Monday, November 24, 2008
Incommunicado
Sorry for the lengthy absence...we're up to five kids now and have been crazy busy with work/school (I know, what's new). Anyway, I'm thinking that, through the holidays, it's going to be very difficult to find time to write so I hope you'll all forgive the time between posts. I'll put up some pics soon. A got his first haircut (Grandma took him so Hubs couldn't say no, hee hee), and he actually looks like a boy again (I was tired of getting complimented on my three beautiful daughters ;) J is enjoying her school (she gets to take a backpack and lunchbox, so she feels like a big girl), and C had her 1st parent-teacher conference this year. Remind me to post about how ridiculous the No Child Left Behind Act has made it for gifted and learning-disabled children alike to get help. I wanted to put C in the gifted program, but the new requirements put a heavy burden on the teacher and parents to show that the child can't be helped in someother way, then the testing process takes up to 12 weeks, they have to pass tests in 5 different subjects (no testing into the English gifted program, for example, you have to pass all 5 subjects), and you have to take an IQ test and score over 130. I'm thinking a charter school might be the way to go to meet her hands-on learning needs b/c she is extremely bright, and I think she is just extremely bored in class. I can sympathize not being a rote learner myself. It also sounds like you have o jump through just as many hoops for children with learning disabilities to get help. You have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that your child needs help they can't get in a regular classroom. Yay NCLB Act! Let's shove all our children into one box so no one gets "left behind." No wonder our children perform so poorly.
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8 comments:
*sigh* We're already feeling the "school" stress. A lot of the "good" schools have waiting lists....but we have no clue where we'll be in a few years.
Anyway...I'm glad you posted something. I was starting to think you and Tim had run off to Mexico, leaving the kids behind with the grandparents!
Susanne - that is not even slightly funny.
Wow- I had no idea that's what was going on these days. That seems ridiculous that the gifted classes have to be all or nothing. As I recall when I was coming up I was in gifted classes for english but not for math where I had a harder time. Tell me how the charter school search goes- Miss D is ever closer to that and it strikes fear into my heart
I am a mom of two gifted children and a life coach to moms of gifted children. I, too, struggled to get the teachers in our neighborhood school to even recognize my kids' giftedness--most teachers don't know the characteristics of giftedness nor can they see them in individual children. The fact that your school district demands that children exhibit giftedness in more than one subject area proves that they, too, do not understand giftedness--a child may be highly gifted in one area and average in many others, and still that child fits the gifted profile and, as such, has special needs.
As you are considering, we ended up at a charter school, and couldn't be happier (well, we could, but no school is perfect). We found a school that ability groups ALL children in math and reading, so every child learns these subjects at his/her own level (it's not a gifted school per se, but its structure suits gifted children well). I hope you find a place equally accommodating to your children.
Good for you starting out now. We waited longer than I would have wished, but my kids have bounced back. I hope you find exactly what your kids need, and that you take care of yourself in the process!
I think the new laws are very clearly indicating they DON'T want to help kids that aren't at the very very highest level. They probably did a cost-benefit valuation and decided to screw all the smart kids, go straight for the geniuses and help them.
The box is a good metaphor. The cost of helping kids in the gray zones is clearly being outsourced to you, as evidenced by your bid for hope in a charter school or some private institution that will cost you money and or time.
NCLB is a disaster on pretty much every count. Even the kids in the middle are hurt because they have to spend so much time learning to take tests instead of learning. I feel for the teachers and administrators, too, having to play by these insane rules.
I've been directed to your site by Aunt B.
I teach in the UK and our Every Child Matters has made the workload unmanageable. Combined with the National Curriculum which requires differentiated planning and delivery I spend more time on work outside the classroom than working with the children. Now the latest buzzword is 'personalisation' - how do I teach at an individual level with a class of 32. Also there is the matter of inclusion ( children who would formerly been placed at a special school are now entitled to be taught in mainstream if their parents so desire)and this is sometimes very distracting for the other pupils. I really feel I spend a lot of my time making children feel that they re not as 'good' as they should be - not deliberately but they are assessed so frequently!
Having read over this moan I do not understand why I still enjoy the work - but working with my 7 and 8 year olds is very rewarding - so I've no intention of retiring just yet.
By the way - this year our school had an OFSTED inspection which rated us as very good school - so we have parents hammering on the doors.
Maybe now that Bush is leaving they'll get rid of NCLB? I've never heard a positive thing about it so I can't imagine the new administration wanting to keep it.
On another note... don't you worry that A will miss his mullet? ;)
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