feel the need to put the blame on the parents, but if what OP is saying is true, the teacher is not doing a good job teaching. There really is no other explanation.

There's clearly some teachers who are just terrible teachers, but it's also possible that in this one section the kids are all pretty poor students (and parents who don't hold kids to high standards). Without context, it's hard to know.

A different poster upthread gave a series of reasons why it was pretty obvious an AP teacher was bad. OP didn't explain, other than poor grades. Well is most of the class just not turning anything in? Or is the teacher giving quizzes including concepts never covered in class?

They could have terrible parents who aren't parenting we just don't know.

[Anonymous]

Please, OP, get the grade distribution for this class and report back to us. Is your kid being truthful? Or is your kid just covering their own poor scores in this class?

On the other hand, should we turn this into a discussion on grade inflation (and what the median class grade should really be)?