学期将近尾声，每位指导老师要针对自己的每位指导学生各写一篇总结，邮寄给家长。这两天刚刚完成自己的。由于上一次已经分享过一篇给中国家长的信，今天就分享一篇针对自己指导的美国学生。对美国老师工作和高中生活，学习有兴趣的读者，从这样的总结性的信件中应该可以看到多方面的信息。

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Cv：

Time certainly does fly. It has been a great pleasure to serve Cra as his advisor for eight months. Boarding school life is certainly a busy and demanding one. A student’s daily schedule is filled with activities, attending five classes the first half of the day and participating in an afternoon sport or club in the second half. In Cra’s case, he plays varsity tennis and is occupied almost every hour until after dinner. As we are approaching the end of the year, both students and teachers will have to work even longer hours and budget their time more meticulously. I hope this letter can give you a timely update of Cra’s well-being at the Academy as well as serve as a window through which you can understand the plan for his senior year. 

Even though it was Cra’s first year here as a transfer student, he seems to have bonded very well with other students. I observed that he has at least two or three very close friends on campus and have heard that he is doing very well in the dorm. Not only do they support each other in class, they also spend quality time outside the class. Last weekend, Cra was playing Ping Pong  with one of the close friends at the student center and I joined their game. He played so well that I am motivated to play another game with him this weekend. In addition to being skilled in Ping Pong, he’s also a strong tennis player.  I watched him play a couple of times with his team and my observations echo his coach’s complimentary remarks about him.

As his advisor, we meet every morning.  On a regular basis, I reach out to Cra to offer help if needed and he politely thanks me for my offer and usually doesn’t need much assistance. In other words, he is quite self-sufficient. Meanwhile, I was delighted to offer advice to him when he sought me out for his difficulties in his Spanish class. He struggled in the class in early March due to miscommunication with the teacher about class assignments and expectations. To my surprise, he quickly corrected the situation within a few sessions of consultation with me. In the third quarter, his grade in English III Honors also took a dive due to underperformance in a few quizzes. In talking with Cra to identify the problems, I was impressed again what a self-sufficient person he is.  He had figured out the cause when I offered to study the decline.  

Between April 15^th and April 30^th, Cra along with everyone else studied the choices of course offers for next year and signed up for five courses, three of which are APs. As much as I have faith in his ability, I want to be sure to caution him in advance that it will not be as easy as his junior year given he will also be consumed by college applications next year.

Last but not least, the college application process has begun. Cheshire Academy had its Junior Class Night on April 17^th and its annual College Fair for juniors and sophomores on April 18^th. On both days, students met with a wide variety of alumni and college representatives to study college application process thoroughly. As a rising senior, Cra should invest himself heavily in the process and work closely with the college counseling office and myself. As his advisor, I will watch him closely and assist him in completing another and last successful year at Cheshire Academy.

Should you have questions or concerns, please feel free to call me at 203-332-2192.

Best Regards,

J.Lin