Alex has now received her second progress note from school. I am still so amazed at the main areas in which they assess. I love that it focuses primarily on those things that I find most important....characteristics such as- "steadfast curiosity", "inner discipline", "abiding respect to community and environment", etc. When I think about the traits I want my daughters to have to be successful in life- these are the things. Of course they also monitor the academic skills, but honestly, those skills will come in time. Areas such as "ability to make decisions", "habit of initiative, "persistence in problem solving" are the ones that are often left out when teaching young children, and a lot of time they are the main traits that determine the kind of person you help shape. I often think back to a study that was done comparing American and Asian youth in math, and the biggest determining factor they found was not some genetic disposition towards math- but the amount of time & effort the two groups spent to solve the problem. Unfortunately, the American youths just gave up too soon without realizing their potential for success- they seemed to have lacked the "inner disciple", "steadfast curiosity", and "persistence in problem solving", to hang in there. I think we can do better.
(note- this is not meant to be a slam on American youth or math education in the US, just my humble opinion)
Some of the comments were cut off-
"conversation ensures, but that social aspect is also important for her development. She is starting to work independently, though prefers working with a partner. In language, she is working on skills including sentence structure, punctuation, report writing, and expression of ideas. She is working on multiplication and correlating that to the bead chains. Alex selects appropriate work but needs reminders to complete some projects she has been working on for awhile. This is important for her to maintain the ability to complete a cycle of work. My only concern is the period of time when she was complaining of her neck hurting. While we have discussed this previously, I have not heard any complaints since. I just want to be sure we addressed the situation successfully. Otherwise, Alex continues to be a leader, both asking and answering questions. I truly appreciate her contributions to the class."
I think her teacher wrote up an accurate "mini" view of where Alex is....and we continue to partner to encouraging & support her interests & spirit.
Question- What things do you do to encourage more interpersonal skills/traits at home/school?
