It is the Thursday night of the last 6 weeks. I am relaxing and settling down after making sure all this week that my all my assignments are made up and redone. My grades are finally where I want them to be. Then I hear the familiar buzzing sound of a tx-connect grade alert. It says that I failed the test I took 2 and a half weeks ago and it brought my average down to a failing grade. A failing grade! I begin to sweat and panic and think about tomorrow’s schedule, trying to think of a time I can review the material, do the corrections and retake the test, all in one school day. I can’t stay after school, I have a club meeting and before school I have dance. I only have the 45 minute study hall period to get it all done.

The test was very difficult. There were 20 questions, and most were free response. I couldn’t remember anything. I try to to think back to the lecture my teacher gave. The teacher put the notes up on the board and said “I’ll let you work with these notes for a couple minutes.” I quickly copy them down, not understanding any of it, and then not using the notes I don’t understand on the homework. I do the homework, sure that all of the answers are completely wrong and not caring because it is only a completion grade. My teacher just flips through the assignment, making sure that enough writing was there to clarify that I did it. I could have written scribbles all over the paper and gotten an 100. After debating with myself of whether to ask a question or not I decide that it is worth a shot. I ask my teacher about number 14, my teacher says, “I am not taking questions right now.” and never brings it up ever again.

I go to my teacher’s room during study hall. There are 22 students, (I counted) lined up from my teacher’s desk to outside of the door. The teacher slowly talks to each student and flips through the unorganized files trying to find the tests the teacher never hands back. By the time it is my turn it is 12:00 and I had enough time to correct 2 problems and I have run out of time. My grade will stay.

If only there were a way to give a teacher feedback and let officials know what was really going on in the classroom, maybe the problem would be solved. Isn’t it the students education? Aren’t we allowed to make changes to it to make it better? Maybe teachers should receive report cards every 6 weeks too.