Report cards coming up!

Assalamu Allaykum Dear Parents,

Report cards will be distributed this Friday, insha'Allah, with an option for you to speak to teachers about the results the following week.

In the meantime, I thought the following article was useful --- though I don't think it should only be for those who feel their child received a "bad" report card, but because I think that all parents should take the final quotation to heart: “The goal for schools and parents is to help students find where their strengths are . . .It doesn’t mean to say you can’t participate in all the things you’re not number one at because number one isn’t the goal. The number one goal is to find our strengths, participate in as much as possible and love where we’re going.”

I encourage parents to talk to their children about their expectations, results and how to look ahead to the future. Insha'Allah, report cards should be a moment of reflection and supportive goal-setting.

From:

http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/tvoparents/index.cfm?page_id=145&action=article&article_title_url=TalkingtoYourKidsaboutaBadReportCard&article_id=5760

Talking to Your Kids about a Bad Report Card

It may happen. Your child brings home a report card with grades or comments that disappoint or discourage. How do you talk to your kid when this happens?

First, prepare yourself in advance and learn more about report cards and what they represent. Then, get into a positive frame of mind. Whether the report card is good or bad, the report card itself is a starting point for conversation between the parent and child, and the parent and teacher, says Annie Kidder, Executive Director of the People for Education.

Children also absorb the way their parents react to situations. “Parents need to be very careful in ‘punishing’ their children for bad grades,” says Lin Fang, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. “Instead of simply taking away children’s play time, it’ll be far more constructive for parents to help children make an action plan.” Michael Byrne, Principal of Churchill Public School in the Toronto District School Board also explains that some children, especially younger ones, may not even understand what a letter grade ‘C’ means unless an adult tells them. So he suggests that parents focus on progression and make goals for improvement.

Here are seven tips to initiate that conversation with your child:

1. Know when to expect the report card

Anticipate report card time, says Fang. In Ontario, report cards are sent home in December, March and June.

2. Stay Calm

It may seem obvious, but it’s important to remain calm and not get frustrated, says Fang.

3. No Surprises

Parents and teachers should already have been in contact about any challenges a student is experiencing. “I think there should be no such thing as a bad report card, in the sense that there should be no surprises,” says Byrne. If there are surprises, that should be a motivation for parents to contact the teacher.

4. Celebrate the Positive

Some parents are easily drawn to bad marks on a report card, says Fang. “Parents should always try to find something good,” she says. “It varies from person to person, but parents should look for anything good.”

Byrne encourages parents to celebrate the positive. “For the majority of our children, there’s a lot to celebrate,” he says. “We have to focus on that while putting in all the strategies and supports in place to make sure the other areas are taken care of. But the reality is that we’re not all multitalented.”

Here’s a way to focus on the positive with your child, says Byrne: “I see from your report card that you’re having trouble in math. But look at your music mark! Your music mark is an A. You know what? All music is, is math with instruments.”

5. Identify the Issues

Kidder suggests parents and children should read report cards together. “It’s a good way to understand the report card and to have an all-important conversation with your child,” she says. “It gives you something concrete to have the conversation around. You can have it with a four year old or a ten year old.”

She suggests these questions: “Tell me what you in each of these subjects do so I can understand the report card. What do you think about this mark? Do you understand why got this mark? Is there some specific area that’s causing you to struggle?”

When you start a conversation with your child, it does two things, Kidder explains. It helps parents understand the report card and it develops engagement between parent and child.

6. Talk with the Teacher

It’s most important to use the report card and the subsequent conversation with a child to inform the parent-teacher conference.

“Nothing that’s on this piece of paper can ever replace or even come close to the actual sit down time, and talking with the teacher,” says Byrne. The comments on the report card come from a standard comment bank and cannot completely articulate how a child is doing in school, he says. But at the parent-teacher conference, two adults can share information and discuss what’s happening in school and how a child is doing.

“Consistent bad marks on the reports cards may also signal some deeper issues,” says Fang. A child may have special learning needs or severe test anxiety. “At schools, there are supports to help those children in terms of remediation,” says Byrne. If grades continue to slide once supports are in place, there’s perhaps a need for enhanced support, or there may be some building blocks missing in numeracy or literacy, says Byrne.

7. The Report Card is a Tool for Starting Conversation

Ultimately, the report card is a tool for starting a conversation between parents, students and schools. “The goal for schools and parents is to help students find where their strengths are,” says Byrne. “It doesn’t mean to ay you can’t participate in all the things you’re not number one at because number one isn’t the goal. The number one goal is to find our strengths, participate in as much as possible and love where we’re going.”