What Do You Think of This?

I can see that it might have been marked wrong on first pass, but on second look, she should get credit for it. And you coul then follow-up with her about being a little less literal. But I think the school is wrong here.

That's ridiculous - she clearly knew the answer and was trying to be specific. She deserves credit and someone should make a "common sense" call on this one and not just go by the rules. Schools have lost their freaking minds!

Hi Nina, yeah, that would piss me off too. But I'd let it go. In fact that very thing has happened to all three of my kids at least once.

I gave THEM the choice of approaching their teachers (even in the 5th grade). Which they DID (one year one of them had a teacher who had a LOT of trouble grading everything, things marked wrong, wrong things not marked wrong, etc.), my daughter pointed it out as diplomatically as possible everytime. Sometimes the grade was changed, sometimes not.

It's not a perfect system, sigh.

:)

Edit

The main thing is that your daughter now knows what a plateau is and will never forget it. Whether she got it marked right or wrong now makes no difference, the perfect thing about it is that she "learned".
I would not make further issue of it. The grade means nothing, the knowledge means everything.
I agree that maybe the "mostly" was the word that through it off.

It's wrong, she extended the vocabulary for a more complete answer, but these tests and their way of asking questions will get harder. She needs to understand that the original answer was true, even if it left off pieces of the definition. A raised piece of land by understanding will have cliff like borders, hence why it is raised. Knowing that tests ask questions like this will help her take tests in the future.

This test was teaching her how to answer standardized testing, and that's essential.

Dictionary.com defines plateau as: a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.

So the basic tenet of a plateau is a broad, level surface of land. Same definitions from the school and Dictionary.com - just varied wording.

I think the issue here is cognitive thinking - teaching children to extrapolate answers based on their knowledge. Her cue here was that the part of the definition given was within the parameters of the definition in the study guide. It was a true statement based on the definition she was given.

Now, the school's response was a little weak. Better to explain teaching techniques than to just pass off the information given as "not important". What else are they teaching that is "not important"? And how are the students to know what parts of the information given should be disregarded versus which parts should be learned. This is where cognitive thinking comes in. The school should also be teaching children to think critically about the information given to them and teaching them to extrapolate various scenarios to a given theme.

Next time around, work with your daughter on the definitions and help her to see the parts of the whole that may appear on the test so she develops these skills.

I have run into this with my son in the past - he was very literal about vocabulary words and often would miss the nuances of usage or shortened definitions. I would review the words with him, present them in various forms and contexts, and break down the definitions. He learned to see the definitions differently and his test scores improved - as did his cognitive thinking and language skills.

Good Luck and God Bless

Sometimes we just have to pick up the gap at home.

ADDED: Nina, I agree that they should be teaching these things - but don't get me started on our failing education system. Schools teach one way and often don't, or can't, take different learning styles into consideration. Which is where, we, as parents come in. My son is in 9th grade now, and I just got the school to agree to let him check out text books for home use because Science class is a self learning class - he has a hard time learning that way - reading a text book and filling out a workbook - so, I need to teach him how to do that at home. I just consider it college prep and part of my job as a parent.

I swear kids need a crystal ball now a days to figure out just what the school/teachers want to hear or what is important. I have had similar situations with my 5th grade daughter and the teachers just don't get it.

It sounds to me like (even if you have issues with the question, the teacher, and the school) that your daughter is using good critical thinking skills, has learned the material well, and reads the directions completley.

If nothing else, you have the chance to teach your child some important lessons in life. Since you do not mention grades, I am assuming that missing this one question is not going to keep her from makeing good ones, but, she should have the chance to learn that everything is not going to be fair, even when she is right, and sometimes, not even when it is logical, and you can prove it, you still do not win the argument. Knowing that she understands and learned this definition is going to have to be enough...

I am happy for you that she is doing so well in school. That is to be celbrated.

M.

They're a group of asses-everything is important when it comes to learning. And God forbid, a teacher would admit a mistake and humanize themselves in front of a child.

I agree that it seems unfair that her question was marked wrong. But I'm assuming this isn't going to be a make-or-break situation for her grades and future, and this is a good life lesson. If something like this happens again, have her, by herself, bring the evidence to the teacher's attention and make an argument for why her answer was correct. Being able to argue your case in a polite and respectful way is a good skill to have.

And if her answer is still counted wrong, that's another life lesson: sometimes, life just isn't fair, and you have to learn what's really worth fighting for and what's not.

LOL, the teacher is wrong. How can you show a student 'this is the meaning' and then on the test say 'this isn't the meaning'?? I'd definately argue that!!

i think they are being anal :). i mean you seem to be correct. they were correct also, though. they just didn't go as in depth in the details of what a plateau is. however, they should have accepted her answer as correct. i wouldn't really worry too much about it since you know that you were right, unless this caused her to fail the test.

I think they should have given credit because she obviously understood what a plateau was and had completed the reading/studying assignment.

I'd be mad; she wrote verbatim the definition she was given. Isn't that geography instead of social studies though? I don't get schools these days. (Am I old?)
If you've been having on going troubles, I'd just go public. Doesn't sound like they have any more sense than public.

Honestly, I think you're nit-picking given your extreme dissatisfaction with this school as evidenced in your earlier posts.

A plateau IS a large, raised mostly level land. That is a true statement. It is a fact. It is not a false statement.

I think the teacher marked the question wrong because your daughter left in "mostly" (..raised mostly level land...) where the correct definition specifcally says "level." There is a difference between mostly level and level for "mostly level" implies there are sections/parts which are not level and that is not correct. Perhaps the teacher meant in her response to your daughter that it was not important that she added the cliffs description to her answer because she forgot to cross out the word 'mostly' and that was the key to making the answer correct since a plateau is level.

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Since the definition specified "boardered on one or more sides by steep slopes or cliffs" I definately see why your daughter said false. The statement was not completely false but not complete and believe that your daughter should have at least received partial credit (if not full credit) because her explanation/reasoning was right on. If the cliffs weren't important, they would not have been in the definition. It is possible however that the teacher specified during class time something more specific and may be why she did not accept your daughter's answer. Did your daughter ask the teacher directly?

She's in the fifth grade! and wrote an accurate (true) statement. She went above and beyond the simple sentence that was given to her and expanded on it. What more could a teacher ask for.

She should totally be given the credit. If Jeopardy would have accepted it, then it's got to be right, right?

Good Luck
KATIE

Hmm...the definition given for the test was not complete and your daughter was trying to clarify. I think the important lesson here is to let your daughter know that no one is perfect, no teacher, no test, no question, etc. and to teach her not to sweat the small stuff. Save your times of going into the school for when a big issue might arise.

that is very similar to the scenario that caused me to decide not to wait until the end of the year to pull my son out of public school, but to start homeschooling immediately.
how can love of learning for its own sake be fostered when tests are peppered with gotchas instead of honestly assessing the child's comprehension and cognitive skills?
khairete
S.

i think because she gave the right answer in her reason she should be right. had she only said false i could say its a toss up. i dont see why they arent being leanient on this. it's not like she didnt study and got it flat out wrong.

but i think in this you have to think of the if this than this equations. like if there are clouds out then it's raining. this is false even though sometimes it can be true. in your daughters test this particular question was the same. a raised mostly flat area can be a plateau...although it may not always be. i think thats why the cliff part was not important.

i would give her credit, if that is what is written in the book. Sounds like that teacher isn't all about the details. lol

This is one of those lovely times when they are likely "assessing" your daughter's ability to pass the 5th Grade SOL in Social Studies. As a classroom teacher, they would likely give partial credit, but the state rubric would say that it is incorrect b/c the "plateua" actually has nothing to do with the cliffs.

I would ask if the teacher could meet with your daughter and explain the response and why it is incorrect. That way, she may better understand how to respond the next time!

I say the teacher is wrong. The definition says slopes OR cliffs. If the actual definition includes the words cliffs then the teacher should include that in her answer!! I find that retarded.
BUT if it doesn't change her grade, I wouldn't pursue it. It's not really worth you time or make any difference but show the school your a bother.

All about wording -- *sigh!*
You never know what they want - and kids should not be expected to hit a moving target!

(reminds me of the time I called the accounting teacher out over a penny -- he said, well that's what the answer book says - said then IT"S WRONG, TOO! ROFL!!! he worked it out on the board and found I -and our little corner group- were correct, text rounded incorrectly)

I would be very upset. She obviously knew the material since she defined it perfectly, and the cliffs are an important part of the definition.

Oooh, I hate when that happens. Something very similar happened to my son when he was in 4th grade. I tried talking to the teacher about it, and she agreed that the answer was right, but not what she was looking for. In the end she wouldn't budge, and I didn't want to go to the principal and raise a big stink about what amounted to a couple of points. So, I just had to let it go.

I would have said the question is true. I would be curious how many other students answered true and got the question marked correct. If many others said true, and were correct, then how could your daughter say false and also be correct? I don't think the point of learning is to strictly memorize everything exactly the way it is written in the textbook, which is clearly what she did. Did she understand that the test question is also true, and that just because a statement does not repeat the learned material word for word does not mean the statement is false. Their primary goal may be teaching kids to be able to answer SOL test questions, but they are also trying to teach the kids how to reason, read between the lines, and make decisions without all available data. That is a much more useful lesson.

It's truly unbelievable the stuff they do in schools. Your daughter's answer is correct, but since it's not the answer they want they mark it as wrong.

My daughter had a test and had to label the countries in South America. She labeled "Brasil". It was marked wrong because according to her teacher it was spelled wrong. Well that's how it's spelled on her passport.

Does it change the difference in her grade? If so, pursue asap...If it is only a one point difference that won't matter cumulatively then let it go....Teacher is wrong and your daughter is right.