Disrespectful or not?

[Camelot Farms]

Quote:
Ahhhhhhhhh! Do the grammar/English teachers know this?

It seems awful to allow poor verbal skills in English/grammar to be used to increase math testing scores.

My head aches

 

[saddina]

Quote:
But it would be better (IMO) for the teacher to say it 'x minus y' or 'x plus y' instead of 'minus x and y'. If you took what she was saying literally, it would be '-xy' instead of 'x-y', so how does that make it easier to understand? That just sets them up for failure later on, in my opinion.

Oh yes it would. I'm still a bit of an oddity that I use the words sum and differance as well, I want the kids to know all the ways of being asked to add and subtract. I also take the time to explain math concepts in concrete terms, so that the kids can reason out the answers.

"if Bobby wants 5 cookies and you only have 2, you will have to get another box of cookies" (borrowing)

"If you have 4 friends and 12 cookies, how many can each friend have?"

Etc. It's funny all of my examples are food based, maybe it's because math is just before lunch?

 

[saddina]

Quote:
Ahhhhhhhhh! Do the grammar/English teachers know this?

It seems awful to allow poor verbal skills in English/grammar to be used to increase math testing scores.

My head aches

They do, they're having less time to discuss good lit, and instead having to teach sentice diagramming. We're all pretty annoyed at this point, the kids can pass the test, but they're not learning much beyond how to pass the tests.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Your son was right, but he was also being a smart alec. I think your kid probably knows that already. However, that teacher evidently did not encounter the kind of teachers I had in college. I dated several math majors (Iknow, what was I thinking

) and married one. I remember one guy complaining about a grade he got in an upper level class; fifteen points off for grammatical/English error and three points for math errors. Bad communication skills do not help with teaching, and can even be confusing for the literalists. Is minus x and y the same as subtracting, or is it -x + -y?

Give your kid a break, let him know he was a smart ass and it won't be tolerated, but explain that you understand how irritating something like that could be when done over and over and over.

 

[redhen]

Yes, i really think he was being disrespectful. Very much so.

 

[Chicken Boo]

How did you talk go? Has this been resolved with the teacher?

 

[ChickensInTheNorthWoods]

Could be worse.
When I was in highschool my algebra teacher was trying to get a point across and nobody understood what he meant when he said:
A+B=? so he decided to say boy+girl=?
Well, I answered his question and immediately won a free trip to the principals office!

 

[Dar]

its just as bad as a grade 7 english teacher saying "my bad"

and yes I corrected her in front of her peers and students,

and like my sig line says... i tend to come off strong and this is one of those times...

i told her to leave the street slang for when she is hangin out with her peeps and speak to me in a professional manner.

ok ok ok before i get flogged I know I should have worded it better

 

[Cetawin]

Tough one...

I would tell him that while he is correct, that it is not his place to correct adults. Suggest that he discuss it with her after class and do so politely. Good luck with this one. It is hard to reprimand them for being right.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I'm with Redhen on this one. I'll be the first to admit that I'm no fan of most of the teachers out there now days, but they have a tough job that I would not wish on anyone... especially now.

My son did a similar thing with his math teacher, but it wasn't in front of the class. He argued with her and proved her wrong, even raised his voice a little to make his point, when she accused him of something he did not do.

I made him apologize the next day and called to make sure he had done so. I explained to him that~yes, she was wrong. And, no~it is not your place to ever raise your voice to an elder, especially a teacher, when you are a mere 16 years old. She has a difficult job and she is not perfect, so handle these things with tact and always keep a respectful tone in your mouth.

Surprisingly enough, he agreed with me! He realized that he got a little hot-tempered over being unjustly accused and he apologized with no more prodding from me. His teacher apologized right back!

To correct a teacher in the middle of class over her grammar? Disrespectful.