Hearing Versus Listening

Jordan’s 8th grade year began much like the others, with excitement and confidence. Even though the end of summer always met me with a twinge of sadness, a bit of anxiety, and my not-so-pride-filled why me? attitude, it was nice to see Jordan begin each school year ‘in her element’. The organization and structure of school may have been torturous for some students, but for a young teen like Jordan, it was safe and comfortable. As the weeks passed by and the workload increased, so did her stress level. Again, homework began to take an exorbitant amount of time. One night she claimed she didn’t have enough time to study for a math test, and consequently she received a 75%. For someone who was accustomed to all A’s, this was not easy for her. to accept. I braced myself for a rough night, fearing the common self denigrating behavior, but thankfully she had the option for a retake. Sometimes it’s the little things. The good news was she heard one of her teachers telling the class that homework counted for only 3% of the grade. Three freakin' percent! All the crap and torment night after night, year after year... If she did zero homework all year, in theory she could have ended up with a 97%. Dammit. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Jordan was aware of the homework policy before her teacher shared this (possibly, hopefully) life changing bit of information with the class. Adam and I must have shared it with her a thousand times. Who knows, maybe she wasn't listening. All I could do was hope that hearing it from this teacher, at this specific time, would be enough to help her gain some control over her homework difficulties. Thank you. Us Too