Mrs. Martling at CHS is driving my daughter crazy!--- anyone else?

Just venting as a parent of a freshman in honors 10th grade language arts. We've never seen grades this low. Just us? Does anyone else have experience with this teacher?

She's an excellent teacher. My kid started out "not loving" her and ended up asking her to wrote recommendation letters for college.

Thanks. I just enlisted my mother to read along with her and call her nightly to review.

That teacher is amazing. Tons of work though

An absolute favorite at our house. Probably the most challenging class my kid has taken but also the most rewarding. She gives lots of grades, so don't panic about grades of the type you have never seen before.

I can see that it could be a bit much for freshmen who haven't found their legs in high school yet.

There is a huge difference in what teachers require at CHS. One of my sons has had difficult, but excellent english teachers at CHS, including Ms. Weide and Ms. Buckholtz. My other son has had weak teachers, including Ms. Dufault. Your child is lucky to get one of the harder teachers. They will prepare him or her well even though it might seem difficult at first and the lower grades can be discouraging.

Okay thank all. I won't hit the panic button yet.

joanauer said:
Your child is lucky to get one of the harder teachers. They will prepare him or her well even though it might seem difficult at first and the lower grades can be discouraging.

This. I know it's hard, but I recommend that you rejoice and be grateful. It's truly much, much worse to get stuck with an apathetic and ineffective teacher.

This reminds me of that cartoon where a kid in the 1960's gets a bad grade and the parents angrily tell the kid to explain himself. And the next panel shows present day, when a kid gets a bad grade, and the parents angrily tell the teacher to explain herself.

joanauer said:
Your child is lucky to get one of the harder teachers. They will prepare him or her well even though it might seem difficult at first and the lower grades can be discouraging.

Couldn't agree more. What students need to take to college is the ability to handle demanding teachers. I clearly remember the shock of the first week of my freshmen when professors assigned approximately as much work as I had done in all of high school.

Good to know that this teacher has a good reputation. There was a parent who was quite angry with her at back to school night.

Afa - In the 1960s a student could also get a bad grade here or there and still go an Ivy league school. Today the bar is much higher and students (and parents) need to make sure the teacher is on the up and up, especially when said student is otherwise an A student and is spending easily 3 to 4 times the amount of time on this one subject compared to the others.

mcgoey said:
Good to know that this teacher has a good reputation. There was a parent who was quite angry with her at back to school night.
Afa - In the 1960s a student could also get a bad grade here or there and still go an Ivy league school. Today the bar is much higher and students (and parents) need to make sure the teacher is on the up and up, especially when said student is otherwise an A student and is spending easily 3 to 4 times the amount of time on this one subject compared to the others.

I don't know whether grades are that important this early in the school year, especially for freshmen. However, what might be a legitimate concern is that the teacher has to understand that freshmen are just getting their sea legs and may want to ease them in.

By the way, there was a thread on this topic on fb in the Columbia High School Families group.

^ She said 10th grade, so she's not a freshman

hey mjh - we are talking about a freshman:

"Just venting as a parent of a freshman in honors 10th grade language arts. We've never seen grades this low. Just us? Does anyone else have experience with this teacher?"

agbarganza said:
hey mjh - we are talking about a freshman:
"Just venting as a parent of a freshman in honors 10th grade language arts. We've never seen grades this low. Just us? Does anyone else have experience with this teacher?"

Sorry! I misread the post.

DG64 Thanks! I 'll check out that fb group.

I'm a moderator..all CHS parents welcome! https://www.facebook.com/groups/860233437404469/

I'd be horrified if I were one of the named teachers on a message board

I agree. The FB group is not public so it's more comfortable there. mcgooey, you may want to consider deleting this thread.

Deborahg - just sent a request to the fb group.

Orzabelle- I don't think anyone really said anything bad about this teacher. It's just really hard to know whether your kid is on an island in their struggles and this is an easy way to find a group of parents who have had experiences with her. I think that what I have discovered is that she is a good teacher.

So , this student is in an accelerated language arts class taking 10th grade LA in 9th grade, correct? The fact that she is being challenged is both expected and a good thing . Acceleration is not always comfortable and there are growing pains to taking academic risks . Empower your student and tell her academic challenge is its own reward. Don't stress the grades right now. There will be lots of assignments and chances to improve

mod said:
So , this student is in an accelerated language arts class taking 10th grade LA in 9th grade, correct? The fact that she is being challenged is both expected and a good thing . Acceleration is not always comfortable and there are growing pains to taking academic risks . Empower your student and tell her academic challenge is its own reward. Don't stress the grades right now. There will be lots of assignments and chances to improve

On point.

Just another voice joining in praise of Mrs. Martling -- she is THE teacher who really got my kid writing decently, at last. It was tough going, but I think we all appreciated the real growth which was taking place.

My son is a 10th grader in your daughter's class. English has always been his best subject, the one he won the MMS awards for and always got straight A's in. Until recently he was failing this class. That parent at back to school night actually made me feel better - as does your post. His grades are inching up as he begins to understand her expectations better. Also keep in mind that 1/3 of the grade is class participation so make sure your daughter is contributing to discussions.

I really liked Mrs. Martling at back to school night. This thread has been really validating and reassuring. I don't think it needs to be taken down. I'm sure she knows that she is appreciated and she definitely knows that smart kids are failing some of her assignments

mcgoey said:
Afa - In the 1960s a student could also get a bad grade here or there and still go an Ivy league school. Today the bar is much higher and students (and parents) need to make sure the teacher is on the up and up, especially when said student is otherwise an A student and is spending easily 3 to 4 times the amount of time on this one subject compared to the others.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but perhaps you might want to temper your expectations of what would be a satisfactory outcome for your child. Many people who do not go to Ivy League schools lead full and rewarding lives.

max_weisenfeld said:

mcgoey said:
Afa - In the 1960s a student could also get a bad grade here or there and still go an Ivy league school. Today the bar is much higher and students (and parents) need to make sure the teacher is on the up and up, especially when said student is otherwise an A student and is spending easily 3 to 4 times the amount of time on this one subject compared to the others.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but perhaps you might want to temper your expectations of what would be a satisfactory outcome for your child. Many people who do not go to Ivy League schools lead full and rewarding lives.

To put it differently, the attributes that make is possible to get into a top school are attributes that will help you be successful in life in general. I would guess that a student who was accepted at Harvard but chose to go to Rutgers would do rather well in any case.

The Ivies, among others, take the cream of the cream. Of course these students are successful, but I wouldn't give the Ivies too much credit for that.

My student doesn't necessarily dream of the Ivies, I was just trying to say that today getting into any school is much more difficult than in the 1960s and so the grades matter more today.

I'm accepted into the fb account. Should I delete this? I really not trying to tar and feather this Mrs. M...

mcgoey said:
My student doesn't necessarily dream of the Ivies, I was just trying to say that today getting into any school is much more difficult than in the 1960s and so the grades matter more today.

What also matters is taking challenging courses when they are available and showing consistency or improvement in grades over the four years of high school. Many students have a rough start, but then go on to excell and get accepted at the college(s) of their choice. Please don't be discouraged and good luck!

I'd say she already has a leg up as she's in an advanced English class. Colleges can see this. Even if she ends up with a final grade of B, she's ahead of the game.