It's a good policy. But it sure wasn't the policy at DS7's school. From what I saw when I volunteered in the classroom, "Sit down and shut up and write down the answer I just told you" was the rule in DS7's 1st grade class.
Even in K, with a teacher who was much better, there just wasn't a lot of interaction among the kids.
Hmmm. Maybe the school is even worse than I realized...I assumed that this approach was pretty standard, given the school's high ranking in our area. The K teacher's classroom approach didn't look a whole lot different from what I remember from my school experience. (The 1st grade one was worse, but only in the number of repetitions the teacher required of the kids and the utter lack of allowance for kids who already knew the answer. The amount of peer interaction was pretty much the same: virtually none.) As a result, I guess I assumed virtually none was the norm. Maybe not...
So, if I may hijack the thread for a minute to pursue this line of thought...
*How much peer interaction goes on in your kids' classrooms on a typical school day, especially in the lower grades?
I'm particularly interested in responses from parents of kids in non-GT schools, public or private, as I would hope that there would be more peer interaction in a GT school. (Though I guess my assumptions could be wrong about that, too...)
