Report cards

[mousetravel]

You are saying the Teacher's is being unreasonable because your child failed and she won't step in and fix it. Your expectations are unreasonable.

What message do you think you are sending your child?

I'm not saying the teacher should "fix it". I'm saying she's being unreasonable if my DD goes to her wanting a chance to do a project or report for a 0.1 percent credit, and she says no.

 

[NMAmy]

I understand all your opinions, but what if you had an honors kid that made all A's, except for a B by 0.1 percent? I'm sure the teacher would probably make an exception in their case.

I'd tell her that she needed to work harder next term. The honor roll is not the be all, end all to me and dd knows she has to do the work. If she didn't earn an A, she didn't earn an A.

It's actually good for your dd to learn this in 8th grade before it will effect her GPA. My dd tried to coast in a couple of classes at that point and she got a rude awakening when she slipped from an A to a C. It also made her realize that her grades and her homework were her responsibility.

By all means, check with the teacher to make sure the grade was figured correctly--mistakes happen. But I wouldn't personally be fussing at the teacher about extra credit but I would be fussing at my dd about why she got an F (or a D) to begin with.

 

[agnes!]

I understand all your opinions, but what if you had an honors kid that made all A's, except for a B by 0.1 percent? I'm sure the teacher would probably make an exception in their case.

Not always. My DD has missed getting a higher grade by a 10th of a percent.

Here's something that will make you feel better (or worse). Our county has a screwy grading scale.

A....94 to 100
B+..90 to 93
B....84 to 89
C+..80 to 83
C....74 to 79
D+..70 to 73
D....64 to 69
F....63 or below
AND
(for instance)
If the student has a 93.49, that is a B+.
If it is a 93.5, it is rounded up to an A.
AND
Honors classes are NOT weighted.
AP gets weighted by .5 more.

agnes!

 

[Mom2Nick]

I'm not saying the teacher should "fix it". I'm saying she's being unreasonable if my DD goes to her wanting a chance to do a project or report for a 0.1 percent credit, and she says no.

You cannot always wiggle yourself of out trouble and your daughter is being taught that lesson - by her teacher. Just because your daughter asked doesn't mean the Teacher has to jump and abide. If your daughter only earned a F then that's what she gets.

 

[lulugirl]

I think you were out of line e-mailing the teacher. If your daughter earned an F then she gets an F.
You are the one being unreasonable IMO.

 

[mousetravel]

Here's something that will make you feel better (or worse). Our county has a screwy grading scale.

A....94 to 100
B+..90 to 93
B....84 to 89
C+..80 to 83
C....74 to 79
D+..70 to 73
D....64 to 69
F....63 or below

Our grading system is a little different, where an F is 69 or below.
And we don't have anything like B+, C+, D+.

 

[<3WDW]

OP - I really want to emphasize that you need to focus not just on the grade but what it means - DD isn't up to speed on whatever subject this is. You need to work with her and the teacher so that she doesn't fall further behind. More than raising her grade, she needs to raise her knowledge and understanding of the subject. This is very important to learn now before she gets to high school. I don't send my kids to school to get grades; I send them to school to get an education.

 

[Kathi OD]

I understand all your opinions, but what if you had an honors kid that made all A's, except for a B by 0.1 percent? I'm sure the teacher would probably make an exception in their case.

Don't be so sure about that. This teacher would not do it.

I'm not saying the teacher should "fix it". I'm saying she's being unreasonable if my DD goes to her wanting a chance to do a project or report for a 0.1 percent credit, and she says no.

Why should she say yes, especially two days before the end of the marking period? Your DD evidently did not see fit to work hard enough during the marking period to get the passing grade and now you expect the teacher to do extra work so she can pass? In two days the teacher has to come up with a project, give it to DD and then grade it. Doesn't seem quite fair to me. Next time DD should do what she needs to do to get a passing grade, or ask earlier in the marking period.

 

[agnes!]

The thing that ticks me off about our grading system is that an A is a 94 and above, a B(and that B+) goes from 84 to 93. An A goes for only 7 points, other grades (the grade and its 'plus') stretch for 10 points.

agnes!

 

[Kath2003]

Sorry but two days before the end of the marking period and you want the teacher to spend time putting together an extra credit assignment, finding your daughter, giving it to her, having your daughter manically do it within these two days and then marking it?

Sorry, I wouldn't be doing that. She must have known she wasn't doing well; two days before the deadline isn't the right time to raise the issue. If the teachers rule is that it needs to be that extra 0.1% to not be an F, then that's the rule.

 

[luvmy2sams]

You get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

By the time you're in 8th grade, I find it hard to believe that your daughter didn't have an idea of how she was doing in the class. She's had more than ample time to be proactive and ask for ways to bump her grade up. Instead, she's now taking the initiative with only 2 days left in the grading period. If I was her teacher, I wouldn't appreciate it one bit. It's one thing to ask for extra assignments when there's time for the teacher to prepare and properly grade them. It's quite another to panic two days before grades are out and then expect the teacher to jump. Sounds like this is the perfect time for your daughter to learn a lesson. Sorry.

 

[ckay87]

Hey let me be the first to tell you I know how you feel. I have a kid who is constantly just squeaking by. I wouldn't bug the teacher about it though either. It is the first quarter (right?) and it is just one quarter. And it is just a letter. The number isn't all that low. So perhaps this can serve as a wake-up call for your DD and she'll be more on her toes the rest of the year, easily bringing up her final grade (which is what counts) to a reasonable number.

Hang in there, it's cool....we can't go to school for them.

 

[RitaE]

This is a 9 week grade, no? 9 week grades are really just a check point 1/2 way through the semester. Failing a class at 9 weeks is not the same as Failing the class and I see no reason for the teacher to jump through hoops in order to get the grade up for the 9 week report.

If it were my kid I wouldn't be obsessing so much over whether the grade was a 69.9 or heck-- even a 72 because a 72 is still a D which is not an acceptable grade for my children. I'd be saying why isn't this grade at least a solid C and what are our plans for the rest of the semester to make sure we pass this class?

 

[LuvOrlando]

-

 

[Debbie7452]

I understand all your opinions, but what if you had an honors kid that made all A's, except for a B by 0.1 percent? I'm sure the teacher would probably make an exception in their case.

I guess this isn't empathetic to the OP but my daughter is an Honor student who got all A's except for one very high B. I don't know if the teacher would make an exception because it didn't occur to me to ask...that's the grade she earned. I congratulated her for the A's and encouraged her to work harder for that last A.

My district has a "parent viewer" system where we can monitor grades on the internet throughout the year. Maybe your school has something like this? It is very helpful in order to prevent unwelcome surprises and stay on top of kids that need it.

 

[INDISMOM]

I understand being so close to not getting an F, but it is what your daughter earned.

Look at it from the teacher's stand point. Your daughter had to know once she started getting graded papers back that things weren't going well, but she didn't ask for extra credit then -- she waited until 2 days before the grading period. If I were the teacher my first thought would be, ok you have had all grading period to get help and/or extra credit and you waited until 2 days before the grades came out? Sorry, this is the grade you earned.

 

[trip]

What course is she getting the F in? Was she totally suprised at the grade or had she been warned? If she is not "getting" the material, maybe she needs a tutor.

 

[declansdad]

For God's sake, it's the first marking period!.. It isn't the final grade.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I am a teacher and I got a lot of this today when I told them what their 1st quarter grades were (quarter ended Friday). "I have those worksheets, can I turn them in now?" "Can I do that work I missed a couple of weeks ago?" "I might not be able to wrestle because I have 4 D's, can you let me do something to get it up to a C?"
And these are 12th graders! If your daughter gets a lesson on accountability and doing what she needs to do now, before it goes on an official transcript, I'd say that's a good lesson.
Also, why should a teacher have to create a topic, and then grade an extra project or paper because someone didn't do her work for the other 9 weeks?
Robin M.

 

[MichelleVW]

Don't they have an online system for checking their grades? That is a wonderful tool for staying on top of things!