Meet the teachers

Before I get into today’s topic, first here’s a little weather update: After I complained about the cold and rainy weather that hovered over Portland early last week - in the spirit of the official Weather Fairness Doctrine, which is the part of Portland city code that says that you must also divulge to friends and family when nice weather actually occurs in Portland – I must say that the second half of the week was absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful sunny, crisp fall weather with vibrant colors everywhere. And it actually stayed quite nice throughout the weekend and today, which is somewhat abnormal given that November is one of the rainiest months here. No worries though, it’s due to start precipitating again by Wednesday. Thank goodness.

So, speaking of the end of last week – on Friday Jeff and I had our first ever parent-teacher conference at Ian’s little school. If you’re like me, you are probably wondering how much conferencing is really necessary when you are talking about a two-year-old. Answer: Quite a bit, actually. Or, at least that’s the case when I’m participating. All week I had been thinking of questions/topics that I wanted to address. On Friday morning, I decided it would be a good idea to jot them down on paper for the meeting so I didn’t forget anything. Five pages later, I was ready for our first official parent-teacher conference. (Just kidding. It was only one.)

The meeting was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Because it was Friday, Ian was already there and Jeff and I met up at the school separately since he was coming straight from Nike. Armed with my cheat sheet, we met up with Teacher Stella and Teacher Liz in a little dungeon-type room in the back of the church with very blank walls, slightly dirty carpet and a big long table. Two chairs on one side. Two chairs on the other. As the door shut and we sat down facing each other, suddenly I couldn’t help but think this must be what CIA interviews are like.

As I pulled out my cheat sheet, ready to start diving in – Teacher Stella whipped out her own document. With copies for each of us, no less. Already I was impressed. It was a three-page “Classroom Observation Form” with Ian’s name in big bold teacher-type writing at the top. The first page was divided into eight categories of feedback: arts/crafts; large motor skills; fine motor skills; social/emotional; group participation; language; cognitive development and self-help skills. (Already I’m thinking that I could probably use one of these evals myself, especially in the self-help area.) The second and third pages were “development checklists” of things that he should be starting to do – or already be doing – around this age and whether or not they had observed it yet in the classroom.

Before I get into some of the highlights of what they told us, let me first say how really impressed and appreciative we were at the effort that Vermont Hills goes to provide structured feedback like this to parents – even at this age. (And I believe they do this for the younger kids as well.) This might well be normal procedure in many preschools/daycares, but we thought it was great nonetheless given that it was our first opportunity to get some official, objective feedback on how he is progressing through his little life so far. (Minus the pediatrician, of course.)

In terms of the specific feedback we received, let’s just say that overall it was confirmed that we don’t exactly have an extrovert on our hands. Not that we didn’t know this already, but again, it’s good to get that perspective and feedback from someone else who is spending time with him. They said that while he seems comfortable in individual interactions with the teachers or with a little friend he’s made in class - overall, he’s very reserved in the group setting. He’s more interested in hanging back and observing activities rather than participating, though apparently he is warming up some and starting to engage more in the group stuff. (For what it’s worth, this is similar to what I observe of him the group classes that I do with him as well.)

In addition to the meeting being valuable for us, I realized that it’s also helpful for the teachers because it gives them an opportunity to get more perspective on how his home behaviors may differ from what he’s doing at school. For instance, I shared with them my feeling that the days he goes to school are often my most challenging with him at home because he’s extra rambunctious the second we get the car. That instigated some very good discussion about his likely sensibility to overstimulation and more interesting – that as he gets older, he’ll probably continue to be the type of person who will be compliant and reserved in group situations, and as such, may have a tendency to bottle up his feelings in a sometimes unhealthy way. (They said that they are observing some of this in class already in that he’s not very vocal about sharing when he’s mad, sad, hurt, frustrated, etc.) Yet, as soon as he gets in a more comfortable situation where he feels like he can be “himself”, he lets everything loose. These tendencies and general introverted behavior in the group setting also really came out in the development checklist when they indicated they had never observed him do several things that he does regularly at home, such as saying his name, describing events, identifying colors, identifying shapes, etc. So, this is all something they’ll be working with him on in the school setting.

Overall, they said that he’s doing great and that he's right on track and a pleasure to have in class. So, since they generally said good things about our kid, we’ve decided to keep him enrolled there.

Below I’ll leave you with some select quotes from the report. But before I go, I’ll also mention that as a celebration of our first ever parent-teacher conference, instead of going straight home for attempted nap time, we took advantage of the nice day (you see, it all ties together eventually!) by going down to the waterfront for some people watching and fall frolicking, as evidenced by today’s photos. (Which we had also done on Thursday, by the way.) And the best part of the day: Ian crashed as soon as we got home around 3:30. So a fun afterschool activity AND a nap. Yes, it was a good day.

Teacher Quotes
Ian…

Smiles and giggles a lot.

Is very quiet, smiles, gives warm greetings, attentive to adult requests, laughs and sings at group time.

Is very clean, neat and has nice table manners.

Does a great job of following directions and is very cooperative.

Plays side by side with friends at the train table. (As opposed to on top of?)

Is becoming more interested in the potty. (Thank God.)

And my two favorite:

Does not like messy activities.

Is an expert hand washer!

Until I write again.