Huh?
These are all words on AJ's standardized student progress report, which I received last night at a conference with his teacher. It's not just the terminology, but the grades that have me baffled. According to this standardized test, AJ is slightly above average in reading, and below average in math.
Below average? In math? This is the child who is constantly calculating numbers in his head. Maybe he's strategizing to set the bar low, so he'll show marked improvement by year's end. Even the teacher said his low score had surprised her.
And then I looked at the breakdown. When it comes to number sense, computation and measurement/geometry, he's in the top 80th percentile. In statistics/probability and algebra he's average. It's the problem solving - where he scored in the bottom 20 percent - that brought his overall grade way down. It's the longer questions, which he probably didn't understand to begin with because his mind started wandering, that he couldn't solve.
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| Self portrait of a first grader |
That whole paying attention factor reared its ugly head a few times. Mrs. Baird says Alex is getting better at waiting his turn to talk, rather than blurt out whatever thought comes into his head, it's still affecting his ability to pay attention. She speculates that he's focusing so hard on his thoughts (so he doesn't forget them before he has a chance to share) that he's then missing whatever it is she's teaching.
I'd say she's got him pretty well figured out.
Moving on to the regular report card, the news was much more as I expected: top scores in math (which totally contradicts the results of the standardized test) science, music, art and phy. ed. He's good in language arts, with two exceptions. His handwriting is bad and there's a category called... of course... "Speaking & Listening." Alex has no problem speaking and expressing himself in front of the class or in small group settings, Mrs. Baird assured me. It's that darn listening part.
And time management. He wasn't graded on it, but here's an example of how well AJ works in "Centers" (small groups with minimal supervision). The assignment was to write all the letters of the alphabet, first in lowercase, then uppercase. He was given 10 minutes to finish. And he got this far:
I don't mean to sound overly negative. I know my son's strengths and weaknesses. I just find humor in the overly polite way educators try to explain the areas in which he struggles. For instance, in the area "listens attentively" the comment was:
Alex is often quiet during instruction, but when called upon randomly to answer a question or come to the board, he doesn't know what he's been asked to do.
For "displays self control", the teacher wrote:
Alex has improved, but should continue working on controlling his urge to talk or blurt out during instructions.
Despite all this, Mrs. Baird says AJ is doing great and she very much enjoys having him in class. She is as entertained as I am by the way his mind works.
Here are some other examples of what he's been doing during his first quarter in school:
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| Our neighborhood |
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| My dad will appreciate this all-school art project focused on shading. |
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| Here's a close up of AJ's contribution. |
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