Meeting individual needs is what Montessori is about. Right? Can we just adopt this system? or something similiar? Is not the wheel already invented here to a degree?
My son went to a Montessori like preschool thru 1st. There he was taught to do work that was right for him. If it was to easy or too hard he could get different work. This was 8 kids to 1 teacher. At our current school, (that we are leaving) they give CANDY rewards for school work/behavior while the prior school taught the kids to be proud of themselves and enjoy challenges. Quick fixes rather than developing the desire to do the right thing is not as long lasting. It's seems counter productive to give a child a prize for reading 20 books which detracts from the real internal prize.
Why are they giving kids candy on a weekly basics at school? Has anyone heard about childhood obesity on the rise? Ok, I know I'm going off subject, but I just had to say this.
I think it would be wonderful if it was required to know students ability which means above level testing. Could grades be based on progress and effort? Pretesting needs to be part of the solution.
Teacher need to be educated on how to teach our diverse ability population and assign kids to their level not their age/grade. More teachers/parents need to know how we compare to other countries. Parents need to tell schools what they want.
This gifted issue needs to be in the media more. How about the nightly news have regular spots on improving education. How about offering lectures to parents at schools and libraries. Is there a way to promote local gifted support groups? When I started to figure this out I did not have anyone to turn to guide me through this. School Psychologist need training on gifted kids needs.
Last edited by onthegomom; 06/10/10 01:26 PM.
