Frown face on a 95% paper?? ~~ Updated

[piglet too]

My son (who is in 4th grade) brought home his Social Studies test yesterday and he has a frown face on it. He only missed two questions and got a 95% which is an "A." I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but it is a big deal to me!

Since when is a "A" something to frown over? My son is very smart, gets almost all "A's" (his first "B" was just this school year.) He even asked me if he should have done better, since he has not gotten frown faces from a teacher before.

If this was your child, would you call the school and talk to the teacher? He only has this teacher for S.S. and she is even a full-time sub for the regular teacher who just had a baby. Maybe I should mention it to his regular teacher first?

 

[Serena]

Yeah, I'd take it in and show the teacher. It sounds to me that she had other things on her mind when she drew it, I'd ask for an explanation.

 

[CheshireVal]

Sounds to me like it was probably a mistake. Maybe the teacher thought she was putting the frownie face on someone else's paper.

 

[dumboiu]

Maybe she made a mistake and put the smiley faces and frowny faces on the papers after she graded them?

I would certainly talk with her.........but just go in open minded.....as it could have been a simple mistake.

 

[Pin Wizard]

I usually sign the test, write my comments or questions right on it, and send it back. I always get a written note the following day.

 

[Cruise04]

I would talk to the teacher about the stigma she is passing on to the kids. She may not realize it (sometimes they don't think about that). But if he was concerned that he should have done better, that's not good. They do as good as they can and if they don't think they did well, they just need to try next time. It's all about learning and sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't. Happens to adults too.

 

[piglet too]

Update

Talked to the teacher and she was very surprised to be hearing from me as Kevin is "one of the best students." She seemed vey shocked and sorry that she made the frown face. Wants me to tell Kevin that she is sorry, but I am hoping she does it too next time she sees him. My son is very sensitive to his grades. The first time he got a "B" on a progress report, he cried about it the whole night. The "B" he got on his report card was due to a missed assignment, so he knew it was coming and why. We have always told him that we do not expect "A's", but he tells us that it is what he expects of himself.

 

[amid chaos]

I'm glad it was a mistake. I thought maybe you ought to write her a note telling her what a great teacher she is and put a frown face on it.

 

[Lisa F]

I think that rather than reinforcing the fact that a smilie face or frownie face is SOOO important to his happiness, maybe you should sit down and talk to him about doing the best that he can regardless of the feedback he gets for it. IMO the bigger issue here is not an accidental frownie, but your son's reaction to it (and to getting a B). It's wonderful that he holds himself to high standards and takes such pride in his work but I would be worried that he is already telling himself that his best may not be good enough if it's not perfect... as he gets older and goes through school and life he is going to have to learn how to take things like that in stride.

 

[CEDmom]

I'm glad it got straightened out but I still don't think a teacher s/b putting a frown face on a paper no matter what the grade. It's fine if the teacher wants to write "I think you need to work a little more of this" or something along those lines but a frown face to me is not appropriate.

 

[piglet too]

Originally posted by Lisa F
I think that rather than reinforcing the fact that a smilie face or frownie face is SOOO important to his happiness, maybe you should sit down and talk to him about doing the best that he can regardless of the feedback he gets for it. IMO the bigger issue here is not an accidental frownie, but your son's reaction to it (and to getting a B). It's wonderful that he holds himself to high standards and takes such pride in his work but I would be worried that he is already telling himself that his best may not be good enough if it's not perfect... as he gets older and goes through school and life he is going to have to learn how to take things like that in stride.

I totally agree with you. I am very concerned about the level at which he holds himself to. We want him to try and do his best, and we push that he must do all his work too. What is going to happen as the work gets harder and harder, and he may not get the grades he expects of himself? We do not want to put a total disregard for grades, as that could backfire big time.

Kevin just got home and I told him what his teacher told me. You would think I just told him that he was going to WDW the way he reacted.

 

[DisneyJules]

Sounds like a mistake to me, I'm sure she just grabbed the wrong stamp.

 

[piglet too]

Originally posted by DisneyJules
Sounds like a mistake to me, I'm sure she just grabbed the wrong stamp.

I will go along with her saying it was a mistake, but it was not a stamp, it was a hand-drawn frown face!

 

[Pin Wizard]

I don't think a teacher should be putting a frown on any paper...even if a kid fails the test! An encouraging word to help them improve on the next test would be much better.