Parent-Teacher Conference at the DCJCC

Last week was our first parent-teacher conference at Owen's school. It was a good meeting, very reassuring, and also made me swell with pride as a parent.

Some comments from his teachers:

• Owen is very smart. With a good memory. The children were all given shapes that corresponded to where they sat at lunch. After a couple of weeks, the teachers decided to see if the children could remember their shapes and the colors. Owen was so excited he didn't even wait for Katie to get out the question before shouting out "Arrow, blue." Determined to challenge him, she followed up with "What direction does your arrow point to?" Without ever having been told, he answered her, "Left."
  
• When the class is acting up, the teachers said if the corral Owen and another boy Coltrane, the rest of the class doesn't know what to do and calms down.
• Conversely, if they want to get the kids interested in something new, if they can get Owen and Coltrane to try it, the rest of the class follows suit.
• For his age, Owen has an unusually strong sense of self and what he wants.
• He is very verbal and able to communicate what he wants despite his limited vocabulary.
• At first he was a little leery of the whole pre-school thing. It took him some time to learn to trust the teachers and understand his place in that social structure. Now, he feels very comfortable, its his class, his friends, his Katie and Allison.
• He's strong willed, and the teachers have learned compromise is often the best solution. They are teaching Owen about compromise.
• He is working on learning to respect boundaries.

It was a very positive conversation, and made me feel more comfortable that his teachers are very fond of Owen and are trying to nurture his independence and strong sense of self. I'm sure Nora will have her own comments and thoughts to add.