Please Help...Teacher Issues

[SouthernMdRocks]

Ok here goes....
My daughter is in third grade. She has always read above reading level and LOVED to read, last year she tested at a 5th-6th grade reading level. She has gotten straight A's with maybe one B since she started in school. With the exception of handwriting which is pretty irrelevant IMO.
I got a sour taste in my mouth for her teacher at the open house as she was talking about "DIBBLES" testing (a words per minute reading test) Ashlie at the end of 2nd grade was reading 221 words per minute and was ing the teacher about it and a BIG deal was made about the fact that she could read so fast, comprehension was irrelevant in this test. The bench mark for 2nd grade is 80 something and third grade is like 150 tops. Well this teacher decides to embarass my kid in front of the entire third grade and their parents when she was emphasing the importance of comprehending during this test (something that NONE of the second teachers said was important at all) and says "I even had one kid bragging that she could read 211 wpm, well she did, she read 246 wpm, but that doesn't matter, cause she can't possibly comprehend that fast." So I had my kid home crying that evening because she couldn't read anymore and had to "get dumber". That was my first experience.

NOW any assignment that there is not a CLEAR right or wrong answer on the kiddo gets a faililng grade, all of her comments on all of her papers are negative. The kiddo can bring home a 90% with 3 or 4 negative comments on it. The teacher has mistakenly sent home papers from other kids in kiddo's folder papers which are no where near what kiddo's are but of course have better grades and no where near the negativity. I just don't get it. How do you go from straight A's to almost failing? I understand that third grade is harder than 2nd, but really?? almost failing??

The teacher's big complaint with kiddo is that she is used to hand holding and needs to be more independant in her work, she actually told me NOT to do her homework with her.

This teacher has the personality of a rock and trying totalk to her to figure out the problem is like talking to a brick wall. I am at my wit's end here and have no idea what to do.....PLEASE HELP





sidenote: Teacher went to school with kiddo's POS father, who has since been in all kinds of trouble and I mean BIG trouble, and had been arrested countless times by teacher's husband. I really wonder if this has anything to do with it....


What say you forumites???

I would have a meeting with her and the VP or Principal. If that doesn't help then ask that she be removed from her class. BTW the switch from 2nd to 3rd is a big jump, my little guy had problems at first too. I didn't like his teacher either, doesn't even have eye contact when you talk to her, but little guy and her are ok now!!! Good luck.

 

[CMC122]

I would have a meeting with her and the VP or Principal. If that doesn't help then ask that she be removed from her class. BTW the switch from 2nd to 3rd is a big jump, my little guy had problems at first too. I didn't like his teacher either, doesn't even have eye contact when you talk to her, but little guy and her are ok now!!! Good luck.

I hate when grown ups don't look at you when they are talking to you Drives me to be batty like Nomoney.

 

[nightowl]

I had a similar situation with my nephew and one of his teachers. He received good grades in all his other classes except the one. After talking to my nephew extensively about what happened during the semester I emailed the teacher to voice my concerns and ask what could be done to help my nephew improve his grade. My nephew has now went from a failing grade to an A. From what my nephew told me it was at least half the class that was failing in his class and he says now the teacher is doing things a lot different.

I would definitely voice your concerns to the teacher. I'm not an advocate for bailing a child out of a situation but if it's clear your child isn't being treated fairly then it's time to step in and at least talk about things.

I have to agree with Pete and a few others when it comes to helping with the homework. Up until this year homework has been a battle with my son but this year he's been doing it at daycare before he comes home and I've found he does it a whole lot quicker and more correct. I almost think he would struggle with it to get attention. I do look over it and unless it's full of errors I will let him go to school with one or two errors on occasion so that the teacher can see what he needs to work on.

I think we all parent differently and it's all a matter of how you want to handle your child's situation. I think asking advice is always a good thing though even if you don't always agree with what some say.

I hope things work out ok and things get better. I definitely agree with the person that said it's important for a child to enjoy school from an early age.

So did you hear back from the teacher yet?

 

[robbie]

I too had two that were very fast readers and were made examples of how fast they could read. I kept asking if they were comprehending it though and would ask that they slow them down. I have one in fourth who I am working on comprehension now because it becomes more important in the higher classes. My oldest, a sophmore, is in honors and AP and struggling a bit because of some of the comprehension problems. Please, realize speed means nothing if they don't understand what their reading. I wish some of the K-3 teachers would emphasize some more on the comprehension and do some more comp. worksheets, etc. with them at that age before its too late.
You can get free worksheets off the comp. at many sites and I do them in the summer to help.