Brilliant … But Bouncy

His Teachers’ Responses Were Completely Unexpected.

After Dylan’s disastrous attempt at turning in his school work on his own, I emailed his teachers. My email went something like this:

In order to prepare Dylan for college, we are trying to allow him to complete and turn in his own assignments ON TIME, without any “encouragement” or “help” from us. If he doesn’t know how to turn in high school work on time, he will never be able to keep up with the work in college.

Dylan has assured me that he has turned in ALL of his missing work. We are just trying to determine if he’s actually turned in his work, or if he’s still completely unaware of which assignments are missing. We just want to know if there is any hope for a collegiate future.

His teachers’ responses were completely unexpected.

“He is still missing four assignments,” one teacher said. “A fifth one will be due today.  He is usually aware of what he has not completed and turns it in as soon as he’s aware.”

I wasn’t sure what to think of this. Dylan is missing four or five assignments – but he’s turning it in quickly? According to what I was seeing online, Dylan was missing 15 assignments in this class. Maybe what I was seeing online wasn’t all that accurate.

A clue came from another teacher, who said, “Dylan is caught up on his work; I just need to grade it and put it in the grade book. He’s been very good this year about checking in with me without prompting and making up his work before I’ve even had a chance to ask him about it.”

Without prompting? Briefly I wondered if this teacher knew my son. But this is actually the second time he has had this teacher. I guess he’s improved tremendously since 10th grade!

The most telling response came from Dylan’s AP teacher – where he is doing college-level work and, apparently, doing it quite well.

“Dylan has turned in all of his late work,” his teacher said. “He has been verbally proving himself in class each day.  The information is in there!  I truly believe he will do well.  He is so insightful and has so many brilliant moments in class that I believe he really is pulling it all together now.”

Dylan is pulling it all together. The disorganized, late, confused, frustrated son I’ve seen at home is pulling it all together at school! Insightful. Brilliant. THAT is the Dylan I know from childhood! He’s emerging!

We still have months to observe his behavior. We still have months of prayer. But we may have to pay for college after all!