DS7 and DS10 are both students at the same elementary school, located across the street from our house. They themselves are a bit of a study in opposites. But this year, I am finding their teachers to also be complete opposites. I like both teachers, and I trust that they have exactly the kind of teacher to help them learn the things they need to know–both in terms of academics and in terms of life lessons. I love how even when things appear to not be going the way I would like for them to, I can trust in God’s providence and know that they did not get their teacher by accident. That being said, I find the differences between the two teachers to be interesting–even fascinating!

DS10 broke his arm early in the year. His teacher did not fret. Well, he did actually since the break happened during school. In fact, he wept. But he did not fret over the schoolwork that DS10 could not do, since it was his right arm that broke, and he is right-handed. He just continued to teach, and he would orally ask DS10 questions to be sure he understood. He recognized that DS10 was catching on, and while many teachers would have stressed over how to grade this kid, he just had a conference with me and said, “He seems to be doing fine. Sometimes I ask him questions, sometimes he has another student write his answers. But it’s okay since he isn’t falling behind.” This went on for about seven weeks, and then there was an arm brace. Still DS10’s teacher was laid-back, recognizing that he was understanding and not falling behind, even though he could not do all of the work.

DS7 got his progress report yesterday. DS7 has always been a straight-A student–stuff comes easily to him. He never really has to study his spelling words, he almost always gets his math questions right, and he is a good reader. This time his progress resport was straight “S” (satisfactory), instead of “VG” (very good). The note at the bottom says, “I know DS7 can do his work. It would be to his advantage if he would work without trying to be perfect and do less visiting.” The visiting we can work on. He definitely needs to talk less and work more. But he has always been slow and meticulous. Every morning, he is my child who awakens early (by himself) and makes his bed before his feet touch the ground. He writes painfully slow, but his letters are perfectly formed (if he has lined paper). I don’t see how I can discourage him in that–and I don’t think I want to. I offered that he can bring home any work he does not finish.

The other thing I notice in DS7’s class is that they are graded on EVERYTHING–in second grade. I used to teach 3rd grade, and I will tell you that I viewed homework as PRACTICE. It is where you work it out and figure out how to do what you have been taught. Mistakes are okay, as long as you begin to make fewer and fewer of them and understand more and more. The test is where you show whether you have mastered the material. But for DS7, every piece of seatwork, every piece of homework counts as a grade. And so my slow, meticulous boy is seeing his grades drop. I’d love to say I’m going to get on top of things and make sure he pulls those grades up. Maybe I should–I know he is capable of better grades. But I’m not going to do that. I am completely confident that he gets it–he understands the material being covered, and other than the chatter (which we WILL work on), he is a conscientious student. I can’t ask for more!