Our DS5, who is still in PreK due to birthday cut off, also has a great teacher who tries to offer challenging material for DS. One thing she has done this year is having DS research a topic and present his findings. He can find the answers either via internet or books. This has helped with reading, writing, researching, and a little public speaking skills (DS can be a little shy).
... one thing we have learned is that teachers can be enthusiastic at the beginning of the year, then.... things can get forgotten... if you can, highly recommend that on your DS's education plan that the school will assign a specific teacher/aide responsible for each learning task.
Also, once in a while, try to make sure challenging/advanced work is not more busy work. Good luck!
Thanks a lot. You've given me some great ideas and questions to ask about research projects, and management of the process going forward.
I'd be leery about the proposed plan too. Cooperative learning is a great tool but used in the way she described can backfire. However, the examples of it backfiring is more in older classrooms. Gifted children feel used and placed into the role of the teacher especially when their own education is not considered can leave with a negative experience. It really depends on your son's personality. Is he the type that enjoys helping others? If he is then he might be okay with it, but I would insist that this does not become his only role within the class.
He's an empathetic little person and does enjoy helping others, so I guess he might enjoy it. I will have to reserve judgment until I hear more about their plan at the next meeting.
From the rest of what you wrote I really don't know what your feelings are about the meeting. Did you come away thinking they are taking this seriously and want to help or do you feel that they are going through the motions and you have your doubts? My guess is you are still trying to digest it all... I do wonder about his teacher... she seems to have changed her tone since speaking with her last night. A little to wishywashy in my opinion. Perhaps there was an earlier meeting before this one?
You guessed right. After a little more reflection I feel like the teacher is not our greatest ally, but it's good to know where she stands now. I got a good feeling from the group as a whole, especially since they are all doing this for the first time.
The fact that they are going to test is a positive but not knowing what kind of test I can't really say how positive.
All I know at this point is that one of the tests they are planning to use is the DAS-II.
One of the things I recall her saying was that for gifted kids in K, sometimes the best thing is for them to be sent to a higher grade for reading, as the language arts abilities within a K class can be so disparate.
Thank you. A lot of the credit for pushing so far has to go to my wife-- my function now is to passively-aggressively exploit people's stated positions, and play them off against each other.
I mostly wanted to say, if you put yourself in the teacher's position it will probably be clear why she might present things differently in a meeting like that. I think it's a fairly difficult position to be in... I wouldn't worry too much about what was said, just keep an eye on what actually happens. As far as helping other kids - that can be good or bad... [T]he teacher does need to be aware of the pitfalls and to be careful that no one is being shortchanged.
Understood, and thanks. I think that this teacher must have little to no experience with gifted education, but at this point has at least done some reading and thinking. Hopefully the team's plan will provide plenty of guidance, while giving her some leeway to be creative-- and of course, hopefully it is the right guidance!
