Contact: Dr. Dennis Shaw, Center Director
Huntington Learning Center of Ankeny
515-965-3860
ShawD@HLCmail.com
Huntington Learning Center of Ankeny
515-965-3860
ShawD@HLCmail.com
Ankeny.HuntingtonHelps.com
Questions
to Ask About Your Child’s First Report Card of the Year
Ankeny, Iowa. October 2017– It’s
the start of a brand-new school year, which will be full of new adventure for
your child. Soon, you’ll receive his or her first report card—an official
status update on how things are going. “Parents should take this first
‘check-up’ of the year as an opportunity to open the lines of communication
with their children and their children’s teachers,” says Doctor Dennis Shaw of
the Ankeny Huntington Learning Center. When the first-semester report card
comes home, what should you address during those conversations? Here are
several questions to ask:
Questions
for your child
1. How has this year gone so far? Give
your child a chance to talk about the first couple of months of the school year
candidly. How does your child feel about the teacher, each subject and any
homework and tests?
2. What are you proud of? Allow
your child to ponder what has gone well this year as a result of his or her
efforts. Perhaps there will be one or more classes where the grades were hard
earned and a few that came much easier. This insight will help you understand
your child’s journey to date and what concerns he or she has that weren’t on
your radar.
3. How do you learn and study best? Before
offering your own observations and ideas about how your child learns most
effectively, ask for his or her opinion. Be sure to talk about how this year is
going and if your child is noticing any changes in his or her most useful study
and learning methods.
4. What do you want to change going forward? Bring
this up after reviewing the report card together. If your child received a poor
grade, it’s understandable that you might want to lay out a game plan to fix
it, but let your child talk first. What does he or she think is the best course
of action?
Questions
for your child’s teacher
1.
What are
my child’s strengths and weaknesses? You have your own thoughts,
but it is invaluable to understand the teacher’s ideas about your child’s areas
of strength and areas to improve upon. This gives the teacher a chance to talk
about your child’s performance compared to grade-level expectations and how he
or she is staying on track thus far in the year.
2.
How
would you describe my child as a student/learner? The more
you know about your child’s learning preferences, tendencies and methods, the
better equipped you will be to offer support at home. Ask the teacher what he
or she sees in the classroom as far as the environment and types of lessons
that seem to “click” with your child the best.
3.
Where
would you like to see my child make changes? This question should
hopefully open the conversation to your child’s working habits and demeanor in
the classroom. Whatever adjustments the teacher brings up, make sure you ask
for suggestions on how best to proceed.
4.
What can
I do to support your efforts? It’s always helpful to get an
understanding from the teacher as early in the year as possible of the role you
should play in your child’s education. Ask about tips for approaching homework
time, what the appropriate level of involvement is and how you can stay in
touch with the teacher for your child’s benefit.
Before any conversation about the report card, Dr. Shaw encourages
parents to write down their own list of questions, springboarding from the
above topics. “All parents have a unique perspective of what their children
need to work on, so it’s a good idea to keep that big picture in mind when
communicating both with their children and the teachers,” he says. “Parents can keep those conversations focused and
constructive by spending time in advance putting any issues or concerns down on
paper.”
If the first report card of the year brings up issues that are of
serious concern, call Huntington at 515-965-3864. We can develop a customized,
one-to-one plan of instruction to help your child address any problems big or
small and make this a great school year.
About Huntington
Huntington is the tutoring and test prep leader. Its certified tutors provide individualized
instruction in reading, phonics, writing, study skills, elementary and middle
school math, Algebra through Calculus, Chemistry, and other sciences. It preps
for the SAT and ACT, as well as state and standardized exams. Huntington
programs develop the skills, confidence, and motivation to help students
succeed and meet the needs of Common Core State Standards. Founded in
1977, Huntington’s mission is to give every student the best education
possible. Learn how Huntington can help at www.huntingtonhelps.com. For
franchise opportunities please visit www.huntingtonfranchise.com.
©2017 Huntington Mark,
LLC. Huntington Learning Center®, the
three-leaf logo, and 1 800 CAN LEARN® are
registered trademarks of Huntington Mark, LLC. Each franchised Huntington
Learning Center is operated under a franchise agreement with Huntington
Learning Centers, Inc.
