Bad Teachers

[senseimichael]

janet_lee88:

but i never had problems with chinese teachers. they will indicate what and where is wrong and even add comments for compo.

The English teachers are supposed to do the same for compo too - indicate issues (grammar, sentence structure, spelling) and give comments on how to improve the essay.

[Mdm Koh]

Maybe instead of writing \"Why is this not marked?\", in future the parent can send an email to ask the teacher to go through the question so as to help the student to understand the answer? Or even better, advise the child to ask the teacher himself. This also fosters independence in the child and encourages him to take responsibility for his education.


As parents writing comments on worksheets may come across to the teachers as an attempt to question them and supervise their work, school teachers may feel offended by the direct comments. Bear in mind that school teachers are not supposed to be directly accountable to parents. It's not possible as there are so many parents. Instead, they are directly accountable to their HODs and principals.

I'm not a school educator, but I have family members who are, so I understand how the teacher would probably have felt when she saw the remark. Having said that, she should not have over-reacted by embarrassing the child in class. If I were the parent, I would have a talk with her about her response. If it was my comment she was unhappy about, she should talk directly to me. :nunchuk:

[vinegar]

senseimichael:

janet_lee88:

but i never had problems with chinese teachers. they will indicate what and where is wrong and even add comments for compo.

The English teachers are supposed to do the same for compo too - indicate issues (grammar, sentence structure, spelling) and give comments on how to improve the essay.

There has nvr been any detailed markings on my ds' compo b4.None.She only gave one comment at end of compo:good,need improvement,that's all

[vinegar]

ammonite:

vinegar:

Not only that,this creates a fear to the students too. Last night, i asked my ds why the teacher didn't mark this worksheet,he said he forgot to submit.So I asked him if he could submit to the teacher again.Initially,he said the teacher asked him to get the parents to chk.Then i asked him if i could put a post-it note n asked the teacher to mark coz i do not know the std answers.
Guess what? my ds cried, he said he didn't wanna the teacher to criticize his mother (mean me) like what she did for this boy,very embarassing....

I don't know what to do, so i told him to pass to teacher again,if she refused to mark,then no choice i'll get the tutor to help.Some of the comprehension questions r quite tough....

So this teacher has succeeded in controlling the students and parents. This teacher is at fault, if you know other parents, do compare notes. If you make a joint case to the principal, the teacher will have to answer to it.

My son had been on the receiving end too. We kept quiet over many incidents until things reached a tipping point. After we complained to the principal, the teacher leaves him alone - as in does not talk to him AT ALL. How is that for professionalism? Fortunately all his other teachers had good feedback on him.

The Chinese teachers have always been more professional. I think they are more specialists than generalists, and in a way, better trained.

I agree wf u. We also do not have problem with Chinese teachers.they r more responsive compared to other teachers.

[vinegar]

perhaps the school shld consider outsource the markings…


There’ll be maths test next monday.The teacher only returned the homework today.We only hv 2days to review the mistakes n revision.

[janet88]

Strange…why is it that Chinese teachers don’t give problems…they have 人情味? Other than one year that son’s teacher is a little like ORD mood…the other 5 are really responsible.

[Mdm Koh]

Hopefully MOE will do something about the workload problem. Professionals who are overworked will not be able to produce very high quality work. I know teachers who only sleep 4-5 hours every night and burn their weekends marking and planning lessons, thus giving up their personal family time.


I am sure there are bad teachers around, but for the majority who are conscientious workers, heavy workload is definitely one reason for the lack of comments on marked scripts.

[senseimichael]

Mdm Koh:

Hopefully MOE will do something about the workload problem. Professionals who are overworked will not be able to produce very high quality work. I know teachers who only sleep 4-5 hours every night and burn their weekends marking and planning lessons, thus giving up their personal family time.


I am sure there are bad teachers around, but for the majority who are conscientious workers, heavy workload is definitely one reason for the lack of comments on marked scripts.

I used to be one of those teachers. Sleeping 4-5 hours every night, weekends burnt, so that I can mark properly, give comments and plan, on top of all the stuff that I have to deal with for the school. I finally threw in the towel in 2002 and went overseas to teach (a very wise decision, to keep my teaching passion!).

Mdm Koh has hit the nail on the head why some teachers simply give up and do the bare minimum for the job, or even (gasp) less than the bare minimum. It's for the sake of their sanity.

[senseimichael]

alwayscheerfulalwayskind:

what is ORD?

Army term for \"about to leave or retire\". Teachers in that mood, well...

[senseimichael]

vinegar:

perhaps the school shld consider outsource the markings...

Perhaps only for the multiple choice questions, and only if a detailed analysis (each child's wrong questions, the class's wrong questions, etc). For sections that require writing, the teacher who teaches the class require intimate knowledge of what went wrong. My students, for example, know me as the teacher who refuses to treat a capital letter \"C\" as a capital letter if it is not twice the size of the \"h\" that follows after it. A bit anal, I know, but it fosters good habits of writing in the student.