Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 10:17     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:So teachers are criticized for grading too easily and too hard. And we wonder why there is a teacher shortage?


To be fair, it's by different sets of parents.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 10:16     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Or itt could be something wrong with the way the students study (or more likely, don't study).

One of the classes I teach is non-honors and there are two A's among the 55+ students. These students are always on task, do all the in-class practice, do all the homework and study for quizzes and tests.
Most of the others put their pencils down and get on their phones the moment I've finished the lesson and it's time to practice. Some don't even bother taking notes. If you try to take the phone away, they argue or put their heads down and sleep. They don't do the homework at all or copy the key. They don't review on review day and copy the review key to turn in. Then they whine about their grade.


Maybe you don't inspire them to want to learn. Maybe your lessons are boring and rote. Maybe you just don't connect with the majority of your students.


Parent here, and sorry but that's no excuse. Even if that's all true, sometimes in life there are annoying hoops and you just have to jump through them like a circus poodle to get to your goal. If you can't learn boring and rote things how are you going to deal with on-the-job training videos with quizzes at the end?
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 10:14     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Class Grade Distributions should be available. Current and past. Trends should be of interest, there for all to see, by class, by teacher. Obviously, not identifiable by student. There needs to be transparency ... Ms Jone's 5th period class has half the students failing. Gee, something's wrong. Could be student performance. Too often parents think, certainly someone ... Dept Head, Principal, someone is paying attention to class grade distributions, at least periodically.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 10:01     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.


Dear parents:
Stop coddling your children. Stop telling them that if they get bad grades, it must be the teacher's fault. Help them build the character they will need to work hard and be successful, not be whiny, lazy and living in your basement when they're 35.


LOL. A bad grade means they will live in my basement when they're 35? I hope you're not a teacher with that logic.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 10:00     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:I’d loooooove to see parents come in to model lessons.


Well, parents aren't teachers. I don't have your education and experience. So that would be a dumb thing to wish for.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 09:59     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.


I agree, unfortunately. My kid is NOT dumb and has always been all As and all AP/Honors classes.

This year there is an AP teacher who is just terrible. Assigns videos to learn the content. Says before tests that she made the test as hard as possible and there will be some tricks AS WELL as things she didn't teach. WTF? The class has had several tests where the entire class failed. Like, spectacularly failed. And she gave the entire class retakes. How is that teaching? The kids hate her. The parents hate her. And, she has single-handedly killed my child's love of the subject (a stem class where DC got an A in honors the year before).

Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 09:57     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:I’d loooooove to see parents come in to model lessons.


Agree! I teach elementary and sometimes I feel like I’m a one-woman circus with how much I’m trying to engage them in the lessons. But I can’t compete against a PS5 and YouTube, so I lose.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 09:55     Subject: Poor teaching skills
I’d loooooove to see parents come in to model lessons.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 09:38     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Or itt could be something wrong with the way the students study (or more likely, don't study).

One of the classes I teach is non-honors and there are two A's among the 55+ students. These students are always on task, do all the in-class practice, do all the homework and study for quizzes and tests.
Most of the others put their pencils down and get on their phones the moment I've finished the lesson and it's time to practice. Some don't even bother taking notes. If you try to take the phone away, they argue or put their heads down and sleep. They don't do the homework at all or copy the key. They don't review on review day and copy the review key to turn in. Then they whine about their grade.


Maybe you don't inspire them to want to learn. Maybe your lessons are boring and rote. Maybe you just don't connect with the majority of your students.


Would you like to come in and model some lessons for us?
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 08:04     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Or itt could be something wrong with the way the students study (or more likely, don't study).

One of the classes I teach is non-honors and there are two A's among the 55+ students. These students are always on task, do all the in-class practice, do all the homework and study for quizzes and tests.
Most of the others put their pencils down and get on their phones the moment I've finished the lesson and it's time to practice. Some don't even bother taking notes. If you try to take the phone away, they argue or put their heads down and sleep. They don't do the homework at all or copy the key. They don't review on review day and copy the review key to turn in. Then they whine about their grade.


My kid does assignments, comes to reviews, homework is always done. He also has a tutor. Summative is 70% of his grade. SEVENTY. Homework and study guides are the remaining 30. Maybe don't put such a big emphasis on tests.


You do realize that if your little snowflake makes it into college, 80-100% of their grades will be tests. There are no retakes and no minimum grades. Some classes it’s midterm and final, that’s it.


Not really… colleges have adapted to the new generation of slackers. Lots of attendance grades and reading quizzes now because it’s the only way to get kids to do anything.


Most of my son’s classes are 75% exams (midterms and finals). My DS said kids are asking professors for retakes because many of them have never taken cumulative midterms/finals and they are bombing them.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 07:43     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.


Non-honors kids tend not to be great students. Most aren’t even good ones. They are the ones with higher absences, lower motivation, etc. You’ll see more of them sleeping or on their ones or with AirPods in. Sounds like the teachers you are complaining about are giving these students what they’ve earned.


This. Very few strong students take non honors.


Well, I wouldn't them "strong". Quite a few so-called "gifted and talented" have tutors across the board. So they are not using their brains exactly, they are not THAT smart, more like coached well.



Doesn't matter what you label them. As far as a teacher is concerned, whether coached or strong student, the work gets done and they usually receive a decent grade.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 07:42     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Or itt could be something wrong with the way the students study (or more likely, don't study).

One of the classes I teach is non-honors and there are two A's among the 55+ students. These students are always on task, do all the in-class practice, do all the homework and study for quizzes and tests.
Most of the others put their pencils down and get on their phones the moment I've finished the lesson and it's time to practice. Some don't even bother taking notes. If you try to take the phone away, they argue or put their heads down and sleep. They don't do the homework at all or copy the key. They don't review on review day and copy the review key to turn in. Then they whine about their grade.


My kid does assignments, comes to reviews, homework is always done. He also has a tutor. Summative is 70% of his grade. SEVENTY. Homework and study guides are the remaining 30. Maybe don't put such a big emphasis on tests.


You do realize that if your little snowflake makes it into college, 80-100% of their grades will be tests. There are no retakes and no minimum grades. Some classes it’s midterm and final, that’s it.


Not really… colleges have adapted to the new generation of slackers. Lots of attendance grades and reading quizzes now because it’s the only way to get kids to do anything.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 07:38     Subject: Poor teaching skills
So teachers are criticized for grading too easily and too hard. And we wonder why there is a teacher shortage?
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 07:27     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.


Dear parents:
Stop coddling your children. Stop telling them that if they get bad grades, it must be the teacher's fault. Help them build the character they will need to work hard and be successful, not be whiny, lazy and living in your basement when they're 35.
Anonymous
Post 04/18/2024 07:13     Subject: Poor teaching skills
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.


Non-honors kids tend not to be great students. Most aren’t even good ones. They are the ones with higher absences, lower motivation, etc. You’ll see more of them sleeping or on their ones or with AirPods in. Sounds like the teachers you are complaining about are giving these students what they’ve earned.


This. Very few strong students take non honors.


Well, I wouldn't them "strong". Quite a few so-called "gifted and talented" have tutors across the board. So they are not using their brains exactly, they are not THAT smart, more like coached well.