Hi Love2Teach,
Welcome! I'm so glad you have joined us. My son, now 10, was reading at a very high level in 2nd grade, but was just starting to get along in his fine motor skill, I would call him below average for his age in those areas.
Without telling me, the local public school decided it would be interesting to put a clump of 10 "bright" boys together in the 2nd grade since they were all such good readers. (Many of the boys had entered Kindergarden late as it the custom in our town. My Son was a summer baby.) Like your school they kept the LA curriculum "integrated" by giving 5th grade level books and worksheets, and dictionary tasks for vocabulary.
A strange thing developed. My son began to feel that there was something terribly wrong with him. The teacher and school specialist also felt this way, and called meeting after meeting with my husband and I to let us know this. This was our family's "bottom." Here's how I imagine it looked from our son's perspective.
1) I know that I understand the 5th grade book better than my classmates because I can answer all the questions in the discussion time. I have my hand up constantly, and the teacher always wants to call on the other children even though my hand has been up much longer than their hands. The teacher only calls on my when no one else can answer the question, and that is often. The teacher looks so happy when I answer, except for the time when she doesn't understand what I am trying to say. The other children almost never understand what I am trying to say. Why am I so bad at talking?
2) I hate dictionary time. The other kids can find the words so much faster than me. They can copy down the definitions so much faster than me. We are all supposed to work together and so they have to spend a lot of time waiting for me. I slow them down and they hate that, and let me know what a drag I am. I wish I were fast like the other kids. ((remember that most of these children are 12 to 18 months older than my son, and that all the boys in the classroom of 21 were specially selected for their strengths in reading. The doings of girls are not on my son't radar, so to him, "everyone" could do these things except him.))
3) I hate "reading comprehension worksheets." They want me to go back and find the exact detail in the sea of words and the story is so dumb that I can barely skim it in the first place. Then they want me to repeat the question while I am writing the answer; what's the point of that? Then I start writing and my handwriting looks so ugly and babyish that I'm sure I must be stupid. Also, I can't actually think in my mind while I'm consentrating on printing the words. The teacher is so mad at me because I don't write complete sentences. I try to think of one or two words that will answer the question, and put those down. I finish as quickly as I can because I want to get back to reading my book.
4)There is something terribly wrong with me. I am stupid, and can't make myself understood by my peers, who do not value me.
As I said this was our family's "bottom." We went from there to IQ and achievement test, to being given innapropriate diagnosises that I dutifully read and tried to incorporate. Even though the scores were high enough to get into the Davidson Young Scholars Program, the local private psychologist and the school specialists told us things like, "well, he may be a bit bored, but his real problem is...." and "certainly he's a bright boy, but we need to get to the bottom of why he can't sit quietly in the circle like the other children!" Is it any wonder that all the professionals commented that he may be "a bit anxious and depressed." This is a 7 year old boy we're talking about. I still get upset when I think of it, but I am also grateful for all the change and good things that have come into our lives since then.
OK - now that you know my story, you can guess my advice.
1) find out what the child reads for pleasure, and find a way to center his reading instruction and vocabulary around that. Let him dictate his thoughts to a scribe or into a tape recorder. He can make up interviews with the author where he plays both sides. He can compare one of the books he chooses with another book that you choose. He's ready to learn literary criticism, as long as you allow the "product" to be in a form he is comfortable - usually spoken, but perhaps powerpoint with images from the internet. Look for ways he can use deep thinking to create graphic organizers and express a lot of info in about ten words.
2) Start introducing him to keyboarding, using the principles of touch typing. Expect it to take a few years, (my son got real fluent at age 9) but it will be worth it. This child will never be able to fully develop his thinking while chained to the limits of handwriting, no matter how skilled at handwriting he becomes.
3) Work on handwriting and spelling as seperate skills, each at the level which is appropriate for him. If you can inject some meaning or fun into the task, all the better, but don't expect him to think and learn to write at the same time. Example - have a book of quotations where the students can write their favorite quotations, in their own handwriting. Many people reccomend "handwriting without tears."
4) Work on grammer and composing at the level the child is at in writing and grammer. Use online courses if needed. I love the 6 Traits of Writing to tease apart what makes good writing. Don't overpraise - that translates into - "I have nothing to teach you." Allow the child to spend most of their writing time working and re-writing on larger projects that are interesting and meaningful to them. Limit the "timed writing to a prompt" as much as possible. When (and if) you have to teach that skill, be very clear (privatly, with that student) how that integrates with the larger goal of using writing to think critically and communicate.
5) Note: all this presupposes that you have examined all the child's Language Arts skills, and found an appropriate challenge level for each of them.
6) Measure everything by your goal, which could be:
Children increase their self-esteem by completing work that THEY didn't, in the begining, believe they could do.
7) If you are willing, decide to act "as though" the child has "psychic powers" and can read your mind. Assume that the child has access to your private thoughts. I don't believe that this is literally true of highly gifted children, and I've seen my son jump to some incredibly non-obvious and wrong conclusions, but its a good safeguard. If you fill your mind and heart with what you believe should be there, you will be in an excellent positon to be a trustable person for this little one. Some of the difficulty little ones have at school is that some of them can "read" people in much more detail that Adults who work with kids are accustomed. Being inexperienced, the child can then draw conclusions that aren't warrented, and may not even be expressed. The bottom line: These children appear to need more than "their share" of honest appreciation. Let's face it, they aren't going to be getting it from their agemates.
Wow! I didn't know that there was so much inside me wanting to be said. I can't wait to read the other responces. Please let me know if I can clarify anything - it's sooo exciting to have the attention of an elementary teacher!
Love and More Love,
Trinity
