Very scary maths teacher

[CathyCampbell]

My DD has just started at secondary school. It felt like it was going well for the first few days. However, she is getting upset in the mornings and came home upset tonight about her maths teacher. It sounds like the teacher she has for maths is extremely strict. Strict to the point of being terrifying! My DD doesnt like maths much but managed it ok in primary school and did ok in the SATs. But she's absoultely distraught at the idea of having to take maths with this woman. She said that she 'had never met anyone like her before' and felt so frightened in the class that she couldnt move. I feel so frustrated by this, everything else was going fine and she was excited about starting secondary. It feels morally wrong to be making year 7 children this terrified in their first week! My question is, do you think the school would consider moving her to another class? I feel like they will just say no, but it feels unjust and counterproductive to be so terrified of one of the teachers that you dont want to go to school. I have never seen my kind and happy-go-lucky child so upset before.

The number of typos! You'd swear I never went to school! Apologies.

@CathyCampbell I had this issue in year 7 at the secondary school I attended.

Going back years now but my maths teacher was terrifying and I used to be frightened of her every single lesson, this went on for 3 years.

She would scribble over our work if it wasn’t laid out in the format she wanted, she used to make anyone who yawned in her lesson run around outside to wake them up and it didn’t matter if it was cold.

She constantly picked and bullied students and we just put up with it.

I dreaded all her lessons and wish my parents had gone into the school, instead they just told me to ignore it.

As a result I really struggled with maths, by year 10 I was starting to enjoy it as had moved to another teacher, but I had already lost 3 years.

I saw her many years later at a supermarket and still felt terrified as a 30 year old.

I do believe she did alot of damage and because of her ways most of us suffered.

If your daughter is happy for you to have a word with the head about her concerns then I really would.

I am hoping this teacher is doing the ‘jack boot’ regime for the first weeks and will soon show her kinder self. I would talk frequently to your daughter and use humour to try and help her get through the first couple of weeks. If things don’t improve I would then think about how to tackle this with the school..this won’t be an easy option.

I had a maths teacher that was properly scary. IIRC he retired at some point when I was in Year 7 (which was so long ago was still first year…). He wore an academic gown to teach in (state comp!).

Op try to find out exactly what’s happening.

I also had a terrifying maths teacher! But she was fantastic at her job, and the lowest GCSE grade in our entire class was a B with her as our teacher.

If this is the only teacher she's terrified of, it sounds like a teacher problem. Most kids can remember the wanker teacher at their school.

Terrifying teachers are not necessarily bad teachers. Some kids respond to that and get on better with it.

Equally some cool laid back teachers may not connect with all kids.

It's good to have both. You are never going to click with every teacher. Who is good for some isnt going to work for the next kid.

Glad there are some sane, empathetic people on this post!

I also had a scary maths teacher, put me off maths for life. It was a subject I struggled in and he just couldn't see why I didn't " get it" As an adult I had some support in the subject from somebody patient and I started to " get it" more.

I think this can very occasionally be an issue with maths teachers in particular, as they are often (IME) maths geeks and a few of them don't seem to see how some students struggle. You can almost hear them thinking "why don't you see?"

I agree that this is not helpful and in fact some of the maths teachers I have known (not anyone on here obvs) should probably be given A level and top set GCSE only. Not many tho. I am absolutely not stereotyping or saying this is all maths teachers.

I have known many many empathetic and supportive maths whizzes (one friend and ex-colleague has a PhD and is the most understanding teacher).

@CathyCampbell in case you are still reading:

• I wouldn't follow this up in school just yet; maths is usually set and the sets may not be formed or fixed yet so your DD may move
• Many teachers as others have said will start very strict especially with year 7s - if this means they will behave and listen then it's not a bad thing
• It's obviously not OK for your child to be terrified; but I agree that the issues listed do not add up to that for me. "Child" well they are children and the teacher probably hasn;t got their names clear - remember they are teaching maybe 250 different students in a week so it's a lot to remember; eye rolls (see below) and sneering - not OK but not terrifying surely?
• Year 7 often do seem to regress - I agree with those who say it's a struggle to deal with the endless questions and kids bringing their book up to show you and randomly narrating what they are doing. DD tells me they used to have to ask permission to turn the page in primary school (teacher would check they had really filled the page; so as not to waste paper?) so maybe the students are not to blame
• Some teachers are more patient than others; some are nicer people; some are stronger in their subject; some are younger, some are older - no one size available
• Teachers are not a student's friend - they are there to impart knowledge, help you pass exams and inspire a love of their subject

Best wishes to your DD but honestly I would chat to her about making sure she does the right thing (and focus on that - never mind others) and tries her best.

DS2 had an English teacher everyone hated (she was DS1's form tutor and they all moaned about her) but DS2 admitted that she set them really good tasks and they learned a lot in her lessons. Even better if they had all loved her as well but that's a counsel of perfection.

Speak to the school.
Sounds horrible.