4.1 About purpose and concerns

Purpose and concerns is the third of the four scoring items from the opening. One of a teacher’s key tasks is to let the parent know what is going on in the classroom and to let the parent know why they have been asked to come in. The two items are bundled together because it is really hard to do a great job of sharing concerns without letting the parent know they are there– and vice versa!  Like strengths, purpose and concerns can pop up at multiple points during the opening so don’t expect the excerpts to flow– we are just scoring on what the teacher says!

From the background materials, the teacher knows that:

  • Katie is very shy in the classroom. She isn’t contributing in whole group settings.
  • She is socially withdrawn– she chooses to work on her own, hasn’t really made friends, and doesn’t really contribute much around her peers.

None of these are bad! But these are things that the teacher needs to let the parent know about so s/he can figure out how to make the classroom work for Katie. Any information about these items counts as a concern.