How do I deal with this lazy teacher?

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GrannySmith111

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I'm in my sophomore year of high school right now. I am taking an elective called "Communication Systems". The class is basically a waste of time. The things we learn about are just pointless and stupid. I don't know why I chose this class and neither did everyone else in the class.

To make matters worse, our teacher is extremely lazy. She seems like she has no desire or passion to teach AT ALL whatsoever. I've spoken with some people who have had her in the past for Art, and they all tell me that she is pretty lazy.

So far, I have a 53% in the class. A LOT of people in our class have bad grades. I'm not the only one. The main reason for this is because I have 3 zeros in the class as well as the pre assessment that everyone got an F on. She has not showed up to class for the past 4 class periods. During those periods she assigned us some busy work crap that we all had to do. I guess we were supposed to share it with her over google docs even though she told us nothing but a lot of people have zeros for the three assignments. There was a stupid "alphabet project" we had to do over the course of 3 days. Even though I finished it completely I got a 40% on it overall. She apparently takes off points if you roll around in your chairs or talk.

There was a pre assessment she gave on 9/9/13. I mean I'm assuming pre assessments are supposed to analyze your prior knowledge and shouldn't be graded but she graded it anyways and put it in the grade book. She just gave it back today and obviously nobody got over a 70% on it. When I asked her if she actually put the grade in she just yelled at me "Yeah. That's why you need to work hard to bring your grade up." What?

If you don't wanna read all that stuff I just wrote: She's a lazy teacher. No passion for teaching. Instead of grading the work that she gives on the quality of the work, I feel like she judges the STUDENT and gives the grade based on that. She even admits she takes off points for "rolling around in chairs" or "excessive socializing" as I stated. Obviously, there are many flaws in this. First off, NONE of my other teachers or any other teachers I've had does this LOL. Second, there's probably a lot of bias, unfair judgement, and misunderstanding with this. She sits at her desk and I see her looking at people around the class writing stuff down. Okay, you obviously cannot hear what they're talking about. It could be about the work you just assigned. It could be about anything.

What do you think I should do about this? Should I even be worried if this is just an elective? If so, what do you guys think I should do? I'm not the only one in the class with a bad grade. Her way of grading is just pathetic.

Have I tried speaking with her about grades? Yeah... What does she tell me? "I don't talk about grades during class because I have other stuff I need to do. Talk to me after school or before school." That's what she told me when I asked her why a pre assessment was graded.


If you guys want, I could take a picture of my gradebook and show you guys. The explanations she writes for some of the grades is just pathetic lol. If you guys want more information or specific assignments that are BS I'd be happy to tell you. I don't wanna fit all that crap into one long thread.
 
Get a group of other students in the class together and take your complaints to the principal. Everyone needs to write down the problems as each of you see them before you go and speak respectfully but candidly about the problems in the class. If that gets you no where then parents need to start calling the school. I dealt with a teacher last year for my son who was grading him and pretty much everyone else unfairly because he wasn't even getting in their assignments entered into the computer and the assignments were shown as missing when I had helped him complete them and knew better. It got ugly by the time it was all over, but unfortunately some teachers don't care and everyone else pays for it. Parents need to help out sometimes.
 
I have one other friend in this class who probably genuinely cares about their grade like I do. There are SEVERAL others with horrible grades in the class and I know for a FACT they know she's lazy and agree with me, but I highly doubt they care enough to come with me to the principal about this.

This would be much easier if she graded everyone like this but there are some people in the class, mainly the super quiet ones that do nothing but work. She gives them good grades. There are also 3 kids with disabilities I doubt she would have the heart to grade unfairly.

Yeah, I wish my parents would help me out. I feel like my life is a mess right now. First off, my dad is GONE from my life ok. GONE. He probably wouldn't care if our school got NUKED. He's out of the picture. My mom on the other hand speaks zero English. Not to mention on the homefront right now, she's been yelling at me for not cleaning my room and a bunch of other crap. First off, I have no time to clean my room when at school I'm dealing with this LAAAAAZY teacher, and all the other classes and homework i have (I take AP World history and it's not easy). Second, my room is probably 100000% cleaner than many other people's rooms. She got mad at me since I put my binders in my closet on the floor against the wall. I could CARE LESS about where I put my stuff when I have all this other crap to deal with. If you look at my other posts, I probably have like zero true friends I hangout with outside of school. My friends I used to hangout with are turning into retards. I've decided to move on with them for now.

Honestly, I consider myself pretty darn lucky I haven't turned to drugs, sex, violence etc. like other kids i know to relieve my stress and do during my free time. Although I have absolutely nothing to do during my free time, I just stay inside and play video games. Yeah, not ideal but WHAT ELSE CAN i DO??? My mom is working on weekends. I have to watch my little brother 90% of the time. No friends to hangout with. Whatever, moving on.

I was thinking of speaking with her and my friend about the problem. Asking her why she grades this way and why I received a bad grade for "not utilizing class time because of excessive socializing" (same copy and pasted stuff my friend got) even though we both finished our projects in the end. During the project and presentation we had today (BS assignment btw. 100% sure this was just busy work. Seems like she mainly graded the whole class on how good she thinks each kid is. Actual assignment was just fluff with no real purpose. Everyone's assignment basically looked the same. I saw her sit at her desk looking around at people working and writing stuff down) I tried to ask her what we were supposed to do after we were all done. All I asked was "Mrs. _____, what do we do after we're finished with everything? Our group is done with everything". I know, pretty stupid question and even I knew that. I just wanted to ask to see what she would say. All she said was "Think real hard before you ask me a question". That's what she tells everyone in the class. I guess she hates answering questions, but why would you pursue a career in teaching then? So after "thinking real hard" I asked the same question in 5 minutes just to see her reaction. She covered up her ears with both fingers and ignored me like I wasn't even there. Just makes me so angry that an adult this immature is deciding our grades, more importantly MY grades and giving me bad grades for "socializing" when she's acting like a child. Even more frustrating, she's grading very judgmentally. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I have never had a high school teacher take off this many points just for "socializing" and not "utilizing time" properly. The only teacher I've seen done this, who was ALSO extremely crazy took off 1-2 points on a test when other kids were talking. That's a different story. This teacher I have gave me a 70% for "socializing" and not "utilizing time". My friend got the same comment but got 80%, same explanation. YOU ARE SITTING AT YOUR DESK STARTING AT KIDS LIKE A HAWK. It's so OBVIOUS she hardly looks at our actual work. Did I mention she skipped 4 class periods, and during those periods gave us BUSY WORK as usual to do. She was not there to tell us what to do when finished or where to turn in. However, on the last day she was absent the substitute teacher wrote on the board she wanted us to share with her on google docs. I've done that and still have zeros for the assignments.


I apologize if you guys don't understand what the heck I'm typing lol. It's hard to describe everything over forums. If you need anything clarified at all or have questions, please let me know.

Right now, I'm thinking about talking to her with my friend after or before school or at least attempting to. Asking her about why I've recieved these grades and trying to tell her that I'm legitimately doing my work during class. I've considered asking one of my better teachers for advice but I'm still thinking about that one. I UNDERSTAND that talking to the school administration may not work. She has a sister who works at this school as a PE teacher. They might decide to side with her for all I know. What I need to do is discuss the issue as calm as I possibly can, no matter how frustrated I may be. Even then, I still have my fears that since the administration has no idea what's actually happening inside the class, they might just dismiss my claims.

Thanks for the advice. I hope you understand what's going on.
 
Yeah I get it. If you aren't comfortable going to the principal and asking for help (I still think you should, because if your complaints sound familiar as something another person or a parent of another student might have complained about this teacher will start to look really guilty of bad behavior) then perhaps you should try to be the silent working student she expects if your grade means enough to you. You know she prefers this kind of student, so be one. You have other classes to socialize in that won't get you into as much trouble. You might hate the idea but it may be your only option if you want to improve your grade. Mess around in someone else's class if you really feel the need. (Adults I know this isn't good advise but come on, you were a teenager once too!)
 
GrannySmith111 said:
"I don't talk about grades during class because I have other stuff I need to do. Talk to me after school or before school."

Do what she said - ask her before or after school. Also, if she doesn't like you talking/socializing in her class, don't do it - just do your work.

Id try those two things before I'd go to another teacher or administration. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have your friend with you when you speak to her, since you both have the same questions.

If she refuses to meet with you in a reasonable amount of time, then maybe consider speaking to someone else about the matter.
 
In my university, at the middle of the semester, we were handed a form in which we graded every one of our teachers. We had a lazy professor fired because he treated us exactly like yours. I understand that you don't have any system like that, though, so I will support the other posters' advice, get together as a class and complain to the principal.
 
I really don't want this grade to go on my report card, which is coming out in about a week. Next week is the last week.

Still no grades put into gradebook from what I see. We have access to the grade book online. I am going to speak with her tomorrow and see how it goes.

If she decides to be stubborn about her grading and just keep my grade, what should I do then? My parents are nowhere to help me. I feel like going to the principal by myself won't mean anything except I'm the only one doing bad in the class.

Be the silent working student? I try to do that. Obviously, everyone talks in the class unless they don't speak English or they have something wrong with them. Not everyone is perfect. That's why her way of "taking off points" for behavior and grading based on judging the student is just wrong. She just jumps to conclusions and makes judgements about people. It's kind of like "that kid looks like he's bad and talks a lot, I guess I'll just take off points since his work probably won't be good anyways". On the day of our little "alphabet project" I got a C for, I wasn't even talking. In the end, I still finished my project like everyone else. There were people who probably didn't even finish lol.

Lastly, the pre assessment that was graded apparently. Who in the world grades a PRE assessment? She gave us this assessment on the second week of school. When I confronted her about why it was graded, she just told me "If you work hard enough, you should be able to bring your grade up. The assessment doesn't count for much of your grade anyways". This assessment should NOT be graded in the first place. Not sure if she's even allowed to do that lol. It's 100% impossible to get a good grade on a test we've learned NOTHING about, and the scores prove so. Should I mention this if I talk to another teacher or administration?


Another idea I just thought of myself, my dad (when he was around) did this for my teacher in 3rd grade he thought wasn't doing her job. He emailed the teacher and forwarded their conversation to the assistant principal. Eventually, I believe that the assistant principal got involved and had a chat with the teacher about me in the class.

You guys think this is a good idea? Any ideas about stuff I should say?
 
Isn't there someone at school students can speak to about things like treatment, concerns, etc? If enough students come forth about her teaching methods, you may have a case. Communications systems sounds like the kind of class I could help you with if you'd like, though.
 
I'm sure a 5th grader could take that class and pass. Again, I swear to you ITS NOT ABOUT ME NOT KNOWING THE MATERIAL. The teacher is SO FREAKIN apathetic. Like honestly she doesn't care! She doesn't act like she does and when I attempt to speak with her in a normal tone, she will just ignore me or tell me to "think hard" like she tells the other students. She will hardly listen to my question sometimes!
 
I did during Flex, (free block during school). Gave me a whole long rant on why our assignments were not graded.

This is gonna be long.

Google docs. It's what we use to submit assignments in that class. In the beginning of the year, we all made accounts and logged in and made folders. We were supposed to submit assignments to her via google docs. The project I have a 40% on, I had submitted via google docs and I am certain of it. Those 3 busywork assignments she gave to us while she was absent, she never told any of us so submit using google docs. Obviously not since she wasn't here lol. On the 4th day she was absent however, that was when we noticed she gave us flat out zeros for the assignments. Finally, the substitute wrote down on the board how she wanted us to submit them. We all did submit them via google docs and continued on.

When she gave me the long rant about why I was missing assignments, she told us that we submitted them in the wrong folders. There was supposed to be ONE folder A, and within that folder there were to be Folders B and C, each containing different assignments. Lot of us in the class were confused, (I assure you, she barely even explained this to us clearly before) so we had Folder A, and then folder B within A. Then we had another folder that contained assignments. Regardless of the wrong folders, ALL OF US STILL SHARED THE ASSIGNMENTS WITH HER AND THERE WAS NO REASON REGARDLESS OF WRONG FOLDERS SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE RECEIVED THEM. No idea why the heck the order of the folders affect whether or not she receives the documents.

Regarding the "rolling in chairs" and "talking in class" crap and me asking her why I got points taken off, she just told me in an angry tone that she sees me talking during class. This affects my ability to work and produce quality work so she says she takes off points if she sees us talking. I asked her "So you're saying that because you see me talk, it automatically means that my work is crap" but she just cut me off and told me to be quiet.

With the google docs assignments, she said those were going to be late grades and we would receive a 75% MAX even though we've submitted these a while back. Not to mention the fact that she wasn't here for FOUR CLASS PERIODS to explain as well as the fact WHEN SHE IS HERE she seems really unconcerned when explaining stuff anyways. Ask anyone in my class. I have a math teacher before her block who is OUTSTANDING at teaching. You can tell he truly wants us to succeed and it shows in his tone, posture, and attitude. Put that side by side with my electives teacher and it's COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

Honestly, If i could talk to you guys in person I'd be able to fully vent what's going on in that class.

Btw before this I just made a new thread about what happened today.
 

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