What do you think of nit picky teachers? 6th grade

[Anonymous]

So today my kid got a D on a Spanish test because he translated sentences instead of indicating whether they were greetings/farewells in English.

Clearly he did not follow the directions and so should not receive full marks. But to mark each one completely wrong and give no points at all when he obviously indicated that he understands the words? He did correctly translate the phrases.

A lot of his teachers do this. He got a bunch of points off for not putting a colorful border on his English assignment when the supposed purpose was to write a poem which rhymed? I admit that one annoyed me because as far as I can tell, there is no use to coloring in sixth grade and should not be part of the assignment. He only gets half credit when failing to indicate the unit in math.

He has ADHD-Inattentive so part of it is related to that.

I'm bummed for him because as hard as he studies at home, it's not enough because he is not detailed oriented and these kinds of things fly over his head.

Is it worth talking to his teachers about this or will they just be like "it's on him for not following directions."

[Anonymous]

Of course it's on him. He needs to read the directions. If he can't do that, he deserves to fail.

[Anonymous]

If there are specific directions and he did not follow them then yes he loses points.

For example on the English assignment was there a rubric that said there needed to be a border?

He needs to learn how to answer the questions given with correct answers not what he things should go there randomly. I don't mean this in a mean way, I'm empathetic but he does need to learn this moving forward. Details are important.

[Anonymous]

I wrote a similar thing for my 3rd grader. Maybe some of the responses will help. I assume yours does not have an IEP, because otherwise you'd be asking in Kids with Special Needs?

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/834196.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So today my kid got a D on a Spanish test because he translated sentences instead of indicating whether they were greetings/farewells in English.

Clearly he did not follow the directions and so should not receive full marks. But to mark each one completely wrong and give no points at all when he obviously indicated that he understands the words? He did correctly translate the phrases.

A lot of his teachers do this. He got a bunch of points off for not putting a colorful border on his English assignment when the supposed purpose was to write a poem which rhymed? I admit that one annoyed me because as far as I can tell, there is no use to coloring in sixth grade and should not be part of the assignment. He only gets half credit when failing to indicate the unit in math.

He has ADHD-Inattentive so part of it is related to that.

I'm bummed for him because as hard as he studies at home, it's not enough because he is not detailed oriented and these kinds of things fly over his head.

Is it worth talking to his teachers about this or will they just be like "it's on him for not following directions."

In math, the unit always needs to be indicated. That's common to lose points for leaving off the units.

It sounds like the border on the poem was a part of the assignment, since you are arguing against the coloring rather. If he's supposed to put a border on his poem, then he needs to put a border on his poem.

As for the Spanish test, it sounds like he answered the question entirely incorrectly.

OP, he needs to read the instructions and follow them.

[Anonymous]

I think you are being unreasonable and are doing your son no good here. I'm sure your attitude about these issues is apparent to him, and that isn't helping anything.

Yes, a completely wrong answer should be marked "completely wrong" in sixth grade. Your kid needs to pay attention, and learning to stop and read the instructions is part of the task.

Have your kid practice reading instructions to you and then explaining each part of what he is being asked to do to you.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I'm not saying he shouldn't get points taken off for these things.

But rather, his teachers are marking them totally wrong and giving no points at all even though he did demonstrate learning.

[Anonymous]

Learning to follow the directions is a HUGE part of learning and part of the test, whether you, as a parent, value it or not.

In 6th grade he is expected to be able to read the directions. If he can't, then he needs to work on it, just like he would need to work on addition if he can't regularly add.

If schools don't take points away for not following the directions, then the kid never learns to do it. (Case in point, your son.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'm not saying he shouldn't get points taken off for these things.

But rather, his teachers are marking them totally wrong and giving no points at all even though he did demonstrate learning.

That's a strange way to look at it, OP. Was this your experience when you were in school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'm not saying he shouldn't get points taken off for these things.

But rather, his teachers are marking them totally wrong and giving no points at all even though he did demonstrate learning.

That's like saying he should get credit for doing the arithmetic correctly but starting with completely wrong numbers. You don't get points for showing you have competency in some facet of the subject; you get points for showing you know can answer the problem in front of you.

[Anonymous]

New Poster.

In OP's defense, I would be upset if my sixth grader was being graded on coloring too. That's bullshit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Poster.

In OP's defense, I would be upset if my sixth grader was being graded on coloring too. That's bullshit.

Clearly it's part of the assignment though. If that's the assignment, then that's what you are graded on. OP's kid forgot to do part of the assignment. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Poster.

In OP's defense, I would be upset if my sixth grader was being graded on coloring too. That's bullshit.

I wouldn't be pleased about a poem assignment that required a border, but I would expect DC to put a border on the poem. It doesn't have to be colored nicely, just has to be there.

[Anonymous]

He needs to follow directions and you need to stop making excuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Poster.

In OP's defense, I would be upset if my sixth grader was being graded on coloring too. That's bullshit.

Clearly it's part of the assignment though. If that's the assignment, then that's what you are graded on. OP's kid forgot to do part of the assignment. Period.

Why should sixth graders be graded on their coloring though? What a waste of time.

OP I would complain to the principal about that.