Appointment with Quinn's teacher

We had to go see Quinn's teacher yesterday, after she requested a meeting last week.

I was a bit nervous that she was going to say that he is not coping and not ready for school and needs to go back to Grade R - as I have heard that can and does happen - even though he has seemed to do so well so far.

She was very friendly and open and we discussed the situation frankly, which I really appreciate.

She started by acknowledging that he really is very young (the youngest in the school ATM) and then went on to say that there is no question that he is very bright and very mentally alert. So she said from an academic point of view he is certainly ready to be in the class, but he has a problem with keeping up with the volume of work and finishing a whole sequence of activities which are set, without getting distracted and/or despondent. She said this is a maturity issue, and something which will come with time.

She asked us whether he is reluctant to come to school and seemed pleased when we told her that he loved going to school and dresses happily each day.

I questioned her about whether this means he needs to go back to Grade R and she said absolutely not. I also asked if he was likely to have this problem for the full 12 years of his school career and be battling to catch-up and keep up right through, and she sounded sure that that would not be the case. She thinks is it is just an initial problem which he has, and once he overcomes the 'barrier' he will flourish. That was good to hear. Although she did say it could take a year or so to happen.

She said another problem is that he is seated next to a very fast working boy, who completes his tasks fast and then jibes Quinn about being slow. Apparently this boy is leaving the school at the end of the term, so that may be a good thing.

One of her concerns at the moment is that Quinn started the year at full speed and trying hard, and now seems to be giving up almost before starting a task. She thinks he is feeling a bit of pressure about the work-load, which he is not used to.

We spent some time discussing possible solutions, and she has said she will back off a bit in class and not expect as much from him. she was frank about the fact that the whole year's goals are to be able to read, do arithmetic and write simple stories, so each and every worksheet is not crucial to that goal. she has said that instead of loading him with 4 worksheets she will give him 2, so that he has an achievable goal and is likely to complete those. That will allow him to get the satisfaction and praise for completing them, and hopefully motivate him to keep doing that. She will then send another worksheet home, for extra practice. Once he is completing stuff well, she will try to push him to do it faster and then add to the load slowly. I hope this works.

We mentioned him reading keenly and voluntarily at home, and she said he is a very good reader, and in the top group of reader so far. She said he is a very natural reader. She said that partly how she knows that he is bright and very read to learn. I think she agreed with us that although he was a little early for Grade 1, another full year in Grade R would have driven him crazy.

We also discussed his head-strongness and the fact that he uses his own logic, and she agreed that at times he'll argue about the right way to do something, rather than just following her instructions. We are both going to work with him on 'conform first, and then get creative and try something new'.

All in all the meeting went well, and to be honest we did expect that this would happen. Hopefully we can help him to get up to speed, and he'll continue to enjoy school and to do well.