Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Oh No! It's starting again.

I received my first call from the school yesterday. Youngest had a math problem and wrote down the wrong answer then erased it, which was against the rule. Another kid told on him to the teacher. Youngest was caught in a lie, instead of facing up to it, he tried to change the subject. He then became angry and slammed his hands down on the table and kicked out his chair.

The asst. teacher escorted him outside and he regained his composer rapidly. The rest of the day was fine.

Since K he has always been punished from the teachers, by losing recess. This teacher doesn't work like that. If he had told her the truth he would have been rewarded. I don't know if purfectionism is playing a roll or if it's his inability to handle being wrong, or it's both.

I took him to the school this morning to talk with the teacher, unanounced. The 3 of us had a great talk. I saw so much improvement in him over last year, in his demeanor and in the way he communicated with his teacher.

I'm sort of with Youngest Tall Boy... why would they have a stupid rule like that? If you KNEW you did it wrong, why couldn't you fix it? Not uncommon for gifties to rebel against authority in this situation (I suspect that 40 years ago I would have done the same thing). I assume this was some kind of speed math exercise or something.

This touches on whether it is best to teach our kids to go along to get along. It makes life easier for everyone if they do, but I understand when my kids don't want to do that. I do advise them to "keep their powder dry" -- don't rebel against EVERY stupid rule. Save it for situations that matter, and this probably isn't one of them. I think this visualization (we had to talk about muskets and shooting bears vs. shooting at tine cans :)) did help them.

My D15 is having her own little rebellion at the moment. Her gym teacher offered 10 points of extra credit for any kid who makes and brings in a "mix tape" on CD (music they can listen to in the gym and weight room). She thinks this is copyright infringement (guess those lectures on not swapping music sank in!), and she decided to write a paper on copyright infringement and turn it in to him instead. No idea how he will take it... I guess we will see!

He is very rebellious, it genetic, both my husband and I are the same way. He is also a nonconformist, again it's genetic.

You have to tell us what the gym teacher says about her paper. That should be interesting.

The reason they were not allowed to erase their answers is because she wants to see where the kids are at academically.

"muskets and shooting bears vs. shooting at tine can." I like that!

I just saw the post "Oh No! It's starting again." and I didn't know if I should laugh or cry...Second day of school and already got an email from teacher saying DS10 was standing on counter and refused to fill out a "Get to know your classmates bingo sheet"...Teacher, "In all of my years of teaching, I have never had a student do this" etc...etc...Sigh. Asked DS about it..."Mom I was standing on the counter to catch a fly in midair and observe it" "I just don't understand the relevance of filling out that bingo sheet. I've known everyone since practically kindergarten. It's a waste of time." Sigh. So of course had to explain ONCE AGAIN appropriate choices. I know he knows the difference. He just doesn't want or can't do it. Does this non-conformity ever get better??? Still waiting to hear back from GT teacher about subject accelerating him in reading and science. Instead of laughing, I'm crying. I would love to have one year of teacher peace, please!

I feel your pain Cecilia.

It can be so confusing and conflicting as a parent. You praise your kids for creative thinking, but the kids get admonished when they do think creatively, when it doesn't conform to the individual teacher or environment.

I feel for the kids. Sometimes it's like they grow up in a world that just doesn't understand them.

I have a funny feeling this is going to last for a long time.

Thanks for responding Tall boys... I feel better that someone out there UNDERSTANDS my pain! haha That's one reason why I love this site so much...You know that you're never alone in all of this I'm happy you had a great conversation with the teacher!