Our session today was productive, though I think I'll need to add a session or two to help me be more confident in the results that I present in the case report. I can see so many options of how to help my student understand the passages more. He's a very bright student that needs just a little more support; his motivation will take him the rest of the way. I'm glad that I know I can help him. It helps motivate me to keep up my energy and focus, too. We're almost ready to reap our rewards!
Today was also our PTC. My student didn't attend his, though. I was hoping he would have, and I know I should have reminded him or spoke to his family about going. I think I assumed his uncle, a counselor, would have seen to it that he went. But perhaps their translating family members were unavailable at the time. I know transportation wouldn't have been an issue as they live down the street from the school. I'll ask him to show me a copy of his report card so we can talk about it. His Language Arts teacher is a busy bee, but we've been communicating via email. I hope to get more information about his school performance as our correspondence goes on. She will be an invaluable resource.
Back to my PTC experience: Though I went through the extra effort of writing up a parent letter inviting them, I only got 5 parents! To top it all, none of the students who needed to get their Report Card from me showed up. In the previous weeks, when I asked my students whether their parents would be going, the response was that their parents were working and would be unavailable. I was excited to see whether the little touch would generate more parental involvement, but it didn't turn out to be the case. Additionally, since my students are all in the ESL program, I wanted to add a fun, "please help your child translate" portion of the usual parent letter. A few parents responded, and I hope to continue this as a form of regular parent communication. The phrase, which now graces my classroom's back wall, was
"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good" (Minor Meyers, Jr., from
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/205932). I think it's important that not only should our students (and ourselves) strive to be successful in life, but also we should strive to help others. I know Team MAGEC takes this phrase to heart!
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