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My English dilemma

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bobcheng1111:

--- Quote from: jamonwindeyer on January 28, 2018, 11:40:02 pm ---Hey Bob! I'll leave you to read the awesome advice from OG and Lumenoria above, but on your tutor situation, a few things to consider:

- Your tutor might not have been looking for those specific errors you pointed out, they may have been looking at other things that they considered to be more likely/more serious deficiencies in your piece. It is their job from this point though, to explain what happened to you and give you steps on how to fix it. Further, they should be able to spot it next time now that they are aware of the issue - Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, etc etc.
- Your tutor is right in that it is really common to start in the mid range and then build up. Definitely don't stress about the mark!
- Ultimately, you are paying for a service, and if you don't think that service is up to scratch you have the right to leave, and you should leave. Never put up with a tutor who isn't doing what you need - And it doesn't even mean they are bad, it just means they aren't right for your needs.

Personally, I would be chatting to your tutor asap and asking them to help you break down where the errors came from, and give you steps/ideas to address them for next time. If they can't do that to your satisfaction, or you otherwise find reason to think your money would be spent elsewhere, go for it. No sense spending money on something you aren't happy with - Plenty of awesome tutors around so you'll find another, as I'm sure they'll find another student who will hopefully work a bit better with their style ;D

And AN can be your tutor in the meantime ;)

This sounds brutal! I'm really glad you have had a chance to rant about it at least!

Make sure you are elevating things to the appropriate member of executive or similar where required, particularly if you are marked down without adequate reason. No HSC class should make you any more miserable than needing to eat your least favourite food*. For me, this is beetroot. If I have to eat beetroot, it sucks, but when it's done I'm chirpy and all gee afterwards. The second any classroom becomes more impactful on you than a tin of beetroot would be for me, then you need to take steps to rectify that.

Good luck with things Lumenoria, you know you're not defined by a teachers perception of your ability or worth, even I know your a gun at English and I'm just some schmuck on the internet. Chin up ;D

--- End quote ---
Hi jamon thank you for the adivce! I had a chat to my tutor about the marks and he said regarding the creative, he still thinks after looking at the feedback that I was marked way too harshly and that it still deserved higher marks, but having gone through the creative myself, I'm not sure if that's really the case so I guess I'll have to think about it more. The thing is I'm in a kinda difficult situation to just suddenly quit this tutor because when I thought he was really really good, I brought along a friend to take a group lesson with him, and if I leave his costs are going to double since he'll be private so yeh...

bobcheng1111:

--- Quote from: Lumenoria on January 28, 2018, 09:31:25 pm ---Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that! I completely understand your frustration in terms of your tutor, my Advanced English teacher basically implied my AOS creative was in the A range and I just have this gut feeling I'm going to fall short of it despite that. I'm receiving my marks back sometime next week (when school starts), so I'm seriously praying for my soul lol. Just try to remember that the first assessments are usually weighted close to nil, so take advantage of your performance in them - whether ideal or not. Seek out your errors and work on them, it pays off. Have you tried perhaps asking your class teachers for more comprehensive feedback? In my experiences, they're usually happy to oblige :)

Honestly, I'm in an English dilemma too. It has been an incredibly debilitating experience, which has caused me to shed a lot of tears. It's especially difficult because my teacher's lack of belief in my abilities is so passive, yet also so aggressive/strong. She just makes little implications here and there, but it fucking hurts. It has killed me to the point where I'm on the verge of considering dropping English Extension, which I would otherwise love - if my teacher didn't make my life so miserable. I haven't received my mark back for my first assessment, but I feel like I'm going to be marked down just because of her preconceived ideas against the integrity of my work (which are by and large not true). It sucks, because I have natural inclination and passion for English, and especially Extension, but I don't know if it's worth the misery anymore. Everyone keeps telling me that I shouldn't give up my passion just because of her, but it's gotten to a point where I feel like even a 99% won't even suffice to convince me to remain in the class. But at the same time, I know I have a high chance of ranking first and don't want to give that up just because of my incompetent teacher. We've had so many miscommunications in the past that have caused me to endure reprimmands for things I didn't do/things she did herself. It's almost like she's using me as a commodity to appease to the head of English, who just so happens to be my Advanced teacher. It's even worse because she's so fucking nice to my face that I could never bring myself to confront her. I don't even know if she realises what she's doing to me to be fair. I've talked to my mentor teacher and she even thinks that she's been unreasonable. I fucking hate it, because I know I'm a well above average student and I'm not sure why she seems to think so differently. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt by convincing myself it wont be like this next term, but I don't think it's a coincidence I've walked out of each class feeling super upset last term. God, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Hahahaha. Why is school so conflicting

--- End quote ---
Hey man thanks for the nice words! Unfortunately this task was worth 25% of my internals so I think I'm pretty screwed for my internals now...
Regarding your dilemma, I agree 100% with OG's advice. Since this is gonna affect ur ATAR fight to get even 1 extra mark & GL!

bobcheng1111:

--- Quote from: Opengangs on January 28, 2018, 07:45:07 pm ---Hey,
I'm really sorry things are turning out the way they are currently. There's not much we can do, but to offer advice. So, here's one that I hope you can take on board. :)

Remember that, at the end of the day, marks don't define you. They are just numbers on a piece of paper; they don't even mean a whole lot in the end because they don't contribute to anything in the final calculation of your ATAR. You're just beginning the HSC year; marks like this are completely normal and no one is expecting you to write a 15/15 creative at this moment. Even eventual Band 6 students have humble beginnings. What you need to do is pick yourself up, and look at where you've been losing the most marks in. Go back to your essays, and see where your teacher HAS given feedback (because I highly doubt they've given you absolutely zero).

The next best thing to do at this point is to not panic; you have a whole year to fix your mistakes. I scored 61/105 in my trial for English (Adv), yet my overall HSC mark ended up being 86 so if I could do it, so can you. If you really do feel like your teacher doesn't give you good feedback, ask another teacher who's willing to sit down with you and work through your essay. You could also send them to us to get it marked by many different people with a vast range of experience. We're more than happy to get them marked for you, for free.

Keep chipping away at your essays, day by day. Take breaks, socialise with friends (because that can even help to inspire you to write), and just do things to get yourself calmed down before rewriting your essay. Don't stress about what's been done -- look into what you can change. Read the rubrics, and pick up ideas as you're reading the rubric. If you would like me to break down the rubric for Module A, I'd be more than happy to do so because that may give you some direction.

Good luck with the rest of your studies, and I hope it all goes well! In short, don't stress about your marks at this stage; there's plenty of time to hit the band 6 range. :)

--- End quote ---
Hey thanks for the advice I'll definitely try and take a more positive attitude towards my marks by practising it alot more and hopefully get a band 6. For the essay marking I've posted my old AOS speech already but didn't get a response yet so I guess I'll have to contribute harder& more to eventually get the mod feedback. Thank you ! :-)

Lumenoria:


--- Quote from: Opengangs on January 28, 2018, 09:47:25 pm ---Hey!
If you really do think you're going to get marked down just because of something as unjust as her preconceived ideas, then bring it up as early as possible. Talk to her first, and get it remarked by another teacher asap. She might not be aware of what she's doing. Make it clear that it's bothering you, and she may back off or at least, be more cautious. If this behaviour doesn't stop, you shouldn't feel threatened to bring it up with the Head Teacher of the English department because this could seriously jeopardise your ranking, which in turn jeopardises your overall ATAR. It's definitely not allowed, especially in the HSC, which is why we have student numbers rather than names.

You also shouldn't feel like you're not allowed to drop because you think you'll rank first. At the end of the day, you'll have to balance it out with your other subjects, and if it's causing you to stress out, then is it really worth risking your other units to keep Extension 1? You shouldn't rush the decision; take it day by day, and see if there is any improvement with how you respond with the Extension 1 course.

Good luck to you as well, and I hope things turn out better than they are atm! :)

--- End quote ---

Hey there,
Thankyou so much for taking up the time to write out such a lengthy response! I really appreciate it.

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought at the end of last term (when all of this shit mainly happened), but I couldn't bring myself to say anything. She even had the audacity to ask how I was coping - in the context of balancing all my assessment tasks for my subjects - and all I could reply was "... pretty good", whilst suppressing that deep rooted frustration. This was a few days prior to the due date of this particular assessment task, and she kept making those implications that I mentioned before... once again. I made feeble attempts to challenge them by saying, "I know you think that... but it's not true. I dedicated all my free periods to this assessment...." I don't think it was very convincing and I doubt she got my message because she continued to make such implications. I literally just feel defeated. It's not in my nature to speak against authority figures or really anyone, particularly for myself, so it's just super conflicting... this whole situation has been a rally of mental gymnastics honestly. No one else in my Extension class has experienced this, in fact they all seem to like the teacher, so I'll kinda on my own with this.

I'm like, 99% sure she thinks this is normal teacher behaviour, but at the same time I know she has an inclination to suck up to the head of English so I'm really not sure. I remember when she made an allegation against me (the initial of many more to come), it was based on a complete misunderstanding. She had a go at me and her exact words were "don't ever put me in that position ever again", after she had gone to talk to the head about pushing the deadline for one of my Advanced tasks. I was confused as hell, before I realised that she had completely misconstrued what I had said, and thus it didn't line up with truth that the head knew. I then proceeded to clarify that wasn't what I meant and she kept perpetuating her anger at me for the aforementioned reasons, but she acknowledged what I had told her because her response suggested so. Later, the head wanted to speak to my peer and me, so I obliged. She was angry at us for this "misrepresentation", though it was by and large NOT my intention in the absolute slightest. Neither of us spoke, but we both knew what that none of that was what either of us meant. I wanted to say something, but I was really sick those entire two weeks and I practically couldn't speak whatsoever. Then, my Extension teacher comes over and continues to add onto her reprimands, even though I had explicitly told her earlier this was not what I meant. It's almost like, she didn't want to admit that perhaps she had made a mistake - perhaps we all did? But her ego was too big to succumb to that proposition in front of the head? Idk if this is too far fetched, but this was literally my thought process at the time.

At the moment, I'm not really considering taking any formal action or anything tbh. I would feel bad for doing that to her because of her nice facade HHAHAHAH. Oh man, this is great. School starts in a day and I'll see her then when I hand in my next draft, so I'm almost certain I'll receive my mark then. I honestly think the work I produced for that assessment was definitely worthy of 85+, so if I get marked below 80 or so.. I'll know why. I'll just drop it if that becomes the case.

That's how I feel too, I feel like the amount of misery she has inflicted on me is definitely enough to cause me to spiral into depression or something... as morbid as that sounds. It's actually so exhausting to go through, I've never feared a class the way I do for Extension in my life.

Anyways, I hope this made sense hahaha! Thanks once again for the words of wisdom, hopefully all works out! :) Will keep you posted

Lumenoria:


--- Quote from: jamonwindeyer on January 28, 2018, 11:40:02 pm ---Hey Bob! I'll leave you to read the awesome advice from OG and Lumenoria above, but on your tutor situation, a few things to consider:

- Your tutor might not have been looking for those specific errors you pointed out, they may have been looking at other things that they considered to be more likely/more serious deficiencies in your piece. It is their job from this point though, to explain what happened to you and give you steps on how to fix it. Further, they should be able to spot it next time now that they are aware of the issue - Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, etc etc.
- Your tutor is right in that it is really common to start in the mid range and then build up. Definitely don't stress about the mark!
- Ultimately, you are paying for a service, and if you don't think that service is up to scratch you have the right to leave, and you should leave. Never put up with a tutor who isn't doing what you need - And it doesn't even mean they are bad, it just means they aren't right for your needs.

Personally, I would be chatting to your tutor asap and asking them to help you break down where the errors came from, and give you steps/ideas to address them for next time. If they can't do that to your satisfaction, or you otherwise find reason to think your money would be spent elsewhere, go for it. No sense spending money on something you aren't happy with - Plenty of awesome tutors around so you'll find another, as I'm sure they'll find another student who will hopefully work a bit better with their style ;D

And AN can be your tutor in the meantime ;)

This sounds brutal! I'm really glad you have had a chance to rant about it at least!

Make sure you are elevating things to the appropriate member of executive or similar where required, particularly if you are marked down without adequate reason. No HSC class should make you any more miserable than needing to eat your least favourite food*. For me, this is beetroot. If I have to eat beetroot, it sucks, but when it's done I'm chirpy and all gee afterwards. The second any classroom becomes more impactful on you than a tin of beetroot would be for me, then you need to take steps to rectify that.

Good luck with things Lumenoria, you know you're not defined by a teachers perception of your ability or worth, even I know your a gun at English and I'm just some schmuck on the internet. Chin up ;D

--- End quote ---

Haha aw thanks Jamon, you're seriously a legend. I'm waiting for Tuesday to come to see what my result is, I'm seriously praying it all works out in my favour so that I won't have to resort to anything beyond my comfort zone hahahahaha. I also might have a talk to my mentor about this, because I have a feeling I actually might have a mental break down (literally) if my result is below 85 lol. I'll keep you posted! :))

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