Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Let's See How Far We've Come

In August of last year Rob and I had some serious concerns about the path J.T.'s education would take as he began his second grade year at school. He was a reluctant reader who took lots of time and made lots of mistakes and was an entire grade level behind in reading. This academic weak area was threatening to impact him negatively in other subjects as well: Science, Social Studies, Math... We were also concerned about the erosion of his self-esteem and worried that we would see our bright, confident child buckle under the pressure to perform.

The first month was a little rocky as he and his teacher, Mrs. S., adjusted to each other and we worked together to create the best learning environment for him. The boy is distracted by his own thoughts (something he inherited from me) and can barely stay focused long enough to write his name, which will be an ongoing issue, unfortunately. He will have to learn strategies to keep himself on task, get himself back on task and put in extra effort to be mentally organized. Eight is too young to master those complicated skills, but we were quite proud to get these home from school last week!

We are very proud of his hard work and appreciative of all of the efforts his teacher put in to help him reach his potential and exceed all of our expectations for this year. She has gone above and beyond what we would have deemed her responsibilities to be sure that J.T.'s attention issues did not get in the way of his learning and mastering new skills. Thank you Mrs. S! Way to go J.T.!

6 comments:

Aunty Evil said...

Yay! That's a great result. Good kid. Good, good kid.

Obviously not mine.

Anonymous said...

A little time and patience and a lot of loving support makes all the difference. Good on all of you!

Anonymous said...

Oh, well done, I am impressed.

Know what I found amusing? I 'know' a teacher (from an online list serve) that teaches at that school. How crazy, a connection form down here!

3 Peas in a Pod said...

Wow, that is truly remarkable Melinda. Sounds like he has one amazing teacher. What a difference that makes!!

Much love from NJ,
Sue
xoxo

Mary said...

The wonder of a switched on hard working teacher.

The wonder of a willing, hard working boy!

Stomper Girl said...

A good teacher is a wonderful thing! go JT!!

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