Posted on 11/20/2009 1:23:02 AM PST by MacMattico
She is doing fine. Don't make an 11 yr old feel like a failure.
Enroll her in an online course from one of the many private courses and curricula that offer advanced math, and let her learn for the joy of it. You can get ideas for courses by joining a homeschool group (online). For example, Calvert School has a separate math curriculum kids can enroll in.
Also consider asking her if she wants to join a club that does lego robotics or other technical projects, and look into summer camps and summer programs for kids who are bright in math, at some of the universities.
You’re right, JenB. That’s a horrible and inaccurate statement on the part of LanceyHoward. There’s no evidence that this girl isn’t quite competent in math, and the average difference in test scores—despite attitudes like this—is very small. In fact, at this girl’s age, girls tend to do better than boys in math.
don't make a huge deal about this in front of your daughter. she's a kid. talk to the pricipal and lay it all out.
your daughter will soon learn (as all of us did) that life isn't fair all the time. she will be in high school soon and eventually college where she'll be on her own. she won't be able to call home everytime something doesn't go as planned.
i would try to fix this problem, but realize the school has many students and can't always address every single issue for every single kid.
in my job, 10% of the workforce does 90% of the work and i am not exagerating. sometimes in order to succeed you really do have to do more than you should have to. it sucks but it will help her later on. she will look back on this and laugh in the near future.
I said be kind to me because I didn’t know if I was posting properly, thank you, having never done that. And technically none of it is my fault, I’m the mom not the test taker or test giver. So I don’t see where I’m saying ‘it’s not my fault”, etc. I just asked a question to see how others would approach the matter.
my point is that girls are every bit as capable at math on average. there are some structural barriers to girls when it comes to math but your daughter seems to be overcoming those. good luck!
They have a policy that you have to wait until you go back to school to get the work missed, just in case they are behind or changed the lesson plan. I know, dumb. But when she showed up on that first day back, she was given the test.
Reminds me of a time waaaaaaay back in middle school when a math teacher counted some of my work wrong because my 2s looked kind of like Zs. This was plain math ... not algebra. No letters were being used.
I think you're nuts to bring your personal life here. Make a decision within your family unit and stick with it. You know your limitations and strengths. Do you really want all these spoons stirring your pot?
So, your daughter is sick for a week with the flu, and she is handed a test the day she gets back and is told to take it???? WTH? I know that in my kids’ Catholic school, they are allowed time back from an illness before they are required to make up any tests (my 11 y.o. daughter just had this situation when she was sick last month for a couple of days).
Am I missing something here or is it unreasonable to allow a kid to have little catch up time before testing them on material they don’t know?
And why should a kid just ‘suck it up’ when she hasn’t had time to review the material—it’s not like she is a slacker who just isn’t doing the work.
BTW, my 11 y.o. girl is quite good at math too—she doesn’t get it from me though...her dad is an engineer. She knows who to go to for math and science and who to go to when she needs language arts or social studies help (I’m the history buff in the house, and I got straight A’s in English and Spelling in school).
FWIW the average of 88, 94, and 75 is 85.6 not 84.
Mr. Math teacher sounds like a real winner.
You can always supplement High School Classes with local community college classes. My brother’s oldest son took his SAT’s in 8th grade and scored a 1350. He was in a private school (Catholic) but they just couldn’t keep up with him. He’s in a private HS now, but during the summers he would take classes at a local college for extra experience. He took Calculus and Chemistry classes.
I say don’t put too much pressure on her and don’t run to the school administration. You’ll be able to track her progress as a parent and if you feel she’s capable of more math than the school is providing, go the extra night class or summer class route. Colleges will be impressed that she went the extra mile to supplement her knowledge.
OK, well, fine, then. good luck with that.
Ultimately I left school a year early and finished my Senior Year of HS and Freshman Year of College at Clarkson University. That program got me into a school routinely ranked between 7 and 15 on a full scholarship.
My point is, even if treated unfairly your daughter still has options. Although it made me exceedingly unhappy at the time I proved that teacher wrong. I developed a healthy resentment for people who tell me I am not good enough to achieve something which has served me well through my career.
I doubt seriously politics has anything to do with this. But the question about his daughter’s names? How unprofessional. And so unfair to your daughter. Your daughter sounds very bright and level headed. And it sounds as if she has an excellent mother. I think your daughter is going to do just fine. Good luck to both of you.
Should I have said father? Regardless, as a parent I know you must be so proud of her.
Fight the mark. Ask for a makeup test or for the 10 points back whichever you think your daughter will do best.
I would bet that it is personal, but don’t say anything to the teacher or the administrator about this, just keep it to yourself and use this knowledge to help guide you in what to do.
If the teacher won’t do either, talk to the administrator and explain her position. Explain that you requested a makeup mark, and explain why this is so important (getting tracked to higher math), exactly as you have here.
The bonus marks were 5 percent just for knowing the names of his kids? That’s rather silly. Her mark will bump up to about 89 or so.
I had one French teacher who was pulling games with her exams. She would drop a student down so that the student had to do the test, and show up at the top of the class, when the student did well on her exam, and her class average would be higher.
It took a full semester before everything got worked out. In the end, I got the mark I earned on my final exam (which was about 5 percent lower), than I had earned in the class, but it was about 10 points higher than what I had received from my teacher.
Mom :)
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