This "applied learning" class is driving me insane

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I take a class at school which is essentially the development of our school store/coffee shop—I give up my free periods some days (when I'm scheduled to work) to work in said store. My duties outside of that include taking inventory and writing blog posts for our website. I do all of the duties I'm required to.

However, my constantly fluctuating grade in this class is driving me up the wall. Before this past week, the teacher had randomly decided when to grade based on shifts worked and when to grade based on "weekly effort"—and when I got a D one week, I was told it was because I "disappeared by myself in the classroom." I wasn't the only one in there, and I got my work done, but...okay.

Then the next week I did the exact same thing (stayed in the classroom) and got an A.

This past week the teacher has required for the first time (due to people not working) that we send him a list of everything we accomplished during the week. I thought I produced a pretty good list that showed I'd fulfilled all my duties and assignments given to me by my VP. Got a B. ?!?!

The teacher has said multiple times "If you want to slack off and don't want to be apart of this, I can have you write papers and you can earn your grade that way." Well, I don't want to slack off, but I can't deal with this unnecessary stress based on trying to basically impress someone who has an unfair, bizarre grading scale, so I'm thinking about taking him up on the offer to write papers. Then again, he could just screw me over and give me low grades on the papers too.

I suggest talking to the teacher. Just say something like "hey, my grades seem to be fluctuating a lot but I think I've been putting in about the same amount of effort every week so that's been confusing me. Do you think it's in my best interest to do the essays instead?" Let him know you are trying, but his unconventional methods are just confusing for you. Good luck.

Ah ... we have a business teacher at my school and a school store and students basically run the store under the supervision of this instructor.

I've been a teacher for 29 years. I'm also autistic. I think this teacher's grading seems haphazard but just to be sure ... did he give you a syllabus or course expectation at the start of the year? At my school, we're required to do this to avoid problems like the one you've encountered.

If you received a syllabus, did it include any mention of his grading policy?

In terms of grading, have you been given a grading rubric? This is basically a two dimensional matrix chart that specifies what the expectations are for various grades, A-F. The use of grading rubrics makes it difficult for students to challenge grades because everything is black and white and you either did what you were expected to or you didn't.

If you did not receive a syllabus or a grading matrix, it sounds as though these grades are subjective ... which isn't fair.

I would talk to the teacher first to let him know that you're autistic and that you work best if you have a thorough understanding as to what his expectations are. Stay calm when you talk to this person. No one responds well to being screamed at. If this doesn't work, talk to your parents and schedule an appointment with your principal. The principal is ultimately responsible for everything that happens on his or her campus. This includes the administrative oversight of teachers via annual teacher evaluations.

I'm sorry you're having these problems.

I hope this advice helps.