Soon you will get your child’s final report of the year. Will you understand it? Will you really know how well your child has done? I doubt it.
Every parent I know complains about report cards. Why? Because they are written in ‘teacher talk’. I know, I used to write them!
First, let’s get something straight; teachers want you to know how well (or not) your child is doing in school, they are not trying to make school reports difficult for you to understand. But, because most teachers want you to think the best of both your child, and of their teaching, they use words and phrases that can unintentionally conceal the truth.
Here are some ‘plain language’ descriptions of words and phrases that you might find on your child’s report card.
Teacher talk Johnny is beginning to ….
Translation Johnny should have learned this weeks ago
Teacher Talk Mary is gaining in confidence ….
Translation Mary is learning very slowly
Teacher Talk I am pleased with Johnny’s progress
Translation He is doing OK but could do better
Teacher Talk Mary needs to work on ……
Translation Mary hasn’t a clue about ….
Teacher talk Johnny is trying hard to …
Translation Johnny just doesn’t get it.
Teacher talk Mary is a very sociable student
Translation Mary talks too much in class
Teacher talk Johnny is working at Grade level
Translation Johnny is just about keeping up
Teacher talk Mary has missed many days of school this year
Translation How am I expected to teach her if she is never here?
and this one, possibly the best of them all,
Teacher talk We all appreciate Johnny’s sense of humour
Translation Johnny is the class clown.
OK, so these translations may be a bit harsh on teachers who have slaved for days writing report cards for all the children in their class. (Report card writing is the worst time for teachers, it is stressful, time consuming and, when done with care, emotionally draining).
But I am so upset by the number of parents who tell me that their child’s report card tells them nothing useful, or even worse, that they do not understand what teachers are saying, that I hope these translations provide you with some help.
If you have your own favorite report card words or phrases, and you would like them ‘translated’, send them to me in the comments section below and I will gladly tell you what I think they mean!
