Why Can Teachers Personal Feeling Get Into Grading?

[Krayzcolt]

I will give you a quick recap before I start my rant.

My 15 year daughter had to turn in a report for her final exam in summer school english. (school ended today) the report was due yesterday (monday).

Assignment: write a report about a special skill or hobby you possess.
Give an example.

That was the full description of the assignment. My daughter wrote about the time she was 12 and visiting our neighbors daughter (also 12 at the time) Liz (neighbors daughter brought out her dads berretta 92f 9mm to show my daughter (Vivi). Vivi ask her to see the 9mm, removes the magazine and racks the slide to remove the chambered round. Then turns the weapon over the Liz's mom. Vivi tells Liz " why do I want to see that, when my dad has me help clean them after every trip to the range". Then she wrote about our trips to Burro honing her shooting skills. That is the report in a nut shell.

So, today she brings home her report and shows it to me. She recieved a c- on it, because the teacher wrote on the notes " that is not a skill" plus she said that kids should not be around guns away. This was written on the bottom corner of the report.

WTF? School is now closed until early Aug. So not much I can do, but rant.

[russ69]

You'll shoot your eye out kid....nothing new here.

[sigstroker]

Even if school were open you could rant if it makes you feel better (or your daughter) but the adminisitration would back the teacher and it wouldn't get you anywhere.

[SonofWWIIDI]

Teacher is a leftist douche!

[lilro]

Can you post the report?

The way you're describing it, your daughter said safety-checking a firearm is a skill.

[Stockton]

Written formal complaint to district administrator about the teacher. This will be on her record and compiled along with any existing or future issues. When she is evaluated they will be present. Do nothing and she will continue to bias her personal beliefs rather grade the work for what it is.

[Krayzcolt]

Can you post the report?

The way you're describing it, your daughter said safety-checking a firearm is a skill.

I think the report is to long to post. It is about five pages long in handwriting. I will try to get some good quality pix and see how they come out. She was writing about her gun skills in general, and as we all know safe handling of a firearm is the first skill we must learn. Any person can pick up a handgun, but only a skillful person can do it safely.

[safewaysecurity]

I'd like to see that teacher field strip an AR and clean it and then reassemble it. Knowinh how to do that at a young age is a SKILL worth having. Antigun teacher sucks. Take the paper to the administrators and point out the ridiculous reasoning.

[victor1echo]

I do not think she focused on the prompt. They way you describe it, it is totally unfocused -- a story about a friends mom who does not want to look at the gun. She would have been better off just stating a thesis -- My special skill is marksmanship with a 92f. You want to get back at the teacher? Transfer your child to another school because the teachers are indoctrinating the students into their beliefs. Demand an explanation from the prinicpal.

[Krayzcolt]

I do not think she focused on the prompt. They way you describe it, it is totally unfocused -- a story about a friends mom who does not want to look at the gun. She would have been better off just stating a thesis -- My special skill is marksmanship with a 92f. You want to get back at the teacher? Transfer your child to another school because the teachers are indoctrinating the students into their beliefs. Demand an explanation from the prinicpal.

I think I didn't express the report good enough.

vivi (my daughter) took the loaded 92 from Liz (neigbors daughter) removed the magazine and removed the chambered round. Preventing somebody from getting hurt or worse. Then after unloading the gun she turned it in to Liz's mother. That was 1 of her examples of her skill set.

She would not have been able to prevent an accident if she did not have gun safety skills I have tought her over the years.

[mlevans66]

First off great job as a parent.
Second teacher is a douche for adding personal feeling when grading and send a complaint to the administrator. Heck bring it up at the next parent teacher meeting to spot the libtards and suggest that legal actions may be taken if this kind of foolishness continues to happen.

[Raider888]

You daughter deserves an A+.

[jeremiah12]

As a teacher, I can give some advice on what to do based on the district I work for.

Call the school, do not assume because summer school has ended no one is around. Ask to speak with the principal or other administrator of the summer school (usually the summer school program has its own principal separate from the principal of the school). If you are not able to get through, call the district office. Let them know you need to contact the principal of the summer school your daughter attended because you have concerns about how your daughter's English essay was graded. If you get the run around, an email to the superintendent, the school board members, and some other top district level administrators will usually get the ball rolling.

If a teacher has a concern that needs to be addressed that involves doing something that helps students, nobody in the district listens. If I can get even one parent to contact the district administration with a concern, then all of a sudden they fall all over themselves to take care of it and ask me why did I not bring it to their attention before. At that time I love to show them the emails I sent to the various administrators about the problem.

This is important, do not yell, threaten, etc. Use the word concern as that is the PC word for somebody screwed up and will not own up and take care of it.

By law, the teacher has to meet with the parent to answer a parents questions and concerns about their child's school work. Now, if the parent appears to verbally harass or attack the teacher, the teacher can end the meeting and then have it rescheduled and have a union rep attend (which often is just another teacher) be present at the meeting. The union rep is supposed to only be present as a witness, to keep the discussion civil, on topic, and ensure the teacher's rights are not being violated.

You want a meeting with an administrator and the teacher, not the teacher alone; the reason, the teacher has shown herself to be an anti and just might claim you did or said something threatening. Then you will have all sorts of additional problems. At our site, we have a system where the meetings are often done with the counselor, and that can be to your advantage.

I agree with you, a teacher has to keep personal feelings out of grading. We all struggle with it. I know a lot of teachers who do allow personal feelings get in the way.

When you get your meeting, explain how properly unload a loaded weapon to make it safe to handle is a skill. If you want to get in a jab, you might want to mention that if more children learned this skill there might be fewer accidental gun deaths. Ask for the teacher to regrade it. It gives her an easy out. Some will just raise the grade to make the parent happy as long as the parent is not screaming and yelling. Also having to meet with the principal and the parent is not good. It is viewed as the teacher being unable to handle a problem without admin intervention. If this happens too many times the admin will start to make life more difficult for the teacher.

As to the suggestion of a formal complaint, if you do not get satisfaction, you can do this. It has no effect on evaluations. My personal file is overflowing with letters of reprimand because I have helped parents navigate the system and given out phone numbers to key people that bypass the front desk secretary. I still get great evaluations. Our union contract prohibits the use of formal complaints in evaluations or other personnel decisions. My student's test scores are always average in the top of the district when compared by teachers. So I bring that out when they try to up the heat too much.

Good luck.

[SonofWWIIDI]

I think I didn't express the report good enough.

vivi (my daughter) took the loaded 92 from Liz (neigbors daughter) removed the magazine and removed the chambered round. Preventing somebody from getting hurt or worse. Then after unloading the gun she turned it in to Liz's mother. That was 1 of her examples of her skill set.

She would not have been able to prevent an accident if she did not have gun safety skills I have tought her over the years.

This is exactly the scenario I pose to my "wobbler" friends with children. Once they think about "hey, billy, wanna see my dads gun?" happening at a friends house, they start to get the idea.

As I said earlier, teacher is a leftist douche!

[negolien]

Inappropriate topic for school really it's that hard to figure out?