Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments When to push for differentiation?

Recently, I have been told by teachers that they do not push my child to do any of the challenge work (more than one subject area) because DC is already working ahead a couple years, and DC would prefer not to do it.

I am conflicted.

The regular class work is not challenging, but I also do not want to deny DC the benefit of socializing after the regular work is done. However, I am concerned that DC is less and less willing to take risks and make mistakes.

Would you ask the teachers to push a little more or leave it alone? Why or why not?

Is the challenge work offered instead of the regular work or as well as. I was told my child didn't need extra because as a just turned six year old he preferred to play with the other kids after finishing the too easy worksheets rather than do more, slightly harder worksheets - they seemed surprised by this.

I think it is probably in addition to. Sometimes I think there are pre-tests and then if child passes that, they are to do the other work instead of class work. But it is always so hard to figure out how often those pre-tests happen.

You bring up a good point that could be addressed with homework though. Maybe a kid could do half of the regular homework and then some number of the challenge questions instead.

My child also prefers to play (he's 5.5). If any teacher offers something to the effect of "should I give him more work or another worksheet?" I say no.

At the ages I have (so the advice may not be relevant to you), as long as they are happy in school and participating, along with making progressions in learning, I don't worry about the general "challenge" level of school. DS5 is working several years ahead in all areas, so a harder worksheet wouldn't fix the problem anyways.

Can you introduce challenge outside school? My son does piano as an example in private lessons that move at his pace.

Your DC is working >2 years ahead and I would push for differentiation. Also check with Iowa Acceleration Scale.

But implementing the real differentiation is hard in a classroom. The teacher will give only 1 instruction of all the kids and your DC will get an advance level handout/ worksheet to do it on his/her own. There usually are no instruction for the worksheet. (although those are usually not hard up to 5th grade level).

It didn't work for my DDs. They were asked to do Khan's Academy Math in the library during Math class and we changed school after that school year.

But you should ask them and see what kind of accomodation they are willing to provide.

Great advice, to ask and see what the school would provide.

You may wish to beware of differentiated task demands as opposed to differentiated instruction.

This old post may also be helpful for evaluating what the school is offering your gifted child.

Because the OP mentions pre-tests, here is an old post which mentions several strategies for determining placement in a child's zone of proximal development (ZPD).

Because the OP mentions his/her child is less and less willing to take risks and make mistakes, this old post mentions a possible relationship between perfectionism and fear of making mistakes... and includes a link to a thread containing a crowd-sourced list of books on developing resilience and overcoming perfectionism.

I feel like all differentiation is task differentiation. The elementary school teachers are pretty good with reading groups. That is to the extent I see in terms of differentiation. I tried to push for better math differentiation, and got an extra worksheet for my DS everyday instead. Luckily he finishes them super fast, so he is not complaining.

I am just not convinced differentiation works.

Agreed. Differentiation is a buzzword and non-specific term which only means that something is different, it does not mean that the education is better suited for the student nor that the student's curriculum, placement, and pacing are in the student's zone of proximal development (ZPD), which some people refer to as providing a "challenge". The word challenge is also sufficiently nebulous as to obfuscate what the school is providing. For example, an overabundance of busywork homework can provide one form of challenge, but it is not a challenge worthy of the child's academic/intellectual potential nor is it beneficial to growing the child's intellectual curiosity.

This may emphasize the importance of knowing what type of "fit" in curriculum, placement, and pacing the school would provide for the gifted child.

To help get beyond buzzwords, this post suggests learning the 5Ws of a gifted program: Who, What Where, When, Why, and How.

I would teach him stuff at home, and ask the teachers to challenge him. if he starts to seem anxious, re-evaluate.