TJ's Conference

Yesterday, Bill and I went to parent-teacher conferences. We were both really curious to see what Sam's teacher had to say, and sort of knew what to expect from TJ's.

We were extremely surprised and pleased with TJ's conference. Mr. Sagorski is a fantastic teacher. He completely 'gets' TJ. He doesn't call him hyper or antsy. He calls him 'excited'. He has also figured out that TJ is very bright, but that his attention span is short. So, when he is testing TJ, he has TJ take breaks throughout the testing process. As a result, TJ is flourishing. His reading is improving, math continues to be a piece of cake, and we aren't having any behavior problems. Bill and I were so excited to hear this. The only concern Mr. Sagorski had is TJ's speech. He thinks TJ's speech (he still pronounces some sounds incorrectly) problems are hampering his ability to spell correctly. So he will be screened by the speech pathologist. I also might have his hearing checked again. He's lost both of his tubes now. My theory is if he can't hear correctly, he's not going to be able to spell words correctly.

We did have to laugh with Mr. Sagorski and his student teacher. They both confirmed what Bill and I thought: they have never met another second grader who was more obsessed with the Hindenburg than TJ is. Every journal assignment TJ is given he turns into an article on the Hindenburg. And every piece of paper he gets his hands on turns into a lovely paper boat.

At this point, I would like to thank my mother for teaching him how to make paper boats. She must not like me very much.