Pp here. Sheer, that is.

We are at Westland Middle School and I think the teachers are overwhelmed. It makes me sad because most are good kids and good teachers. The shear number of kids is too much. The new middle school will open next year but my 7th grade child had to go through the most crowded years of Westland....and will not be transferred to the new school for 8th grade.

Thanks all - this is OP. I reached out to his English teacher on Friday and she responded today with an offer to meet at the end of school or talk via phone. She recommended the latter, so that's what I'll do.

And yes, to the PP teacher, we monitor Edline like hawks, but we're not in the classroom and it's not always clear to us how a missing or poor grade came to happen. And to the question of whether it's an organizational (motivational) issue or an intellectual one, yes, it's almost surely organizational AND motivational.

I don't expect the teachers to have a magic solution to that. We have a tutor, we go through the binder weekly, we're working on calendars and sticky notes and other ways to keep him on track. But I figure they see a whole lot many more 12yos than I do, and they might have some useful advice based on my son's work to date.

Agree with 18:22 poster, grade level administrator is one who helps you in the is situation. They arrange the meetings with teacher, not counselor.

Don't waste your time with the counselor. They don't know anything anyway. Go directly to the classroom teachers and ask for meetings.

My DD was similar. She attended Cabin John. She was just lost. We got lucky in that her counselor was super responsive. She placed DD in a class called Related Studies for 7th grade which took place of an elective. It was a lifesaver for her. The related studies teacher served as a facilitator between the regular teachers and student. She also taught the class study skills and organization. I wonder if your school has the same? In 6th grade, we did have one meeting with all her teachers. We felt the meeting put DD on the radar. Unfortunately, in 7th and 8th grade we had a few teachers who were either checked out or overwhelmed and didn't respond to repeated emails or just provided generic responses. But we had more teachers who were responsive. We even had a few who went above and beyond.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask again to meet with his counselor and, if you want you can meet with his entire team of teachers. I would also regularly email his teachers and ask how he is doing in their class.

Is this the norm? (OP here.) I don't know how much to insert myself; I've been trying to encourage him to advocate for himself. He found the whole process of requesting retakes very intimidating, and in general tries to avoid attention from anyone (he's a big awkward kid.) I wasn't sure if I was being a PITA helicopter mom to start emailing teachers directly at the middle school level.

I will push for a meeting with the counselor in any case.

I'm a high school teacher in Bethesda, and we routinely meet with parents at their request- the counselor and the whole team of teachers with the parent(s) and the kid. That said, if a child is unmotivated, I don't think many of us have great advice. We can tell you how we operate and how perceive your child's situation (is he coming to class on time? Is his folder / notebook / binder a disaster? Does he complete the homework?) - we can ask your child how he thinks he's doing, how he spends his time when he gets home from school, and what would help him going forward, but making the unmotivated child motivated is something for which we all (parents and teachers) wish we a magic cure.

But you should know that the school wouldn't find it strange at all if you were to request a conference with his counselor and team of teachers.

I am a middle school teacher not in the DC area. That response from the guidance counselor is not acceptable. You should definitely be able to meet with him or her, and I would encourage you to meet with his core teachers as well – math, English, social studies, science.

What frustrates me when I have since were not doing well and parents reach out is when they message me and just ask, why is David doing badly in your class? I am very active on our online system, and normally the kids who are not performing well simply have not handed in projects and homework. They have zeros for it. I put a lot of instructions online as well as the tasks and I'm very available – I would say I probably reply to parents, on average, within a few hours.

i'm only saying this so when you do reach out and have a meeting with them, focus on information that is not already available. Do you review the grades with your child? what does he say? teachers might have some insight as to whether it's more of a core academic issue or if it's a struggle with organization.

Resend the email to the counselor and clarify what you are looking for. You can request that the counselor get info from the teachers. MCPS has a teacher feedback form that can be given out to each teacher. It seems premature to insist on a face to face with all of the teachers. If all of the teachers are in a meeting with you, the entire grade is without a teacher and is simply "covered" by a paraeducator. If many parents insist on this, much instructional time is missed. The only alternative when all of the teachers are likely available is lunchtime. Do you really want to take away the teacher's lunch? That'd make for irritated teachers when this could be resolved in another way. I'm not clear about what you want exactly. The teacher report forms would provide all of the information regarding your DC's performance and behaviors. Is it possible that your email wasn't clear? Just send another and say exactly what you want while still being reasonable about staff time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ask again to meet with his counselor and, if you want you can meet with his entire team of teachers. I would also regularly email his teachers and ask how he is doing in their class.

Is this the norm? (OP here.) I don't know how much to insert myself; I've been trying to encourage him to advocate for himself. He found the whole process of requesting retakes very intimidating, and in general tries to avoid attention from anyone (he's a big awkward kid.) I wasn't sure if I was being a PITA helicopter mom to start emailing teachers directly at the middle school level.

I will push for a meeting with the counselor in any case.

At this age, it is ok for you to advocate for your son if he feels intimidated. He's not the only one who feels that way. Most middle schoolers are intimidated. It was recommended to me to contact the teachers to ask how my kid was doing by a guidance counselor. You are not a helicopter parent or PITA for doing that, and even if people say you are--- who cares? It will help your child immensely to get individual feedback from the teachers. I do it for my kids who are not smooth sailors in school.