nov 09, parent/teacher conferences

November 2009, First Kindergarten Parent/Teacher Conference: A few days before Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to meet with the twins’ teacher and discuss their progress. In kindergarten the teacher provides a “progress report” rather than a “report card” and instead of using a letter grade for each category, the marks are CD - consistently demonstrates, PR – progressing, or ND – needs development. There are 42 categories! Alex and Chloe got all CD and PR’s which means they are doing what they should be for their age. Even though they don’t know how to read and write yet, there is standardized testing that the teachers administer a few times a year. The teacher explained some of the questions for the test, for instance the children would be asked for verbally identify as many letters as they could in 60 seconds from a group of randomly ordered letters. Both kids got better than passing scores on the test. The teacher was very enthusiastic to show me several examples of work the children had done in class. She said that most of the kids want to rush through the assignments and get them out of the way and she finds herself reminding them over and over to slow down and do their work carefully. But, she says, Alex is the exception. He insists on doing everything slowly and carefully until it is absolutely perfect. She showed me an assignment in which Alex was asked to copy a drawing of several simple shapes and she pointed out on the half-moon shape how it was evident that Alex had drawn, erased, and re-drawn it several times before he found his drawing acceptable. She said sometimes she’s almost tempted to tell him to hurry up because he’s often the last student to finish an assignment, but then she decides that it is best to let him work at his own pace. As for Chloe’s work, the teacher is most impressed with her writing. In fact, the teacher said that she has never met a kindergartener who can write like Chloe. A few times a week the kids are invited to write in their journals. The paper in the journal books is half lined and half open for drawings. Sometimes the teacher asks them to write about a specific topic, and sometimes the journal entries are free choice, but the teacher always encourages them to fill a half page so they can turn it over and start writing on the back. She said Chloe almost always writes enough to reach the back of the page, but the unusual thing is that Chloe also stays focused on her original topic and each new sentence discusses a new point rather than repeating herself. She also said that Chloe is reading at a first grade level. Even though I get to see the kids in the classroom for a few hours a week when I volunteer, it was very interesting to see a broader picture of what the kids are learning. Right now I feel confident that the kids are benefiting greatly from their education.