A few times this term, I have felt like I have had to stand up for a child to one or both of their parents. It seems like they fail to see any progress the child has made over the year so far, it is all about their child not being where they believe they should be. Parents questioning their child learning abilities and getting them tested, as there must be something wrong. I find this incredibly sad. In my opinion the children I know who have parents like this are actually in need of a huge boost of confidence and in giving them that at school, I am fighting a battle with what they face at home.
One child who is in my group for ALL has made amazing progress since the beginning of the year. On the first day when I asked him to independently write about his holiday, he cried. It was just too hard for him. He couldn't think of ideas, and anything he came up with wasn't good enough. His Mum actually came in that day knowing that this would have occurred. I reasurred her that I have some ideas for building his confidence etc. She said he has always been terrible at writing and other teachers have tried but he never improves. I personally believe he has improved- massively! He can sit down everyday and confidently write. He writes independently and co-operatively. He uses paragraphs, he describes things in details. However, Mum is still not happy. She met with me a month ago to say she is going to have him tested and wanted to hear how I thought he was doing. I told her how much progress he had made and showed her his writing. She absolutely picked it to bits. "Why would he use a capital letter there!" "Oh my goodness, look how he spelt that!" I was gutted for him. Instead of seeing the bigger picture, she picked his work to pieces. Why? I can tell you, there is no way I am giving up on this child. I am so proud of him and I tell him all the time.
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