The Crew - Miss Fabulous, Lil Bro, Big Sis and Mr. Man

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

No Leg To Stand On, Part II

Thank you so much for the comments and suggestions! Really very good!

I thought what J. said (as a teacher) was interesting in that Miss’ scores reflect that she may be distracted during testing since she is doing well on her benchmark test which are one on one. I think that is a good point and we are considering that too. Or perhaps she is receiving extra help on the testing by her teacher when it is one on one. She is not supposed to receive help but from what we see from her during homework if I sit with her and guide her step by step her work looks as if she understands it quite well. The reality is that she cannot do it independently.

As others have commented we definitely have a teacher that is determined to view Miss through rose colored glasses. We do believe that she feels sorry for Miss because of her past and because of her struggles and is also probably totally snowballed by the charm factor.

This is a summery of her report card with my notes in ( ):

Comment from teacher – M continues to work very hard with the first grade skills. With harder reading skills, her weekly reading test scores have dropped a little (the last one was a 31%, a little? Really?), but she still continues to do her best and seems motivated about the reading lessons. Her individual reading and comprehension running record scored an 18 which is above grade level. I am so proud of her and I thank you for helping to reinforce the skills we learned in school by making sure that she completes her weekly homework. Mrs. Teacher

Grades:

Reads grade level materials independently – Not Demonstrated Consistently

Understands what is read - Not Demonstrated Consistently

Self corrects when reading – Satisfactory (We don’t see this at home at all, she has no clue that she misread the word.)

Uses letters and sounds – Outstanding

Thinks of words that make sense – Outstanding

Uses pictures for clues – Outstanding

Communicates effectively when speaking - Satisfactory

Communicates effectively through writing – Satisfactory (Daily Oral Language assignments are coming home unfinished and or to be redone because they are done so badly, that’s satisfactory?)

Uses correct capitalization and punctuation – Satisfactory (Not according to the DOL work.)

Applies Standard Spelling to written work – Satisfactory (Let’s look at those spelling grades again.)

Writes legibly – Satisfactory (If you happen to be fluent in chicken scratch!)

Social Studies and Science she received – Satisfactory (she failed the only test they took but apparently knowing stuff like if it is sunny or cloudy is all they have to know for the grade)

Understands number concepts - Satisfactory

Solves addition problems – Satisfactory

Solves subtraction problems- Not Demonstrated Consistently

Applies problem solving strategies in math – Not Demonstrated Consistently

Accepts Responsibility for own actions – Outstanding

Listens and follows directions – Satisfactory

Works Independently – Satisfactory (but she can’t do the work? Reads grade level materials independently – Not Demonstrated Consistently, How can she do work independently if she doesn’t understand the directions most of the time, either written or spoken? The diagnostic education evaluation/testing we had done in Dec. 09 confirmed that she does not understand spoken directions and the teacher confirmed that Miss has to be given direction several times.)

Completes activities in a timely manner – Satisfactory (she brings unfinished work home weekly)

Organizes and cares for materials – Outstanding (not according to her desk at school)

Demonstrates Personal Best – Outstanding

Respects rights and property of others – Outstanding (let’s ask the drop off kid at aftercare)

Works and plays cooperatively – Outstanding (let’s ask the drop off kid at aftercare)

Respects and accepts authority – Outstanding

Participates in class activities – Satisfactory

Uses courtesy in speech and actions – Outstanding (let’s ask the drop off kid at aftercare)

In harmony with the Mary Poppins grades of practically perfect in every way, which may mean that she is really good at not getting caught if we look at what happens at home and at aftercare, I dunno?

Here are her comments and weekly behavior scores from last week – “Miss had to miss some recess (twice) this week for talking, uh oh!”

Listens Carefully – Outstanding

Stays on Task – Outstanding

Follows Directions – Outstanding

Treats Others with Respect – Outstanding

Follows Class Rules – Satisfactory

Does His/Her best work – Outstanding

How can a kid be Outstanding and be talking and disrupting class to the point of needing to miss recess time? I will tell you, because she is precious and sweet and misunderstood and Mrs. Teacher loves her so that makes her Outstanding.  Ya think?
I kind of feel like what Heather and Brad expressed in their comment on the previous post applies here too, this kid has the adults totally under her thumb at school.

We did check the box indicating that we want to meet with Mrs. Teacher. I feel like this is the first step. We are going to ask 1.) is Miss going to be moving on to second grade in the fall 2.) if so what interventions and assistance will be in place for her right from the start 3.) is extended school year/summer school something that is going to be available to Miss?

Second grade will be a huge jump in skills and if Miss is struggling now in first grade she is likely to really struggle right from the start in second grade. Or maybe pigs will fly and she will miraculously and suddenly understand everything.


ON THE AWARD FRONT:

Big Sis received an award for A honor roll! Hooray she worked and earned straight A’s! As a reward she wants a day of pampering with Mom, I think we are going to get nails done and lunch and shopping!

7 comments:

GB's Mom said...

Should be an interesting meeting. Make sure you take her graded papers to the meeting.

The Accidental Mommy said...

Ugh.

It is so tricky. How do you sit there are say that your kid is WAY worse than they think? It feels like betraying my kid but if you (me, whoever) don't, they don't get help.

I dunno'.

Cyndi said...

This is going to be a long battle, keep documenting EVERYTHING. Home school in the answer for some people, however there are those of us who just can not do that for various reasons so the kids need to be in school and by law they need to be given an appropriate education and yes as their parents we have to fight for it the entire way. Just being my kids mom is all I can handle. I do not want to add teacher to the list of titles I carry.

The LaBelle Family said...

Fantastic! Way to go Big Sis!!! My congratulations to you and keep it up!!! You're doing a wonderful job in school. :)

As far as Miss is concerned...can you just refuse to let her move on to second grade yourself? or is that not heard of? Just curious, on that note.

I think it's time you had a fit and fell in it. JMO :I

Diana said...

I'm so frustrated with exactly the same things. My son has an extensive IEP and there is no question that he's getting good help and making progress, but he is still significantly behind the rest of his class and he's already been retained a year and is head and shoulders bigger than all the rest of the kids as it it. It gets really frustrating when they tell me how great he's doing, yet his scores are still so low.

On the flip side of that, there is no question that he's made SIGNIFICANT progress both in reading and math this year. We'll see when grades come out again here in a couple of weeks how they compare to last term. He's also made great strides in attachment this past year as well. I'm really hoping there's a corolation there - he's feeling more secure and is finally able to start catching up...but man, he's still got a LONG way to go!

Anonymous said...

Behaviorally, I worry that if what the teachers say and do don't match her efforts and accomplishments, they are teaching her that what she does doesn't matter -- that whether she succeeds or fails is based on what others do -- so she can blame others whenever something doesn't work out. (Those of us w/ older kids know that frame of mind is a pretty horrible one).

As for testing, I think that her one-on-one scores are artificially high. You can't get the school to not one-on-one when the test requires it, but perhaps you can get them to use a different teacher, preferably one trained in special ed as he/she should be much better at not being manipulated (and at not feeling sorry). [Should be, but I'm sure some aren't.]

My daughter did a great job fooling and manipulating teachers and testers, but unlike you, I didn't realize how far off the school was in understanding her. So good for you for not using their praise as an "Oh, maybe things aren't really all that bad" (like I did).

As she and I have gone though a kazillion interviews with various folk, I've learned how often she can't understand the question and the tester interprets her mumbled answers on the good side. I speak up and modify the question into words I know she understands, and then she answers it, usually surprising the tester with totally incorrect understanding of the subject. So ... maybe that is an answer? To have you give the test with them watching / scoring? (Right. But I bet it would be a great way to get her real "benchmarks".)

Tara - SanitySrchr said...

I wish I had the right words to help. Just know we're praying for the right outcome.

WAY TO GO Big Sis!!!!