Now, this one didn’t happen to me, but last week was the test week at our school, and we got the tests back today. (I did pretty good - there was the test on modern physics and I was absolutely sure I had blown it up completely - and then I got a 9 out of it!) (Finnish test rating scale is 4-10, 10 being the highest and 4 failing.)
Anyway, this other guy that I know had had a Finnish exam and received grand total of 1/24. He got a 4, of course, and the teacher had written on the exam “I think you should skip classes more often.”
What are your favorite little teacher comments that convey the message you or someone else might not quite be the teacher’s preferred student?
I had a government teacher tell class on the first day that no one ever got a hundred on any of his tests. I raised my hand, and when called on, I said I would. Five tests later when I finally did, he marked on my paper, “100, A+, Smartass” with a “Mr. Yuck” sticker on it. Actually, I guess this doesn’t count, because that exchange began a very fruitful teacher/pupil relationship. (With no sex, BTW, you sickos! I know you! mutter, mutter, mutter)
I also didn’t quite know how to take my football coach when he said, “Boy! You got absolutely no regard for the physical safety of yourself or anyone else. I want you on special teams.” Hmmmm…
I once had a professor that taught a “weeding out” first-year chemistry course. She would give the first test a week after classes began and hand them back with pre-signed drop sheets attached.
You guys don’t know the joys of narrative evals! Until recently at my school, students didn’t receive grades. Instead they recieve about a paragraph summing up their work in the class. Usually these are quite informative, and if you’d done well in the class they can be spectacular.
One other odddity that my school used to have was that failed classes wern’ t recorded on the official transcript. It would just look like you had never taken the class. But they still would write scathing little evaluations just to rub things in.
One of my friends was pretty good at failing classes. One of his evals said “Bob’s performance in this class was wholey underwhelming.” Another said “Bob passed this class by the slimmest of margines”. Another wrote “I’d like to warn Bob’s future teachers that they will have to make a contract with Bob about exactly how much work they expect Bob to turn in”.
In 5th grade, my demented teacher called me an “elitist bigot” (exact quote) for suggesting that she create a separate reading group for the kids that liked (and were good at) reading, as opposed to the ones who had trouble sounding out the word “travel”.
I didn’t say it in those words, and was actually quite polite about it, but needless to say she wasn’t too pleased with my suggestion. Eventually, though, the principal made her do it anyway. Ha!
Statistics class, freshman year of college. I’d already passed AP Statistics, which is basically what this class was. However, AP Stats counted as a general math course, and not as anything specific. I turned in all the homework, attended all quizzes and tests, but, aside from that, I didn’t go to class. It was a stupid requirement for my Psych major.
After the final test (there wasn’t really a final, per se), the teacher told us how he’d be curving things. I knew I had a very high C+ in the class (which didn’t bother me in the least, as I was getting solid As in my other classes), but didn’t figure he’d curve things.
Well, he said he was adjusting the levels. One of the byproducts of this was the fact that the C+/B- line was lowered enough for me to get a B-.
Upon hearing this news, I grinned. My professors response? Basically along the lines of, “I’m doing this despite the fact that it helps you.”
::shrugs:: So my GPA is a 3.75 instead of a 3.71 (or a 3.75 instead of a skosh higher). No skin off my butt.
Of course, now I’m going to have to petition that teacher for my Psych minor…so perhaps I shouldn’t have been so…slack-tastic.
I had a rocky relationship with one of my teachers my sophomore year of high school. I don’t know what I did to jump on his bad side, but somehow I pulled that feat off without a hitch and without realizing it. Once, in the middle of class, I was helping out my neighbor with a problem, but he automatically assumed I was bothering her. The teacher blurted out, “You are the most annoying student I’ve ever had the misfortune of teaching in my 20 years of education!” Yeah, he didn’t like me much.
I was lucky in that I think, of all the teachers I had in public school, only three of them did not like me.
I’m thinking “get the hell out of my class” sends a clear message.
When I was in school I was a constant doodler and my high school english teacher took exception to this activity claiming it would negatively affect my work. I reminded her that I had a 95 average (despite skipping more classes than anyone in the history of the school).
So again she says she doesn’t want me doodling anymore (with no reason given) and I sez “what if I get 100% on the next exam?” She agreed I could doodle all I wanted if I got 100%.
Next exam comes and goes and the marks are returned. She’s at her desk and smiling from ear to ear so I know something is wrong.
I look and see I got 99.5% I then see that I lost half a mark because my opinion on some aspect of Shakespeare was wrong. The question clearly asked “What is your opinion of ________”.
So I go to my teacher who we all called Mam (short for mammal) and asked how I lost half a mark on a question that asked me for MY OPINION? I loudly stated that my opinion was my opinion and although she may have disagreed with it, it is still my opinion and cannot be considered wrong.
If my opinion was that Shakespeare was a hack and probably fellated squirrels that would be a correct answer… although she would have disagreed and then asked me what fellated means.
My Algebra 2 teacher absolutely hated me. She was the worst teacher I’ve ever had. She spent 15 minutes explaining to us that 4±1=-5. No joke. I told her that she was wrong in, admittedly, a not very polite way, and she called me stupid. Later in the year she was having a breakdown in class (I don’t remember why), and my friend behind me said something funny that didnt even relate to this teacher. I laughed, and the teacher saw me, thought I was laughing at her a said, “I know you hate me Ashley, I know you hate me!”
Biology teacher, eleventh grade. For the midterm report, instead of just the grades, she gave a paper with evaluations and values like Good, Poor, Fair. In the part of “Attends to class regularly”, she put Fair instead of Good. On her comments, she said “Has problems going to class.” Nevermind that I only had 2 abscences, and one was justified (I was on a college tour!). The other one was a class I skipped because I was going late and decided it was better not to go than to go and listen to her half an hour speech about my lateness.
Later that semester, she accused the class of being behind the others. I stood up and told her that it was her fault, not ours, because she had let us leave early two weeks ago, and hadn’t given us class for almost a week. She said I was wrong, she never let us out early and she always gave class. I realized too late that I was arguing harshly with her, and shut my mouth.
Hee hee hee:
“You know, Robert, I wondered what Mrs. Brooks meant when she called you ‘my cross to bear’. Now I know.”
“Oh, God, it’s him.”
“If somebody wants to hurt him, I promise I won’t tell.”
“Robert, what did you do to my coffee?” (I drank it.)
And then there was the time that I was a few minutes late for class and he locked the door. A pity for him that the school locks are cheap, and I had a few paperclips handy.
And then I managed to get a 5 on the AP exam. Ah, what fun I had.
I sort of got the impression that my Chem. teacher didn’t exactly love and adore me when he tried to force me to drink hydrochloric acid and made me sweep up spilled mercury with a broom.
One year of school, I was having a problem being late. It got to the point that I was told if I was late for one more class, I’d be suspended. I made sure I was on time for every class after that.
Anyway, one time I really needed the washroom during break, and when I got to class, the bell rang as I stepped into the doorway. The teacher blocked me, stepped forward (so I stepped back and out of the doorway) and then shut and lock the door. I pleaded to be let in. He knew I’d be suspended for it, and I was. I know I never did anything to him (he was only an occasional teacher, so I had never disrupted his class by being late or anything else.)
There was this one student our chemistry teacher didn’t quite take a liking to. Smart guy, the student was - seemed to always know more than the teachers and participated in many Finnish national contests in natural sciences and did well in them - I believe he received the best score in all Finland in one national biology contest. Anyway, this teacher once remarked “Don’t listen to that man, he’s read too many books.” Too bad I can’t remember any more of the opinions the teacher had about the student.
Hey, don’t defame us! There were plenty of courses twenty years ago where one could ask for an anal grade if one desired. As far as I know science courses have always been optionally graded.
But narrative evaluations started my computer career, gave me the chance to get into a good law school, etc. Those of you who have to do with grades – suffer.
Of course when there’s a bad evaluation, it can really go for blood. M****** W*****, English 1A teacher, forced me to take his class when I’d already passed upper division, audition only, English classes. I’ve since almost repaid him, but his evaluation was noteworthy: “I’m confident with diligent application partly_warmer may yet produce good work.” Yeah? It would help if your Irish TA had basic language skills and knew how to use a dictionary, too.
