Marie Lewis noticing blog

Today progress reports were sent out.  Because of this, my mentor teacher sent out grades last week to prepare parents and students. This gave the students the opportunity to turn in missing assignments and corrections.  Parents also scheduled many conferences throughout the week to meet with us and figure out what the student needed to do in order to be successful in fourth grade.

At lunch today we held one student back to conference with him about his grades. His mother has not turned in contact information and has made no effort to meet or even get in touch with us.  This student is a bright young man, but his grades do not reflect this.  He rarely turns in his homework, loses assignments, and does not prepare for tests or quizzes.  As we conferenced with him to ask what the problem was, he just shrugged his shoulders innocently, telling us he was doing his best and did not know how to solve the issue.  We asked him if his mom cheked his homework for him or night or held him accountable for what he was doing, and he replied that his mom was never home to check in.

I went through his desk with him, rummaging for missing homework assignments or incomplete work.  To no surprise, so many missing things were found. After he ran down to lunch I started to put his backpack, papers, and other items away.  I flashed back to the first day of school when he said he did not have any school supplies.  Throughout each week he brought in miscellaneous items little by little, but never had everything he needed. I truly believe that if he had the supplies and support he needed, his grades would be top in our class.  This breaks my heart to see a student struggle to stay organized and on top of things because he does not have the means he needs to support his own learning.  I’m faced with the question, what would I do if it were my OWN classroom? I know a simple solution would be to buy him all his school supplies, but if that is the case, why hasn’t this student received what he needs from us? Are there other solutions to help him become more successful? As we sorted through his work, the student and I labeled and organized with the few items he has.  I hope this can get him on the right track, but it would be so much easier if we had the support of his mother! This shows me how hard I must work INSIDE the classroom, seeing that some of the factors affecting my students’ learning are completely out of my control.