Friday, May 8, 2009

*inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth* Then pillage.

Eldest just mentioned to me that her math class...remember, we've being having some trouble with the math teachers.....well, in her math class.....it seems that they are just winding up unit 7.

The book has 14 units.

Now this is a math teacher we are talking about.

Picture this: day one. September.

The math teacher cracks open the text book: page one. There is the table of contents. She counts the units (conveniently numbered) There are 14.

She opens one hand up and starts to list off the months, touching a finger for each: September, October, November, December, January...starting to sweat a little, she gets out the other hand. February, March, April, May, June.

She counts the fingers.

There are ten.

"Hemmmm" she thinks, "that means I need to do a little more than a unit every three weeks, lets say one every two and a half....."

Then she proceeds to take approximately five for each.

- I will grant that there were a number of substitute teachers, so this is not entirely her fault.

It is the fault of the head of studies who, despite having a brand-spanking new teacher followed up by a series of semi-competent substitutes, couldn't be fucking bothered to go and see if they are moving through the material at a reasonable pace. You know, all you have to do is check the test scores on the fucking computer. If in, say, February she is recording scores for unit, say, 5...it would seem you have a wee problem.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is teaching one-oh-fucking-ONE!

FINISH. THE. FUCKING. BOOK.


Now I get to go back into the school a.g.a.i.n.

What a bunch of damned clowns.

There are six weeks left. The text is in Catalan, no one in TO can pick up this slack.

Do you think it would be fair to ask the tutor to try to cover the last eight units in 6 hours of classes?

Lets see if he can do it, no?

10 comments:

J.G. said...

Oh dear, just when you were feeling more cheerful. Can't blame you for being furious about this!

Carla said...

Bummer!! What a shame this teacher can't get her act together. I feel your pain!

hooray said...

I hope you get this all sorted out in a way that works for Eldest.

Sorry you had to experience it at all.

Bummer!

Beth said...

School.
It makes me crazy, too.
I often wish I could just keep my kids home and teach them whatever we find mutually interesting. I bet there would be NO math, but lots of cooking lessons, sewing lessons and discussions Risk strategies.
And it would be fun, NOT crazy-making.

Good luck!!

Anonymous said...

omg - how frustrating! But I still had to laugh (sorry) your exasperation comes through loud and clear.

Beth said...

Sounds like a teacher who is in way over her head – and she’d better duck when she sees you coming! Same with the head of math studies.
Sadly, it is the kids who suffer the most from the incompetency of teachers.
I’ll bet the tutor can give it a good shot – one on one helps.

Clark said...

I've been saying it for decades: that's "new math" for you.

oreneta said...

JG, I'll get over it....just so very frustrating.

Carla, I imagine you have been in similar situations of people not doing the job they are supposed to be doing, and having to defend your child.....and their rights.....

She, I am sorry too. We'll do the best we can, that's all you can ever do.

Beth, done that and it was fabulous, they wouldn't learn a whole lot of Catalan or Spanish though.

Trish, glad you got a laugh anyway....I will in a while.

Beth, the tutor is pretty good, he should be able to do a bit anyway.

Beth, I actually say it pretty often in real life, I just try not to use it too often on-line.

CS, as in "half math"?

Anonymous said...

It's not always easy to stick up to the plan. I know that we always had problems finishing up the yearly program, because they were overloaded. We usually ended up managing to finish the book each year, but necessarily being very thorough on the last chapters...

oreneta said...

I will grant that there are classes that are sometimes hard to carry through...but half-way through the book? HALF???? There are five classes in this grade, and some are even further behind.

How is this possible?

NOT EVEN HALF in some of the classes.

Ridiculous.