The kids sent home Learning Reports yesterday. They filled out the template below and emailed it to their parents/guardians. They also copied me, so I could see what they were sending home. And while I have neither the time nor feel the necessity to check them all, I scanned through a number of them yesterday to catch a glimpse of what the kids were sharing with their parents. Glad I did.
Greetings
I gave the kids the opportunity to personalize their greetings, instead of using the generic, “Hey, Mom and Dad.” Some of them changed it to better meet their family situation: single parent, two households, step-parents, grandparents, sister, etc. Some changed it to have fun. Here are a few greetings that caught my attention.
“Yo! Mom and Dad. It’s your #1 daughter “no one”. Did you hear about pluto? Thats messed up!”
“Whazzzzzzzzzzzzzzz up my homies!!!!!!!!!”
“Hola, mi madre y mi padre.”
“Hey hey pretty lady.HOLLLAA.”
I appreciate that kids felt they could have a little fun with these. Many just used the generic approach, but a good number personalized them, and the fact that they were able to have some fun showed me that it was not a stressful situation. And it shouldn’t be. But, too often, especially in a traditional setting, grades and parents equals stress. I am trying to change that.
Content
As I skimmed through the content of the kids’ emails, I found many comments that pleased me and one that really disappointed me.
“If I were to argue for a grade right now I would ask for an A because the mistakes I’ve made have been generally small and easy to fix (which I plan on doing) and after each performance I have been able to learn from all of my mistakes.”
“I simply need to use the feedback i received and learn from my minimal mistakes, i understand what i did wrong on both and i just need to pay a bit more attention to detail.”
“I need to review the sentence performance criteria, look over proper structure and talk with Syrie more.”
“Next time on a theme performance I need to use more qualifying statements and less generalized words such as always. On the sentence performance I need to completely follow the directions.”
“I feel like i am getting unfair grades on the Performances.”
The last comment stung a bit. Below is the email response that I sent to both Jack (name changed) and his mom. I will also have a one-on-one conversation with Jack today. It concerns me that he feels this way. I want my kids to feel empowered, and Jack’s comment doesn’t indicate that he feels empowered. I’m not okay with that.
Good morning, Jack. I am surprised and sorry that you feel that you are getting unfair scores on the performances. Please come talk to me, so I can explain the scores and what you can do differently next time to do better. Please remember that you are encouraged to do retakes based on my feedback. And you may retake performances as many times as you like, until you get to the score you want. Again, I am sorry that you feel I have been unfair. Please come talk to me.-syrie
Responses
A few parents responded yesterday, and I expect that more will today. Here is one parent response that caught my attention and made my day.
Words like reflect, mistakes, grow, mindful, and challenge are music to my ears. I could not have scripted a better response. This is exactly what I would want a parent to say about her child’s experience in my class. Music.
As I have said before and as I reiterated above with Jack, I want my kids to feel empowered in my room. I want them to feel like they own their learning. And though lots of work and improvement remain to create that feeling for all kids, I am pleased with where things are right now. Yesterday, was an important step in that direction.
Today’s Trail
Along today’s trail we will…
…begin with Smiles and Frowns.
…choose our weekly Community Champs.
…finish a Performance (didn’t have enough time yesterday).
…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.
Happy Wednesday, all.
Do. Reflect. Do Better.