How do I confront a teacher about a grade?

In my AP Physics class... I'm not the best student. A lot of it goes way over my head, when it seems to click with the rest of my class quite easily. The class is pretty elite, and pretty bright, and while, in the rest of my classes, I do very well, I'm near the bottom in Physics.



All of my test grades have ranged from an 85-89, with the exception of two: (on one, I scored 100%, and on the other, I scored... eek! a 64%). I received a 93% on my midterm. I've scored in the 80% range on all of my quizzes, which are obviously weighted less than tests, and of which, there haven't been many. As far as I had been told, I missed four homework assignments for the quarter (because of absences and such). The teacher gives out ';extra credit stamps'; if you answer a tough question. Each extra credit stamp is supposed to cancel out a missing assignment or add points to a quiz or test. I had eleven of those stamps. According to him, tests are weighted as 60% of your quarter average, the midterm was to be 20%, quizzes are 10% and homework and classwork are 10%. I challenge anyone to figure out what my average should have been.



When I received my report card today, I was a little disturbed to find that I had an average of a 72%... the majority of my grades were nowhere under 80.



I'd like to talk to my teacher about this, but he is a very strict, older Russian man, who plays very by-the-book, and ';What I say goes.'; And he doesn't like me. He hasn't from the very beginning. Like I said, I'm at the bottom of my class. I have a feeling he lowered my grade because of the low quizzes and the missing assignments, but my extra credit points should have made up for that. How do I speak to him without offending him? And when he refuses to change my grade (which I know he will), how do I take this further (ie, administrators) without jeopardizing the rest of my year in his class?How do I confront a teacher about a grade?
I agree with the other person, just stop by and ask if he could find some time to meet with you and talk to you about your grade. If he says no, ask him who you must speak to about it. If he then wonders what you are talking about explain to him that you had the stamps and your grade average isn't what it should be. Tell him you would like it to be written out for you. If he won't do it or says he doesn't have time, just tell him that your parents would like a list of it and that they would like you to check your average again. Good Luck, I hope he works with you!How do I confront a teacher about a grade?
ASK AT THE END OF CLASS OR BEFORE EVERYBODY GET THERE
Don't *confront* him, ask him nicely and politely. = ) Ask for a print-out of your grades, he must have that to give you a report card grade. If he does them by hand (does anyone anymore?!), he can photocopy it for you. At my son's private school they give us a progress report print-out a few weeks before report cards, so the kids can work to bring up their grades if necessary.



Teachers do make mistakes. (One of my son's teachers doubled the points a quiz was worth on her computer, but she corrected it as soon as they all brought it to her attention after seeing their progress reports. If they had 50/50 it said 50/100. lol) But wait until you see your grades to figure out what to do. If he won't give you a print-out, you should have your parent speak to him or to whoever handles these things, like the vice principal.



In the future, write down all of your grades. Keep a list by assignment, percent it's worth, points you got, points for perfect score, etc. That way you can figure out what you should be getting as a report card grade. Good luck!

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