But He is Still Missing These Assignments.
Since there are no parent-teacher conferences in high school, I arranged one.
I met with Dylan’s case manager, his guidance counselor, his English teacher and his Biology teacher. And Dylan came to the meeting, too.
My job – as parent of a high school teenager – was to sit down and shut up. And mostly, that’s what I did.
Dylan’s English teacher spoke first. He and Dylan discussed how well Dylan had been doing, talking to him after class. They decided that a teacher prompt might be necessary to help Dylan remember to check with his teacher after class. His English teacher was wonderful – which we already knew – and when he went back to his classroom, I felt certain that everything was under control.
We repeated the scenario with Dylan’s Biology teacher – also wonderful, also certain that everything was under control.
We discussed with Dylan that, from now on, missing work meant no more electronics until the missing work was turned in. This policy had been in place many times in the past few years – but this time, it was being strictly enforced until the grade changes. This means that, as long as the teacher doesn’t put in the new grade, the electronics stay off.
This seemed to be great inspiration for Dylan. He talked to both his English and Biology teachers every day. I encouraged him to branch out, and also talk to his other teachers, since he was doing so well with those two.
After a week, quite out of the blue, FOUR missing assignments showed up on the computer – all of them in English.
I emailed Dylan’s teacher, and ‘cc’d his case manager.
“Yes, he is talking to me every day,” his teacher responded. “But he is still missing these assignments.”
Dylan scrambled to get them all turned in in one day, since he loses his electronics whenever a missing assignment appears online.
Meanwhile, no one could quite figure out why – if Dylan asked every day what was due – why didn’t his teacher tell him these four assignments were due?
His case manager emailed me. She emailed the English teacher. She emailed me to tell me that she’d emailed him. I emailed her again.
After nearly a week, she met with the English teacher – and Dylan – separately, and again. What she learned remains a mystery, but she sent an email to everyone:
“We clarified that Dylan is asking for any/all work due, including homework and if there are any missing assignments. Dylan and I also talked about using the phone to record the discussion at the end of class when he asks about his work. Dylan says that he will type the information into his phone.”
I have no idea if this means the teacher didn’t tell him the assignments were due, or Dylan just forgot they were due. Either way, it seems we still have a long way to go.