I didn't realize I never posted the outcome of my email to Mrs. Ketchum. I ended up following that email up with one to Ms. Rockett as well. I wanted her take on how Will is doing in her subjects.
I received a lengthy email from Ms. Rockett:
Hi Jenny,
Lori and I have been discussing Will's progress and we are both seeing a lot of inconsistencies in his performance here at school. On one hand we feel like it wouldn't hurt to have him tested and on the other hand we just aren't sure if it is necessary. We both have students who have disabilities but Will doesn't seem to be as academically challenged over all. There are times when Will really grasps the concepts that we are working on.
I think both Lori and myself feel like some of the inconsistencies are due to Will being rushed or hurried as is the case with the time line. I do believe that he saw the word panhandle and just wrote it down. Unfortunately, he needs to slow down and really read before answering. On the other hand it seems as though some of the concepts are really hard for him to grasp such as the L..A concepts.
I am giving a reading common assessment today. Let's see how he does. I believe that he did well on the last one given in March. I will be very explicate with instructions and even ask him if he needs any direction. Maybe we will have a little better insight after I grade it.
I wish we could give you more concrete direction, but without being medical professionals it is hard. Will doesn't fit any of the typical molds that we usually deal with. Also, both Lori and I are fairly new teachers so we don't have years of experience to base things on. We both feel like Will is making a lot of effort to be more in tune to what is going on. Another question to ask yourself is, if Will is tested, how will this benefit him? He is not consistently low enough to warrant an IEP, and we are making as many modifications as we can to ensure his success, so the other option is medication and both Lori and I are not qualified to make any assumptions about that. On the other hand it couldn't hurt to have him tested. I am no help am I??? Anyway, let's get together sometime in the next few weeks and we can discuss if any action should be taken before the end of the year.
Talk to you soon,
Molly Rockett
I responded that this is exactly how I am feeling right now. Wondering if it is necessary to test, wondering if it would hurt anything. I really appreciate their perspective and am grateful that they care so much. I did get an email from Lori as well and it concurred everything Molly said here.
So, we are once again in a holding pattern. In a way I feel like we are getting no where, but at the same time I don't know where we could be. This is all very frustrating!
Monday, April 20, 2009
OAT is next week
The OAT testing is next week for 3rd graders in our district. Will is going to be tested in both reading and math.
He brought home a version of last years OAT math test today that he did in class last week for practice. He got 16 out of 26 correct. Hmpf...
I went over it with him this afternoon, which apparently they had also done in class today. He very reluctantly went over it with me. He didn't think he should have to. I can tell he is back in a funk. School is not very exciting to him these days. He is struggling and he knows it. I really think he has to try harder. Things don't just come easily and he has never been a kid that wants to try harder.
Anyway, we went over the test. 6 of the 10 points he missed were what I would consider careless mistakes. Had he read the questions correctly, slowed down, double checked or whatever he doesn't do, he should have gotten these 6 right. They were easy. They were concepts he knows.
I pointed this out to him. He says he knows. I tried to explain to him that on these standardized tests they are graded by a computer, not Mrs. Ketchum. If he makes a silly/careless mistake, the computer just marks it wrong. It doesn't think to itself, "Hmmm, this Will kid knows this information, why did he get it wrong". No the computer just marks it wrong and goes on to the next question. I told him he will end up with a really low score if he doesn't slow down and focus.
Again, he seemed to get this, but will he put it into effect?
I still have not seen a grade for the Reading Common Assessment from last week. This was one Ms. Rockett really wanted to see to use as a judgement on where Will is right now. I am not sure what to expect.
He brought home a version of last years OAT math test today that he did in class last week for practice. He got 16 out of 26 correct. Hmpf...
I went over it with him this afternoon, which apparently they had also done in class today. He very reluctantly went over it with me. He didn't think he should have to. I can tell he is back in a funk. School is not very exciting to him these days. He is struggling and he knows it. I really think he has to try harder. Things don't just come easily and he has never been a kid that wants to try harder.
Anyway, we went over the test. 6 of the 10 points he missed were what I would consider careless mistakes. Had he read the questions correctly, slowed down, double checked or whatever he doesn't do, he should have gotten these 6 right. They were easy. They were concepts he knows.
I pointed this out to him. He says he knows. I tried to explain to him that on these standardized tests they are graded by a computer, not Mrs. Ketchum. If he makes a silly/careless mistake, the computer just marks it wrong. It doesn't think to itself, "Hmmm, this Will kid knows this information, why did he get it wrong". No the computer just marks it wrong and goes on to the next question. I told him he will end up with a really low score if he doesn't slow down and focus.
Again, he seemed to get this, but will he put it into effect?
I still have not seen a grade for the Reading Common Assessment from last week. This was one Ms. Rockett really wanted to see to use as a judgement on where Will is right now. I am not sure what to expect.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
5 out of 10 missed
So, What's going on? I found out he scored a 5 out of 10 on his third quiz on verbs, adjectives and nouns. After all the review work we did and game playing online. I am not shocked. I really didn't think he had it figured out yet.
Unfortunately this grade counts. Mrs. Ketchum has to move on, of course. She says she will work on it when she can in class and I will do the same at home.
I printed some worksheets for a great website I found today. I printed a specific Verb Worksheet for Will to do tonight. He had 22 sentences where he had to circle the action verb. Then about 15 words listed and he had to label whether they were a noun or an action verb.
He got 100% correct.
How the heck did he do that? The only think I can figure is that he was told specifically what he was looking for in the sentence. He did not have to look at a word and decide what part of speech it was, which requires understanding the context of the word. I think simply identifying the verb is significantly easier. In the second part of the worksheet he had to look at the words and identify them. Again he aced it. Why? How?
I am getting really confused again about whether I should be pushing for some testing for him. I am going to call an old friend tomorrow and ask her opinion. She is a reading specialist in a different school district. I am curious to hear her take on what we are dealing with. I don't know if I am creating a bigger deal out of this than needs to be.
I emailed Mrs. Ketchum this evening and asked her opinion on testing or not, too. I just feel kind of lost right now. Again.
This whole school not being a breeze thing is not working for me. This is not how it was supposed to be!
Adjectives, Nouns and Verbs... oh my!
This is Will's latest struggle. We just got back from Spring Break on Monday and already he is having issues. This time his issues are in language arts. He is having a very difficult time differentiating the parts of speech.
Particularly, adjectives, nouns and verbs.
I got a phone call from Mrs. Ketchum yesterday afternoon. She called to tell me that Will and the class had taken a test on Monday on these parts of speech. Will, along with 7 other classmates failed this test. So they were given the opportunity to go over it again and practice and Mrs. Ketchum gave them a Retest. Well, as it turns out Will and one other child failed it again. She was calling to tell me that she is going to give them a third test today. She asked me if I would work on it at home with him last night.
So, I told Will about the phone call. Apparently he knew she was going to be calling me. I went over the retest with him, verbally, and he got them all right. Yay! We talked about what each of these parts of speech are and he totally gets that. So, I wrote out my own sentences for him. I underlined a word and asked him to identify whether it was a noun, adjective or verb.
He did it on his own and then brought it to me. There were 12 sentences and he missed 5. That is failing. Hmpf! I was so frustrated. I could not find any rhyme or reason for why he was missing them. If I talked through it with him he seemed to catch on quickly to what the correct answer was, but on his own he missed a lot.
I wrote another page of sentences, 13 this time, and saved them for morning. After breakfast today, before he went to the bus stop I gave him this test. Again, he did the work on his own and again he missed 5 of them. Ugh! I don't know what to do.
Practice, I guess. I did find some games on a few websites that help practice parts of speech. He didn't do all that great at them either last night, but it is practice. We will just have to keep plugging away.
I am anxious to find out how he does on this third test today. I am guessing he will do as well, or as poorly, as he has done on all of them. Unless he is able to make it click somehow.
Why won't it click, though? Why can't he understand this? It is really kind of simple, isn't it? Ben was getting all the right answers on the games Will was trying to play last night. If his 7 yr old brother can get it off the bat why can't he get it after all this review?
Is there a comprehension issue? Does this prove that? It seems like when he is reading the sentence he isn't finding the meaning of the words there. I don't know if that makes sense, but that is what it seems like to me. I don't know what else can explain it.
Particularly, adjectives, nouns and verbs.
I got a phone call from Mrs. Ketchum yesterday afternoon. She called to tell me that Will and the class had taken a test on Monday on these parts of speech. Will, along with 7 other classmates failed this test. So they were given the opportunity to go over it again and practice and Mrs. Ketchum gave them a Retest. Well, as it turns out Will and one other child failed it again. She was calling to tell me that she is going to give them a third test today. She asked me if I would work on it at home with him last night.
So, I told Will about the phone call. Apparently he knew she was going to be calling me. I went over the retest with him, verbally, and he got them all right. Yay! We talked about what each of these parts of speech are and he totally gets that. So, I wrote out my own sentences for him. I underlined a word and asked him to identify whether it was a noun, adjective or verb.
He did it on his own and then brought it to me. There were 12 sentences and he missed 5. That is failing. Hmpf! I was so frustrated. I could not find any rhyme or reason for why he was missing them. If I talked through it with him he seemed to catch on quickly to what the correct answer was, but on his own he missed a lot.
I wrote another page of sentences, 13 this time, and saved them for morning. After breakfast today, before he went to the bus stop I gave him this test. Again, he did the work on his own and again he missed 5 of them. Ugh! I don't know what to do.
Practice, I guess. I did find some games on a few websites that help practice parts of speech. He didn't do all that great at them either last night, but it is practice. We will just have to keep plugging away.
I am anxious to find out how he does on this third test today. I am guessing he will do as well, or as poorly, as he has done on all of them. Unless he is able to make it click somehow.
Why won't it click, though? Why can't he understand this? It is really kind of simple, isn't it? Ben was getting all the right answers on the games Will was trying to play last night. If his 7 yr old brother can get it off the bat why can't he get it after all this review?
Is there a comprehension issue? Does this prove that? It seems like when he is reading the sentence he isn't finding the meaning of the words there. I don't know if that makes sense, but that is what it seems like to me. I don't know what else can explain it.
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