Parent-Teacher Conference

I got more than my allotted 15 minutes with J's teacher. When we sat down, the first thing she said was, "Jared is wonderful and amazing!" Which sounds just like kindergarten teacher talk. But then she went on, saying that academically, he's way beyond anyone else in his class.

She told some fun stories about the standardized testing they do in their class. Student's moms volunteer to take children out into the hall and administer the simple tests, such as the IRI I wrote about before. She showed me one of his tests, which consisted of about 50 words in boxes. The mom asked J to read as many words as he knew. He rolled his eyes and said, "I can read all of them!" The mom made him prove it, and of course he rattled them off quickly. The mom went back into the classroom and told the teacher about his "come on, people!" attitude and how he'd actually read all the words!

The teacher and I had a good laugh about that.

She mentioned that he needs to work on cutting, which makes no sense to me. Some of the work he's brought home looks like an adult cut it out (I thought the teacher had done it). She was concerned, however, that it took him so long, and that all the other kids finished first. I explained that it's perfectionism, that he's just trying really hard. I hope that point made it across to her. Because he can cut fast, and pretty well, but when it counts, he is super meticulous. Hmmm....I wonder where he got that trait from? (The answer is from both his parents)

I told her about our struggle with writing. He just doesn't like to do that. She had picked up on that, but says that he does write for her. That's good. I suspect, as with most things he does, that he'll struggle for a little while and then suddenly it will "click" and he'll zoom ahead with that skill, too.

When we first sat down, I mentioned that I didn't know if J's skills would even show in a kindergarten classroom setting. I mean, if they don't ask the kids to read anything besides See Spot Run, how would she know that he can read words like "glacier" and "defibrillator?" If the math curriculum consists of grabbing buttons out of a jar and counting them, how would she know that at home, he usually groups things in equal numbers and multiplies to see how many there are?

But she said it's obvious that he's far ahead of the class. She gave me quite a bit of evidence that J's entire class is advanced. This is her first year at the Math & Science Magnet school, and at her previous school she taught the advanced group of kindergarten children. She says that because it's a magnet school with an application process, the kids have involved parents, and the whole class is about at the level of her advanced class from her previous school.

But on her Waterford computer program that tells the reading level of each child, every one of those "advanced" kindergartners is on level 1. Except J, who is on level 3.

J's teacher brought up how the standardized test scores only catch children who are performing below grade level, so they mean nothing for J.

The most profound thing J's teacher said during the conference was about skipping a grade. She said she considered trying to figure out how to send J to first grade for reading and math, but then decided that it was pointless because he'd still be above grade level. And no one would think that skipping a kindergartner to third grade would be a good idea.

And how's this for asynchronous development. The teacher and I both agree that he couldn't hack 3rd, 2nd, or even 1st grade, because he doesn't know how to write all his answers. He can perform verbally, but he still writes like a kindergartner.

I mentioned that J wouldn't take his favorite Magic Treehouse books to school for Pajamas & Popcorn day, and insisted on taking the first book he ever read (Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?) instead. I am concerned that he's trying to hide his reading ability from his classmates. She said he tries really hard to fit in, but she's concerned about that, too. She said she often has him read the title of the books she's about to read to the class, and other such things, but is worried that he feels "weird" because he knows how to read and no one else in the class does. We never came to a conclusion about her suggestion that she let him go read by himself, if he loves to read that much. I said he does love to read that much, but we both worry that he'll feel ostracized from the class.

She says that the rest of the class is advanced enough that she has to teach them how to read. She just can't hold them back, so she just got approval from the principal to add a new program called SIPS. She used it with her advanced group of kindergartners in her previous school. And she hopes that teaching the other kids how to read will help Jared feel more comfortable with his own abilities. We can only hope!

I came away relieved that the teacher recognizes J's abilities and my plight, but disappointed that she doesn't have any answers, either. I guess that's how it goes! But wouldn't it be nice if someone would just hand me a solution?