Academic Difficulty at School

From the Desk of Carol C…

In the last few days I’ve read a blog article entitled “Comprehension Issue or Assignment Issue?“.  It captured my attention and created questions in my mind. (Good reader!)  Is this an example of parents overreacting?  Are the children refusing to do homework or rushing through something they view as unimportant?  Is it teachers giving assignments that are unnecessary?  I have no idea.  I don’t know these particular parents, their children, or the teachers involved.  My thoughts have been centered around how I would handle it.

Parents overreacting?  I’ve been in education long enough and taught gifted children enough to know that some parents in wanting what’s best for their children blow grades out of proportion.  A low grade at times in elementary school is not going to ruin anyone’s college career.  However, if D’s and F’s are appearing regularly,  I would be concerned enough to ask for a conference with the teacher even if it’s not the first meeting.

What part do the children play in this?  I have to be truthful.  As a teacher I would expect every assignment to be completed on time regardless of what the child or the parent thought of the assignment.  If the child forgot, then procedures need to be put in place to help him remember.  If the child blows it off, he would receive the consequences.  The issue here is teaching children that in life there are many things you have to do that you don’t see the need for or don’t want to do.  If your “boss” asks you to do something, you do it or face the consequences.  How real life is this?  Everybody has choices, but everybody must be willing to live with the outcomes of those choices.

What is the teacher’s role here?  Well as I said above, I would expect my assignments to be completed on time.  But beyond that I would differentiate for any children who weren’t “getting it”.  Guided reading at its best here.  As the teacher, it’s my job to provide the scaffolding for any children who are struggling regardless of their ability level.  We lose sight of these things sometimes when we teach bright children.  Many teachers can slip into the mindset of “They’re smart.  They ought to get it.”  Regardless of whether they should or not, they aren’t getting it.  Bottom line.

If parents and/or teachers find themselves facing the issue of their children continually making low grades showing, what should they do?

As a parent, I would look at my child’s assignments and try to figure out what types of questions he missed.  Then I would go over those questions with him and see what his thinking was.  I would question him and have him tell me why each wrong answer was incorrect and what answer was correct.  Many children see shades of gray and worksheet/test makers do not.  For this problem I would ask questions of my child such as “What did the author intend the message to be, not what did you intend it to be?” or “What part of the article gave you the clues for this answer?”  After I had done this for a period of time and saw no positive results, I would call a conference with the teacher(s).  Even if I had had one before, I would make another appointment.

At the conference I would want:

• to listen to and think about what the teacher told me.
• to know the teacher’s perception of exactly what my child’s difficulty was
• examples of types of questions he missed.
• to ask the teacher what I could do to help my child besides going over the missed questions and having him to do more worksheets.
• the teacher to give me some ideas that I could try.
• to know what the teacher was doing differently for my child to help him understand these higher level concepts adding so that I might be able to better follow up at home.
• question stems from the teacher to give me an idea of what comprehension questions to ask my child.

If my child continued to have difficulty after the teacher and I had tried several interventions, I would find a tutor to provide extra support for him.

As the teacher I would:

• listen to and think about what the parents told me.
• be honest with them.
• in a supportive way tell them that their child just isn’t ready for this level of questioning (if applicable of course).  Many times it is simply a matter  of maturation in elementary school.
• assure them that we’re working on the difficulties in class.
• show the parents concrete examples of types of questions, concepts, or activities that give their children the most trouble.
• give at least one good suggestion about how they could help their children at home.
• make sure the parents knew that I was on “their side” and we were a team.

My thoughts here apply to no particular situation.  They are simply musings about experiences that have come up in my teaching career.  I guess the bottom line for me is that all parties must step up to the plate to support children who are having difficulties, and the children need to follow through with what’s expected of them.