So I sat still for about 20 minutes of the meeting today... quiet and not saying a word... letting the K teacher "explain" her open ended curriculum to me. Then I had an epiphany. She really doesn't get it. She has no idea what being an HG kid is even remotely like. Here's her example of why DS isn't as smart as we think he is and has major gaps in his education...
Yesterday they had a learning station with a balance scale and toy blocks for one side and toy keys for the other. They did not say the kids needed to weight the objects, only that they needed to make both sides the same. DS being literal- put 4 blocks on each side. So she told him he had to use blocks and keys. So he put 4 blocks on one and 4 on the other and said "There, they're the same!" (Despite the weight being different to him 4=4). She asked him to try again, still no explanation of the scale idea. So he got frustrated- he divided the keys and blocks evenly under both sides, leaving the scales blank and said "Now they're both the same!"
This was her example of his learning gaps... I thought it was sarcastic, brilliant and funny :-) THAT is my kid!
Post epiphany, I met with the learning specialist again who reassured me that she will be spending a lot of time "helping" the teacher learn to understand DS and to work with him. I feel like if the teacher just does 1/10 of what the specialist is asking, we'll be in decent shape. From 11-3 he's a happy kid, it's just the 2 hours in the morning that are torture right now.
