How should I approach the teacher about this? ?

Question

My daughter started school this week. One of the first assignments they received was a blank world map, with directions to draw certain geographical elements and label them.

My daughter labeled the Europe/Asia landmass as Eurasia and Australia as Oceania. Both were marked wrong.

My daughter is very upset about this, she asked the teacher why they were marked wrong and the teacher said that "It should be Europe, Asia and Australia".

How should I approach the teacher about this?

Answer 1

the teachers right. unless you subscribe to some sort of school that supports the teaching of pangea as fact.

Answer 2

What a coincidence, I just had a world map for my class today and used the terms "Eurasia" and "Oceania", but just to expose them to those terms.

Convention says seven continents, Eurasia treated like two.  And the more commonly used term is Australia, although things in Oceania aren't necessarily part of the (country) Australia (sorry New Zealand), so I wish it wasn't so...

I am sorry to not really have an approach for the teacher, I corrected a colleague about the time for perihelion and she was insistent on how I was wrong...some people can't be corrected.  All I can offer is my opinion is how your daughter had accurate, albeit lesser used, labels.

Answer 3

Oceania is not the same as Australia.  Oceania includes many other islands, not just Australia.  

While I personally would have marked Eurasia correct (since Europe and Asia are clearly one continent!), geography books still treat it as two separate continents.  

If your daughter is "very upset" at a few wrong answers on a worksheet, the problem is with your daughter.  I'm not trying to be mean, but she needs to learn to get over it.  Talk to her about keeping things in perspective.  

She should also ask the teacher to explain why Europe and Asia are considered two continents when they are clearly one single land mass.  It could lead to a good lesson and discussion.  

Answer 4

1. Pick your battles. I can not say if your daughter was 'technically' correctly or not without seeing the actual assignment but I can say that Eurasia and Oceania are not continents.

2. Do your research or better yet use this as a learning opportunity and teach your child how to do research. If you are going to show the teacher ( or your daughter) that she is wrong use a credible source such as your child's textbook or an atlas. You can borrow an atlas from the public library if you don't have one at home.

3. I wouldn't show the teacher a post from Yahoo! Answers as evidence your child is right.

Answer 5

Which is more important?

That your child has a great grasp of where countries and continents are and really gets the idea of continents and landmass?

or

She didn't provide the answers the teacher wanted?

IMO marking answers as right or wrong totally misses the point of education. This teacher clearly needs to provide feedback, it is used extensively at university level and should always be used for school children. It is a way of teaching them and at the same time encouraging them to think and learn. No one has the will to learn if all they are told is that they are wrong, children equate this with 'stupid' and eventually they will loose interest.

If I were you I would sit your daughter down and tell her that both her and the teacher are right but she didn't give the answers that she needs to pass the grade. Go on wikipedia with her and show her that she is right and wrong at the same time. She is obviously smart and interested in school, so I hope she doesn't get too many knocks to her confidence.

Answer 6

How old is your daughter?

Whether they were right or wrong is less important that the fact that your daughter ended up feeling crushed by this.  It's worth pointing out to the teacher the effect that this had on your daughter.  After all, teachers should be there to give children a real love for learning.

The biggest problem here is the potential for a negative attitude to develop towards the teacher and learning.

I don't think that we ask people the question often enough "Do you realise how that made me feel?"

Emotional intelligence is so important - far more important than largely irrelevant geographical information.

My approach would be something along the lines of... "I know that you were technically correct, but I'd like you to understand how your reaction to her effort made her feel."

I'm assuming that your daughter is in primary school.  If she's in high school, then I would probably ignore all that advice and use this as an opportunity to encourage her to develop some resilience!

Answer 7

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But, the teacher is 100% correct on this one. Eurasia and Oceania are not continents. Although in some areas of Social Science these terms are used, they are rarely accepted in an elementary setting. I am sorry to hear your daughter is upset by this, but she was incorrect and the teacher would be doing her a disservice by allowing the error to stand. Your child and teacher are in an era of high accountability and expectations. As educators we can't mark something correct just because we don't want a kid to be sad.  

Answer 8

What is it that you want to approach the teacher about?  Your daughter gave two incorrect answers and the teacher marked them wrong.  That is the teacher's job.