Seeking Moms with Middle-schoolers in Pre-AP in Katy ISD

Updated on January 16, 2009
R.N. asks from Katy, TX
4 answers

I have a 6th grader who is taking 4 Pre-AP classes. She is doing well (all As and one B), but her Pre-AP Math class is giving her lots of grief. She has so much homework EVERY day that she doesn't have ANY down time. She takes time away from studying for other classes to finish her math. It is time now to sign up for her 7th grade classes, and we can't decide what to do. She is VERY interested in architecture and engineering, so from that perpsective, math is very important. But, I don't want her to have another year like this one. We've also heard (from a neighbor with an 8th grader) that my daughter's math teacher this year is really awful. Her daughter had her for 6 weeks in 6th grade and was failing the class, so they switched her to academic math. The next year they moved her back up to pre-AP and she has done fine ever since--all As and Bs. I have found the teacher to be pretty rude when I've tried to email her for assistance. My daughter, however, loves her (she's one of those kids who always loves their teachers). I spoke to the VP earlier in the year, who told me that my daughter needs to utilize her advisory time to do her homework, which isn't always posible b/c they have assemblies and intra-murals (my daughter is very sporty) during advisory. She does better when she is able to get going on homework during advisory but when she doesn't it is a nightmare. The teacher is extremely picky and absolutely will not give partial credit for ANYTHING. One tiny little thing is wrong, the whole problem is wrong. My daughter is committed to sticking out the year, but we just don't know what to do about next year. If it is really just that she has a bad teacher this year, I think she should continue with Pre-AP; but, if she is going to be under this much pressure no matter what, I'm thinking maybe she should go to academic. She is planning to drop Band next year, as the practice schedule has also been tough to stick to, and will be taking Art instead, so hopefully not so much 'at home' work there. She was talking about going down to academic English, but then she'd also have to drop to Academic Reading which would be a shame because reading is a big passion for her and she does extremely well in Pre-AP Reading. She has done well in Pre-AP English, too (A's the first two 6 weeks, B the 3rd, with an A for the semester), and she also does well in Pre-AP Science (all A's so far). It is only Math that she struggles to maintain a B average. But again, could it be due to a not-so-great teacher? Sorry this got so long-winded. If any of you have been through this and have any insight for me, esp. in terms of 7th grade Pre-AP Math, I would SO appreciate it! Thanks!

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So What Happened?

Thank you so much for all of the great advice! I knew there had to be some other moms out there who have 'been there.' You reinforced the direction I was already leaning in, which is to go ahead and sign her up for pre-ap math and then closely monitor her for the first few weeks. If it is too much we will drop back. Thanks again!

More Answers

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D.M.

answers from Houston on

Well I don't know what pre-AP is, but I was in all honors courses from 1st grade on through. There were years when I had teachers who were just awful, and like you daughter, I would stick it out. I always ended up getting great education from the class, but the road there was tough. I would say for her to go ahead and sign up for the pre-AP math next year and see how it goes. Would she be able to switch out mid-semester? I had to do that with an English class my sr. year of high school because of an odd teacher no one could please.

BTW... Good for you for being so involved! My parents were never really involved in our school work; they just complained if our chores and homework weren't both done, though some days there just wasn't time for both.

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P.A.

answers from Houston on

My suggestion would be to sign her up for all Pre-AP classes for 7th grade. You always have the option of taking her out of them if you need to but I would at least start her out in them. My older daughter was in Pre-AP classes in 7th and 8th grade. She is now in all Pre-PA classes as a Freshman. The Pre-AP classes teach students so much more and any child that is capable of handling them should take advantage of them. Good luck.

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C.S.

answers from Houston on

I am a retired teacher with 38 years of experience teaching grades 7 - 12. My daughter had math issues with geometry in 9th grade because she had taken algebra in 8th grade as part of gifted and talented. Her scores showed she could do the advanced math, but it was causing too much stress, so we opted to scale back. This meant that she had no calculus in high school, but she and we knew that she did not want to be an engineer!
I was the Coordinator for the International Baccalaurate program at my HS for several years. I would recommend that you start next year with your daughter in the pre-AP math, because it does sound as though the teacher is a bit inflexible. (No partial credit? Please!) If, after the first 4 to 6 weeks pre-AP math is seriously overwhelming, allow her to drop back.

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T.E.

answers from Houston on

my daughter is in 7th grade at Beckendorff.
She , too, is in all preap classes. Math is one of the harder ones. Everything you are going through I went through too. My daughter had a really rough time the first 6 weeks of 7th grade math. We ,too talked about putting her in academic and she said no. I don't know what school you are in but I think once you pull them from a pre-ap class that it is hard to get them back into a pre-ap class once they went academic.
Does your school only have one pre-ap math teacher?
If not and you don't like one teacher ,switch her to the other class.
Also, if you don't like how the teacher is, if she is rude and stuff, call the counselor and explain what is going on.
Good luck with this ( from someone who has been there), feel free to send me a message if you have any questions.
P.s.
My daughter is an A,B student in all her classes.

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