** I am going to apologize in advance because dialogue is something that I have a problem with. I never can get how to write something. So this is going to be my attempt :)
This being the week before Spring Break it is the last week of the quarter for my children at their schools. Tonight was my first round of parent teacher conferences. Although this teacher had a very different way of presenting their information. My youngest daughter Lawrena kept reminding me all last week "Mom don't forget that you have parent teacher conference on Tuesday at 5:30" I told her "I won't forget" I go on to tell her "You will have to stay home and we will discuss what your teacher shares with me when I get home" she tells me "No mom, I have to go with you because I will be the one presenting you with all my information" I am thinking to myself this is way different than when I was younger. That was the time that my mom and my teacher got to talk about what I was doing wrong in school. So I was anticipating what was going to happen this evening. It was actually very beneficial for me as well as Lawrena because I was able to see how she can present herself and carry on a conservation and stick to what she needed to, to get through the topics.
We entered her classroom. The teacher said Hello and went on to explain to Lawrena that she has her checklist to go through and when she comes to the grades then she will intervene at that time. Lawrena led us to her table she begins pulling out her work which has been graded, and all I see in front of me are A's on the pages. She goes over her various folders and the things which she has completed and things which she is working on. She then shows me a little which she wrote to me and it really hit home. My daughter really an intelligent young woman, she wrote "Thank you for taking time from your day to come to my conference. It shows me that you appreciate me." I am sitting there thinking to myself, "I am so lucky to have a child like this, I never have to tell her to do her homework, she comes straight home gets everything done. Important projects she does not wait until the last minute to work on them." I wonder if I ever tell her thank you for being that way, but I am sure that I do not say it enough.
We get through her checklist and get to the grades part. As we approach her teacher she says to me "Mom I am so nervous to know what my grades are." I ask her " Why, do you not think that you did well?" By her saying that to me she made me nervous. As I am opening the envelope I can see her excitement on her face. I open it up and lay it on the table she yells out "YES!!!!! Straight A's" she is so proud of herself as she should be. The first 2 quarters she missed having straight A's by getting one B. I turn to her and ask her "So how much do I owe you?" Because I know that is exactally what she is thinking about. She says to me "35 dollars, mom" awhile back I made an agreement with them for the younger ones they get $5 and A, and my older daughters get $10 an A. She is so excited because she made a goal for herself to get all A's this quarter.
I talk to her teacher about a few things. We discuss her test scores for gifted and talented and she informs me "We have yet to receive those scores yet, and it is more than likely that they will not be available until after Spring break." She has tested for gifted and talented 3 times now and the other times she just barely missed getting into the program. I am concerned because she will be starting middle school next year and I am wondering if they will be able to challenge her. I do not want her to start to dislike school because she does not find it challenging enough. I then ask her teacher " Is there anything which I should be concerned with?" She tells me "The only thing that I would like her to work on is going over her work. I noticed that she has very strong problem solving skills and she is able to find easier ways than most to get her assignments done. And I find myself reminding her Lawrena did you check your work." I turn to Lawrena then and tell her "Teach me what you know so that I have better test taking skills." She smiles at me and says "Mom". I go on to ask her teacher "The time when we were away did she have any problems making up what she missed?" She just laughed at me and said "Are you serious you have an over achiever there and she had everything done the next day." I look at Lawrena and am so amazed because she never even told me she had this make up work to do. She took it all upon herself to get it done. I wish some of these skills would rub off on her sisters and brothers.
No comments:
Post a Comment