13 replies to this topic

[BJD]

The teachers in my school are getting me so agitated as of late, I just can't control my disappointment/anger/annoyance just overall negative attitude towards them and I just don't know what to do!
My psychology teacher who teaches me both standard and higher level psychology will be leaving us in three weeks to go to another college and will be replaced by a inexperienced IB teacher, so we are forced to learn the options and the qualitative research methodology ourselves! I have been getting level 7's in Psychology recently mainly because I work hard myself but I rely on my teachers to mark and justify my grades but now that we will be getting an inexperienced psychology teacher - who knows what is going to happen!

My maths studies teacher is demotivating me completely, I find it difficult to ask her a question without feeling patronised or belittled by her every time I do so, I really do want a good grade however it just feels difficult to understand topics within the syllabus at the speed she wants us to be. She asks us to complete an exercise from the book for every lesson and the amount that is in that book is too much to do without falling behind on other subjects

Apologies for the mini-rant, but I was wondering whether there is anybody in a similar position as I or what could be a way to overcome the situations. I'm not usually dependent on teachers but something is aggravating me strongly and it is affecting my learning.

BJD

Edited by BJD, May 16, 2012 - 18:52.

[Crazy Gemini]

Mini-rants are cool by my books.
And one tip, chill out..

My Maths studies teacher did the IB, but she can't teach Maths, we complained about her and complained, but nothing happened so I self taught Maths studies... Incompetent teachers isnt gonna be a big issue, as long as you can research yourself then you should be ok in terms of assessments, so long as you work with the marking criteria and understand it you'll be fine.

[Eastcoast93]

math, i did sl, does require lots of practice, but i hardly did anything in the two years and then in the final months before the exam did loads of past papers (like 30) and put very much effort into the subject. i think i got a 5 or maybe a 6 ultimately. don't worry- the past papers will boost your confidence. those books suck anyways, they don't prepare you for exam style questions...

[BJD]

math, i did sl, does require lots of practice, but i hardly did anything in the two years and then in the final months before the exam did loads of past papers (like 30) and put very much effort into the subject. i think i got a 5 or maybe a 6 ultimately. don't worry- the past papers will boost your confidence. those books suck anyways, they don't prepare you for exam style questions...

Yes thank you, that does help, but I did want to learn the syllabus myself but the books don't explain well at all! I'm a step by step person, is there an alternative other than the books or a teacher that you recommend?

[BJD]

Mini-rants are cool by my books.
And one tip, chill out..

My Maths studies teacher did the IB, but she can't teach Maths, we complained about her and complained, but nothing happened so I self taught Maths studies... Incompetent teachers isnt gonna be a big issue, as long as you can research yourself then you should be ok in terms of assessments, so long as you work with the marking criteria and understand it you'll be fine.

Hahaha that is one tip I've had from many people, what is horrible about my maths teacher is that she spends half an hour talking over the exercise book then tell us to do the work and finish it off for homework! She gets so stressed when we haven't done the homework and makes such a show around all of my peers

[Neko_K]

I go to one of the worst schools in my city and it happens to have IB. Without IB, it would be a total crap hole. None of the teachers in my program (except for maybe my Physics teacher) are experienced in IB. In fact, they have absolutely no clue on how to follow the syllabus, what to teach, and how to best prepare the students. They teach it the way they like and what they know, while giving so much unnecessary work just to make themselves feel as if they're doing justice for IB. It is very, very frustrating. Plus, they give out very low grades on everyone's IAs just because "IB Examiners tend to grade strictly."
Surely, I would agree with that statement if they actually followed the freaking criteria but no they base everything arbitrarily and do not provide any justifications. We are not even provided any books aside from the regular books given to all students in our school I had to self-study for all my exams, or otherwise, I would have had no chance because my teachers were not helping in any way possible.

But even then, I hope you realize that despite the frustration and disappointment you have right now, you can self-study and it will still be quite rewarding. In fact, I would argue that the knowledge you gain will be better understood and applied. Just make sure you follow the official IB guides for subjects, they outline everything that is important. Also, as the above poster suggested, follow the marking and learning criteria when grading yourself, and trust your intuition and I assure you that 9 times out of 10 you will be giving yourself the correct marks. The criteria are quite simple and the examiners see them just the way you would. Make sure you make rigid plans, read chapters, do more of your own research online (this is very important), engage in discussions, and practice, practice, and practice! For you, It's all about individual responsibility now since your teachers do not seem to be up to date. There is not much you can in regards with your teachers because students don't have much power unless you actually personally talk to them, give them advice, and let them know how they could better help you.

[Dew]

I am the only student doing IB Physics in my school and my teacher has decided to transfer to another IB school... It agitates me so... especially since I've grown quite used to his style of teaching me one on one. I get where you're coming from mate but we have to move on and adapt; there is nothing we can do about it. Good luck with your studies.

[IB Smacher Glau]

We had Physics teacher who finished the syllbas in the IB1 and for the secound year we did nothing
in addition he screwed our lab grades - . -

[Crazy Gemini]

Hahaha that is one tip I've had from many people, what is horrible about my maths teacher is that she spends half an hour talking over the exercise book then tell us to do the work and finish it off for homework! She gets so stressed when we haven't done the homework and makes such a show around all of my peers

Well then it's a good tip, no?

Well, can't be worse than being shouted at by your Maths teacher every time she finds out you complained right?
Also, at least your Maths teacher knows some Maths, my Maths teacher just explained everything correctly for 15 mins, then explained everything wrong for another 15 mins so after 30 mins of the lesson we didn't understand anything so I was sat trying to work out, from the awful book, what the hell to do at the same time trying to explain it to a whining, and complaining girl who wouldn't listen to me and then accused me of yelling at her when she didn't understand and didn't want to understand yet still asked me for help...

At the end of the day, the IB is a challenge, more so for the student when the teacher is incompetent - but it's all about taking your own initiative, showing that you mean business and you're here to effing learn! As long as you don't make the teachers incompetence a personal thing, you should be good, keep it professional, and at the end of the day, your friends don't really matter - its about you getting the best grades you can get, and not whether you look cool infront of your peers or whatever...

[BJD]

Hahaha that is one tip I've had from many people, what is horrible about my maths teacher is that she spends half an hour talking over the exercise book then tell us to do the work and finish it off for homework! She gets so stressed when we haven't done the homework and makes such a show around all of my peers

Well then it's a good tip, no?

Well, can't be worse than being shouted at by your Maths teacher every time she finds out you complained right?
Also, at least your Maths teacher knows some Maths, my Maths teacher just explained everything correctly for 15 mins, then explained everything wrong for another 15 mins so after 30 mins of the lesson we didn't understand anything so I was sat trying to work out, from the awful book, what the hell to do at the same time trying to explain it to a whining, and complaining girl who wouldn't listen to me and then accused me of yelling at her when she didn't understand and didn't want to understand yet still asked me for help...

At the end of the day, the IB is a challenge, more so for the student when the teacher is incompetent - but it's all about taking your own initiative, showing that you mean business and you're here to effing learn! As long as you don't make the teachers incompetence a personal thing, you should be good, keep it professional, and at the end of the day, your friends don't really matter - its about you getting the best grades you can get, and not whether you look cool infront of your peers or whatever...

Yes very true, I'm not bothered about looking cool, it just agitates me when she creates such drama and drawing attention to such a minor situation. You are correct on keeping it professional, one or two times I have slipped and argued back at my teacher but I think I am doing a good job at the moment, I just hope she doesn't mess up my maths studies project, because I know the commitment criteria lies completely with her and I'm not losing any easy marks! And it just seems like she wants us to collect mass amount of data which are all graphs and I'm pretty sure in this project we need SOME variety! She just frustrates me to the limit but I'm just going to keep my cool... let it slide...

[Bernardo Silva]

Yeah I know what you feel. My Math teacher, although he teaches well and I always understand what he teaches us, is really slow because he takes the time to go over basic things like exponents before the logarithms unit and calculus. Also, our librarian had him for IB and apparently he messed up on the exam because his teacher was too far behind and didn't have enough time to finish the syllabus (scary!). The worst thing is: my Chemistry teacher is our IB coordinator so she goes off and proctors the IB exams at our school so when she's off for weeks in a row we sit around doing nothing with useless subs. Chemistry is going to be really important for me in University!

[Crazy Gemini]

Hahaha that is one tip I've had from many people, what is horrible about my maths teacher is that she spends half an hour talking over the exercise book then tell us to do the work and finish it off for homework! She gets so stressed when we haven't done the homework and makes such a show around all of my peers

Well then it's a good tip, no?

Well, can't be worse than being shouted at by your Maths teacher every time she finds out you complained right?
Also, at least your Maths teacher knows some Maths, my Maths teacher just explained everything correctly for 15 mins, then explained everything wrong for another 15 mins so after 30 mins of the lesson we didn't understand anything so I was sat trying to work out, from the awful book, what the hell to do at the same time trying to explain it to a whining, and complaining girl who wouldn't listen to me and then accused me of yelling at her when she didn't understand and didn't want to understand yet still asked me for help...

At the end of the day, the IB is a challenge, more so for the student when the teacher is incompetent - but it's all about taking your own initiative, showing that you mean business and you're here to effing learn! As long as you don't make the teachers incompetence a personal thing, you should be good, keep it professional, and at the end of the day, your friends don't really matter - its about you getting the best grades you can get, and not whether you look cool infront of your peers or whatever...

Yes very true, I'm not bothered about looking cool, it just agitates me when she creates such drama and drawing attention to such a minor situation. You are correct on keeping it professional, one or two times I have slipped and argued back at my teacher but I think I am doing a good job at the moment, I just hope she doesn't mess up my maths studies project, because I know the commitment criteria lies completely with her and I'm not losing any easy marks! And it just seems like she wants us to collect mass amount of data which are all graphs and I'm pretty sure in this project we need SOME variety! She just frustrates me to the limit but I'm just going to keep my cool... let it slide...

Wow. been there on the Studies Project - she told me my project was all wrong after summer holidays, and that i had to redo everything (not telling me when i showed her my question and methodology) and had to pick a new topic, so i tricked the physics geeks at school into thinking that i was now taking physics, that was fun. handed it in for marking, which she took 3 months to do, and then i had 48 hours to make all the changes she needed me to make... ended up with 12/20. This was around the time i was trying to figure a guy out so i was talking to him at the same time, and tried to work out how he felt about me (he felt pretty good about me lol) so i wasnt concentrating much on it - it wasnt a top priority, so my exams became paramount to my success in the IB Maths studies...

but overall, i did the same as you, cursed her under my breath every time i saw her, and kept my cool - nothing else to do....

[JoeZell]

My Biology teacher is painfully incompetent. She's not done IB training, and told us that your femur is in your forearm.


Also, my Psych teacher was, but now she's done the training she couldn't be any better.

I do think that all IB teachers should have to do the IB, and be assessed regularly.

[Entreri]

French SL

Our teacher literally didn't teach us anything for the last semester coming up to the exams. *facepalm* and we didn't do assignments either.