Yesterday was Wednesday which means that it was “Wednesday Folder” time for Kyle. That’s the work, notes, and whatnot for the past week that comes home every Wednesday. It also has a sheet in there with the conduct issues for the week.
It isn’t so important to get the grades anymore as Klein ISD now uses Parent Connect to post grades online so you can see those real-time, or at least as real-time as the teachers keep them updated. You can also set triggers so you get emails stating if a grade has fallen below a certain threshold. I have set Kyle’s trigger to 85 which is the middle range for a B grade. Incidentally, I have Andrew’s trigger set to 90, the bottom edge of an A grade.
Kyle got check marks from both of his teachers in the conduct area of his folder. Both checked the box next to “controls talking” and one checked the box next to “follows directions and pays attention.” If you get the boxes checked, that means that they are having a problem in that particular area. No surprise there, really. I wish I could say that I am surprised, but I simply am not. He usually only gets the “controls talking” issues and usually only from one teacher.
So last night I pointed out to him that he needed to work on his talking and keeping it quiet in class. This morning I reminded him again a little more abruptly about what I wanted done. Quite frankly I told him, “keep your trap shut.” That followed by, “NO talking and you need to focus and pay attention so that you can follow the directions.”
Well I just got my lovely email notice from the automated Parent Connect system announcing a grade trigger had been activated. There were two triggers stated in the email. One was that a grade had fallen to a 75 (C) and the other had risen to an 86 (B). Yes, the system works either way. So I go log into Parent Connect to take a look at what was going on. The falling grade was supposed to be a letter grade the last time I checked so it had me a little confused. Evidently the system is programmed to post a number grade regardless and that is just the grade that posts for the N grade that Kyle now has in conduct. Yes, he has an “Needs Improvement” for his conduct grade. I guess I should take heart that he’s still “average” in the conduct department since there is still a P (Poor) and U (Unsatisfactory) under the N (Needs Improvement).
That being said, I can’t just complain about the conduct. We all know that Kyle TALKS INCESSANTLY. I am not kidding. If you put him a room by himself, the only thing being in the room a chair on which to perch himself. He would talk to the chair. Yep. That’s Kyle. I am constantly telling him to “shut it.” So no surprise. I can accept it and try to keep it “in check” or I can complain constantly about it. I’d rather just make the usual, “Kyle…” request.
So I am looking at his other grades. Let me preface this by saying that Kyle spent most of his 2nd grade and 3rd grade years grounded because of grades. In 2nd grade if he brought home an F, he got 1 week grounded per each F. So if he brought home 3 in one week, he was grounded 3 straight weeks. If he brought home another F in the 3 week period, he’d have another week added to the end of his sentence. Needless to say he spent a LOT of time grounded. It didn’t seem to make much difference in the end. In 3rd grade we upped the ante just a little bit leaving him with a sentence of 2 weeks for every F. Yes, there were periods were he was grounded 6 weeks on end.
This year, however, he has only been grounded for 1 week. That’s it. So far. At least for grades. He has only brought home a single F since he started school in August. He has had a few “close calls” with a few 70, 71, and 73 grades coming home but those are not F’s so he’s safe. The one F that he brought home was on a navigation assignment which is conceptually hard for some children to understand. That is it in the F range. I am delighted to announce that. I thought it would be another rough year and I hadn’t really paid much attention to the fact he hadn’t been grounded until today. So maybe just seeing that not so great conduct grade was what I needed to make me understand the improvements that he had made in so many other areas.
His current grades are all B’s except for a single A in Science (98%). If I could get him interested in everything else like he is in Science I would be tickled pink. Mind you, I do not like pink so this would be a BIG deal! If I could get him to enjoy his homework like he does the reading portion of it…then again it wasn’t so long ago that I was pulling teeth to get him to do something simple like read for 10-20 minutes every night. I am truly grateful that he now reads faster than I can get books in front of him. I am also truly grateful that this hasn’t been another miserable year of him being socially isolated (torture for a social and talkative child).
So while Kyle might talk your ear off, he at least has figured out how to get things done so that he passes even if it is barely skimming by.
Be the first to comment