Duck and I met with both of Doodle’s teachers yesterday. Just to keep it simple, I’ll tell you that Ms. Teacher has her for Science/Social Studies and Mr. Teacher has her for Language Arts/Math. We stayed and talked for about an hour. When we left we kind of just looked at each other and asked “what did you get out of that?” Unfortunately the things we both got out of the meeting were not all that great. Well, some of it was great — some not so great.

Ms. Teacher, we’ve both decided, is a twit. Duck asked her where she primarily teaches from because we were concerned with the orientation of Doodle’s desk. Her response? “I’m all over the room.” Well, no wonder my child can’t pay attention to you if you’re all over the place. I’m sure she didn’t mean constantly walking around all over. Perhaps she teaches a little from one area then moves to another. Anyway, we requested that she be moved so she’s at least looking into the room and not out the window (if she’s sitting properly at her desk).

I inquired as to why they sit the kids in those groupings. They both said it was to share materials. Evidently they have limited magnets and such, so they sit the kids in groups so everyone can share the materials. Oh, and it’s easier for them to be in groups all the time than to have them move into groups every time they are learning about the materials they need to share. Ms. Teacher didn’t seem to think that the seating arrangement had anything to do with the lack of focus. She insisted that she’s made it clear to all the kids that they can in fact get up and move to one of the tables if they need to see better or if someone is distracting them. But seriously, how many 4th graders are going to draw attention to themselves and move themselves to a table? Not my 4th grader.

Mr. Teacher expressed similar opinions to us. He’s noticed some changes in behavior (not just Doodle) and lack of focus with the kids seated in groups. He said after his class finishes with these materials they need to share, he’s probably going to move them back into a U-shaped layout so they can all be focused on him.

Ms. Teacher was trying to hurry us through this meeting and understandably so — there was another mother waiting outside the door. We had requested that a Student Education Plan be developed for Doodle at the beginning of the year. Last year was so bad, that we wanted to try and do everything would could to make sure she’s learning what she needs to be throughout the year. Ms. Teacher rambled through some lame checkpoints on this SEP (we didn’t really know what it was going to be). Afterwards Duck and I discussed how all of those checkpoints were really just things that a teacher needs to be doing anyway — so it’s pretty much a waste of paper, time, and money.

Mr. Teacher on the other hand, wanted to tell us all about how Doodle was doing in his class. He stated several times that he was very surprised at how well she was doing — getting mostly As and high Bs. He was, I think, confused that we had wanted this meeting. He seemed to be more laid back than Ms. Teacher which is a good thing. He said he’d noticed some distraction from Callie but not that much.

Doodle got in trouble the other day during a Science project. She was evidently chasing this boy around the room. This does not surprise me as she doesn’t take any junk from boys What does surprise me is what I found out about Ms. Teacher. She explained to us that a student had to alert her to the fact that Doodle was chasing this boy around the room. What? Why does a student have to tell you that? Should you not be aware of what’s going on in your room? And the discipline — or so she thinks — for Doodle and the boy were to give them a zero on the project (she told us it was a pass/fail kind of thing — if you tried it, you passed). Oh, then they had to sit at different tables and do textbook work. Why, I don’t know. But I do know that Doodle has no concept of grades yet. We’re working with her on that. But that zero did absolutely nothing to her. The thing that did was probably having to write a note to Duck and me.

Mr. Teacher on the other hand wanted to show us a story Doodle had written in class that day. He said that he noticed her and a few other students had really messy writing. He gave them a mechanical pencil to try and that’s what he was showing us. Her writing was awesome with the mechanical pencil vs what she had been trying to write with a normal pencil. A world of difference. Yes, we went to Staples last night and bought a bunch of mechanical pencils

So basically, Mr. Teacher is extremely happy with her progress and the work she’s doing. Ms. Teacher would like to see some focus — which none of us know how to “fix” or help really other than staying on her to focus — which we can’t do because we aren’t with her all day long. Evidently I got a little too worked up over all the negativity on Doodle’s progress report from Ms. Teacher. Everything seems to be hunky-dory.

Oh, and she’s #10 on a waitlist to get into a local charter school. She’s moved up 21 spots!