Sorry this is long. I need help wording a report card comment for my lowest student. It's past day 60, and she still hasn't learned how to write her name. She only knows 7 letters of the alphabet. She is the youngest in my class (she turns 5 this week), so I expect her to be immature. Initially, I thought her issues were related to her age, but now I see it's more than that.
The biggest issue is that she convinces other students to do her work for her. She frequently says she can't do things. In fact, the other day, she asked a volunteer to write her name on a small dry erase board so she could copy it. Then she ran to the other side of the room where I was standing and tried to pass it off as her own. The volunteer saw and confronted her. When I get her homework, most of the time it's in someone else's writing, so I have to send a new packet home for her to complete (it doesn't come back at all.)
Some other things I want to word is that if she lies. If she finds stuff on the floor (hair clips, uneatten snacks, jackets in lost & found), she claims them as her own. When I ask her, she creates a lie to say how it's hers. Other parents have caught her with their children's jackets/sweatshirts. At lunch the other day, she told me she didn't get to go in the lunch line to get her lunch, which really confused me. If she wasn't in line, then where was she? I took her back through the lunch line, but the cafeteria manager told me she already got her lunch & she was unable to get a new one. Another supervisor confirmed it because she had asked for salad dressing and ketchup. When I asked her about her lunch, she refused to tell me what happened. Other children told me she threw it out. Then she tried to steal food from other students' trays.
So, what's a professional way to record what's happening on a report card????
There's a lot of issues going on. I hope you've spoken to the parent in person or on the phone. Then you could at least say, "As we have discussed, Sallysue is having difficulty with learning the alphabet. She does not yet understand the importance of honesty and truthfulness." And I'd be mentioning this to admin, seek counselling- but if it's past 60 days and you haven't said anything, oh boy.
Your child is constantly seeking attention from his or her classmates, which has caused many distractions within the classroom. His or her work is suffering from their eagerness to talk with his/her neighbors, however, when he or she settles down, their work is much better.
_____ is constantly disturbing other students by talking with them during study time. Because of this they are having difficulty with their schoolwork. He or she is improving with this habit; however, I suggest that you continue to work with your child with this issue.
Your child needs to learn better work ethics concerning home study and home work assignments.
_____ is having a hard time paying attention in class, and their work habits are consistently declining.
_____ needs to learn how to listen better, and is often a distraction to fellow students. I suggest clarifying the importance of concentration and respecting others with your child.
_____ does not seem to enjoy class, and is frequently disrupting students around them. I would like to meet with you to discuss ways to eliminate this issue.
Because _____ is unable to complete an entire task on his or her own, I suggest encouraging your child to complete homework assignments on his or her own with minimal supervision.
Like kgardengal said, I hope you've discussed much of this with the child's parents already. I always think the report card shouldn't tell the parents anything they don't already know. If you haven't spoken to the parents, call them and give them a heads up.
Be as objective as possible and say each thing separately. eg. In Language Arts, Sally knows only 7 letters of the alphabet and is not able to write her name independently. She is unable to complete her assignments without teacher support; occasionally, she gets other children to do her work for her. Sally needs to learn to work independently and will receive gradual lessening of support until she can finish her assignments by herself.
I would have a face to face with the parent about the lying. It's tricky to put it in a report card because anything you say could bite you later. The most I would say on a report card is "Sally is learning to be truthful when asked questions about her conduct."
Thanks for the suggestions! They were very helpful! It's hard for me to take a step back to think clearly when it comes to this little girl.
Life for this girl is not good, and I wish I could rescue her. She has only been in my class for a few weeks. She was moved from a PM class to my AM class because of her attendance. Supposedly she has a ride in the morning now. The other teacher barely knew this girl, she came on an average of 2x per week. I have only spoken to her mother (a single mother) once (at the attendance hearing). When the other teacher asked her if she could stay to have a conference, and she, "I have 5 children, I don't have time to meet with you". Sorry, but my cousin has 10 children, and they are all honor students - if she can do it with 10, you should be able to do it with 5! Anyway, she lives in the cheapest apt. in the city known for gangs, drugs, and prostitution. Everyday, someone different from the apt. building comes to pick this girl up. They don't have a working phone (nor a car), so I communicate with her mother via notes. I've been trying to get her emergency card filled out the whole time she's been in my class. I finally got it last week. The only reason why I think I got the information is because this student's brother from 1st grade ran across the street during dismissal and got his foot run over by a car. An ambulance took him to the ER, but they had no way of contacting the family. Our AP had to drive to the apartment & knock on the door to tell the mom. The mom supposedly said, "Well, who's going to drive my son home now?" The oldest brother is in 3rd. I talked to his teacher, and he doesn't know any sight words, and he doesn't know the letter sounds! How is this kids going to finish elementary school, let alone graduate from high school??
I never know what to do with students in these situations. I want to help her succeed, but I can't devote all of my instructional minutes directly to meet with her one on one. I try to give everyone the equal time to meet with me. But I hate that there are people at our district office looking at test scores and seeing how these 3 siblings do, and they hold the teachers solely responsible. It's the most frustrating part of our jobs.
Your problem is bigger than what to put on her report card. Do capture some of the problems so that you go on record. Get your student assistance team on this one at once-it will take more than you to get this little girl some help. In the meantime, do you have a kind volunteer or an IA who could work with her 1-to1 on letters and sounds in a non-threatening way? 10 mins a day of some direct adult attention could go a long way. If you go the volunteer route-choose someone you can trust and who has a real desire to help. Good luck.
If you can't get a parent volunteer to help (I know they are hard to get sometimes), get an older student from another class to come and work with her. Show the older child exactly what you want them to do with her. We had a group of fifth graders to this last year with our lowest students and it was helpful.
11-18-2009, 08:55 PM
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