TJ Math 4

[Anonymous]

Parent of a TJ kid here. Math 4 is notorious. My all A in other classes Senior got a B+ in Math 4. He's fine, as will your kid be. Every year there is gripping about grades, often around a particular subject, class or teacher. I have let my kid self-advocate. TJ is hard, but you knew that when your kid agreed to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid in the class. Let the kids advocate for themselves. We can blather on all we want on the forum, but I think it would be a mistake to intervene as parents.

I’m guessing a freshman. Because you really have no idea how things get changed at TJ for large scale problems (instead of one kid needing a peer tutor). It isn’t kids talking to brand new teachers and counselors.

No, my kid is a sophomore. At first the answer was "no curve." Now it is a new 10 point quiz. The kids are surely complaining and I think they are being heard. Do you really think that at the end of the semester that the average grade will be a low C or worse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid in the class. Let the kids advocate for themselves. We can blather on all we want on the forum, but I think it would be a mistake to intervene as parents.

I’m guessing a freshman. Because you really have no idea how things get changed at TJ for large scale problems (instead of one kid needing a peer tutor). It isn’t kids talking to brand new teachers and counselors.

No, my kid is a sophomore. At first the answer was "no curve." Now it is a new 10 point quiz. The kids are surely complaining and I think they are being heard. Do you really think that at the end of the semester that the average grade will be a low C or worse?

I just heard a test with 30-40 points back-- enough to get the average grade above an 80 so that most kids will not need to retake. The quiz being a repeat of questions from the end, that lots of kids did not get a whack at. Plus, points for test corrections.

We'll see...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid in the class. Let the kids advocate for themselves. We can blather on all we want on the forum, but I think it would be a mistake to intervene as parents.

I’m guessing a freshman. Because you really have no idea how things get changed at TJ for large scale problems (instead of one kid needing a peer tutor). It isn’t kids talking to brand new teachers and counselors.

No, my kid is a sophomore. At first the answer was "no curve." Now it is a new 10 point quiz. The kids are surely complaining and I think they are being heard. Do you really think that at the end of the semester that the average grade will be a low C or worse?

I just heard a test with 30-40 points back-- enough to get the average grade above an 80 so that most kids will not need to retake. The quiz being a repeat of questions from the end, that lots of kids did not get a whack at. Plus, points for test corrections.

We'll see...

Oh gee, I hope whatever they decide, it will be adopted by all teachers because I sure didn't hear that at back to school night yesterday. Teacher said bonus quiz for 10-15 points (they haven't decided on how much), and if score is still not good enough for the kids, they may have a retake for up to 80 points. This seemed pretty fair to me although my kid would probably prefer the 30 point bonus quiz. Kids who would not benefit from the retake (those with scores above 75) have a chance to improve their grade while kids who did not do so well originally have a chance to retake for a max of 80 points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid in the class. Let the kids advocate for themselves. We can blather on all we want on the forum, but I think it would be a mistake to intervene as parents.

If you think we shouldn't be blathering on . . . then why are you doing it?

[Anonymous]

Reading comprehension issues? Blathering is fine. Intervention bad.

Let's get this curve going so that my kid can start with a grade well over 100.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading comprehension issues? Blathering is fine. Intervention bad.

Let's get this curve going so that my kid can start with a grade well over 100.

You don't know much about Math 4 this year. Or any year, do you? Or TJ math in general? Or TJ? Have you ever even driven by the school?

[Anonymous]

Why yes, I have driven by and to--every damn day--because my kid can't get up early enough to take the bus. I've already told you I have a sophomore in the class. Please try to pay attention.

[Anonymous]

They don't curve you above 100.

[Anonymous]

So individual test points are worth less if you do well on a test (on an expected basis)? Pfffft.
Well, then I go back to my point that grading based on some "absolute" percentages is stupid.
(Of course, I have no hope of winning that argument. )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why yes, I have driven by and to--every damn day--because my kid can't get up early enough to take the bus. I've already told you I have a sophomore in the class. Please try to pay attention.

And fortunately, you have been using your user name, so we can tell your Snowflake self from evey other person posting as anonymous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why yes, I have driven by and to--every damn day--because my kid can't get up early enough to take the bus. I've already told you I have a sophomore in the class. Please try to pay attention.

Wow -- if you have a child in the class also, you'd think you'd be more sympathetic to what our kids are going through and what we, as parents, are going through. If your child is doing well, that's fantastic. But as you can see from these posts, he/she is in the minority. This isn't a bunch of crazy parents just looking for their kids to make As. We're trying to keep our kids from getting Fs and Ds in a class we are confidant they can do better in if the assessments weren't so out of whack with what the majority of students can do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading comprehension issues? Blathering is fine. Intervention bad.

Let's get this curve going so that my kid can start with a grade well over 100.

Yes, I had reading comprehension issues. I was up till 2:00 AM with my TJ Math 4 student helping him/her by creating practice test questions so she can get her processing time quicker so she can "hopefully" finish the next test. Thanks for your kind words. Oh wait, you were actually just being nasty (my comprehension is better today . . . I got more sleep last night)

[Anonymous]

And this is the crux of the problem. Why do we have to give up sleep for an education????? My kid - who has an A on Math 4 - is thinking of leaving the school because he has no time for anything but TJ. These are kids. We are sucking away their fun years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why yes, I have driven by and to--every damn day--because my kid can't get up early enough to take the bus. I've already told you I have a sophomore in the class. Please try to pay attention.

Wow -- if you have a child in the class also, you'd think you'd be more sympathetic to what our kids are going through and what we, as parents, are going through. If your child is doing well, that's fantastic. But as you can see from these posts, he/she is in the minority. This isn't a bunch of crazy parents just looking for their kids to make As. We're trying to keep our kids from getting Fs and Ds in a class we are confidant they can do better in if the assessments weren't so out of whack with what the majority of students can do.

I am sympathetic to what the kids are going through. A test with a 65 average sucks. However, the best way to deal with this is to lets the kids get together and advocate for themselves. My kid did better than the average, but didn't get the grade she would have liked. The thing is that you can't keep your kids from getting Ds and FSU. That is their job. Let them do it.