Well, it’s our 3rd day of 3rd grade and we have our first “I’m concerned about Kyle not completing his work” note. :( We have until Sept. 11th before our new psychologist appointment with a new dr. Sigh!!! I hope to have a meeting with his teacher on Friday and tell her to hang in there, we are working on it.
Anyway, not looking for much advice, just a shoulder to cry on. Pray things get better!
Amen to that!!
Boy, do I agree with you, Sara! I think the FIRST thing to do in such a situation is to look into the reasons the work is not being completed. He may totally understand the work and be bored to death with it. The teacher may be requiring a certain approach that doesn’t work for your child (this happens A LOT in mathematics!) Your child may be seated in a place where it is easy to talk to his friends. He may be being annoyed or even bullied by another child. He may not understand what is going on because the teacher didn’t explain it, because he can’t read the directions, or because he is not an auditory learner. Or me may be hungry, tired, etc., etc. I could go on!
The teacher is paid to teach. Part of their job (in my view) is to look at the child’s needs and figure out how to create an environment where the child can learn. Part of this is learning the skills of paying attention, of asking for help when needed, of reading directions, of persisting on a task to completion. The “note home” approach blames the child and makes it the parent’s job to fix the problem. I think a team approach is much better. I have also taught and worked with “emotionally disturbed” children, and I have rarely found a situation where some combination of environmental modification and consistent behavior programming didn’t make substantial improvements in the situation. Yes, it requires some creativity and effort, but again, that’s why we are paying the teacher a professional salary. I know they are overworked, but that’s still no excuse. You sound very willing to work with them - they should meet with you and work out a plan. I hope you can spend some time in the classroom and gather some information, and be prepared with some suggestions as to how things could be changed.
Remember that “completing work” is not the same as learning. If you child is learning the concepts, then work completion is an issue of logistics rather than education. Perhaps he needs some more challenging work, or just a smaller volume? If he can learn the ideas in half a page of work, why make him do two pages? I know many teachers aren’t flexible on these points, but you may have to be a force for change. Other kids may benefit as well. Hang in there, and don’t let them avoid their jobs!
Good luck!
–— Steve
(Sorry, I guess I ignored the part about not seeking advice! Please ignore it if it bothers you!)
note home
Maybe the teacher is trying to communicate with home. I have not read where there was any blame- simply a statement that she has noticed something. If she gets no response then she knows something about the amount of support the student (ergo the teacher) is going to receive this year.
If she gets a positive response “Yes, we have noticed it, too.” She knows she has parents like the ones on this board-parents who are concerned and supportive and willing to work together.
If your child needs something extra, its going to take both of you. I suspect she is sending out a feeler to see if she going to have a partnership with you.
JMHO
the intention of notes sent home
[quote=”mmm”]Maybe the teacher is trying to communicate with home.
Real communication is a phone call in my experience as a teacher. When I really want to communicate, I call. I don’t write a terse note home.
I have not read where there was any blame- simply a statement that she has noticed something. If she gets no response then she knows something about the amount of support the student (ergo the teacher) is going to receive this year.
If she gets a positive response “Yes, we have noticed it, too.”
How can parents notice if their child is finishing his work in school?
She knows she has parents like the ones on this board-parents who are concerned and supportive and willing to work together.
If your child needs something extra, its going to take both of you. I suspect she is sending out a feeler to see if she going to have a partnership with you.
That would be the good news. Again in my experience as a teacher, these notes are more often warning notes rather than an invitation to brainstorming or strategizing for the child. When there’s real interest in doing that, a teacher should call - after having thoroughly read the file on the child - and offers suggestions as to how he/she will help the childs or solicits such suggestions from the parents. A note is a one way street and does not serve well however time honored the custom may be. Even an e-mail is better than a note and many people have e-mail these days. An e-mail invites an easy reply by hitting reply and can be a great bridge of ready communication between a teacher and parents if a bridge of ready communication is really what’s wanted.
Just this teacher’s opinion-
JMHO[/quote]
Re: Already a note home....
My gosh 3 days of school and a note. Cut the kid some slack, they have been off for the summer I am sure lots of them aren’t working at their full potential in 3 days.
I would give the teacher a call and see exactly what she’s talking about or better yet meet with her if you can.
I would also agree upon a reasonable amount of time to give Kyle to get back into the swing of school. I really don’t think 3 days is enough time to observe how a child is doing.
third day of school
Boy, it must be something about the third day of school!!!!! I recieved a note from my 9 year old daughter about my son……the teacher had folded a note and told my daughter that she thinks that my son needs to
back on his meds! Boy, was I upset.
Then a couple days later anothe note………..this time-he is having a hard time focusing/inattenative…………struggling to write his thoughts on paper?? He is a VERY slow processor……..I hope this isn’t a indication of how the year will be!!
Good Luck!!
Tammy
When you meet with her, you could gently ask - what happens if Kyle cannot finish his work in school?
See what she says to that. We don’t all work at the same pace yet school expects children to do just that. Does Kyle’s work show he doesn’t understand the material or is he just not getting it done as fast as other students?
It can also take some children a little longer than others to adjust to being back in school. Why is she firing off a note already? Ask her - always gently - if to her observation children who don’t finish their work at the beginning of the year are also struggling with the same thing at the end of it?
finally, ask her - how can you help Kyle at home to finish his work in school?
As a teacher myself, it always bothers me a bit that teachers fire off notes to parents at home when they could be spending the time helping children to solve their problems at school.
Good luck!