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This is a very strange form of differentiation. I can see why your DD loves it! I would definitely worry that this is what your DD will come to expect from school and that would probably not be for the best.

On a slightly different note, how is this affecting the other girls in the group? I'm assuming the teacher doesn't believe that she has nothing to teach any of them. Are they also just doing their own thing and no longer participating in class?

I would have been so upset if a teacher told me that I couldn't participate in class, though there were times where I made this decision for myself. I would like to think that there is an answer other than encouraging your DD to "check out" in her class.

I wish you luck with whatever you do. Socialization vs academics can be an incredibly hard choice.

As much as the chatter of 6th grade girls drives me to the edge of madness every day, that chatter is important and age-appropriate work. Howard Gardner and I agree that personal intelligence (the ability to know what's going on within yourself and the ability to understand what's going on with others) is the most important kind of intelligence. If your daughter can't learn to work with other people and enjoy their company, her academic and professional life may never match her verbal and logical ability.

Teachers are always trying to put together heterogenous groups with stronger and weaker members of the class in each group. This is great for everybody else, but it keeps the strongest students isolated from their intellectual peers or near-peers. I'm excited to hear that your daughter is getting the social experience that is so important in middle school, that she may have been lacking.

And may I suggest that a sixth grade classroom is a better environment for learning to balance academic achievement and a vibrant social life than a freshman dorm?