Parent Teacher Day - 2nd half of 2011

updated by mommy

We went to the Parent Teacher Day yesterday in the school. This is just a record of how is he doing in school, for my memory sake.

When I sat down and the first question the teacher asked was, "Who is teaching him at home?"

I was like "Huh?" I ddin't know what was her purpose in asking that question and I just answered the teacher, "I am a full time mom. I am the one who teach him most of the time."

Next the teacher told me, "He is a very smart and clever boy. He is very good in his reading and he has no problem in his spelling and ejaan at all. I asked him who teach him at home and he answered me, "No one teach me. I teach myself."..hahahaha"

Ok..ok...I started laughing and I understand this boy, he always want the credits all to himself...when he did something right or being clever and when we asked, who teach you this/that, he will always say, no one teach me and I learn/teach myself..hahahaha...but no doubt, I guess he has very good memory, I don't really need to teach him his spelling and ejaan and he always get it right.

When I asked the teacher do they revise with them everyday (hence he learn from school)? The teacher told me no and she only writes the words on the board 5 minutes before the test and wipe it off, and they get to do their test. The teacher also added that there were times Darren was late to school and the test were over, the teacher just put him aside and test him straight and he still get it all right. Ok..so the teacher thinks he is a smart boy.

The teacher also added that when she writes some words on the board, he has the tendency to really look at it and try to spell out. Probaby this helps him to remember the words well too.

Other than that he loves "teaching". Well, I know that as he always pretend to be a teacher at home..Almost 90% of his play time is to pretend to be a teacher. That explains how his reading and writing skills improved so much. He has been "practising" it at home almost everyday. So, the teacher actually get him to "teach" some of his friends in reading. SOmetimes the minute the teacher just walked away, he will be standing in front of the classroom and he become the teacher next, saying loudly, "Ok children....xxx..xx.."

He likes to answer all the questions asked by the teacher. When other children raise their hands to be picked to answer the question, he will immediately run and stand next to the teacher (without raising his hand and being called) and as if he was the one being selected to come upfront and answer the question (slap head)...so the teacher has to tell him if he doesn't raise his hand, she will not pick him and answer the question.

He has no problem passing message through friends or teachers and is aware of what is happening around him. If any of children is absent and asked why, he will know why..(funny) and he noticed who is absent in the class everyday.

He is well mannered too and will call all the teachers that passed through him by calling them "Hello Teacher (name)". He knows almost all the teachers' name in the school. And he will ask permission to do something and go somewhere.

He is a very socialable boy and have no problem interacting with people. He is liked by all his friends too.

To teacher, he is defintely not a "naughty" boy. Of course, he has his weakness too. He likes to talk to people (talkative) and have problem finishing his work in time. He will talk and see what other people do and did not even start doing his own. The teacher initially having problem dealing with him but later she found a good way to tackle this problem.

She told Darren one day that she didn't want to friend him anymore and for a whole week, she didn't talk to him. Knowing Darren, he was very upset and kept begging the teacher to friend him back. The teacher told him that she is very upset with him too and did not want to be his friend anymore. He cried, screamed until he caught other teachers attention. On the last day, the teacher told him that if he wants her to be his friend again, he has to finish his homework first everyday. And from then on, he fulfulled his promise and finish his homework everyday. (No wonder he brought back less homework in the 2nd half of the year. This is a new teacher who took over the class second half of the year).

She found a way to handle him and I totally agree that this is the right technique to tackle this boy (use emotional). There were once that he could not finish his water in school and the teacher told him that your mommy will cry if she has to pour your water away and he said he didn't want mommy to cry. He then finished his water (Again, no wonder he finished his water almost everyday during a stage). He has no problem finishing his morning snack.

Another problem he has is he is very close with his cousin in the class. They both always stick together and chit chat non stopped. Some teachers have to separate them to 2 sides and both face would be "black". When he is with her, he will not play/interact with other children. This is not too good. They are too attached to each other. But luckily both are smart, or else the teacher said she cannot imagine how are they going to catch up in school.

Oh yeah...the chinese teacher also commented that his chinese writing is good too (which I don't think so).

Conclusion, he is a smart, socialable and well behaved boy except he needs to sit still and finish his homework. I can see that he is like by the teacher too because the teacher told me,

"There was once that he was absent for a whole week because of his spectacles. I miss him so much and kept wondering what had happened to Darren. When I saw him again in school and asked what had happened to him, he told me what happened and he then asked me "Is my new spectacle nice or not?" He was so cute and I couldn't forget about that.."

Well, I think this teacher is the "best" among all the teachers he had before. She really pay attention to him and noticed all his strength and weakness. She is the only one that knows how to use the right tactic to handle this boy. Honestly, I feel that this 2nd half of the year, Darren has improved on his reading, writing skills. He also finished his water and snack everyday. He even colour better nowadays.

I am definitely proud of him..