Note to Parents: How to read EDU-Lingo

I just pressed SEND on an email to my admin team, submitting the mark verifications signalling that my last set of mid-term report cards are complete, leaving me to contemplate if parents understand what those mini-paragraphs contained in the report cards really mean. Are they be able to see past the carefully worded passage and see the underlying message, and better yet, attempt to encourage their child to embrace the issue(s) identified?

Please understand that I'm not talking about "baffling someone with my BS". Teachers are given multiple sessions of PD about how to deliver a message in manner that is professional, empathetic, and informational while still conveying the necessary information of "strengths", "work-ons" and 'next steps". Are there times when a teacher yearns to include a comment that is both blunt and to the point? Sure there are, but it rarely happens. Teaching is the business of building up not tearing down so, despite primal instincts, teachers ponder long and hard about how to convey the message. Please understand that we come a LOOONG way from the bubbled comments of the past ...
#54: "A pleasure to teach" or #83: "Significant progress achieved".

The language used in comments these days is sometimes called EDU-lingo because it seems to be a unique set of buzzwords and catch phrases. Here are some examples:

Message: Johnny has not completed the work assigned.
EDU-lingo: Johnny has displayed a curious mind in class activities. Assignment completion has materialized as growth area that requires additional time and strategies to develop into a consistent skill that will manifest as long-term knowledge. He is encouraged to prioritize his focus on learning that will best represent the thoroughness of his understanding.

Message: Johnny's behaviours means the teacher doesn't get to teach.
EDU-lingo: Johnny is unafraid to voice his opinion on a wide variety of topics. His regular outbursts of impulsive language victimize Johnny's understanding of presented concepts, requiring consistent reminders about on-task behaviour and the learning needs of others. Greater awareness of appropriate inter-personal behaviour will result in a more complete understanding of presented concepts.

Message: Johnny has a potty mouth.
EDU-lingo: Johnny has demonstrated a wide vocabulary but, at times, Johnny demonstrates an internal struggle with personal challenges in expressive language, opting instead for inappropriate emotional triggers. He is encouraged to expand his verbal repertoire to include more expressive, colourful verbiage.

Message: Johnny skips class regularly and is failing because of it.
EDU-lingo: Johnny has demonstrated interests in a variety of extracurricular activities. Significant challenges with consistent attendance have created obstacles to learning that have resulted in slowed progress in a variety of areas. Increased attention to the routines and practices of an educational environment is encouraged.

Message: Johnny treats his teachers and classmates like human garbage.
EDU-lingo: Anecdotal observations of interpersonal relationships with peers and adults indicate underdeveloped senses of empathy, compassion and respect which result in terse, stress-filled interactions that carry charged emotional consequences. He is encouraged to alter his mindset to be inclusive of the needs of others in the learning environment.

Message: Johnny didn't learn what he was supposed to last year so he doesn't try.
EDU-lingo: Challenges in scaffolding of foundational concepts have left Johnny with significant gaps in his learning causing increased emotional stress that manifests in off-task behaviour counterproductive to his present educational goals. Remediation of challenging concepts is encouraged.

In the end, we are all here for little Johnny (or Susie, if that's the case) despite how many grey hairs we inherit from our interactions with him (or her) on a daily basis. I wouldn't be lying if I said that there are some kids that I just do not like but I genuinely like (almost) all of the students that I am charged with educating each semester. I find that time has permitted me a better understanding that not all who walk through my door are there for the same purpose. That difference in motivation will often lead to some clashes over behaviours that I feel are counterproductive to the task I've been charged with but that doesn't doom our potential relationship. Some of the most energy-taxing students end up being the ones that you develop clear understandings with and, as a result, develop stronger bonds with. That certainly doesn't change the fact that they have the potential to drive you crazy on a daily basis and you'd just like to "call a Spade a Spade". Alas, I must resign myself to the fact that I have one last set of reports to write - the final ones in January - and my intellect (head) wins out over my passion (heart) resulting in one last trip down the EDU-lingo highway.