Just a short post tonight. I've been working on a letter for the organization I volunteer with and it went much later than I had planned.
Parent Teacher Interviews Tonight! Yee-haw!
I met with Reid's teachers. Two young guys barely out of school themselves I think. I heard how brilliantly Reid performed during class debates. Heard how he quickly processed information, formed responses (with no jot notes) and influenced opinions. Yup! He's bright. The flip side of that coin is that he doesn't try really hard. Reid would rather get his work done fast than get his work done well. My daughter Ally would rather get her work done perfectly than get it done fast. You won't find two more different children living in the same house.
Reid gets his quizzes done quickly by providing one-word answers that the teacher cannot use to measure his knowledge of the subject matter. Ally doesn't complete all of her quizzes because she takes extra time to formulate her answers and write them neatly into the space provided.
Reid is great at science, but he hasn't done enough work to convince the teacher that he knows his lessons. Similarly, he wastes time in music class looking for his book or cleaning his trombone when he should be practicing. His teacher told him tonight -- Reid, you must not accept mediocrity when you are capable of so much more.
Wise words I will repeat often in the next few months/years.
What about Ally? No interview required at this time. Yesssss!
4 comments:
I will confess I know nothing of parenting.
But, I did read an interesting article on kids and smarts.
It sounds like Reid isn't very motivated because he's so brilliant. He doesn't have the motivation to prove he knows the information because he feels like it's busywork and "beneath" him. I had the same problem in high school.
Thank you for the link Diane. Very interesting! Very enlightening as a parent too. I read some time ago that we unwittingly label kids as "smart," "pretty" or "nice" and how damaging this can be when a child finds him/herself in a situation where they are not "smart" enough or "pretty" enough or feeling like being "nice." The article you linked here is a similar caution.
Being a parent is the single most difficult thing I do or have ever done (or will ever do as well I'm sure). I appreciate any help I can get.
Growing up, I was a combination of both of your children....but I lean a little more towards Ally.
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