Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Beauty of the Internet

My girl H is the best girl in the world in my book. She is beautiful, smart and pretty darn funny. H has always excelled in school, and I have never had a problem with her schoolwork.

This year is her first year in Middle School. At her school there is a big push to "let your student become more independent." The kids transition from Elementary school where your parent signs your planner each night, to Middle School...no signing of planners...no walking them to class...no loitering around their class to talk with the teacher and become their new BFF. Nothing. They have 7 different teachers and they are independent.

Until now. I decided that I was going to utilize the "Online Grading" system our school offers. Granted I have never even clicked the link before today, I have always just relied on the old fashioned paper report cards that come out each 9 weeks. But I digress. I clicked the link to the Online Grading site and entered in H's information. In all but two of her subjects she has A's. The other 2 subjects had B's, but I didn't think that was a big deal. A's and B's are great, but if she got C's and D's that would be fine too, I would just be alerted to try and find some way to help her with her studying and homework. Then, I spy a button next to her letter grade that says "assignments." So curiously I click the button. I then scroll down the list and find that in the two classes that H has B's, she has 0's next to 3 specific homework dates. Basically, she would be a straight A student if it weren't for the fact that she has failed to turn in 6 homework assignments. ZERO. No score for the homework. The other kicker is that if you turn in the homework it is a "100," if you do not it is a ZERO.
So I ask my darling daughter what the problem is. She claims that since the grading system has been down recently, the teacher probably hasn't had time to enter in all the grades. My response? Inquire with the teacher. Make sure.
This afternoon when H gets in the car I ask her about the ZERO's and inquire what the teacher said. The truth comes out that H has not in fact turned in those assignments. 6 x ZERO.
My response? If you give me a reason to hold your hand, walk you to class in my pajamas, stand over you while you do homework, AND sign off on all your work, I will.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Our girls must be related. Bailey is having a little trouble adjusting to MS also. With not getting out till 4 pm and 3 to 4 hours of homework she isn't getting everything done on time. The internet is a beauty to find out grades. Ours is even sending out e mails if there is a zero or a no assignment turned in. I will pray for H if you pray for Bailey. Take care! Rhonda