Teacher's comment

[TXmom]

What do y'all think about this? I was discussing a low test grade my son made with his LA teacher, and she said "...a 40% on the test! I take that personally - I'm a better teacher than that!"

[AnnW]

I don't know the tone, but it wouldn't bother me. I think she was acknowledging that somehow she failed him..that she didn't teach him the material good enough.

[Jeff]

Yep I took that she was internalizing the result too.

I suppose if she is really manipulative she could be setting the stage to open the door so that admin takes a look at the other scores. If the scores show all the other students doing fine then she might get them to take the next mental leap and conclude the issue must be with your son...I would think this one would be a definite long shot though

[TXmom]

Really? I'm might be way off here, but I took it to be a complaint of my son. Sort of like "I'm a good teacher and so this grade must be the result of him, not me." Which might be true , but is that an acceptable comment for a teacher to make?

[AnnW]

I guess because I have so many friends that are teachers and have heard them say this, it wouldn't upset me. Most of them have said how it really upsets them when they see a kid get a bad grade..how they wonder what they did wrong, why the kid didn't "get it".
Did you ask her what she meant by the comment?

[kat]

This is a good thing. She is saying that she did not do a good enough job presenting, explaining, teaching, etc. the material in a way that your son would have understood it better and as a result made a better score. I see her taking full responsiblity for that score since she did not say, "if little johnny would pay attention more and study harder, he would have gotten a better score".

Sounds like your son is lucky to have a teacher who recognizes that she is responsible for low test scores.

[TXmom]

No, it was her parting shot as she walked out the door. We're having another meeting next week to discuss that meeting. I left in tears. One of the assistant principals stayed afterwards and I asked him if this particular teacher was always so hostile. He kind of caught himself real quick and then went on with the usual "well, she's very direct and she's really a good teacher and she's got lots of experience........".

[AnnW]

Well, there ARE jerks! LOL Hope you get it all cleared up. Sorry the meeting was so rotten.

[Mickey]

It was a bad statement to make, imo. Sounds like she's focusing on herself instead of your ds. If it were truly about her feeling like she failed him, she would have said, "I feel like I've let him down, Donna...what can I do to help him learn the material better? How does he learn best?" etc.

[Diane]

Originally posted by AnnW
I don't know the tone, but it wouldn't bother me. I think she was acknowledging that somehow she failed him..that she didn't teach him the material good enough.

This is exactly how I would have taken it. My youngest dd is always telling me that a few of her teacher's always say that when his students get bad grades he takes it personally... that HE'S not doing a good job teaching/explaining the material. Their grades are a reflection of his teaching skills. :) I think she could have made herself a little bit more clear and not left you standing there wondering what she meant by her comment. :)

Diane...