"X continues to do well academically in all subjects. Please continue to encourage him to go beyond the minimal expectations and to expand on the curriculum by further researching related topics, coming up with projects, etc. X also needs to stay focused on the tasks at hand and stay engaged with peers during group work."
What if he isn't interested in in researching related topics in greater depth? In which case why would he be interested in going beyond minimal expectations. Does this then lead him to stretching the time out to complete tasks in class to finish in the required but no earlier as it would appear he either do this or do more work he is not interested in. I guess he sounds a lot like my son and it always grated on my nerves that the assumption was made that because he "did well" academically he would want to examine everything in depth! I personally don't see the big deal in allowing him to continue with his homework or whatever if he has completed his assigned work and isn't bothering anyone else. What is the teachers problem with this?
When they say group work do they mean working in smaller groups particularly for projects? In our experience my son hated this type of work because the expectation (from the group) was that he would do all the work. He eventually refused to participate and I had to go to the school and state his case so he wasn't penalised and was actually allowed to work on his own.
