Reply to How do I handle this? Teacher gave kid F for questionable reasons. (Long)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. To be clear: I never assume my kid did no wrong. He is not being told hes the victim here. He HAS been told that if the grade didn't make sense to him then he needs to try to understand the why behind it. He couldn't figure out what got him F territory. We discussed. I asked specific questions. He didn't remember anything egregious that seemed like an F. Turns out his teacher talked to him once during class to say "it's not appropriate to joke about hitting someone if they don't cut the pancake right". Teacher said she knew he wasn't serious but had to say something because his comment was not okay. (Yep, I agree, and understand that's where she deducted a few points for teamwork.) Telling funny stories was not mentioned at all nor did she say he was otherwise disruptive during the class. (I asked for detail.) I do think she overreacted to a 6th grade boy burping, and her consequence of choice was an immediate 20% loss of his grade. I don't believe it's appropriate to say a kid got a zero on something you wouldn't let the kid do. (Not just for my kid, but for any kid.)

I did not challenge his grade but I did ask for explanation. She claimed the first entry (F) was an input error and the second entry (D+) was the corrected grade. I told her I appreciated her explanation. She made clear she didn't think any of it was a "big deal" and wouldn't want my kid or us to have that impression. Okay, whatever she says.

My kid will be talking to me about exactly why he has a D+ and I will indeed hold him accountable (haven't done so yet because I've been out of town since Sunday). I certainly won't be telling him that he's been horribly wronged or the teacher is stupid or unfair or just doesn't get it or whatever other excuse could be made. I'll be telling him this is the way it goes and there are specific reasons behind her grades. It's fine if he thinks it was excessive. Good learning opportunity that knowing your audience matters and even "minor" misbehavior matters, sometimes more than you might expect. But he will get the message that the teacher was not the only one in the equation - it was his behavior to which she was reacting.

All this said: I do plan to talk to the guidance counselor about the FACS teacher's grading approach and ask whether that's aligned with the school's expectations. I am NOT asking for a grade change. My kid will never have this teacher again. But having heard from other parents at the beginning of the year "oh, she's so awful" but later hearing from a school admin "she's not a teacher we get a lot of complaints about", I do want to bring it up. Not because it will have an impact on my kid (he is blissfully out of there now) but because I think parents have some responsibility to raise questions or concerns even if their kid is no longer going to have the teacher.

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Your kid has zero recollection of being forced to sit out the last five minutes of the lab? Or are you just glossing over the fact that he lied to you?[/quote]

OP: I am largely very sympathetic to you. You inquired about a grade and found out that she basically made it up. (Or is an idiot, whichever. Between the "I randomly entered points deducted v points earned AND getting that number wrong, I personally think your original intuition that this was just vindictive was completely correct. Out of curiosity, was -8 exactly what he needed to tip his grade to a B or would -7 have done it? Genuinely curious.) BUT: Is there an explanation for the fact he didn't mention he had to sit out clean up entirely? Because that's VERY different than your original post where he said the teacher didn't really give him any warnings/interact with him about his behavior AND you said that he specifically mentioned he cleaned his materials. (I can understand him not mentioning an offhand comment not to say XYZ if it didn't seem serious in context, but not mentioning that he had a 5 minute TO?) In short, unless you think there's an explanation other than he lied (and maybe there is), it sounds like he blatantly lied to you... I would be more worried about that aspect. (I totally agree with you that the punishment for a burp shouldn't be your grade maxing out at 80%, but that's a different question.)[/quote]

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