Good Meeting
Today my hubby and I had to meet with my girlie's teacher. She failed a science test on motion, energy and mechanical engineering and we needed to know if it was her or the test. This isn't the first time our daughter has struggled specifically with knowing the information, but then being unable to express her knowledge when asked in the written word. We needed to know if the teacher had concerns about this grade and her ability to interpret the test, and if we needed to consider some sort of special education intervention. (I absolutely hated typing that.)
There were many flaws in the test and many questions that were difficult for my husband & I (and even my father who is an engineer) because of the way they were worded or the confusing way in which the multiple choices were presented. Many questions were worded very poorly and I could completely see why my daughter chose certain answers over others. For instance, when a ball is kicked, what kind of motion does the ball have? Round and round; up and down and round and round, round and round and in a straight line? If you have ever actually kicked a ball, any of these answers could be correct. Sometimes the ball goes up and down and round and round. Sometimes the ball goes in a straight line but most often it does not. The point of the question was to exhibit that the student understood motion in the scientific 'terms' used in the text. The correct answer, by the way was round and round and in a straight line. According to her text, motion is straight line, round and round, back and forth, up and down. No where does the text factor in that motion could be a curved line. My daughter plays soccer. Her soccer coach LOVES my daughter's kicking strength and so she was responsible for almost all of the team's goal kicks this year. None of those balls went in a straight line. All of them went round and round and FORWARD. So, my daughter's interpretation of the best answer was round and round. She got the question wrong, but her logic was commendable. When I asked her why she didn't choose round and round and in a straight line, she said because when you kick a ball you put spin on it and it does not go in a straight line. She actually took the lesson a step further, and because she did she got the question wrong.
There were certainly question on the test that she should have gotten right. There were items on the test that her father and I did not stress in our studying with her because they were not on the study guide, which in our estimation fell short of being complete. And her Dad and I have to take some parental responsibility in that we did not study with her until the night before the test. A perfect storm of sorts that led to her failure. So, did we need to worry or was it this culmination of events?
We had a great meeting. We didn't go in with the attitude of "This was an awful test and it was unfair and you need to fix our daughter's grade!" We went in with the attitude of "We feel that the test was poorly written, but if everyone else in the class did okay then maybe it is our child. What is your impression? Should we be worried?" I felt that her teacher heard us, and agreed with us about our daughter's logic on some of the answers. I felt that she understood that the test was poorly written and admitted that it was a very difficult test for a 3rd grader. Even so, there were children in the class who were successful. Unfortunately, because this was a STEM unit (science, technology, engineering & math) the test was directly from the County and the teachers were not allowed to rewrite the questions in a manner that was more friendly to 8 year olds. This will be the only science unit where the test will come from the County (whew! [wipes brow]).
The end result is that the teacher is pleased with the growth that our daughter has shown this year, but she could not really say if our daughter needs intervention because our daughter regroups out to other 3rd grade teachers for reading/writing and math. She will talk with the other teachers and put our child in for an SST meeting (which means all of the special educators in the school, the team of teachers our child has and the school psychologist will get together and discuss her issues). Her reasoning was that this step couldn't hurt and that the idea behind the meeting is to get ideas and input from others about what may help our daughter be more successful. She also told us that she would recommend our girlie for a reading comprehension intervention group that will be meeting outside of school hours, because every little bit of 'critical thinking' help will be beneficial.
I am not sure what I was expecting, maybe a defensive teacher, maybe a teacher who wanted to brush it all away and diminish the need for intervention. Quite often in our area, teachers and administrators are quick to try to discourage parents from going down that road. I was pleasantly surprised that this meeting was productive and positive. I am very pleased that our daughter will be considered for the additional help that the reading group will provide, without being labeled "special education." I know that it shouldn't matter, but it does. I know I should get past that, but I am not ready yet. In our district, that label will stay in her file until the day she graduates from high school. With that label, she will no longer be in classes with her friends and her school experience, all the way through 12th grade will be completely different. I am hopeful that with additional intervention in school and at home, we can catch her up to her classmates. I know my smart little girl has it in her. We just need to figure out how to get it out of her.
Here's to a bright future, working with teachers who care!
There were many flaws in the test and many questions that were difficult for my husband & I (and even my father who is an engineer) because of the way they were worded or the confusing way in which the multiple choices were presented. Many questions were worded very poorly and I could completely see why my daughter chose certain answers over others. For instance, when a ball is kicked, what kind of motion does the ball have? Round and round; up and down and round and round, round and round and in a straight line? If you have ever actually kicked a ball, any of these answers could be correct. Sometimes the ball goes up and down and round and round. Sometimes the ball goes in a straight line but most often it does not. The point of the question was to exhibit that the student understood motion in the scientific 'terms' used in the text. The correct answer, by the way was round and round and in a straight line. According to her text, motion is straight line, round and round, back and forth, up and down. No where does the text factor in that motion could be a curved line. My daughter plays soccer. Her soccer coach LOVES my daughter's kicking strength and so she was responsible for almost all of the team's goal kicks this year. None of those balls went in a straight line. All of them went round and round and FORWARD. So, my daughter's interpretation of the best answer was round and round. She got the question wrong, but her logic was commendable. When I asked her why she didn't choose round and round and in a straight line, she said because when you kick a ball you put spin on it and it does not go in a straight line. She actually took the lesson a step further, and because she did she got the question wrong.
There were certainly question on the test that she should have gotten right. There were items on the test that her father and I did not stress in our studying with her because they were not on the study guide, which in our estimation fell short of being complete. And her Dad and I have to take some parental responsibility in that we did not study with her until the night before the test. A perfect storm of sorts that led to her failure. So, did we need to worry or was it this culmination of events?
We had a great meeting. We didn't go in with the attitude of "This was an awful test and it was unfair and you need to fix our daughter's grade!" We went in with the attitude of "We feel that the test was poorly written, but if everyone else in the class did okay then maybe it is our child. What is your impression? Should we be worried?" I felt that her teacher heard us, and agreed with us about our daughter's logic on some of the answers. I felt that she understood that the test was poorly written and admitted that it was a very difficult test for a 3rd grader. Even so, there were children in the class who were successful. Unfortunately, because this was a STEM unit (science, technology, engineering & math) the test was directly from the County and the teachers were not allowed to rewrite the questions in a manner that was more friendly to 8 year olds. This will be the only science unit where the test will come from the County (whew! [wipes brow]).
The end result is that the teacher is pleased with the growth that our daughter has shown this year, but she could not really say if our daughter needs intervention because our daughter regroups out to other 3rd grade teachers for reading/writing and math. She will talk with the other teachers and put our child in for an SST meeting (which means all of the special educators in the school, the team of teachers our child has and the school psychologist will get together and discuss her issues). Her reasoning was that this step couldn't hurt and that the idea behind the meeting is to get ideas and input from others about what may help our daughter be more successful. She also told us that she would recommend our girlie for a reading comprehension intervention group that will be meeting outside of school hours, because every little bit of 'critical thinking' help will be beneficial.
I am not sure what I was expecting, maybe a defensive teacher, maybe a teacher who wanted to brush it all away and diminish the need for intervention. Quite often in our area, teachers and administrators are quick to try to discourage parents from going down that road. I was pleasantly surprised that this meeting was productive and positive. I am very pleased that our daughter will be considered for the additional help that the reading group will provide, without being labeled "special education." I know that it shouldn't matter, but it does. I know I should get past that, but I am not ready yet. In our district, that label will stay in her file until the day she graduates from high school. With that label, she will no longer be in classes with her friends and her school experience, all the way through 12th grade will be completely different. I am hopeful that with additional intervention in school and at home, we can catch her up to her classmates. I know my smart little girl has it in her. We just need to figure out how to get it out of her.
Here's to a bright future, working with teachers who care!
posted by mother juggler @ 4:00 PM
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