The Po Show

A Tale of Two Conferences v.6 or so

Today was parent/teacher conference day. It was also the second day of Matthew's latest suspension, and he was sad because he missed his class field trip to see a play in the morning. We picked up Tessa at noon (half day for conferences) and went to have lunch. Matthew was happy to have his DS in his hands again, since days of suspension are screen ban days. We then picked up Ross at the train station and headed to school. Matthew was nervous to go back to school and said so repeatedly. The first person we saw as we walked into the building was his aide in the office, who was so happy to see him. Then his tutor (who works with him using the Wilson method every Tuesday afternoon) met us up at his classroom and they went off for their session.

We had Matthew's conference first. His teacher and the inclusion teacher both told us how shocked and upset they'd been to hear he'd been suspended again, and they thought that it had been a very unfair decision by the assistant principal. His teacher said that he was "working on it" and that if it happened again he was going to raise some serious protests with the administration. Well, that was good to hear.

It's hard to talk about Matthew's academics, because we all know that he's very below grade level in all areas concerning writing. His report card was the most dismal one yet. And since ALL subjects require writing these days, including math, Matthew is very frustrated. Combined with all the other issues, they are trying to move in small steps, but they do feel that they are moving ahead with him. We all feel that the Wilson lessons have helped a lot, though I think he's still lacking basic phonemic awareness.

Mostly we talked about the upcoming program/annual review that's scheduled for May 2. They agree with me that moving Matthew to a self-contained class would be a hugely inappropriate change, though that's the "next step" in the chain of moving from the "least restrictive environment." The inclusion teacher and the school psychologist are taking a field trip to check out the gifted special ed. class this Friday and said they'd give me their impressions of how appropriate it would be for Matthew. His teacher then said that speaking as a parent, off the record, not as a teacher, we had to really push for this. We understood immediately what that meant, that the district was going to try and dick us, but we had to fight to get Matthew what he needs. It's good in a way to hear that, to know that's where we're going to stand, and to know that they'll support us. Really, I'm terribly sorry that Matthew was just unable to get everything out of this school year that he should have gotten, because this teacher is simply tremendous. Though of course, the year's not over yet (since we go till almost the end of June!).

Then we went down to Tessa's conference. She came along, and sat across the classroom from us, but was obviously very uneasy that we were talking about her. Her teacher had more intensely glowing praise for her. She actually has to get special permission to assess Tessa's reading level, since she feels it's around the middle of third grade and she's not "allowed" to give assessment results above second grade level. Not too shabby for a first grader. Her work in math and social studies is all above grade level too, so she's just the whole package. Her writing is full of correct punctuation (including quotation marks) and incredible vocabulary (though the spelling is still creative :)).

She said that everyday Tessa comes in happy, she works hard throughout the day, and she leaves with a smile on her face. She participates, she contributes in group discussion, she helps others. "She is brilliant," the teacher said. Which is a kind of startling thing to hear your child's teacher say. I mean, I've thought she was gifted from the time she was 18 months old, but to see her progress like this is truly amazing.

The teacher talked about next year, and how she would strive to make sure that Tessa is grouped with a girl from another class who is reading at the same level, along with a few other kids who are working above grade level. Since we don't have dedicated gifted education here, I guess that's the closest they can do. But she said that Tessa's second grade teacher should make sure to enrich her lessons the way she has done this year, to ensure that she's progessing in the way in which she is capable. I felt awkward, thinking in my head, "But we may not be here next year," but since that all remains to be seen, I thanked her profusely for all her efforts.

And so it goes, in the world of school.