Middle School Narratives

It is one of my favorite times of year again - narratives season for the middle schoolers! This is when the teachers take time to write individualized feedback for each of the students in their classes. It is great to see what they see. There are usually compliments and areas of strength along with areas to work on. Here are a few tidbits in terms of Emily's strengths:

From her Earth Science teacher: "Emily is an enthusiastic, dedicated learner who exhibits a positive outlook and attitude in the classroom. She communicates well with students and teachers, and asks questions when she is unsure of the material."

From her English teacher: "Emily enters English class each day by sharing a gentle greeting and lovely smile. She is not only a talented English student but a wonderful citizen as well . . .Emily LOVES to write and our Quickwrite Wednesdays. She possesses strong writing stamina and is able to take creative risks. Emily's writing contains "voice," a skill that is not common for sixth grade students." 

From her French teacher: "She is a bright and kindhearted student who always comes to school with a positive attitude." 

From her Geography teacher: "Emily is smart, creative, and hardworking. She naturally asks the bigger picture questions in class, and she is very easily able to empathize with someone else's perspective. These are two skills that show her maturity."  

From her Math teacher: "Emily is a sweet and respectful young lady. She is focused and attentive in class and has strong organizational skills." 

In terms of her areas for improvement, there seemed to be consensus that her teachers would like her to speak up more in class, both in terms of projecting her voice and also asking questions in whole-class settings. That is definitely consistent with what I know about her. She likes to hang back and observe more than she likes to get into the middle of things. 

While I find the narratives exciting, I think Emily has other things that she finds more exciting. As for what she has been up to, drawing is always on the agenda. Here is one of her recents:

She also thoroughly enjoyed having an entire weather-related week off from school a couple weeks ago. She, Morgan, and Laila managed to get together for a tea party. Emily and Morgan got everything set up and I was impressed with how elaborate it was.

As for something that Emily does not enjoy so much, we are still doing weekly violin lessons, but Emily is not a fan. We'll have to see how it goes, but this may be our last academic year for violin. That said, I had fun capturing the photo below during lesson this week. Notice the little spy in the window.

Our crazy kitty is often finding her way onto narrow ledges both inside and outside the house, and seems to enjoy hanging out on the roof of the house. I suppose that it makes for a good view, but it makes me awful nervous.