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Okay, I'll confess that I don't have a child in 7th grade now nor did I teach 7th grade...but I DID teach college-level freshman English (among other courses) at a Big-10 university.

The VAST majority of these students--a shocking number, actually!--did no writing whatsoever during their senior year of high school, except for a giganormous term paper that they got back with no comments, just a letter grade. And just what are they supposed to learn from that? No clue.

Granted, you're talking about 7th graders and not 12th/13th graders, but I've got to tell you that I'm really glad she's got them writing on a regular basis.

Is it busy work? Maybe. It sort of depends on her approach to it. But the other point I want to make in her defense stems from my efforts as a (budding) novelist. One of the best bits of advice I got as I was trying to figure out how to actually create a book was this: WRITERS WRITE. Every day. Even if what they write is lousy.

Even if Ghost treats the work as busy work and writes slapdash, late-night crud, he's writing. What's more, he's doing it more or less every day. That's how writers improve. I know from personal experience.

Actually, my criticism would be on the reading side: she's not giving them reading they can sink their teeth into. It sounds like she's assuming that the majority don't like to read, and that those who do will find their own way to good literature. In a 7th grade class, these are not great assumptions...

Yes they have vocabulary, linked to the reading material and grammar. I'm not sure if there is spelling. I haven't seen him study spelling individually, but I wouldn't be suprised if the spelling is built into the vocabulary test.
Trin

I liked the Giver, and I bet it did go right over the heads of many 8th graders. I kind of reminds me of what growing up Gifted seemed like to me - I'm experiencing all these thoughts and feelings that the people around me are missing. I hope DD1 liked it Dottie.
Trin

Well Guys, I really think we do have a problem. Please read carefully :-)
P/T conferences were early this year. Less than a month into the school year. I went and spoke with LA teacher. I presented Ghost's situation, opened her eyes into his test scores and asked very politely if she could supplement with something more challenging. So far her lessons look like this (according to my DS):
45 minutes of her reading aloud to the class, 5 minutes of discussion.
Few weeks ago it was listening to the book on tape instead of listening to her reading it.
She tells me that she can see Ghosts's intelligence as he is the one always leading the discussion and pushing other kids to higher limits (her own words). Then she showed me Ghost's work: four or five papers with elaborate airplane drawings accompanied by four or five writing prompts each. The airplanes are really detailed, must have taken him quite some time to draw them, there is no way he could have produced them in five minutes. The writing prompts I have to explain. In her classroom there are a few nice reproductions with one writing prompt each. She told the kids that they can take from those prompts and start writing something at their leisure. Great idea ! Ghost however has asked her if instead of starting with the given prompt he can write his own. She said yes. So underneath those airplanes you will find several different prompts invented by my son. And there it all ends. Her expectation ends at wherever the kid feels like ending.
During P/T conference she promised me that she will try to give Ghost more challenging work when appropriate. However, when he approached her about that (on his own, without any nagging from me)she told him that she believed that he is right where he should be in this class and there is no need for any additional work at his point.
I checked Utah curriculum for LA, but it is a big mumbo-jumbo, leaving lots to interpretation. I spoke with 5/6 grade LA teacher at the same school whom I know very well, asking her if this is really it. If all that is required from 7th graders is reading? She spoke to Ghost's LA teacher and the next day during LA the teacher made a comment that "some parents think that I read to much to you, but this is how you develop understanding of a written word". She read less that day however, and more time was spent discussing the text.
So far this year there was no vocabulary work whatsoever and only now are they working on their first written assignment.
And Kristen, that daily writing assignment that I called busy work is gone, they do not have to do it anymore.
I never taught English , or any other language for that matter, but I used to freelance for quite a few years and I do know how important it is to be able to write about anything and how important practice is to freeing your mind and producing something interesting. I strongly believe that in sevent grade the kids should be read to only occasionally, they should do the reading at home and precious classroom time should be devoted to discussion and grammar/writing/vocabulary development.
This am I casually approached th Principal about the mattter. If you remember I already told the P at the beginning of the school year that I am seeing some red flags there. The P has asked me if I spoke with the teacher. I said yes. then she proceeded to explain to me that in sevent grade spelling is totally gone and whatever vocabulary they will be tested on is linked to their science and social studies/history classes. She promised to look into the lesson plans, prompted by the story about Ghost drawing airplanes.
I also met the teacher briefly this am ( I teach math club in am in her classroom ) and she was visibly not very found of me. She did not say anything but was much nicer to my friend and hardly even looked at me. I do not blame her. I do think however that I am not doing any injustice to her as I started my crusade by talking to her.

At this point in the game I am very ambivalent about pursuing it further. I do not want the school to view me as a huge complainer and a mom not satisfied with anything. My daughter is accomodated to the best of her needs. I was able to work out a good plan for Ghost for his science class (he is doing combined work of 7 and 8 grade under the guidance of a regular science teacher). Next year he is going to have a separate subject called Writing, so I could not care less if all he is doing in LA will be listening to a teacher read a book. But I have a very negative feeling about this year and I just can't help it.
I am also afraid that all of this is going to have a negative effect on her treatment of my son - I do have a very bad experience in that matter from the previous school.
I would give Ghost some vocab workbooks to do at school but how can he concentrate on it when he has to concentrate on listening to what is being read in the classroom.
Please share your thoughts.
Ania

I think your concerns are merited. I'm 100% with you--this is not a good situation for Ghost.

I was worried about the reading level in the class from the start of your thread. It seems like it's even worse than it appeared. Reading TO pre-teens? Every day? Why? Contrary to what she's claiming, that is NOT how you help literate 13-year-olds to gain an understanding of the written word! Kids who can't read, sure. But not literate pre-teens! They need to wrestle with shades of meaning and begin to state their positions and construct arguments. They need to think about what makes prose/poetry beautiful, meaningful, and/or important. That means they need to TALK! WRITE! THINK!

Aargh!

(Sorry about the preaching to the choir there! It got away from me!)

In short, pretty much everything she's doing seems utterly inappropriate for a 7th grade class, let alone for a gifted 7th grader!

You are in a tough spot, made even tougher since she's already appearing to have an ax to grind with you. I'm sorry. That's just no fun, and it makes it very hard to know how to proceed.

You say you're not necessarily inclined to make further waves, but it sounds like you don't want to let it drop either. (Please correct me if I'm reading you wrong.) I guess I'd ask what your gut feeling is here. What do you *want* to do right now?

If it helps, I always remind myself in situations like this one--when I'm feeling more helpless than I would like and I just wish the other person would straighten up!--that we can't change the behavior of others, only our own actions and how we respond to the other person. Sometimes that reminder helps me to stop focusing on what isn't happening and see a possibility stemming from my changing something about me.

Unfortunately, I'm not seeing any easy solution.

One question: are there other parents annoyed, too? Even asking around is risky, since it's sure to mean that you're talking behind the teacher's back or some such silly thing. But it might be worth asking about. I think of the "one is a nut, two are a nut and her friend,...and more are a force to be reckoned with" that someone kindly posted here. (To paraphrase...) I find it hard to believe that ANY parents are happy that the English teacher is merely reading aloud to their kids. You may be the first, but I sincerely doubt you're the only!

I wish I were more help. I hope the situation improves soon!

Hi Ania,
I'm recycling my advice from your first post on this topic. ((silly me))
I'm trying to encourage you to look at the big picture. If the science is a good fit, and the Math is good, and he is getting somewhat of a challenge in History, or perhaps a 2nd language, if he is reasonably happy over-all, then it is ok to have "an extra study hall" during the day. You can also try for a subject acceleration - perhaps language arts at the high school before or after his math?

I have heard of a situation where a elementary aged kid was place in the honors English Class where it was clear that he couldn't write up to the level of the High School kids. When the Mom asked the Teacher, is it ok? The Teacher said: "Based on the reasoning he shows in class discussion, it is clear that he needs to be here. His writing will catch up, and he can do this class again next year until he is ready to move on."

If the overall fit isn't right, then it's time to take action. I understand that you have a good program to look forward to next year. Perhaps a year of homeschooling or an eary jump is worth it. Don't get overfocused on the new teacher - it's appealing to find a target for all the unfair things that have ever happened to our child and make them a kind of Voodoo Doll for the whole system. ((I'm actually doing that right now with a religious school principle, note to self - cut it out!)) But obviously this in not reccomended.

Will the teacher take it out on your son? She may, but she may not. Can he do other things while she reads? I'm sure that he can, if he learns to be somewhat subtle about it. I wouldn't encourage him to do extra work in there - because that might be seen as a slap in the face. I would encourage homework, because that is considered a 'normal and forgivable' misbehavior. That way if his homework is done he can have more flexibility at home. Also, if he gets caught, he can make the "pity me face" and say that he really likes to do homework while she reads because he has so much of it.

I'm sure that not everyone will agree, but I think that teaching kids how to BS, when to BS, and why to BS is an important social skill.

Or is he already doing all his homework during class?
((smile))
Trinity

Hi Ania,

I believe that reading to pre-teens can be valuable. I believe it is typical in high school settings and even in college classes. I remember alternating reading in my AP English class in HS. There was still plenty read at home, but it helped having it fresh in everyone's minds to then discuss and the teacher would introduce complexities, symbolism, etc. This can be very well-done and sophisticated, particularly if there are a couple other kids in the class who can really discuss things at the same level as Ghost. Oftentimes I've seen that as the problem because the level of the discussion is low caliber and my son is the one outlier.

I expect and want that reading and discussion be part of their Language Arts class at all levels (my 2nd and 5th graders' classes do this as well as my 9th graders'). Most of these classes have questions that the kids have to answer after each chapter or every few chapters. Hopefully these exercises help them think about the book more in depth.

I think spelling should no longer be part of middle school curriculum past about 6th grade (other than correcting it in papers and assignments and deducting points). I do think some vocabulary building is important, and if you do it independently, that will be good. I worked from several books with my oldest. My 7th grader just gets a handful of words or roots each week, like "omni or para or audio" and then several words from each root.

I would like to see more structured writing, essays, and even more grammar. My 7th graders has always loved to write, but has horrible run-on sentences, spelling errors, mismatched verbs, etc. I never have had any of his teachers correct any of this. It makes me so angry that he is not taught how to improve. So I painstakingly correct all his work (which he kind of ignores, because I don't give him grades). Now we're doing a little SAT prep and he's beginning to realize he needs some work. It's been valuable both in some vocabulary and sentence structure.
Even the online writing classes seem to want 8th grade and above unless it's fiction/creative writing.

Thanx Trinity and Cym:
I guess I am already a little relaxed about it since I have spoken to other people and they also tell me that starting in 7th grade LA is way less structered than before. Several people have also told me to forget about spelling at this point.

Things in the classrom have also changed over the last week, I am quessing because of my talk with the P and the other LA teacher. She is still reading to them, but closer to 15-20 minutes a day. See, this I can agree with. But the first month it was reading for 45 minutes accompanied by a 5 minute discussion while the kids were getting ready to leave.I stand firmly with my belief, that reading to middle schoolers for 90% of the lesson is way, way too much.
As you all know, we do not use English in our house, so my kid's vocabulary has to be built outside. That is mostly why I wanted her to do more vocabulary work with those kids. I know that you built your vocabulary by reading, but it is during discussion that you learn how to use those words .
Writing is pathetic, as I have said before they are only now working on the first writing assignment of the year. But I can llve with that since next year he will be writing tons.
I guess I have to look at it, like Trinity said, as yet another study hall during the day. At least Ghost does not have to stress about this class at all.

Looking back, I think that the biggest motivator behind my actions is the fact that I want Ghost to be on par with the kids that are doing Extended Learning Program (the one I could not get him into, even though his test scores are the highest in the state!!!) when he joins them, hopefully, in a couple of years.
Thankfully, Ghost is really beginning to advocate for himself.

Ania

Ania,
Another thing you might find helpful is writing contests. I tried and failed a few years ago. My DS was a bit interested in with 'winning money' angle, but I couldn't quite pull it off. I'm thinking that since your son already has experience with winning contests, he might be an easier sell. There are books full of listing of writing contests, or try Hoagie's Link http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/contests.htm

Smiles,
Trinity

I agree, Ania! There's a difference between reading a short passage so that the class can discuss it in depth and just reading the whole darn book aloud. One is a valid teaching technique to focus the attention of the class; the other is a lazy way to avoid teaching.

At least Ghost is getting free advocacy lessons. Lemons to lemonade, eh?