Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy placement with an elementary school teacher

Public elementary schools in my town send a yearly email asking parents to describe the "learning style" and other qualities of their child, to help them decide which teacher the child will be placed with. Things that I do care about, such as subject acceleration or ability grouping, are not asked about. One is not supposed to request a specific teacher, either. I am tempted to reply in a perfunctory manner, because I don't think what I write will make much difference. I wonder what other parents do.

We were able to write letters requesting specific teacher at our children's elementary school. I can't remember what the directions that were stated were, but I think you can address the issues you are concerned about even though it wasn't specifically included in what the school asked about. I would include something about your child's abilities (above grade level across the board or in specific subjects) and say that he/she performs better when challenged with differentiated curriculum and when able to work in groups with intellectual peers etc. Be specific.

I wouldn't assume that your request won't make a difference or that it doesn't matter what you write. Maybe it won't make a difference, but maybe it will. I'd take it as a chance to perhaps get something you'd like for your child.

polarbear

I have had a lot of luck in the past by observing the teachers of the next grade in the spring to figure out who would be the best fit. I then write the letter to describe what my child needs tailored to that person within the confines of the rules.

Flexibility is a good substitute for term differentiation
Compassionate is a good substitute word for "nice"
Classroom management is a good substitute for discipline

It also works well to have a verbal conversation with the present teacher about your child's needs. That person will have seen it first hand, even if it's not interpreted in the way the parent sees it. In our schools at least, they are key participants in the placement decisions.

One thing we did was to ask the Principal what our current teacher had that worked so well with our DS in 3rd grade, so that we could ask for it again in 4th grade.

She described that quality as 'Extensive Fund of knowledge' - I guess that is more socially acceptable than 'has a brain in her head' or 'has a high IQ.' So that's what we wrote down.

Other qualities that seem to be polite ways of asking for 'high IQ' teachers are 'great sense of humor' and 'able to appreciate my child's offbeat sense of humor'

'Allows a lot of assignment choice' has been useful. 'Able to tolerate persisitient questioning' has come to mind at times. 'Highly energetic' might be a good quality for a teacher to have. How about 'sure enough of his own worth so that being corrected by a student is celebrated.'

Another approach is to talk to local parents, figure out which teacher would be best, find out their teaching style, and then request that. If the best teacher does a lot of seed planting and modeling clay, then ask for the teacher with the 'hands on learning style.' If the best teacher maintains strict classroom dicipline, then your child needed 'a teacher who keeps the classroom quite.'

Good luck! A great teacher can make a great year.
Grinity

If you have a good relationship with the current teacher, and you have an idea of the teacher(s)/classroom(s) you would like for next year, you can ask your current teacher for some "buzz words" that fit the classroom you desire. If you aren't comfortable doing that, you can simply ask for input on your child's learning style (just to see which way that teacher might be leaning if it's a committee decision, which it often is).

For example, some classrooms might be more project-based than others, and if that's what you want then you could write something about how your child learns best in a project-based environment. Of course you'd want it to be truthful / actually fit your child's needs, but it sure doesn't hurt to get some of the school lingo in there.

Yes, but ground truth it. What's best for other kids, and indeed the "best" teachers in each grade have often not been great fits for my kids. We have one teacher with a reputation for being really strict, and so everyone avoids her. Strict means that the classroom is quiet, kids are on task, and everyone is respectful of each other, which is just the environment my kids need.

Thanks, Grinity. My eyeballs just rolled so hard they hit the top of my skull and now I have a concussion.

Bostonian,
I think your first instinct to have a perfunctory manner is a pretty good one, but use it to communicate what you feel is important just in case they might take it into consideration.

I actually used a bulleted list last year, like an executive summary. I figured at least there wouldn't be the risk of them drowning in paragraphs or something.

We are not allowed to request a teacher either.

Last year I did a bulleted list emphasizing things that I believed were very important regarding the teacher’s classroom management style and their individual communication style (school-to-home communication). Qualities that I though would match my child’s learning style and also our communication style so there wouldn’t be such a huge mismatch like the previous teacher. This seemed to result in a somewhat better fit that the previous year anyway.

I don’t care if a teacher is “nice” or “nurturing” (haven’t had luck with those types), I really do care that they are fair, consistent, and manage the classroom in some sort of style that might be motivating for my child (not overly competitive, rewarding effort). The robust academics still seems to be a pipe dream, though this teacher does try harder at some tweaks than we’ve seen teachers do previously.

It wouldn’t hurt to throw in there some mention of preferring that the teacher work with individual learning styles or that she/he would be willing to subject accelerate or whatever the case for your child. I assume the school knows this about you already if you’ve tried advocating for your child, but I wouldn’t think it would hurt to mention it (if anything, just so they don’t think that you’ve given up!)

That's essentially what I did when dd13 was going into 2nd and we were told the same thing: no specific teacher requests, but we could describe the learning environment our child would do best in.

Dd's 1st grade experience was so bad that I homeschooled her for the end of the year in 1st. I didn't want a repeat of that so I probably carried it a bit further than geofizz. I went in and spoke with all of the 2nd grade teachers and essentially interviewed them. I knew which one we wanted so I described her down to stating that dd felt more comfortable with blonds b/c they reminded her of mom -- lol! I had been such a pain in their rear the year prior that they gave me what I wanted although I know that it was highly transparent.

Before my third graders began kindergarten, I spoke to the Principal to ask that she assign the teacher to my twins to match the more difficult twin's issues as the other twin would be fine anywhere. The principal did pick the best match. Subsequent to Kindergarten, we did not have any choice unless I formally requested removal from the pre-grifted/gifted class. However, we were given a survey of the sort that you mentioned every year during the first week of school. I generally asnwer as succinctly as possible but do include information that may be relevant for that child.