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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To have called the school?

45 replies

LoulouCapone · 21/10/2011 09:56

I'm waiting for the head of subject to call me back...

Dd is in year 8. Whenever she has maths homework she struggles. They don't bring their exercise books home with them, nor do they have text books. Generally it's just a worksheet. So I sit and help her. But it's not just support help, it's start from scratch help. Whenever I ask her why she doesn't understand it, she says she asks for help but the teacher brushes it off with a "I've explained it three different ways, why don't you understand it?" etc... So Dd is now embarrassed to ask.

So this week I have yet again had to do her homework with her. Tbh my maths skills aren't bad, but even I didn't understand it. It's a photocopied work sheet, with no explanation, examples nothing. No text book or exercise book to refer to, so I tell Dd as the homework wasn't due til today, she would need to go in, find the teacher and ask for help. Dd refuses. Now she says in the lesson the homework was set the teacher was being assessed by head of subject. The class were warned prior to said assessment that they were not to ask any questions during the assessment as it would look as though she (the teacher) wasn't explaining things properly. Teacher then finished by saying that if it looked like they didn't understand then they would be moved to a lower set, and 'she didn't want to lose any of them'.

As I realise kids this age do sensationalise things, I have asked a couple of the other girls in dd's class, who have all supported it. I asked them away from dd so they couldn't be led etc... It also seems she's not the only one who's struggling but afraid to seek help. Dd however was adamant she did not want me to do anything about it because she's afraid of repercussions!

So AIBU for calling the head of dept? Or should I have spoken to the teacher first? Should I have done anything at all against Dd's wishes? It's not too late, when he calls back I could just make something up, but urgh!

I don't know! I do really I guess, but I'm crap at this, but don't know what to say without looking like a total busybody! Aaargh! Help!

OP posts:

tyler80 · 21/10/2011 11:37

Is 'farmers field' the same as number squares?

I've got an a level in further maths and I still don't understand number squares

Hammy02 · 21/10/2011 11:39

YANBU. She sounds like a terrible teacher. Nip this in the bud ASAP.

Original poster

LoulouCapone · 21/10/2011 11:40

I actually get number squares! Wish we'd done it that way!

OP posts:

zipzap · 21/10/2011 11:40

Look up the khan academy online - lots of videos with maths stuff really simply explained. Start at the very beginning and whizz through until your dd gets to the stuff she needs.

They encourage you to stop and start and rerun the video until you get it.

Fifis25StottieCakes · 21/10/2011 11:42

i think it may be tyler. very confusing after being taught yourself the other way. I have googled but cant find the worksheet.

Do you lou lou. did you not keep getting confused. I kept trying to do it may way. DD knows both so ive probably just completely confused her

EllaDee · 21/10/2011 11:44

I agree with most of the comments on here, but something else struck me too - your DD's teacher is saying 'I've explained it three ways', right? I know that different children will find different explanations helpful. I can think of loads of maths lessons you could explain in different ways. But it can also be really confusing, can't it? If you're struggling to grasp the first explanation, having a second slightly different one offered next can be a right pain! IMO good teachers know this and know how to show that they are now trying a different tack. It sounds as if your DD's teacher just assumes running through three different explanations is some kind of magic bullet!

I hope you get it sorted out with the Head of Department - just thought I'd say that as it really struck me.

Original poster

LoulouCapone · 21/10/2011 11:46

Haha, dd spends a lot of my explainations looking at me with this face!

Thank you for all the reference material, my worry with looking online is that it won't be right, but I'll sit with dd and go through the suggestions together.

My friend teaches IT but did a level maths so has also offered to help!

OP posts:

TotemPole · 21/10/2011 11:48

Loulou, I think you need to be more assertive and follow through your complaint.

It's poor that you contact the head of dept. and they get the teacher to call you back.

I'd make another phone call and insist that you speak to the head of dept. Make a list of what you want to discuss before you phone.

If a pupil doesn't understand maths they need it explaining again.

Being told '"I've explained it three different ways, why don't you understand it?' isn't ok. But I would check that this is what the teacher actually said. Did they say those words, or could she have asked your DD what she didn't understand and your DD is paraphrasing? Either way, your DD shouldn't be embarrassed about asking for help again.

It isn't acceptable to tell the class that they can't ask questions and threaten them with down streaming if they do.

They should be sent home with notes or text book to help with homework.

You could also use the bbc bite size for KS3 maths

Fifis, I vaguely remember that now from DD's ks1.

Fifis25StottieCakes · 21/10/2011 11:51

lou, the school i went to had the same headmaster 3 years ago that i had. The school had a huge fund he had eccumulated but he was unwilling to spend money on euipment or the building. The school was put into measure and a given anew headmistress. Its now rated as good, had money chucked at it. The building was an old nunery and very old. Sweeping stome steps up to the library in the attic and what not but has been modernised and generally just pulled into line. The new headmistress has done a great job. It also had a never ending list of supply teachers as the teachers would just leave. No one would send their kids resulting in my dd's school having 80+ new applications each year for 30 places.

Original poster

LoulouCapone · 21/10/2011 11:56

totem I completely agree re paraphrasing, which is why I haven't addressed it before. It's not that I don't trust dd as such, but she sees everyone as being unreasonable.

OP posts:

kelly2000 · 21/10/2011 12:06

You did the right thing, this tecaher sounds incapable, and woudl probably have been nasty to the children if you went straight to her rather than actually improve. If the head of department does not sort it I woudl contact the new head. It sounds like they are more interested in ticking boxes that make them look as if they are doing a good job than actually doing a good job.

EssexGurl · 21/10/2011 12:11

DS is year 2 (primary!) and this happens to them. Apparently it is all part of getting them to be independent. They are not given anything to bring home apart from worksheets and have to tell us what they are doing. At the meet the teacher meeting before term started we were told that they did maths differently to how we would all have been taught at school, so we would need to be guided by our children. This weeks homework neither DH or I understood. However, as the teachers don't want to see or mark the homework, we didn't bother with it and so who knows what it was about.

Fifis25StottieCakes · 21/10/2011 12:19

Some sheets are helpful as long as they follow on from what they have been doing in class and support that then took back and looked at. It seems pointless really if they are not going back.

We get the odd sheets back to complete and return. They told a yr 2 pupil to guide you. Thats just does not soound right to me.

What they need to do is if they assume the work is done differently then they should imo really send a sheet back for the parents explaining the basics. I google quite a bit of stuff

Do any of yous do the big write on a Friday. We are doing that now, Forgot to add that to what comes home on Thursday.

mysteryfairy · 21/10/2011 12:29

My DS in year 10 doesn't bring the maths text book home as they are shared by a number of classes.

I bought a copy of the text book from Amazon - think it was about £20 so can understand why they don't have one per child. Anyway that solved the problem of not having access to the material - perhaps you could do similar.

The poor teacher needs to be addressed as a separate issue though.

mnistooaddictive · 22/10/2011 05:14

Textbook not coming home is very usual in KS3 as they are often used by more than one class. Exercise books should come home though.

Gonzo33 · 22/10/2011 05:27

YADNBU

I had this with a Maths Teacher in Secondary too. My Mum went to see the head of subject and ripped him new one because it gave me a mental block on maths and prior to that I had been good at maths.

This could affect your dd's future, so you have every right to get this sorted.

knitknack · 22/10/2011 06:24

As a teacher, this is my EXACT problem with homework - I try really hard to set homeworks that are scaffolded (include help and examples) and supported... but even so I KNOW that some of my students will 'not get it' and I think HOW can it be right to have so much focus on assessment for learning, support etc. in the classroom and then be stuck in this rut of HAVING to set homework, regardless of the needs of the student.

I honestly don't think that homework is necessary until GCSE, and even then it needs to be carefully thought about. Trouble is, parents complain that their children aren't given enough! I teach a humanities subject so I've started to focus on little literacy tasks that will a) not need subject-specific skills work when I'm not there to support b) help with literacy and c) not take too much time!

Sorry, rant over!

knitknack · 22/10/2011 06:27

I don't let exercise books go home, btw, last year I spent such a large amount of my time managing detentions etc for books not brought in, and they were never there when I wanted to mark them (because they were forgotten) and of course then I got complaints that they weren't marked! And since I get roughly 12.5 minutes out of my 15-16 hour's work a day to mark books it was too difficult! So now I have a no books going home policy, and i'm a MUCH saner teacher!

lifechanger · 22/10/2011 07:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

twinklytroll · 22/10/2011 07:36

It is performance management time so a head of department observing lessons does not mean a failing teacher. I often have people observing me because I am a. Good teacher not a failing one.

However this teacher does sound as if they are failing your child and therefore you need to contact the head of department. Never seeing an exercise book would concern me.

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