School/Teachers problems

[325 Baller]

Heres the situation:

Spanish has never been an easy class or language for me to understand, because of this I take private tutoring for somewhere around 180 a week to try to get my grade to at least passing. First trimester I barely did this and got a C-. The teacher and I have never gotten along, I dont know what the problem is but theres something there and because of it she has a HUGE problem with me. I try to act polite to her knowing she is the teacher and eventually gives me my grades and rarley do I talk back or open my mouth at the lady in a negative manner.

Now that thats out of the way...ooo btw I also go to private school...

As 2nd trimester started (january), she began to tell us about our project instead of an exam. Late January maybe Feb, she gave us the details. She was going to orally make up 3 stories which we had to copy down and write and then we had to make 1 story up on our own and include it in a binded/neatly organized folder.

I was absent for 3 weeks, the three weeks she was reading this to us, leading up to the end of the trimester and the due date of this project. The final week of the trimester I got the flu, a very bad case I had a 104 fever for the whole week. Missed all my classes and project due dates. All of my teachers were very understanding about this and let me turn it in after our break, except for this lady. Grades had to be in today and on monday of this past week she asks me where my project is. I tell her I have my story done and am ready to present, so I do so. 23/25, great excellent. Then its time to hand in the book portion. Well I never was able to hear these stories and thus couldnt include them in my project. I asked my friends who I have class with if they could read it to me over the fone but we both agreed she would think I cheated and it wasnt fair for me to get someone in trouble so we decided against this. Well since I handed in one story it brought my grade down from a passing yet disgusting C- and into the D range. She wouldnt help me at all on this topic and basically made it a living hell for me. She wouldnt make any special accomadations or anything. With the grades I have been pulling all year, its virtually impossible for me to pass this class, I would need a 87 or so to get a 72. I cant talk to this lady about this because shell basically say tough shit and thats my problem. The biggest issue is im a Junior and this is the big year for me. Excluding this class my GPA would be somewhere around 3.5-3.7.

What do you suggest I do? Ive thought about dropping this class and taking it over the summer but my parents wont spend the money for me to take it in the summer because its around 2,500-3,500. The only other option I can think of is speaking to the principal and hoping we can get somthing accomplished by having a meeting, the 3 of us, or 5 with my parents. At this point ive basically given up on this class because I know I cant get an 87 or better and will have to repeat it next year anyways, which would be a total kill because at the moment I have 3 academic classes and the rest are academic electives (help your gpa and are very easy classes like psych or AP psych) and adding spanish would kill my chances of getting a very high gpa.

I honestly dont know what to do, please

[Tony717]

that sucks...I never had hard ass teachers like that in high school (well not that hard at least)

try talkin to the principal and see what happens

[Neurorad]

With poise and confidence, tell her you're sorry that you didn't make arrangements for this issue when you returned from being sick. You now realize that immediately upon returning, you should have spoken with her about the problem.

Now, after the fact, you want to come up with an agreement that's fair to both of you. You're very sorry, and will do anything...it's a she right?

No, j/k. Tell her you can both agree on what's fair. You need an assignment that will show her how hard you can work. I suggest you propose 2 or 3 activities that are comparable to the 'transcribing' assignment, the one you missed. Transcribe a short movie (that she suggests)? Transcribe an audio lesson (or 3)? Suggest something that will take a full 20-30 hours of your time, a whole week if you have to.

Above all, no whining, be mature. Don't go to the principal until all of your options have been shot down. Good luck.

[325 Baller]

All my options have been exausted more or less. The lady wouldnt give me anything supplemental to do instead of those three stories, I dont even know if she will give me the time of day to talk to me about this stituation. Ill try talking to her monday before speaking to the principal. It just really sucks because I was doing really well until spanish.

[just4kickz]

lol... C-... man... if i got a C-... at any school... i'd have to smack myself across the face...

its spanish... lol... just memorize the forms and vocabularyy!

and about your situation... well i dunno... missing 3 weeks is a long time... and trying to catch up is even harder. imo responsibility is on you for getting in touch with those teachers when your away and telling them that you'll be gone or your sick/you need them to send you work/you need to get notes from a friend/etc..

i know its kinda mean to say... but reality is... part of growing up is learning to look after yourself and your own well being... and that means not only taking care of yourself in terms of health but also in terms of academics... you have to learn that teachers aren't gonna baby you anymore... and if you need help your going to have to ask for it or find a way to get it.

missing 3 weeks of school and trying to make up a final exam to me is kinda unexcusable... i mean in college you can choose to go to class or not... and whatever grade you earned based on the curve, standard deviation, etc, is whatever you earned... no way around that... no second chances... maturing = living with the consequences of your actions. you can be sick... but that doesnt mean you cant physically take a test, it just means you might do poorly. i never missed a day of class in highschool... even as a second semester senior.

[325 Baller]

Ok well im very proud of you just4kickz, but when you have a 104 fever and the doctors wont allow you to go to school is another thing. For you to call me immature without even knowing me is just preposterous. I understand how it works in college I have an older sister who graduated from Wash U in STL, and is now attending grad school at NYU, but the fact of the matter is this is highschool and its completely different then college. As i stated before I tried to get the notes from a friend but we both agreed our teacher would consider this cheating and I didnt want to get them in trouble, which I feel was a mature and wise decision.

I apologize if you feel like im lashing out at you, I wasnt purposely doing this; and I respect your opinion about maturing.

[just4kickz]

lol... i dont miss school cause i dont want to be behind in work... i hate playing catch up. anyways... if your teacher doesnt let you get the notes off your classmates, then i'd advise you to speak to the dean or principal... using your classmates' notes is not in anyway cheating, unless the future exams are open note--which they probably arent. of course going against your teacher isn't goign to benefit your student-teacher relationship... but since you don't exactly have the good rep, might as well go all out. since i guess your a junior... i dont think it would be a good idea to drop the course. colleges scrutnize over your success and failures in your junior year... if anything you should ask a college counsler on how to proceed with this...

[FirstClass]

I go to private school as well and if there is one thing I have learned it's this. If you want to get anything done have your parents complain. Even better if your parents are loaded and your family donates a lot to the school. Parents are where the school's money comes from and they have to listen. Also, talk to the headmaster. I don't know how your school is but my headmaster is really cool.

[BMW F22]

How'd u miss 3 weeks?? Did you just not go to school or is it because u had the flu? What I got from the story is that you were absent for 3 weeks (cause unknown) and then another week because of the flu.


If I missed even a day of class I'd still ask my friends about it. Anyhoo, I hope u get it resolved soon. It's a bitch not passing a class because the teacher is an ass.

[325 Baller]

Originally Posted by BMWE90

How'd u miss 3 weeks?? Did you just not go to school or is it because u had the flu? What I got from the story is that you were absent for 3 weeks (cause unknown) and then another week because of the flu.


If I missed even a day of class I'd still ask my friends about it. Anyhoo, I hope u get it resolved soon. It's a bitch not passing a class because the teacher is an ass.

I missed one week because of a religious thing that my parents made me attend in DC, the 2nd week was for the National Youth Leadership Forum: on law (NYLF on law for short) conference, which a handful, around 200 students are chosen to attend each year. Its pretty prestigious to be chosen for it. Finally the last week I had a 104 temperature mixed in with the flu. So its not like I just didnt show up to school. I got excused by all my classes and the teachers gave me my work, which I did.

The reason I dont think a classmate was allowed to share the stories with me is because it can sort of be called cheating. I mean the purpose was for her to read them aloud and us use our vocab and comprehension skills to write them down. Now if a classmate read if over the phone to me then IMO it would've been fine but its not my opinion that matters, I just pay the tuition each year to attend I dont make the rules.

[MonacoBimm]

I have the exact situation with my soanish teacher. GOD shes such a bitchhhh..