Please help me turn DD's woes about her teacher into palatable things to say at parents evening

[DukesOfTripHazard]

Apparently the teacher doesn't give enough time to complete work, expects a story in half an hour for example. Then she won't mark it 'cos it's not finished, just tells dd to finish it. DD finishes but it doesn't get marked.

Crosses out whole sentences in dd's work and asks for them to be re-written in full. (I don't have such a big problem with this, but can see why it hurts dd)

dd doesn't feel listened to when she puts her hand up. Someone else might talk across her and the teacher will just start paying attention to them instead.

DD thinks the teacher doesn't really care about them, only herself.

How would you couch all this? A couple of words that spring to mind are feedback and acknowledgment. Look forward to any thoughts.

dd is 9 in year 4 btw and not enjoying this year very much.

oh dear, that doesn't sound too good. I would imagine some teacher would get defensive if you came out and made this into it being the teachers fault (even if it is) which could make things more problematic. Think I would take the tact of discussing how your DD struggles to finish the work set and do other children in the class also have this issue (even if they do and teacher doesn't admit it it will bring it to their attention as a possible problem to address). If the teacher isn't that experienced or good at behaviour management they may be not giving students long enough to do written work as they are struggling to keep everyone on task queitly. Equally to the your DD being talked over by other students - sounds like teacher might have general behaviour management issues which they could improve on (but don't think I'd say this to their face!). I think I'd also mention that your DD responds v well to praise and you'd noticed alot of negative comments on the marking. WHile you understand of course that's necessary and you arn't disputing what the mistakes are, would it be possible to include some positive praise in some comments as this would really help your DDs confidence and spur her on to work harder. It's not good practice not to do this anyway but different students do respond to different methods so informing him/her of how your daughter best responds would be useful for him/her if they are wanting to get the most out of your DD. If they are half decent they would take this on board and make adjustments.

That might be how I'd play it - very friendly and plesant and nice about it. Hopefully you will then start seeing some improvements and, if not, maybe consider having another word with the teacher or esle discussing your concern with the HT.

Um, I would say to DD that it's not teacher's job to care about her-that's yours and you do very much-teacher's job is to teach-so what is she learning?

part of teaching though tuboflard is to make sure everyone understands and to give useful feedback (including what a child is doing well as well as wrong) so that students know how to and can improve. I think Ops points are valid to be concerned about and bring up (as a teacher myself). Maybe I care too much about students from what you've said

Take the books in to the parent's evening. Or ask to have them if they are in school. Open the book, point to the unmarked work and ask why it's not marked. Then turn to the next piece and do the same. By this time she should be taking your point.
Then ask her if there are any steps you should be taking to ensure your child gets a bit more encouragement/reward/positive reinforcement.
And SMILE even if you are saying something she doesn't like. In fact SMILE especially hard when you are saying something she doesn't like.

I do think though, that part of caring is knowing the child, what they're capable of, what they're striving for. Caring = knowing too. Unfortunately, I think this teacher is teaching them not to care very much about finishing things as part of her job is to comment on finished work and she doesn't.

Thanks slowangels I do think it might be related to lack of experience. Will ask if other children have the not finishing issue. I certainly will say she responds well to praise. It's true.

Is it a class wide problem over not finishing the work or is it just your DD? The teacher cannot be expected to extend the time given if everyone else finishes and your DD doesn't. If your DD is the only one I would work with the teacher to find out why and if your DD could be given more help.

Point out that your DD is feeling discouraged and responds well to praise.

Marking wise. I'm secondary and have been told we have no obligation to mark work that is not complete when we take books in. However, most of us do mark this but it may be on a half-termly basis when we have a 'in-depth' marking session. Check with the teacher about the marking policy. If this is just a issue with this teacher she may then pay more attention to marking in future. Same goes with crossing out how sentences. When learning to write, this can actually be helpful to illustrate sentence structure, but modern theory is that you should focus on one or two main issues when marking so that students are not confronted with lots of crossing out and red pen. Again, ask about the marking policy.

Don't go in on the offensive as it is unlikely to help.

dukes when I was training/first teaching I admit there were times with some classes when I found it hard to keep them on task and working quietly on things like longer writing tasks. I also admit that the easy option was to offer students less time than perhaps was ideal simply as some children I couldn't kee quiet for long enough and they started to distract others . It wasn't that I was a bad teacher, it was just that I didn't have enough strategies to help me with these things. This could be what is happening with your DD (only a could). Making the teacher (in the nicest way possible) aware that you have this concern would bring it to the attention of this teacher who hopefulyl would consider trying/developing other strategies which over time would be much better.

I would put it like this....

I would like to ask about dds confidence in class when talking and controbuting. she has expressed concernes to me that she sometimes feels her input is overlooked when other, possibly more assertive children interupt or talk over her. Then say how this is different at home, if she is confident and assertive! can yiu request the teacher support her with a little more time to talk up and make her ideas know.

You would like to ask about dds time managment as she does not seem to finish her work. Is there need for a little extra input or time, prompting to hurry etc. Is there anything that can be suggested you do at home, ie would it help for her to do home work to a stop watch to build her speed and thought proccess. also ask what amount of writing is expected of dd in this class given that time scale of time.

I dont want to be critical but, maybe the teachers expectations of the class are not realistic. It is common for teachers to set a small time scale for a small peice of writting it gives children a disciplin to engage thought, ideas and expression quickly. often my DN has to work against the clock with times tables and writting in class.

do you feel your dd may need some extra help with this side of things. this can be done at home and at school.

I do agree it is not the teachers job to care as such for the children but a warm careing approach is always good.

So sorry slopwangels1-thought teacher was an adult and DD was 9-my mistake as a student myself.

Again so sorry-I meant slowangels not slopangels!

P.S. "DD thinks the teacher doesn't really care about them, only herself."

Thanks all useful. Will deffo have the books to reference so will check them and bring up if all is as DD says.

Tub, meant dd doesn't think the teacher cares about the class.

of course the teacher should care about the children

I wouldn't think much of a teacher who didn't

I would expect some transparency with and from the teacher about this to be honest.

it may be that your dd is capable of much better work than she is producing. be prepared to hear that aswell.

if you do you hear that dd is not focusing on her work you need to get a plan worked out with teacher of what stepps she is taking to engage your dd.
Think about what input can have at home

expectations need to be made clear to your dd that she can do better and needs praise from teacher and your self, ig this is the case.

If however dd is struggling to keep up then she needs to be reassured and they need to look at why and any extra input needs to be discussed.

tomhardy I think you've put it in a nutshell. She IS capable of better but has got used to whining about the teacher. Her teacher last year was extraordinary, totally inspiring and got them all doing the most amazing war poetry and all sorts.

I wanted to get the point across diplomaticly but also that if dd is capable then its the teachers duty to get this out of her aswell as dd making the effort.

hopfully between you all you get get her back on track.