Open House

Had our open house last night. It went well. I was glad to meet some of the parents of my students and they were also happy to meet me. There were not many parents there, but the ones that did show up were very happy and enthusiastic.

I did meet with the father of the child who is struggling in my class. He said that it seems she has a lot of homework this year. I told him that she has homework in my class everyday, but they also receive at least 15 minutes to work on it in class, so it should not be that bad. He also said she seems anxious when she is doing the homework and sometimes working until 10pm. I found that hard to believe since I never give that much homework. The average assignment is about 20-25 questions, of which 5-10 can be completed in class.

It sounded like he was not supporting her very much at home and not willing to help out. I would think that would be another issue. Today, the special needs teacher was actually in the class to help her. We simply did two review worksheet from yesterdays lesson on exponents and powers. She was struggling with it again and did not understand. This was after I did about 5 examples on the board. She eventually completed one worksheet and then started on the second, raised her hand and said she did not understand. The thing about it is the second worksheet started the same way the first worksheet started.

Her father said that she does not speak English very well and that is part of the problem. After speaking with her and observing her the last few days, I would say the problem is less an understanding of English and more an ability to register and apply. I seriously think there is a comprehension issue in this case. I don't know if she is dependent on others and cannot perform work without others or if things do not register with her when they are shown to her.

I am glad to have the special needs teacher in the class, and I think it is well overdue. But I am not sure what can be done for this girl. It appears that no matter how many examples she sees, she still does not understand how to work the problems.

In some instances, I feel that this is very similar to issues in the States. The parent is kind of expecting the teacher to fix things, almost blaming the teacher for some of the issues. The father did site a few of things from the past few years and how she performed well at previous schools. At the same time, it appears that there is a lack of resources to help kids in need.

Again, it is very frustrating because I do not know how to help this girl and catch her up to the class. First, I don't have the time to spend the whole class with her. Second, it seems that even if I do spend time explaining the lesson, it is forgotten within 2 minutes. I hope the special needs teacher has some resources that can help.

Aaron