Not off to a Good Start

Last night was meet the teacher night at Boy's school. I came away feeling frustrated and somewhat angry and defensive.

Boy's in Grade 1 French Immersion this year. He gets English for half the day and the other half is in French. The first teacher we saw was Mrs. English. She didn't really have much to say about anything, good or bad. As it turns out, she is filling in for the real teacher's mat. leave and will be gone the end of October. Last night was the first I had heard of this. Thanks for the communication. So I'm thinking Mrs. Temp. English doesn't really give a shit and she's only putting in her time until she's done and moves on to her next job. At least Mrs. Permanent English was there to meet the kids. We only spent about 2 minutes in the classroom because nobody had anything to tell me.

Mme. Francais was waiting for us in her room. Girl had her for Gr. 1 as well so a few minutes were spent catching Mme. Francais up on her progress. Then I asked how things were going. She grimaced and said "Welll, I'm hoping things improve." Okay, I thought, this can't be good. Turns out Boy only wants to play and asks all the time if he can play, is it time to play, when do we get to play. He doesn't pay attention on the carpet (I guess that's where the teaching goes on) and Mme. is always telling him Boy look here, Boy pay attention. As she was rabbiting on about how he really needs to pay attention in French, more so than in English and blah, blah, blah, Kindergarten Teacher had reservations, blah, blah, blah, I was thinking "Sweet Jesus, it's only the second week, give the kid a chance." And then at the end she says "But he's a boy. That sums it up. He's a boy."

What the hell does that mean? Does that mean all of what you've just said has been excused? Does that mean you're going to try and engage him? Does that mean he's just been dismissed?

I think we're in for a rough year.