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Someone posted a link to an article a few months back about what kids don't learn when they aren't challenged - things like persistence, study habits ,etc. (It think it was a 2 page .pdf)

My search of the forum didn't turn it up.

Can anyone provide the link again?

Thanks!

http://www.wku.edu/academy/?p=430

Thanks, inky!

I was able to find the .pdf too, if anyone is interested:
http://www.portage.k12.in.us/160720...597/pdfs/April/Whatachilddoesntlearn.pdf

Here's the original post:

Oops -- I see that someone already beat me to posting the PDF....

Have a great day!

Inky,

Where do you find all this stuff? Thanks once more......

You're welcome and thanks to Mama22Gs for the original post plus Dandy for posting it again a few weeks ago! It's a great article.

Ok.... So now that i've read the article, what do I do? It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but it didn't tell me how to fix it.

I'm beginning to feel like in order to "challenge" my son, I need to drop a Trig book in front of him and walk away. Somehow I don't think that would work either.

I am off to read the article but wanted to add: I certainly wasn't challenged in school and had a hell of a time come college. I didn't know how to study so I had a hard time my first year. In fact I didn't do great until I got to some really challenging (but interesting) courses my senior year!!

I liked the article because it crystallized a series of thoughts & concerns that have been rattling around in my brain for quite awhile.

I agree -- it held no specific answers. But it has so far been one of the more useful articles for sharing with teachers. It doesn't hit them over the head with "GIFTED!!" like A Nation Deceived & others, yet still stresses the importance of challenging our kids.

Once they acknowledged and agreed with the premise of this article, we were able to explore the particular lack of challenge for our son.

I love that quote CFK.

Also try:

I volunteered in a sixth-grade class when I was at uni, and there was a girl there who decided to learn algebra during her in-class reading time - she brought in "Algebra for Dummies". Mind you, she also wrote better than my classmates at university. The thought of what that kid could've done at a school with a proper gifted program makes my head spin. Anyway, BWBShari, there are worse things you could do than drop a trig book in front of your son and tell him to go at it.

Thanks for posting this. This is an issue I'm struggling with for DS now.

Reading Guerrilla Learning by Grace Llewellyn helped me understand this. http://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Learning-Education-Without-School/dp/0471349607

Yesterday DD7 had her eyes opened a bit when the 2nd grade students were together for testing into the accelerated cluster magnet. They were discussing the upcoming Book Week and there is a contest where two students from each grade with the highest number of AR points get to have lunch with a visiting author. DD7 was one of the winners last year and her motivation to have lunch with an author outweighed her desire to conform to reading standard grade level books.

She's been holding back a bit with her reading this year and choosing lower point books but her point total was very high compared to her classmates. Yesterday, she found there is a girl in another class whose point total blew DD's out of the water. The girl is going to third grade for subject acceleration and as DD said, "Her mother teaches her challenging math at home too." Yay!

Ohhh- future BFF?

what kids don't learn when they aren't challenged

This article puts into words exactly my concerns for DS9. Thankyou!


Ex. He knows his spelling, social studies, and science the first day so he really does not need to study. He wants to be a good school boy so he works on them everyday until his test. I hear how hard these are for other kids. My son is not getting the desired challenge. This is a concern for me. Is a child who is going thru the motions learning to study without the challenge? I say no.

I'm 15 years old and I just have one thing to say- PLEASE make sure your kids are being challenged in school from an early age! I went through 8th grade getting straight A's without having to try at all. Now I'm in 10th grade and I am finally in a few somewhat challenging classes (although math is still terrible- they made me retake Algebra 2 even though I took it in 8th grade because they said they'd run out of math classes for me to take!). I now hate school because I never had to lift a finger before. I'm learning to adjust and I still have straight A's, it's just been a painful experience I don't recommend you put your children through. And being a perfectionist has certainly made it more difficult. I should have skipped a grade a long time ago. I have good study skills and everything, I just am not used to trying. Plus, half the time my school's definition of an "honors" class is "make them all sit down and listen to us lecture and don't let them ask any questions because they're smart so they should be fine." Thanks for the help, school.

Thanks for sharing Lindsaymarie! I went through this several times in my life as I've 'leveled up' to life's new challenges. I commend you for doing what it takes to keep at it, and encourage you that you will at some point look back and be very proud! I would encourage you to look for summer programs where you can be surrounded with kids who are 'like you' - have you found any summer or afterschool activities with kids or adults that you can 'really' relate to?

Some kids also find that they are ready for a few college classes by your age - perhaps in Math there is a program near-enough by, or online, where you can move ahead.

I would strongly recommend you make an appointment to sit down with the Chairperson of the Math Department and do some 'self-advocacy.' I did this in science my freshman year of High School. I didn't get any change, but it was very encouraging to me to hear that the Chairman was in total agreement with me, and that things were being done to help future students.

Love hearing from you,
Grinity

Lindsaymarie,

I totally agree with Grinity. As a student, a professor and more recently Mom and elementary teacher, gumption is hands down the trait that I look for. This is your education and you need to be your own advocate. Go to the head of the department, or, indeed, the principal with a plan. Perhaps it's independent study or perhaps it's an outside mentorship or perhaps it's attending a seminar at a local university, but it is something that YOU want to do. One often hears that "it can't be done" because there is no formal reciprocity between institutions. That is simply ridiculous: a teacher at your HS can sponsor an independent study while you officially audit a university seminar but actually do do the work. Most professors are thrilled by the idea that someone really wants to take their class and will work with you.

Keep me posted!

bump - I was looking for this... I thought other people might be too!

Maryann

This has been my approach. I read about cool stuff online in places like this one and I get interesting looking things and literally put them in the house. One kid devours them and has self-taught a great deal of math. I just feed the bear and

OK....the original thread is quite old, and the links provided in the first couple of posts are either broken or don't lead to the article referenced. Anyone out there have the pdf they would be willing to share?

THANK YOU, kcab!

Ditto. I did this all the way from 8th grade until I graduated.

You will then have to do this as an adult as well especially to get promotions or to do things.

I'm trying to think of the number of times that I've self-advocated.

I'm thinking that number is about zero.

Which is probably another one of my issues with life.

And the irony here is that you're a professional advocate for other people.

But yeah, I've definitely seen how not being able to self-advocate has hurt someone. I have a brother who can't do it, and his career has effectively gone nowhere. I remember once he was telling me his manager was planning to promote him to a supervisory position. Several months went by, and it was never mentioned again, but rather than buzz in the manager's ear about it from time to time to keep it on the front burner, my bro kept silent. When he finally spoke about it, it was a moping, "Well, I guess it's not going to happen then..." And my first thought when hearing this story was that if I were the supervisor, I'd point to this as the reason why you should never be promoted.

Self-advocacy isn't really a problem for me. If anything, I have to be careful not to go too far over the top... though there are times when you're dealing with a customer service rep and some self-righteous outrage is exactly what's called for. In those situations, my wife is all too happy to sic me on them.

The law is structured, so I'm not dealing with any kind of personal advocacy in terms of individual human relationships.

The techniques used for dealing with insurance companies and the government doesn't have much to do with person to person informal advocacy in terms of things like getting promotions within organizations or day to day personal disputes.