Progress Reports

It's the end of the first third of our quarter and progress reports went home today. I'm now waiting for a bombardment of parent queries about low grades (What can s/he do to make it up? Um, if s/he would just do his/her assignments and turn them in, that would do the trick.) I don't do extra credit; I do give credit for work turned in. It's that simple, but this year's group is one of the worst I've ever had as far as turning in assignments go. When I speak to them, singly or as a group, I get blank stares and a "What's the big deal?" attitude.

Parents can be a help or a hindrance when it comes to learning. One of my students (let's call him Rotney) has a parent who is determined that he make all A's or A's and B's. He's not quite that caliber (putting it mildly), so this parent wants us to offer him retests, after she sees what he has missed and then teaches him the correct answers. And, yes, I mean the exact answers. (Lesson learned--no more marking the correct answer as I grade our standardized-format reading tests!) I've got news for her--tests are staying at school until after he is retested unless an equivalent form of the test is available. I only have equivalent forms available in math, and I'm not about to start creating my own reading and social studies assessments. Rotney knows he doesn't have to try, so rushes through his work so that he doesn't miss a moment of socializing. He's the Hedda Hopper of my classroom--always reporting what others are doing wrong yet, at the same time, doing plenty of wrong things himself. So, in a nutshell--behavior problem, pushy parent, 2 meetings scheduled about him next week--could life be any more perfect? :(