Poor Teaching Style: How to Approach with School

[BruFord]

I’d like some advice on how to approach an issue with a teacher’s explanations and delivery in the classroom.

DS has always been strong in Maths, never any issues until now. He has a new teacher this year and after the first lesson, he came home and said that he was struggling to understand the concepts, that his teacher spoke very fast and rambled. We assumed that he was simply getting used to a new teacher and new material after the holidays so advised him to give it time and see whether things improved.

DH and I then attended a Back to School night where parents can meet their children’s teachers and find out about this year’s curriculum. As soon as his Maths teacher started his presentation, we realized exactly what DS meant- the teacher speaks very quickly and jumps around from idea to idea. We had trouble following a simple explanation of what the children will learn this year and I could see that other parents were struggling.

DS was in tears last night saying that things haven’t improved and that he leaves every class without understanding the material. If he reviews it at home, however (and sometimes we help explain concepts), he understands.

We clearly need to speak to the school and request that he’s moved to a different class.
How do we diplomatically say that the delivery/teaching style is the issue?

The teacher is new to the school and we don’t want to be unkind.

You can try asking to move classes but they will probably say no because they can’t move everyone out who complains about a duff teacher.
You could say that your DS is struggling to follow the lessons and the explanations are confusing which may trigger observations and support for the teacher to improve their teaching. But I would also ask for resources to support at home.

When he is confused is he asking for help?

@noblegiraffe Yes, he is asking for help and arranges to review material during his free periods. His teacher is supportive.

DS has said that a friend also wants to switch classes!

Free periods? Is this sixth form?

You can raise it with the school but in all likelihood he won't be moved. Hopefully, the school will look to address the teacher's weaknesses and improve their delivery of instruction, so that they are clearer and easier to understand.

I'm surprised any teacher is teaching in this way though.. sounds bizarre and is something that should have been addressed during their training.

Yes, we’re in the US so different system, but they also have free periods here.

This is the top set for Maths and there are only 9 pupils in the class. DS will probably be moved to a lower set if they agree to move him, which is fine.

If other pupils in this small class are having issues though, who knows what’ll happen.

@FeistyFrankie I agree, I wondered if perhaps they were nervous during the parents’ presentation at a new school, but it’s not improving.

It’s been a while and I’m in Canada but we simply explained why; communication style etc ( sadly I’m not diplomatic and wouldn’t mince words) to the school principal . Insisted on a change/spare block
DH had a math teacher at uni, within 30 min the students all got up left the class, marched into the deans office. Brilliant researcher couldn’t speak English.
You could leave him in but get a tutor.

If that's the case suspect you will not be the only ones to mention it.

Just tell the HOD that your son is finding the lessons confusing because there’s no logical flow Hopefully that will lead to an observation which will lead to a change in his style. Alternatively it might just be that this person is introducing topics that are harder than your son has met before. If your son chooses his moment, i.e. when they are no other children in the room he could ask this teacher quietly that he is finding the lessons too fast and if he could slow down in his speech.

How old?

in the UK system for example there is a big jump at age 16 and people studying a level often struggle at the start of year 12.

is it the teacher or the content?

i’m not familiar with the US system the easiest thing to do is probably ask for him to be moved.

It's unlikely the school will agree to moving your child to another class, as when word got around, at least half the class would probably also request a move. I think a fair approach would be to highlight what is causing difficulties and give the teacher a chance to fix what isn't working.

What would help your child? It's reasonable to pass these suggestions onto school e.g.

• can the teacher please speak more slowly and clearly, looking up and around the room to check that students are following;
• can the teacher please provide typed handouts/refer to the textbook page to support the oral part of of lessons;
• can they please try using presentation methods like briefly explaing what the day's lesson will be about, then conducting the lesson, then wrapping up with what was learned in the last 5 minutes
• can they have regular 'check in' moments where students can ask questions/check the understanding

This. It’s a useful lesson to learn how to manage upwards especially before uni.

Yeh, giving a school helpful tips like this is definitely going to be interpreted as reasonable and definitely not condescending and presumptuous.

How is this presumptous at all? How would you expect a school to fix a problem they are unaware of? Generally, one is taught to provide a solution when raising a problem. If you know a particular thing would improve your child's ability to learn, why wouldn't you raise it?

You can say that you're concerned about the teaching and ask the school to look into it.

Giving them helpful pointers that could come out of a first year "Intro to Teaching" module or a "Teaching for Dummies" textbook will not go down well.

You can assume that even if this particular teacher is not well trained, the members of staff managing them are perfectly aware of the basics of teaching practise and don't need parent input on how to support this teacher.

@InMyShowgirlEra lol, well that's me told! You may be right. I'd still rather go for clarity over fear of offending someone who should be keeping a better eye on the skills of their teaching staff.

If OP approaches this by offending the school and indirectly insulting the capability of the entire team then they are going to be much less likely to be interested in helping with the problem and may also assume that there's nothing wrong with the teacher and OP is just a belligerent parent.

It's a few weeks into term and the staff member is new. They probably don't have laser accurate knowledge of his skills, and that's ok

@InMyShowgirlEra It's rather a leap from pointing out that the current teaching style is causing issues to learning to accusing a parent of being belligerant. I'm comfortable with us having different points of view, but what exactly would you say? Surely you would be specific rather than simply saying "there's an issue with Mr X's teaching". It would be more helpful to say that the speed with Mr X speaks and his tendancy to jump back and forth between concepts is causing little Johnny a lot of worry/frustration, which is coming out in his behaviour at home.

@ThesebeautifulthingsthatIvegot I respectfully disagree.

I don't think you understand teaching.

You would be mistaken.

So you approach the school with the problem- Johnny is really struggling to follow Mr X's lessons and we don't feel his learning style is meshing with Mr X's teaching style.

The school can then either move Johnny, ask for more specific feedback, which OP can give, or observe Mr X and if there is a problem, address it.

You don't approach the school thinking you have a solution they won't have thought of.

As a teacher, I would want my students to (respectfully) tell me if the way I was teaching them was confusing to them. Has your son tried telling his teacher, politely, that he is talking quickly and so he is struggling to keep up and asking him if he could slow down?
I wouldn’t be at all offended if a pupil said this to me and would appreciate them raising it providing it was done in the right manner.

If any teachers were present at the presentation, they will also be well aware of this problem.

so there’s no value doing anything.

there are shit teachers out there, there’s bound to be, but as no one wants them, it’s unlikely they’ll move your son, as they’ll have 10 identical emails.

A rule I abide by, is if no one can understand what I’m saying, I need to change what I’m saying/how I’m saying it. But if 29 kids can and 1 kid can’t, then I don’t. Except from if it’s possible finding a different way for that child.

I’ve worked in a secondary school where this situation arose on occasion. If you know that other children are also struggling with the teaching style, I would recommend as many of the parents as possible write to the head of department, copying in the Headteacher.

Once the classes are set it’s difficult to move pupils, although not impossible to arrange the odd move if there’s bullying etc. However the problem here is the teacher, which won’t be addressed by moving the odd pupil.

I would say that you found him hard to follow as an adult. Chances are the teaching staff all already know the problem, & pupils have probably mentioned to them that they can’t understand him.

My old school found it incredibly hard to recruit Maths teachers, & recruited some out of desperation. They didn’t stay long.