How much do you interfere for grading?

[Anonymous]

Getting zero points is harsh, that is akin to not doing the presentation at all. Your son messed up but zero points seems extreme.

- the P who suggested your son write a letter (in the letter I would suggest your son talk about what he learned and would try to improve for next time)

[Anonymous]

He deserves a deduction of points. He has to sit quietly and watch the presenters. He was probably bored and got swept away with other friends goofing off. He is probably not innocent. He should have shushed the ‘noise makers’ instead of going along with it. He needs to learn to be a leader in this situation and help the teacher. He is old enough to learn. Please, please use this as a ‘lesson’ learned for your kid. It’s the biggest success that can come out of this. Also, he (he alone) could humble himself and go talk face to face about this to the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would sit my kid down and extract a full and honest account and stress that my actions depend on him being accurate in his reporting. You know your child best.

Then I would write and send, in front of him, a polite email to the teacher, requesting that the grade be changed, and explaining the situation. Explain to your kid that if you get no response within 48 hours, you will send another email, and this time copy the counselor and the assistant Principal (or other admin) assigned to your child.

Why? Because docking so many points for supposedly laughing in class or being fidgety goes against all modern educational practices for teachers. It's hardly believable, in fact. Maybe you're in a very traditional private school?

I've got a 19 and 14 year old. None of their teachers, in two different school systems, have ever done that. I haven't heard such a story from any of my friends either.

So if your kid is telling the truth, this teacher needs to be reprimanded and the grade reinstated.

Also, if he's fidgety, perhaps he has ADHD and he needs a diagnosis, ADHD stimulants and therapy, and a 504 plan in place that you can point to when teachers have difficulty understanding his behavior.

This should also be a wake-up call that he cannot let people think he's doing something shady. If he fidgets, he'd better fidget right there in front of everyone, than turn his back on the teacher. That's Classroom Behavior 101, OP. You need to teach him survival skills to deal with his "fidgets" (ADHD, autism, whatever it is), so this doesn't happen again. But none of this is a reason to give a zero!

- parent of an ADHD/ASD kid.

So you would demand the grade be changed before even asking the teacher what happened? Docking kids for how they act during other presentations is common. It’s part of the communication standards in ELA- explicitly written into the new standards rolling out for 24-25 in fact. A literacy standard IS you can conduct yourself respectfully and professionally during presentations and if you make others uncomfortable or create distractions during their presentation, YES, you lose points on YOUR grade. This is routine.

Imagine being in a meeting acting like an idiot because you think you’re cute or have no awareness for how your actions affect others trying to do their job. That’s what will happen if you don’t teach kids in high school that part of communication is being a respectful LISTENER.

-English teacher

I think English Teacher’s point about how OP’s son’s behavior had the potential to adversely affect the performance of others is significant. His behavior was extremely rude and disrespectful and he deserves consequences. Given how he’s downplayed his behavior, it’s hard to tell how bad it really was and how many warnings he got to knock it off.

I’d be furious if my kids were so poorly behaved and I wouldn’t personally intervene though I would assist them in making a sincere apology and trying to work out something with the teacher. It does not seem like OP’s son is amenable though.

A LOT of teenagers will get up during a presentation and laugh or goof off or sit in the audience and snicker with their classmates which makes the presenting kids feel self conscious and anxious that it’s about them. It’s rude and teachers are used to it - we absolutely can tell the difference between kids screwing off in a presentation and a nervous kid fidgeting. I would bet the kid didn’t get a 0 for the whole thing (unless there’s other factors, such as his group members said he didn’t do the work) but that he did get 0 points on the part of the rubric that assesses participation and respectful listening. I don’t know a single teacher who has kids compensations who doesn’t have that as a component of a presentation rubric. It’s the reason why two of the four domains in English class are listening and speaking. They’re literally assessed standards!

[Anonymous]

Has kids do presentations-* not compensations