Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Teacher doesn't get it

Your son sounds AWESOME. I would love to teach him. I've always said that one child who can intelligently question authority is better than a class full of "good kids". And it sounds like he's earned the right to be a bit confrontational anyway! If the teacher gets on your nerves, imagine what she does to his! If I were you, though, I'd talk with him about how the catharsis this kind of behavior gives him might not be worth the cost (in terms of possible detentions, etc).

On the topic of teachers who don't get it...

Biography project this week. DS8 is researching Thomas Edison. They begin with a brief statement of their person. DS wants kids interested so his opening statement is "I am Thomas Edison and I did not invent the light bulb and I once killed an elephant."

The discussion continues and he explains how Edison and Westinghouse were in a bit of a battle over AC or DC and how Edison was trying to demonstrate how AC was dangerous by using it to electrocute animals which included a rogue elephant that was already slated to be put down.
He further explains that Edison did not actually invent the light bulb but improved the filament/design to make a more marketable and practical light bulb for general use.
He had some other interesting facts etc. but the long and short of this post is that the teacher made him recant and say that Edison DID invent the light bulb and he was chastised for discussing the elephant as an "inappropriate topic" for the fourth grade.
Am I wrong or does this not sum up everything wrong with public education today? (okay maybe not everything. :-))

Oh, Breakaway, that is so sad. Can he bring in his sources?

I recently read Bill Bryson's Made in America - if I remember correctly, that story was fully told in that book. Has your son read that too?

He has not read that book but it sounds interesting! He wanted to bring in his sources but I don't think it was that the teacher didn't believe the information but rather that she wanted only the traditional point of view to be expressed...:-(

Oh, swell - let's teach the kids that truth has no place in education. Grrrrr.

I think unfortunately that the caliber of some teachers is not very good IMHO
My ds has one teacher that has been routinely mispronouncing words in class (I know since I sit there with him-it is an cyber school). She kept saying "allergy" for the word algae one day Now granted my pronunciation leaves some to be desired. However, in the advent of dictionary.com that has audible pronunciation there is not excuse. I use that site all the time
That is really minor though.

Did anyone answer the question about benchmark testing ? I don't think that is the same as achievement or iq - I thought benchmark was to see where a child is (supposedly if they care to attend to a boring test below their abilities) and then keep retesting until you show or don't show progress.
Here is an article, though probably not the most 'even handed' presentation of benchmarking. Does anyone have any better definition of this? Really it would be best to get an exact definition from your school district of what they think benchmark testing it.

http://www.classroomtoolkit.com/benchmark-testing-falacies.html

Bad choice of pasted quote from the web that time - it doesn't make sense without the start that you chopped,
"When was the last time you heard a teacher exclaim ..."!

Makes a change from posts about shoe brands though.

Re: Benchmark testing

Where my husband and I teach, benchmarking is simply marking progress on grade-level skills. In our district, it is specifically formatted to be identical to the state standardized exams. Its purpose is diagnostic - which skills need the most review before the real exams?

His new school has been succsessful so far. After being in class a week his teacher quickly caught on and challenge him back. He is the class reporter and is to keep up with the winter olympics and inform the class daily. In the end he will have a full report. He loves it. The other children are very engaged when he speaks and says he feels they really listen. In the past he hasnt always did all his homework, lately he has. He is on a point system and at the end of each week if he successfully kept all his points the teacher buys him lunch. He is allowed to raise his hand and express how he feels about the work he's doing if he says it's boring then she says How can you make this assighment more exciting? He still needs to finish the assighment but allowed emphasize. She wants to show her students that she respects there minds.