vent - school issues. Again. sigh

[kathymuggle]

DD has her language arts book home for the xmas break.  I looked over it.  Long story short, I think the teacher is marking her harder since she found out she was gifted.  At the beginning of the year there were check marks, smiley faces, balanced feedback and decent marks.  Now the feedback is negative (or only talks about what needs to be worked on, not any strengths) and the marks are so-so.  I looked over her work and I do not think the work is the cause of the shift in marks and comments.  

Indeed, I sometimes think the teacher is reaching to make negative comments.  She commented on sentence structure and thought sentences should be moved around in a paragraph.  I looked closely at both comments, and while I thought one of the sentences should be tighter, it was not wrong, per se.  In another instance she put a question mark next to the word seeping.  The word seeping was spelled and used correctly.  What is with the question mark?  The only thing I can think of (and I do not think English is the teachers mother tongue) is that she does not know what the word "seeping" means.  Sigh.

When I looked over her work I actually felt guilty that I have shared with the school that she is gifted.  I do not think they have made any of the accommodations that are in her IEP, but there have been negative consequences of a teacher being unnecessarily hard.

[cdahlgrd]

It sounds like it is time for you to spend a day in school with your daughter and then have a meeting or 2 with teachers and perhaps the principal.  Bring up your concerns gently and without acusations or a lot of emotion.  Just try to be neutral, but firm.  It could be that the teacher has run out of time and energy and is grading everyone that way or it is just sub-concsious. 

1. bring it samples of her graded work to bring it to the teacher's attention.

2. have in IEP meeting to discuss what exactly they have done to implement her goals.

3. ask to see the testing they have done to show your daughters progress with her goals.

4. try to spend time regularly in the classroom.

5. ask what you can do to help support the work they are doing.

Just being there more, may correct a lot of issues.  The squeaky wheel and all that.

[kathymuggle]

thanks for responding.

I have been complaining and venting without doing much about - partly because DD does not want me to.

I really wish the school had done the things in the IEP without me having to be a squeaky wheel - as I do not like advocacy and I do not think I am particularly good at it.  Sigh

[JollyGG]

It occurs to me that maybe this teachers grades her students tougher as the year progresses. So basically, it's just the time of year when the teacher starts expecting more from the students. It is hard to know if that is the case and I hate it when teachers do that if that is what is going on. I would rather see consistent expectations in a classroom. I would suggest a quick check-in with the teacher and talk to her about what she sees in your daughters work and how she is doing in the classroom a well as getting your own questions answered.

Sometimes the teacher just knowing that the parents are paying attention helps.

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by JollyGG 

It occurs to me that maybe this teachers grades her students tougher as the year progresses. So basically, it's just the time of year when the teacher starts expecting more from the students. It is hard to know if that is the case and I hate it when teachers do that if that is what is going on. I would rather see consistent expectations in a classroom.

Yup, that was my first thought too. It may have nothing to do with giftedness, just this teacher's approach. I have known a couple of teachers who like to "ease" their students into the school year, and then pile things on later, with much higher expectations. I don't think it's the best idea, but I don't think it's uncommon. If you know any parents of other students, perhaps you could check whether they've also noticed a change in how the teacher is marking assignments and tests, without mentioning giftedness.  

[kathymuggle]

Could be.  The other thing it could be is that DD seems to be coming across as most gifted in Language Arts.  It is possible the teacher is marking her hard as she now knows what she is capable of and is pushing her to do more.  I am not overly a fan of this as I don't think marking people hard is the way to motivate them.  I know I was most motivated by fair and objective marking.  

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by kathymuggle 

Could be.  The other thing it could be is that DD seems to be coming across as most gifted in Language Arts.  It is possible the teacher is marking her hard as she now knows what she is capable of and is pushing her to do more.  I am not overly a fan of this as I don't think marking people hard is the way to motivate them.  I know I was most motivated by fair and objective marking.  

That is another possibility. 

What is your DD's evaluation of her own work? Does she just think the teacher is unfair or can she see some rationale in the marks and the comments?

If your DD is becoming discouraged, unmotivated or losing confidence in herself, I'd definitely speak to the teacher about whether she's being too harsh. OTOH, if your DD can understand that the teacher's evaluation is really just one person's opinion, and someone else may have other comments or feedback, then I'd probably go with a "watch and wait" approach right now.  

Is there an objective, neutral person to whom your DD might feel comfortable showing her work and getting another opinion? It won't affect her report card grades, but getting some positive, constructive feedback is probably the most valuable thing she can receive.