Almost a whole other term has gone by and I've been really pleased to notice that some students are advancing --- very slowly, but there are a couple of children now who couldn't write their name at all at the beginning of the year and now they get it nearly perfect every time. Number recognition has gone up and we've begun counting from 1-15 as a group.
But I've been doing individual testing these past two weeks, and not one child recognises the word 'the', despite the number of times we've written it, said it, done all kinds of things with it. Few letters of the alphabet are recognised either, once again, despite the fact I concentrate on a letter during a week's full of activities, and we sing the alphabet, with me pointing to the letters, every day.
Next term is one full of interruptions and sports days. The fourth term has Christmas.
And that's it. The year's gone.
The year's gone and very little has been accomplished in terms of quanitifiable achievement. This is not a unique case --- this occurs across the lands.
I don't want to give up on my children, but I can't have unrealistic expectations either. And it gets to the point where I feel like I'm failing them.
