Report cards

It's that time again...report cards. This is one of my least favorite moments in edcation. In one swoop what I have been working on in my classroom is reduced to a piece of paper. I want to explain and waver and justify. But when it's written in black and white that isn't possible. Instead my kids are transformed into into + and-.

As a parent I feel the same way. I look at my daughters report cards and I don't really know what is going on in their classrooms.

But, what is the alternative. As a teacher I can't write a narrative about each child in my room. There just isn't time. I can invite parents to join us in my room. But, even that is a contrived situation.

The truth is - school is a something different. It's the way kids spend their lives. But, it's so much more...

How do we share that with parents? How do we let them know the Ah ha moments with their children? How do we give them a bit of the discussion during the guidance bully lesson? That's what I struggle with.

As a first time teacher I was amazed and a little appalled at what parent's expected me, the teacher to know about their child. Who do they play with at recess? Do they have friends? Are they happy? That was the information they wanted - not what % did they get on their last math test. Now, as a parent and a veteran teacher, I understand. Not only do they want to know more - I want to give it to them.

It is such a privilege to be the teacher who gets to spend time with their child. It is also an awesome responsibility. The longer I teach the more I feel that responsibility.

In this era of testing and testing and testing, I understand that what I am really teaching them is not an isolated skill..there is almost nothing that I teach them in 4th grade that they don't get again and again in later grades. Instead, what I am teaching is a year long view of life through the mind and soul of me.That is a much larger responsibility than making sure they know how to divide and multiply.

And, that brings me back to the report cards. As I fill in the little squares. I know that it isn't enough..but, it is all that I have.