When teachers don't teach . . .

[Michelle in MO]

Minor vent here:

My oldest daughter is required to take a course called Consumer Issues for high school, as Missouri requires all high school kids to complete a course in personal finance.

I had such hopes for this course, but now, I'm not so sure, and I'm not certain whom to believe.

A week ago the teacher gave the kids an assignment to research various types of investments, i.e., stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. I believe they're supposed to fill out a worksheet with the necessary information, i.e., price of the stock, percentage rate of growth, etc.

According to my daughter, the teacher isn't actually giving them any instruction at all on where to find this information. Now, for his undergrad. degree, my dh was an economics major in college. He sat down with her one evening, and even to him, the information was unclear as to what specifically the teacher wanted.

For example, several of the students asked the teacher yesterday, "What price do we write down for stocks? The closing price at the end of the day yesterday, or another price?" According to my dd, the teacher just said, "Whatever." So, the kids are clueless as to what's going on.

Dd has literally been losing sleep over this. I sent an e-mail to the teacher, politely phrased, and asked her if she could explain some of these concepts further in class. Her answer: "I'm afraid she's agonizing too much instead of going ahead with the assignment. This morning when I was showing her municipal (city) bonds, I showed her one from Kansas City and her reply was, 'But I don't live in Kansas City.' I told her, yes, I knew that, but you could still invest in that municipal bond. It doesn't matter where you live . . . so if she's been looking for bonds from your city, no wonder she's having trouble."

Bonds was not the issue. According to dd, when all the kids ask the teacher for where specifically to find the information, she doesn't tell them (i.e., when the kids asked her what price to write down for stocks). All of the kids have been struggling with the assignment, and the teacher keeps pushing the assignment back another day because no one has finished yet.

I'm going to send the teacher another e-mail. I'll be the first to admit dd tends to overthink some situations, but according to her, the teacher isn't giving them any specific guidance on how or where to find this information.

If this is true, what am I missing? Aren't teachers supposed to teach?

We had a similar problem with the history teacher last year. When she graded essay exams, oftentimes she would simply mark kids down points on particular essays with no particular reason written down except for "No!"

Sorry for the vent. I'm going to send a follow-up e-mail now.

[JFS in IL]

Sounds like some teacher is jaded about teaching this required class. My ds has an Honors Civics class this year that is also a JOKE.

[Michelle in MO]

Sounds like some teacher is jaded about teaching this required class. My ds has an Honors Civics class this year that is also a JOKE.
Is the teacher not really teaching in that civics class, or is it not rigorous enough to be considered honors? Just curious.

I know teachers get busy, and perhaps they've taught a certain subject so many times that it's simply "intuitive" to them. But, what is intuitive or second nature to them is brand-new for some of these kids!

My dh could have helped her with this assignment, but even he didn't really know what the teacher was after---and if what dd is saying is true---the other kids are clueless as well.

Aaarrrghh!

[JennW in SoCal]

It seems to me that some teachers have a notion that a class should be "project based" and misunderstand the idea to mean that they shouldn't interfere with the discovery process by actually teaching anything, and the kids are left to find and use whatever information they can. The courses my kids had at our charter school (a hybrid that serves homeschoolers but also offers site-based courses) were like this. My youngest ds kept coming home last year complaining that the teacher did no teaching -- that he would just have them go to the computer lab and look up stuff -- and often there wouldn't be enough parameters to help them know what to look for or what it meant. No terms would be explained, no context given, no follow up discussion to cement the lesson. And this ds is like your dd and does tend to over think, and wants a meaty class, so it was very frustrating!

So, yeah, I feel your pain! My ds is not taking any of those classes this year but doing all his classes at home.

By the way, Confucius said it is the job of the teacher to show a student 3 corners of a blanket, but it is up to the student to find the 4th. I think too many young teachers only show 1 corner and think that is sufficient!

[Stacy in NJ]

Michelle, you might want to copy the principal in on the e-mail. Sometimes just know that their boss is viewing the e-mail sets a fire under the butt.

[Michelle in MO]

Michelle, you might want to copy the principal in on the e-mail. Sometimes just know that their boss is viewing the e-mail sets a fire under the butt.
Not a bad idea, Stacy! If I get another response like I did before (I just sent my 2nd e-mail) I may have to do that!

Jenn, I love the saying by Confucius! I'm afraid that, in our case, the teacher is trying to get by with showing the kids only one corner of the blanket (if that!) and allowing them to "discover" this on their own!

I'm not sure that understanding finances is "intuitive" for that many people, anyway. If it was, would we be having so many economic problems in our country? Something to consider.

[Martha]

Sounds like they could write anything they want on the blank and the teacher couldn't call it wrong.

That sure would be a quick lesson in how to ruin one's finances asap.

[swimmermom3]

Michelle, you might want to copy the principal in on the e-mail. Sometimes just know that their boss is viewing the e-mail sets a fire under the butt.

I would probably go ahead and contact the teacher again but not copy in the principal unless you do not receive a satisfactory response. I find it easier to attempt to work with the teacher first. Copying the principal puts the teacher on the defensive. You may need to work with them again later in the year.

Our high school uses a proficiency-based grading system. For example, my dd aced the writing portion of a Spanish III quiz but missed points on the fill-in the blanks. (The directions were very unclear.) She will need to retake that portion again. If she fails to get all of them right, she fails the class. It's a ridiculous way to start a term. I wouldn't bother to return to class. Stated another way, if the kids score 95% on the test but the skill they missed is a proficiency skill, they do not pass the test. They must take that portion again. It takes every bit of finesse and tact I can muster to cope with proficiency grading.

Good luck!

[Jane in NC]

What is the teacher's background, Michelle? Could it be that she does not understand finance and thus could care less which stock price is used? I consider myself to be a relatively savvy consumer, but I don't think I'll ever understand the bond market. Nor would I expect a high school student to figure this out on her own. Yikes.

I wonder if the school views this state requirement as a hope to jump through but, since it does not show up on the standardized tests, is minimalized in importance.

Good idea to go through the principal, especially since you are paying for your daughter to be in this school.

Jane

[Michelle in MO]

Lisa, your advice makes sense: I will wait to see how the teacher responds to my second (polite) e-mail. I do want to give her a chance. But, if that fails, I think I should contact the principal.

Jane, I'm not sure what the teacher's background is. She's listed on the school's website as the Business teacher, and teaches other courses, i.e., a web design class and I think perhaps two more.

It may be that the school views this as a "hoop" to jump through but doesn't really care how it's taught. If dd is correct (which I think she probably is, but am willing to make allowances that I'm hearing this information second-hand), it doesn't sound like the teacher is giving them very explicit directions at all. According to her, all the kids are behind on this assignment.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's minimized in importance because it doesn't show up on the standardized tests. In this first education course which I'm currently taking, they've addressed the issue of standardized tests. Although I disagree with the text in many areas (which is one reason why we started homeschooling in the first place!) I would have to side with the teachers on issue of the abundance of standardized testing. According to the text, teachers feel very pressed to "teach to the test", which is something we never did while homeschooling. (At least, we never structured our curriculum that way; we taught, and then when the oldest had to take the PSAT and ACT, for example, we used a review guide for that. Otherwise, I never paid attention to trying to teach to the test.) Teachers spend so much time teaching to the test that so much in the curriculum is lost, and so many subjects don't get covered.

But this problem is supposed to be lessened at private schools---so I'm wondering, what gives? Most of the teachers there do a decent job. The science teacher is great---very high expectations---but she does indeed teach. However, there are a couple that I think are perhaps just waiting for retirement around the corner . . .

I hope to hear back from her sometime today; either that, or find out from dd that the teacher actually did give them some specifics on the assignment.