This afternoon, we're going to sit down with my daughter and talk with her about her performance. Although I tend to be fairly good with winging this kind of thing, I sketched out what points I want to make, because I think its important. I know that she knows I'm unhappy; that I went to this effort should reinforce that to me -- to us -- this is a big deal.
The trick will not be so much in tracking performance and in enforcing excellence (though I have no idea how to handle the situations where the instructor wants one thing, but my daughter though they wanted something else). The trick will be in inculcating this attitude in her. As my wife said this morning, we've seen this problem before, and we thought it was resolved.
These are the notes as they stand now:
Second honors is not bad, but it is below average for you and for your school.
Problems were in doing what was required; doing it on time. Not too much in knowing the material.
Action plan:
1. Review all grade sheets once a week; agenda twice a week (both on average)
2. Review execution of homework and projects once or twice a week; more if problems arise.
Look for completeness, correctness; due date.
Expect that I will be picky.
The devil is in the details.
Notes:
Understand that this is not life or death, but it is very important, because it sets the stage for high school expectations.
Shoot for all As or high Bs. Another second honors means maximum one hour TV per night, if that, and possibly no color guard.
If first honors received next time, will back off on frequency of checking, but not eliminate it until the next marking period after that.
2 comments:
please do keep an update on how it went...
We just had the conversation. She's not happy, but she knew better than to protest that I was treating her like a little kid. We start the monitoring this week.
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