Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Refusing to do work

We got called in for a conference with the G/T teacher for DS7. Basically, he isn't doing any of the work in his pullout class. The most recent example was researching inventors. The inventions were on one side of the page and inventors on the other. He was to Google them all and draw a line from inventor to invention. He did one of them and quit. He, quite frankly, told the teacher he was playing instead of working. Most of their work follows this model: look something up and record it in some manner. They are learning to research.

When I first posted about this, I thought this was just about writing, but this activity wasn't really writing. The teacher showed me example after example of poor work. Her conclusion is that he's not creative and he's immature.

On one hand, she tells us that his entrance scores were "rare" for their population. On the other, he's doing the worst in the class. She isn't interested in finding the disconnect at all. I asked for her help with that and she said "I'd be a millionaire if I could figure that out."

She also told us that they won't do math or science in his gifted class, which are his strengths. We were dumbfounded.

Couple of questions:
-For those of you with kids in public school, have you ever removed your child from the gifted program?
-If the school won't help me sort out why he's under-performing, where do I go? DS hasn't had formal IQ testing but I'm concerned about spending the money and then the school not caring about them anyway.

It isn't a question of ability. His last MAP scores are 207 in math and 196 in reading. In addition, the school offers little differentiation and they have already said they won't subject accelerate.

Sounds to me like your school doesn't HAVE an authentic GT program, and they aren't happy that your little camper isn't willing to march and sing with the other campers and pretend that it IS the real deal...

Have you asked your DS why he thinks his performance has been, er-- lackluster?

These are the things that stand out for me in your post:

entrance scores were "rare" for their population.

school offers little differentiation and they have already said they won't subject accelerate

won't do math or science in his gifted class

Most of their work follows this model: look something up and record it in some manner



Sounds to me like this is merely the 21st century version of "send the disruptive (GT) kids to the library so that the rest of the class can learn something..."

{sigh}

What are your other schooling options like?

I agree with HK, and also would comment that I see absolutely no connection between googling inventor names and creativity. Given that you said that most of their work follows this model, I think I've made a fair assumption.

I would ask her what they're trying to accomplish with this program. You know, in a curious I'm-just-wondering-cuz-I-want-to-know-more kind of way. If she gives you a generic answer along the lines of "We're trying to expand their horizons" or whatever, you could ask if they're planning on doing advanced work.


Hey, wait. They did this to me when I was 7.

I fail to see how typing "who invented lightbulb" into a google box and writing or drawing a line to the answer could be considered advanced or creative. Reading a good book on inventors and writing a report or recreating the invention maybe though.

HK, I asked DS about this last night. He seems unconcerned about his performance. He does ask, "are you mad at me?" and when I told him I was just trying to understand he said, "I don't like writing. Writing is boring."

Val, the GT teacher is given a curriculum and she carries it out. She said she wants to do math but has no control of what she teaches in there. She seemed very focused on tapping into their creativity. They did a project where they were asked to design their own version of the Italian flag. DS colored each block a different color and turned it in. Again, not great work. I don't see him particularly creative at story-telling, poem writing,etc. But if you ask that boy to build something out of legos or create an invention...he's pretty detailed,totally engaged and his imagination comes alive. They aren't doing anything like that though.

He would have the same GT teacher next year and I am getting the feeling that this program isn't for DS.

Wow. Coloring your own version of the Italian flag is going to help them tap into their creativity?!? Maybe I am just too much of a rabid homeschooler, but my kids are really creative -- when I let them be creative. You know, do whatever they want. Compliance and creativity don't go we'll together. Those activities sound pretty insulting, even to a 7 year old. No wonder your son doesn't care to participate!

As far as an experience of removing a child from a gifted program:

DS6s school has once a week pullouts for a couple of subjects. We pulled DS from the one he is furthest ahead in, as part of pulling him from that subject entirely (and homeschooling it). The range of abilities in the pull out was broad and the activities were not very different from in class activities. In addition it did not occur fully in the subject class time, but overlapped with something DS liked. DS is also limited by his slow writing, so we anticipated that when the pullout got around to doing anything written he would not find that rewarding. He has not missed it and the time we have gained at home is awesome.

In your DSs case I would just be sure he'd enjoy whatever his alternative is more, before pulling him.

She seemed very focused on tapping into their creativity.

Okay, I'm just going to be completely non-PC here, and point out that this kind of rhetoric is most frequently associated with pullouts that don't actually serve GIFTED populations, but bright/high-SES ones. In other words, I strongly suspect that you have ample evidence here that the "gifted" program is about moms and dads and not the kids.

(As in "MY little princess is in the GIFTED program..." <--- let's just say that I'm very familiar with this line, as our district identifies fully 30% of the student population as "GT" and doesn't do diddly squat for the top 1-2%.)

I agree. Something that might inspire creativity in this situation might be, "Let's create our own kingdoms. What do the people do? What kind of technology do they have? What are the landscape and environment like? What else can you think if to describe them? You can daw a picture of a scene from the kingdom, write a story, draw their flag, etc. It's up to you."

Do you think the teacher would be open to suggestions along the lines of this one?

HK, thanks for your candor. You have hit the nail on the head. We met with the school counselor a while back and she told us, without looking at his scores, that DS was in good company. Plenty of kids in his class just like him. She said we live in an area with lots of well-educated parents with very bright kids.

Val, I think she is bound by the county-wide curriculum. It almost seemed like she had a book of activities she was pulling from. She acted like she would work to select a few more hands-on type activities from her book. She did tell us that she and the other GT teacher were just discussing how it's such a shame there's no math or science included and how they wish they could change that, but are powerless to do so.