Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Should I be concerned?

I read it as she was trying to provide you a "balance" and safe view on your ds's development. Almost in line with what the others have said above... these are the negatives....so now we move on to the positive. I won't be too worried since he has S and S+.I don't think she wants you to do anything more at home re. academics with this statement
"She warned me not to push him ahead beyond his ability to function"
Although I will take it as a pinch of salt since there will also always be others who think that we are "pushing" our kids.

DD7's teacher told us when we went over her report card that she has to mark things in a way that allows room to show future progress.

She also said that when they do science projects, that the kids never get a 4 (independent work) because they always have to help the kids so that supplies don't get broken. So the best they can do is get a 3, (at grade level).

I think you are right when you say that the teacher has to "ding your ds" for something!

I have done that with dd9. My response is usually, if she is doing so wonderfully, then why are you not pushing her a little more!

Oh, of course they did!! Every time!! First we changed schools (that was last Oct.), then we met with the principal at the new school, she suggested a teacher change and then she (the principal) took time to work with DD 2x a week on language arts and math!!

This year, her teacher is so creative that even in the midst of emotional upheavals, she seems to "get my dd" and pushes her and yet only grades her on typical 3rd grade work. So, her report card reflects all "A" but the "above and beyond" is not included in those scores. DD is a perfectionist and getting a "C" because she was exploring something new and not being great is hard for her. The teacher so "gets dd", we are having a great year. When ever we have an issue or a question, the response is within 24 hours and there seems to be a great solution!

I like that the teacher will approach DD when I e-mail an issue. She is encouraging in a manner that allows dd to be part of the solution and take me out of the middle. I've seem some positive changes in dds ability to self advocate!

[quote=Cathy A]I had a conference with DS' teacher today. I'm a little confused since she never reported any difficulties to me.

I would view her comments as "constructive criticism," not necessarily problems but areas to improve. It sounds like she really knows your DS well. Some of his inattentiveness/rushing is likely age-appropriate, and she's simply pointing out that he could do better in that area.

I appreciate these kinds of teacher conferences. My DS' conference was very similar, with great observations about his incredible fund of knowledge and verbal skills, and equally useful observations about his need to spend more time to check his work, etc. Several of DD's conferences have been fairly generic to the point that I think, "Does the teacher really know my child?"

Thanks, everybody. I guess I'm just so desperate for the skip to work this time that I'm a little paranoid.

She is doing a lot of things right, like letting him do 3rd grade AR and 3rd grade math. It just seems to take so long to get there, because she wants to verify that he knows everything along the way.

I think that maybe she sees that he is capable of 3rd grade academics but is warning me off of trying to skip him again. I would agree with that, I don't think this would be a good time to skip again.

I totally agree with Dottie. I think she hit it on the nose. The teacher probably has a routine that she follows. It sounds like your child is doing fine.

I forgot to comment on this part yesterday. I am filling out holes in DS6 math knowledge and his reaction is pretty much the same like your son's He usually only needs a hint and then he doesn't need more and very often doesn't even want to hear more. For example yesterday we came across improper fractions. He didn't know the term but he knew exactly what such fractions meant, how to simplify them and change them to mixed numbers. "Hole" filled. As long as the teacher can keep the sessions under 1 minute he will be fine anything beyond 3 minutes is annoying

It doesn't sound like 1 minute sessions. She said that DS says, "I know how to do this! I want to do it myself." And she tells him, "Ok, but if you miss the whole page, don't blame me."

It sounds to me like she just wants to satisfy herself that there aren't "holes".

I would ask the teacher to clarify what she means by "disorganization". From your description the most likely explanation is that he's not engaged in learning so he spaces out (perhaps due to too much repetition or already knowing the material). To me, examples of disorganization would be misplacing things, not remembering to bring assignments back to school because they weren't put in his folder, poor time management, etc.