The Importance of Student to Teacher Conversations

Recently I had a student who unfortunately failed a project. This student is incredibly sensitive and utilizes a lot of support from the admin and counseling teams. This student is so in his own head that he could not understand why he could have failed this assignment. While I could do the best I could to explain where he veered from the course, it was tough to get through to him that it wasn't personal and I was being objective. Over two weeks, meetings with admin, emails with mom and dad, and many one on one conversations, we came to the conclusion that he would redo this assignment and and I would average his grades together. We both came to the conclusion that he needs step by step instructions to figure out how much time and effort to spend on larger projects like this while still striving for higher marks. Getting to know this student and his needs is and will continue to be imperative, and one way we do this is through student-teacher conversations.