Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Any comments? Montessori for HG+

Hi,

I had a talk with DD's teacher and she is now much more open to suggestions about how to deal with DD. And she is convinced that DD IS bright because they did some kind of IQ test at the school and DD apparently did very well.

So, now I have compiled some 'guidelines' for the teacher and I would like to hear your opinions/suggestions/critics, etc.


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Recomended modifications of the Montessori Activities for M---

All the Montessori Activities are thought to present a very simple concept at a time. The child learns this simple concept by repeating the presentation by him/herself until mastery is attained and then /she moves to the next level.
While this approach works wonderfully with most kids it may not work at all with HG+ (Highly Gifted) children because they can process much more complex concepts and do not learn by repetition.
Based on what I have read about Montessori presentations plus what I know about M---. I think that the following modifications may work:

1. Group systematically several related presentations in one more complex one. For example, counting until 100 (with numbers), Seguin Boards and beads, or earth 'globes', maps/puzzels and names of continents, etc.

2. Use the Montessori material to illustrate a new idea or concept. Repeat the presentation two/three times and once M--- has 'got it' ask her to solve some problems where she has to use her new knowledge - but do not insist that she repeats the presentation over and over. If she does not understand it, she need one more explanation by the teacher. And if she does understand it, then she does not need the 'drilling'. Aplying the knowledge to new situations is not drilling of course.

3. Once she has understood some concept, for example, decimal system and to count to 1000+ go quickly to the next challenge, for example adding and substracting. In other words, increase the pace of learning new material.

4. About reading: what is working at home is to teach at the same time, names and sound of all letters capital and minuscules through reading stories or whole words.

5. I think this is rather time consuming and that it woud be advisable to ask for extra help to the Principal.

The big one I would suggest is some sort of pretest to start he in the curriculum with where she is, so she can skip the "easy" stuff she already knows.

That was our big problem with the Montessori school we had DS6 at. It was just too lockstep, and they required proof that he could complete step A, B and C, even though he was already at step Q! He did nothing in the language arts area for half the year because he was reading books and they were requiring that he learn letters, something he'd mastered literally half his life ago!

So pretesting to skip easy stuff would be my suggestion.

Yes, you are right Kriston. Even though she is not that advanced academically (due to multilingualism, vision problems and lots of underachievement( there are definitively few things she does not need to learn 'again' like colors or shapes.

To complicate things, she goes to a school in Dutch which kind of 'hides' her GTness because she lacks vocabulary! We are working on that with a private teacher though.

I would make sure that the teacher is on board with getting materials from the next level if that should become necessary (though it may well not be necessary - it depends on what's already there). Our montessori school goes all the way to 6th grade - the classroom grade groupings are pre-3 to K, 1 to 3, and 4-6. There are definite differences between the different groups in terms of what materials are available in the classroom, and corresponding presentations on the material by the teacher. It is my belief that it might be possible, in certain montessori schools, to even need a grade skip, if that would make more sense from the perspective of getting access to the materials and presentations. In our montessori school, it seems to be the case that even the regular students in K are reading at a higher level than their counterparts at the public school down the road (at least that was our experience when we switched DD7 from the other school to the montessori), so our K classrooms have a lot of stuff that the first graders would use, for example, but I know there are things in my dd's classroom that she uses that are not in my DS5s' classrooms. One of my DS5s has already managed to get at least a grade and a half ahead in math with what's in his classroom (he just turned 5, he's in the pre-K class, in the pre-3-to-K classroom), and there seems to be plenty more room for him to grow in that regard, but we'll see next year. We're fortunate that his teacher is very flexible and isn't afraid to offer presentations on more complex works even when he struggles with (or is bored by) simpler ones.

Your list looks good to me; I'm not sure how well they'll be able to group works into more complex ones - that may depend on the specific works in question. I might ask for a more complex single work at a higher "grade" level that incorporates the same information, if one exists.

What is the highest grade level in this school? That might ultimately affect the complexity of the works available. Let us know what the teacher says - I'm very interested. I'm still feeling my way around all these issues, trying to make sure our montessori school is going to continue to meet our kids' needs (it seems to be, at the moment - my biggest fear is lack of challenge via a step by step approach to getting presentations on works, and that seems to depend a lot on how flexible the individual teacher is).

(I'm still having computer troubles so I'm not quite sure what I wrote - it's hard to read over for editing!)

Yippee! I'm glad that the teacher is taking a new perspective - what a relief!

The list looks good, but I would cut the 'into' and go straight to the list part.

I would perhaps ask the teacher to show you what dd is doing and then make suggestions based on what you see. Can you offer to come into the classroom and help with the extra work?

This is wonderful news!
Grinity

I really like your suggestions for making Montessori work for HG+ kids. My son is also not a big fan of the repetition. Luckily his teachers have allowed him to skip a little of the intro work that he already knew when he started at the school in October.

I might actually steal some of your points above for my own list for my DS5's teachers if we decide to keep him where he is for the extended day (K) program at his Montessori school next year.

I'm glad the school seems willing to work with you. That is a definate step in the right direction.

Hi,

thanks a lot for your comments

About the pre-testing, I was thinking of asking the teacher the detailed curriculum goals and see how much DD knows already in Spanish. I have a good idea of the general goal and I think DD could be done by the end of this academic year. If that is the case I will start to push for acceleration. Maybe she could start with one or two days in the next group (ages 6 to 9). The school goes up to 11 years old but I do not think they will take material from another classroom. The would 'upset the system'. Dutch people, as nice as they are, are a little bit fanatic with 'order' and 'regularity' and 'fiting in'...

But something (gut feeling?) tells me that despite the good intentions of the teacher, DD is going to learn more at home with me than at the school.

About helping in the classroom... alas is not possible since I speak very little Dutch... Actually, I never thought that the language would be a barrier for me!
This is one of the reasons why I start to think that maybe an English school would be better.... ok, back to present, she has to finish this year and then we will see.

Next month we are going to see an orthopedadogue and she will test DD again. Hopefully this time the test will reflect better the intellectual capacity of DD...
(her 'official' IQ is somewhere btw 120 and 137 but she had a mental age of at least 6.5 yr old at 3.75 yr old - something does not compute here to me)

And, of course, please 'steal' as many points as you need

Learning more at home than at school isn't nescessarily a bad thing. Not learning much at school is the bad thing, yes?


Too bad about not being able to speak enough Dutch to help in the classroom, although I do reccomend that you try it before you reject the idea - your eyes and mind know the langugage of childhood, and that will be enough. Can you imagine saying, "I'm deaf, so I can't help out in my child's classroom." No, of course not. You would just try and see what you can accomplish, yes?

It might be very useful for the other kids and teachers to see that you 'really don't' speak Dutch. They may judge your daughter less harshly when they see that she exceeds your abilities in Dutch, yes? I remember sitting with some of DS11's classmates on a class trip and doing a bit of silliness. The children looked at me with awe. "you are just like Him!" they said. I felt it might help them keep his weirdness in perspective to know that at home, he's quite ordinary.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

OK, I think I will ask the teacher about the next 'open dag' ....
(thanks for 'pushing me' )

About being weird... well DD is a really good actress... I think she really blends with the group - more or less - enough to fool the teacher for 6 months.

DD's Dutch is now better than mine anyway

Hi Isa,
I agree with Grinity. I think it would be great to help in the classroom. I volunteer in my dd's classroom on occassion and I don't speak the language of instruction (Spanish). My daughter's Spanish far exteeded mine after her first semester in kindergarten. Now in 3rd grade she is fluent and I am still just picking out words. As long as you can communicate with the teacher and she does not object, it can be quite an educational experience. You can get a real idea of what is happening in the classroom and benefit from exposure to the language.

Summer