Evidence and context
Context
This email exchange took place during my student teaching in seventh-grade science. It addresses concerns about a student’s grades, participation, and use of accommodations, and identifies ways to support learning at school and at home. Names have been replaced with [Student] and [Parent]; the original wording is otherwise preserved.
Message 1 - Parent to teachers
Good Day!
My name is [Parent] and I am the mother of [Student]. I am reaching out as I see [Student]'s grades are drastically dropping. I would like to get some feedback on what [Student] needs to work on so we can start pulling his grades back up along with any concerns you have for him at this time. I look forward to hearing back from all of you.
Thank you!
Message 2 - Teacher to parent
Good Afternoon,
Thank you for reaching out. I'm concerned about this as well and I'm grateful for the chance for us to team up and address it. In science, [Student] typically does not ask for help from either myself or his classmates. Often I will observe [Student] avoid starting a task or assignment unless I physically go over and push him to begin. Then, once he's started, his progress frequently stalls. As I move around the room, assisting students, [Student] never raises his hand to ask for support, clarification, or feedback. This is a behavior I've tried to address by checking in with him often, however, after he's been pushed to begin, I've noticed a few times that he'll attempt to hide his lack of progress by simply filling in random answers. I believe this is starting to catch up with him as the complexity of the curriculum is starting to increase.
One possible reason for [Student]'s overall 9 week grades, is that he is not taking advantage of using his accommodations. For example, today during the test he did not use his oral accomodation. I always make a statement that whoever would like to use headphones to help with the vocabulary on the test may do so. I had several in his class use headphones, even those without accommodations. That way, those with oral accommodations will not feel like they are being singled out.
His major grades are low,which is currently affecting his overall 9 week grade because we have only 2 major grades thus far. The first test, I did allow him to retake the test once he studied the material. I gave him a week, but he chose not to retake the test. I only offered this to him and one other student, thinking his original grade on the test, maybe from how [Student] processes information.
I would love the chance to better support him. Have there been any strategies that have helped him in the past?
Message 3 - Parent to teacher
Hello,
[Student] often does not like to take advantage of his accomodations as he doesn't want to be singled out. We seem to have this issue with him every year. However, he usually does very well in Science so I am surprised to hear that he is not doing his work or on task. One issue is he needs to bring things home and study. Often he will say he doesn't have homework or things to study. I will be talking with him this evening to make sure he is using his accomodations, to ask questions if he does not understand or needs more clarification.
I will get with him this evening about his motivation and lack of willingness and come up with some strategies on how we can better assist him so he can do better in your class. I see that their is a project due next Monday this information is on schoology correct? Are they supposed to be working on this at home as well? Are there any suggestions you can give to help assist at home? I will check in weekly to see if there are improvements. Please contact me if there any other concerns or issues with him.
Thank you,
[Parent]
Message 4 - Teacher to parent
Thanks for your reply,
[Student] is not the only student who avoids using his accommodations for fear of being singled out. It's a common problem and one I try to address by offering accommodations to all students rather than only students who require them. I really wish he had used his accomodations on today's test. His grade was a 60.
As for homework, I rarely assign actual homework that is meant to be done at home but I will always allow students who don't complete tasks in class to complete them at home before they are graded. On Monday's I email both students and parents with a brief summary of the week and any due dates.
I'm happy you've seen information about the project and you are correct, all required instructions are posted on Schoology. We are working on students taking accountability and ownership of the quality of their work. This means that we do provide feedback but try to limit it and encourage students to seek guidance and clarification on expectations from rubrics. The rubric for this current project and an example of the project are on Schoology.
I would recommend [Student] check for due dates, either on schoology or through Monday's email. I would also encourage him to write down incomplete assignment/due dates in the agenda. If he brings me his agenda filled out then I can put my initial on it so you know if he has or does not have homework/incomplete work for that night.
I would also have him use his notes to explain the topic of the day to you. Usually when kids can teach it, they tend to remember more than just looking at the notes.
The first half of the year we explore chemistry and the content becomes abstract at times which can be challenging for the students. We do our best to make things tangible with lots of hands-on tasks but it is unfortunately more challenging in some ways compared to previous grades.
I hope this sheds some more light.
Competency and effect on learning
This email exchange demonstrates my ability to communicate with families by explaining classroom concerns, inviting the parent’s perspective, and suggesting specific ways to support learning. I described the student’s difficulty beginning and completing assignments and asking for help. I also asked which strategies had helped him in the past. His parent explained that he avoided accommodations because he did not want to feel singled out, which helped me better understand a barrier to his participation.
I clarified where the parent could find project instructions, examples, and rubrics, and suggested using an initialed agenda to communicate unfinished work and due dates. I also recommended having the student explain science concepts at home using his notes. The parent responded with a commitment to discuss his needs and check in weekly. Following this correspondence, I observed more active participation with fewer prompts and check-ins, and his science assessment scores began to improve. These changes suggested progress in engagement and learning, although I cannot attribute them solely to the email exchange. The communication gave us a shared starting point for supporting his learning at school and at home.
Modifications for future use
Following this correspondence, I observed that [Student] participated more actively with fewer prompts and check-ins, and his science assessment scores began to improve. However, he still submitted the project after the deadline. This mixed progress showed that improved participation and understanding did not yet translate into consistently meeting deadlines. For future use, I would end the email with agreed follow-up dates and clear indicators of progress, including whether assignments were submitted on time. The exchange encouraged collaboration, but the parent did not reply to my final email, and our communication ended without a follow-up. This limited my ability to learn whether the suggested strategies were helping at home. In the future, I would take a more proactive role by initiating follow-up communication rather than waiting for the parent to respond. I would schedule an initial update one week after the exchange and a second review two weeks later, including the specific dates in the email.
At each follow-up, I would send a brief summary of assignments completed and submitted, how often the student began work with fewer prompts or asked for clarification, and how the agreed supports were helping him access tasks. I would also include evidence of science understanding from a recent exit ticket, assignment, or assessment, identifying one area of improvement and one remaining difficulty. I would compare these indicators with the previous week and invite the parent to share observations from home. We could then decide which strategies to continue or adjust. This would help us evaluate whether our communication and support were improving learning rather than relying only on the overall grade.