Using the PER Report with Your Student: Identify, Don’t Judge
Very few students like to be evaluated or tested for a simple reason. It bothers them to be wrong! And, if we’re honest, it bothers us too. That’s because we often see our children as a reflection of our academic and parenting efforts. It may explain partly why some parents experience difficulty in giving their students anything less than an “A” or “B+” in any subject they’re studying.
Answering a question incorrectly is often associated with embarrassment and the potential of being “put down” or being “judged.” This is especially true in a group or public context. Yet, “being wrong” is part of everybody’s learning experience- nobody’s right all the time.
But, there’s a way to point out mistakes our children make and re-direct them toward the correct answers without taking away their motivation. It’s a simple three-step process. I recommend using this process when reviewing the items missed on the PER report with your student. Actually, it can be used whenever you’re home schooling and you’re needing to point out errors and correct misunderstandings.
Let’s say your student missed an item related to identifying and using verbs. The first step is to “dignify” your student’s incorrect response. The following exchange shows what this might look like:
Parent: “Name a part of speech that shows action.”
Child: “Noun.”
Parent: “That would be the correct answer if I asked you to name a part of speech that names a person, place, thing, or idea.”
What you’ve done is affirmed the value of their answer while at the same identified that it’s not correct. Your child provided the correct answer to a different question. So what’s next?
I’ll cover step two later this week. For now, distinguish between identifying and judging when your student answers a question incorrectly.
Thanks for reading!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE
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