Brilliant … But Bouncy

The History Teacher Substantially Docked Dylan’s Grade.

Finally, finally, finally, Dylan seems to be taking some responsibility for himself. He has been coming home from school, knowing what is due the next day, and doing his ultimate best to get it in on time.

But he didn’t print out his history paper. He worked on it until midnight, but forgot to print it out. And when he went to class without it, the teacher wouldn’t allow him to go to the media center to print it out. Dylan had to wait until lunchtime to print it out, and then he turned it in immediately.

So the history teacher substantially docked Dylan’s grade.

I asked Dylan to do some self-advocating, and let him know how hard he had tried. So Dylan emailed the teacher. I won’t reprint his email here, but it brought tears to my eyes. Dylan explained what happened, and asked for a tiny bit of mercy.

But the teacher had no mercy.

Dylan, this assignment was given out last week. As I stated in class, in was due at the end of class on Tuesday. The exception was anyone that was typing their paper was permitted to turn it in on Wednesday at the beginning of class due to the fact that we do not have a printer in the classroom. Effectively giving everyone who needed it, extended time to complete the assignment.

That didn’t feel like “extended time” to me. So I sent a follow-up note to the teacher. I couldn’t help myself. I asked him to reconsider on this project, since Dylan had given it his best effort. I “cc”d Dylan’s case manager at school. The case manager called, but the teacher never responded.

Dylan got a C on the paper.

Shortly thereafter, Dylan told me that he had – also in history class – turned in a PowerPoint project via the computer, only to later realize that he was supposed to have printed out the PowerPoint.

“That’s not what I asked for,” said the teacher. “So I’m giving you a D.”

This seemed a bit random to me. Dylan doesn’t do “D” work – or even “C” work.  He does A work that is often turned in late. It doesn’t seem fair to take an A project and turn it into a D project, just because it wasn’t submitted via the correct format.

I emailed Dylan’s case manager again. I thank God for Dylan’s case manager. She doesn’t coddle – him or me! – but she knows what’s right and wrong. We both know that Dylan has been struggling lately with the apathy of a typical teenager.

And she also knows that the teacher can only dock Dylan by 10% if his work is a day late. And that the lowest grade he can get is a 50%. These were things I did not know. So she is meeting with Dylan to find out more about the situation. And then we may have to have a face-to-face meeting with the teacher, too.

It just seems so unfair: Dylan gives up on himself and gets D’s and E’s. THEN Dylan decides to pull himself up and do all the right things, and he gets C’s and D’s.

But only in one class. The other classes are coming along nicely. So we shall see what happens.

The end of the year is fast approaching….