WWYD - kid struggling with Algebra 2
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Anonymous
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DD is in 9th grade, was in AAP 3rd-8th and got all As in middle school without much effort. Even though she got As in Algebra 1, I suspect it wasn't the best foundation. The original teacher left a few months into the year and they had a series of substitutes for several months until a new teacher was found, so not a lot of consistency.
She is now barely passing Algebra 2 Honors despite studying a lot and working with a tutor over the past several weeks. The tutor says she understands the math concepts and she does well on the practice tests the tutor prepares, but when test day comes, somehow it all falls apart. I have reached out to DD's teacher for advice on what else DD could be doing to improve and he is not responding to email (she has approached him herself and he hasn't responded to her requests for help, either). In DD's 9 years of school, I have only had to get involved with her teachers once back in 4th grade, so I don't know what the best option is here to get help from the teacher/school. Go to the math dept head? Counselor? Ask for DD to be moved down to regular Algebra 2? Forget the school and hire a new tutor? DD is so discouraged. She does have a 504 plan for anxiety but she hasn't asked for accommodations in testing before. I feel like this teacher would not be all that open to doing that, but maybe worth asking? Not sure if that would help this. She's doing fine in her other classes, mostly As, so it's not that she can't handle honors classes in general. Just this one! I would love any advice from parents who have been in a similar situation. |
Anonymous
| Maybe you should try to setup a conference with the math teacher and see where he stands. IF he is non-responsive to your DD's needs maybe talk to school to get transferred to another class. |
Anonymous
| Get tutor and work hard getting her Algebra foundation stabilized. Use Kahn Academy and work with her. |
Anonymous
| These are good suggestions, but she already has a tutor and I am trying to meet with the math teacher, but he does not respond to email. |
Anonymous
| I would just have her keep working at it if the tutor thinks she is understanding the material. Have her do lots and lots of problems. It will come. |
Anonymous
Yes, I am a teacher and this is what I would do - and schedule it through the counselor. You could always send an email to both the counselor and teacher requesting the conference. If you don’t get any response from either of them, I would contact her administrator. But I think the counselor should be able to get things going. |
Anonymous
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Thank you 20:24 -- I will get in touch with her counselor. I have emailed with her before about course selection and she was very quick to respond.
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Anonymous
| Sorry OP, but algebra two is the first serious math class. And, A’s in grade school and middle school AAP don’t mean much. Many many AAP students begin their trajectory of B’sin math and algebra two, that’s where the math division ( in terms of math skill really begins |
Anonymous
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22:20 No need to say "sorry" like that -- I understand that Algebra 2 is very difficult. Nowhere in my post did I suggest she should get As just because she has before.
I was asking what I could do to help her and how to deal with a completely unresponsive teacher. Just because she might not get or deserve As (or even Bs) doesn't mean she doesn't deserve help. |
Anonymous
| When my DD struggled with poor math teachers in FCPS, she taught herself. Smart kids who like math can do this, really like math. Math is their favorite subject. These are the honor math students and the students who should be accelerated - because there will be an occasional bad teacher. Op, if your DD doesn't turn this around I think the hard lesson here is going forward in future years, not merely the grade for this year, for this class. You will need to map out a new path, a new progression of math courses. If you're truly worried about a D or failure, make sure you know the rules re: withdrawing from the class and retaking (non honors) next year. Be prepared because the school may fight you on this (someone has to be at the bottom of the class - they don't care that it's your kid). A course correction in 9th will not look too bad for college. It will be better to have a firm foundation and stronger grades in less advanced courses, that will be better. |
Anonymous
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OP, I struggled in a few advanced math classes in high school. A couple of quarters I even got a C and my average was often lower than that (Dish) mid quarter. I always pulled my semester averages back up to a B, but there were some nail biters. I kept working hard and continued to learn the material. I went on to get a STEM degree from an engineering school and killed the curve in every math class.
In retrospect, many parents would have pulled me back to the non Honors math track. I'm sure I could have gotten As in those classes. But then I wouldn't have had been prepared for a STEM degree in college. Sometimes hard is a good thing. Its okay for your DD to struggle a bit, and probably even good for her. |
Anonymous
Wild grade swings in FCPS, wild. One difficulty is not knowing if this is because of the teacher or because of the student. Teachers, more often than not, seem to be the cause of wild grade swings. I don't know why this was such a nightmare in FCPS, and especially in math/sciences though it was a problem in most classes (and they wonder why the suicide rate is so high) Don't know if the teachers are lazy with the grade books, not paying attention to their students, poor teaching, or, perhaps, the teacher has some overarching method of motivating students which relies on the student digging deep and pulling-up their grade last minute. Do they think this is a good thing for students? Is it that the teacher has no idea how they are going to "curve" the class? It can seem like a very dysfunctional environment ~ Sorry for the rant. |
Anonymous
| I got a tutor and yes, I'd move her down to regular algebra. |
Anonymous
Eh. In my experience this is pretty common in science and math classes across the board. Often grades when a new topic is introduced are low. Then kids get their arms around the subject as the semester progresses and grades go up. There is also often a curve in science and math classes. I got an A in many classes with a 60% or 70% average. In one notable college class (Quantum Mechanics), I had the top score in my class with a 16%. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but just a different grading paradigm. You get used to it if you take enough STEM classes. Talk to the teacher and see how she is really doing relative to the class. Don't panic. |
Anonymous
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I bet the tutor’s practice tests are not as hard or as timed as the class tests. In honors math at the high school level, the tests usually have some hard questions in which you have to apply and extend your knowledge, and you have to know everything well enough that you can work quickly. If you have a tutor who knows the county end of class, I’m not sure what you expect the teacher to do. The students already know the before and after school hours and the in-school hours available, and I doubt the teacher is ignoring students who come for help during those periods.
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