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Joined: Sep 2009
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DD is in 7th grade taking algebra in a gt middle school program. DD took about a month to find her rhythm in middle school. She thought that the pace of Algebra was good but a little slow. I spoke with her teacher at parent/teacher conferences. The teacher said that she would lose too many students if she went any faster. She said that if DD came and told her when DD had already covered material or needed a challenge, she would try to find different material. Great, huh?
Fast forward a few weeks, DD is bringing home perfect scores on everything in Algebra. Quite frankly, perfect scores make me uncomfortable for several reasons -- lack of challenge, perfectionism, building resilience, etc. When I asked DD if she had spoken to the teacher about getting more challenging work, she replied that she had not. She said that the material that they are covering is new to her, so she doesn't feel like she can skip it. She just gets it on the first pass and doesn't need to spend as much time on it.
I asked DD if she wants to do math online instead of in class. She said "No, I like the lectures and the classroom interaction." She also enjoys the social aspect of working on/helping her friends with math homework. She said that there are things that challenge her in class, that she is learning stuff and that it is a lot better than elementary school. BTW, DD is not interested in working on her own on Aleks (or an equivalent) outside of class. She did this last year and found that it made class work redundant.
DD and her teacher seem ok with the status quo. Should I let this go until DD is discontent? My mom gut is telling me that this isn't healthy in the long run. Thoughts?
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I'd work with the teacher to see about giving her slightly harder problems when it comes time to hand out work. Maybe have it part of the same lesson, but more complicated, if that makes sense. I know math tends to focus on a single thing at a time, and the problems will be relatively simple, save for the one topic they are working on. I don't know how hard that would be for the teacher though.
Is math the only class that's like this? If so, I would stay in touch with the teacher, but I wouldn't worry too much about pushing her right at the moment. Things may change as the year goes on.
~amy
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I'd work with the teacher to see about giving her slightly harder problems when it comes time to hand out work. Maybe have it part of the same lesson, but more complicated, if that makes sense. I know math tends to focus on a single thing at a time, and the problems will be relatively simple, save for the one topic they are working on. I don't know how hard that would be for the teacher though. Maybe I'll send an email to the teacher and ask her if she has any further thoughts on this since we spoke at conferences. I got the impression that she would be willing to try to differentiate but that she wanted DD to advocate for it herself. Is math the only class that's like this? If so, I would stay in touch with the teacher, but I wouldn't worry too much about pushing her right at the moment. Things may change as the year goes on. DD has straight As but math is the only place where she hasn't missed a single point in weeks. I also hate that they have online access to every entry into the grade books and are told by their teachers to check their grades regularly. It's a perfectionism nightmare. DD probably would be a good candidate for a skip but she is not interested for social reasons.
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Joined: Oct 2011
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Bah... I'd probably push for the teacher to do some differentiation, regardless of your DD requesting it. If she's prone to perfectionism you don't want to make it worse.
~amy
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Joined: Jul 2012
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Is there an Olympiad team or similar math competition through the skill? Perhaps some more interesting problems on the side from a competitive context would help her decide if she wants to dive deeper and strengthen the utility of her algebra skills.
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Is there an Olympiad team or similar math competition through the skill? Perhaps some more interesting problems on the side from a competitive context would help her decide if she wants to dive deeper and strengthen the utility of her algebra skills. As far as I can tell, we don't have a Math Olympiad team or an equivalent at our middle or high school. I like the idea. I just don't know that I am up to the challenge of creating something like this at our school.
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Thanks kcab. I will check them out.
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Joined: Feb 2010
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Lone voice of dissent here: she's happy, the school is happy, she's getting new material that she's mastering and then reinforcing...I honestly don't see a problem. I'd let her use this as an opportunity to learn self-determination, and to decide for herself when she needs more to do.
"I love it when you two impersonate earthlings."
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Joined: Apr 2010
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Lone voice of dissent here: she's happy, the school is happy, she's getting new material that she's mastering and then reinforcing...I honestly don't see a problem. I'd let her use this as an opportunity to learn self-determination, and to decide for herself when she needs more to do. I agree with Eldertree. DeeDee
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Joined: May 2011
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Can you encourage her to get onto AoPS Alcumus for challenge problems? I think it's free and you don't have to be taking a course (I could be wrong.) My son is taking pre-algebra through AoPS and it's the first time he's been remotely challenged as well. It's made him dramatically happier about school even though he can only solve about half of the challenge problems.
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