pros and cons of CES?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not flaming you but is this a real question? You are asking if dealing with kids' "emotional oddities" because they are "gifted" is part of the curriculum or program? No. Just no.

Not at our CES. There are some kids who have social or emotional issues just like at any other school. There are also many kids who are very social, outgoing and confident.

There are some teachers who try to support the kids who have struggling socially or emotionally but they do this because they are nice. Most of them don't do anything.

I'm not the PP, but I understand the question.

First, the disclaimers: Not all gifted kids are quirky, and not all quirky kids are gifted. Not all gifted kids are anxious, and not all anxious kids are gifted. Heck, not all kids in the CES program are "gifted." Some are just bright and hard working.

But are there more quirky kids and anxious kids in a CES classroom than in a mainstream 4th or 5th grade class? Yes, absolutely. Having teachers who have taken the time to develop some tools for teaching those kids can only be a good thing. It's not part of the curriculum, nor should it be, but ideally the teachers would have some tools in their toolboxes for common social-emotional issues that are more likely to come up in a classroom of high achievers.

+1000 NP here. It stands to reason, with asynchronous development being well-documented with *gifted* kids, social-emotional development would fit into a program like this. I don't think it is an odd question and I also know MCPS are working towards integrating these tools into the standard curriculum. If I did have a kid who was anxious or "quirky" it would be the first question I asked before pulling them into a whole new program.

NP here. DC went to a private school for gifted kids, and the social-emotional piece was an extremely important part of the curriculum and was handled by all teachers, not just the counselor. Of course, that was private, so it probably had a higher percentage of the quirky ones - the more socially adjusted kids were probably more likely to stay in their local public schools.

[Anonymous]

The way it is handled at our CES which is the way I think it should be handled is that the kids are referred to the counselor. That's the counselor's job. Sometimes these kids disrupt the learning environment for everyone else. The teachers are understanding that they are struggling and help them make up the work but their response is to ask the child to leave the classroom and return when they are ready to learn.

These CES classes are huge, the curriculum moves fast, and there is no time for them to give extra coddling to these kids.

[Anonymous]

PP again. I haven't noticed a difference in the number of kids with social emotional challenges between DC's neighborhood school and the CES. But there is a bit more externalizing behaviors in the kids in the neighborhood school. This includes making rambunctious, calling out, wrestling in the classroom, talking back to the teacher. At the CES the kids in general seem to be trying harder but they can be more quirky or have anxiety which results kids getting sad about not being able to express themselves during group work or overreacting to criticism and bad grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The way it is handled at our CES which is the way I think it should be handled is that the kids are referred to the counselor. That's the counselor's job. Sometimes these kids disrupt the learning environment for everyone else. The teachers are understanding that they are struggling and help them make up the work but their response is to ask the child to leave the classroom and return when they are ready to learn.

These CES classes are huge, the curriculum moves fast, and there is no time for them to give extra coddling to these kids.

I think you are talking about a different phenomenon. I'm talking about things like stressing growth over perfection, helping kids feel comfortable moving outside their comfort zone, helping kids understand that making mistakes is part of the process.

All classrooms should be doing this, but it is even more important in a context where a lot of these kids are being given challenging material for the first time in their lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way it is handled at our CES which is the way I think it should be handled is that the kids are referred to the counselor. That's the counselor's job. Sometimes these kids disrupt the learning environment for everyone else. The teachers are understanding that they are struggling and help them make up the work but their response is to ask the child to leave the classroom and return when they are ready to learn.

These CES classes are huge, the curriculum moves fast, and there is no time for them to give extra coddling to these kids.

I think you are talking about a different phenomenon. I'm talking about things like stressing growth over perfection, helping kids feel comfortable moving outside their comfort zone, helping kids understand that making mistakes is part of the process.

All classrooms should be doing this, but it is even more important in a context where a lot of these kids are being given challenging material for the first time in their lives.

Teachers at DC's CES do talk about these issues the first week, but I don't have the sense they do anything beyond that. My impression is it's basically sink or swim. It could be different at a different CES.

[Anonymous]

We were warned going in that CES would be a shock to the system. It was. It REALLY was. But we learned to swim.

[Anonymous]

I have two children who went through the CES. For the first it was just right academically and a fun social transition although DC1 missed friends at the old school. The second was definitely in the drowning category.

But since DC2 wasn't disruptive there was no support or acknowledgment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The way it is handled at our CES which is the way I think it should be handled is that the kids are referred to the counselor. That's the counselor's job. Sometimes these kids disrupt the learning environment for everyone else. The teachers are understanding that they are struggling and help them make up the work but their response is to ask the child to leave the classroom and return when they are ready to learn.

These CES classes are huge, the curriculum moves fast, and there is no time for them to give extra coddling to these kids.

I think you are talking about a different phenomenon. I'm talking about things like stressing growth over perfection, helping kids feel comfortable moving outside their comfort zone, helping kids understand that making mistakes is part of the process.

All classrooms should be doing this, but it is even more important in a context where a lot of these kids are being given challenging material for the first time in their lives.

NP. At our CES, I did see evidence of support and awareness for these issues in the classroom. Also pushing kids who had gotten lazy to try harder and reach deeper for their work. And a lot of learning to listen to other students, giving constructive feedback, and learning to let their minds be changed by good evidence from students - discussions and assignments that emphasized how opinions get made and changed over just “being right.” Many of the students have had the “right answer” every time and stopped listening to their classmates years ago. I thought this was a great element of the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not flaming you but is this a real question? You are asking if dealing with kids' "emotional oddities" because they are "gifted" is part of the curriculum or program? No. Just no.

Not at our CES. There are some kids who have social or emotional issues just like at any other school. There are also many kids who are very social, outgoing and confident.

There are some teachers who try to support the kids who have struggling socially or emotionally but they do this because they are nice. Most of them don't do anything.

I don't think you understand the question or perhaps maybe not as familiar with gifted learning standards. At the local, state and national levels social/emotional learning tools are being intentionally integrated across the board, and they have come to be a measure a well-designed accelerated learning program. It's not uncommon for kids who are outliers on IQ to have more complex issues with anxiety, perfectionism, rigidity and social isolation. Genuinely happy to cite some of the data on this, but why in the world would you default to "no. just no." seems harsh and misinformed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not flaming you but is this a real question? You are asking if dealing with kids' "emotional oddities" because they are "gifted" is part of the curriculum or program? No. Just no.

Not at our CES. There are some kids who have social or emotional issues just like at any other school. There are also many kids who are very social, outgoing and confident.

There are some teachers who try to support the kids who have struggling socially or emotionally but they do this because they are nice. Most of them don't do anything.

I don't think you understand the question or perhaps maybe not as familiar with gifted learning standards. At the local, state and national levels social/emotional learning tools are being intentionally integrated across the board, and they have come to be a measure a well-designed accelerated learning program. It's not uncommon for kids who are outliers on IQ to have more complex issues with anxiety, perfectionism, rigidity and social isolation. Genuinely happy to cite some of the data on this, but why in the world would you default to "no. just no." seems harsh and misinformed.

[Anonymous]

I'm familiar with with all that background. I just suspect you are one of those parents who attributes all your child's issues to your child being gifted. Unless you have a PG child. That's very different from having a regular "gifted" child but you know as well as I those kids are rare even in our area.

[Anonymous]

At the open house last year, social/emotional adjustment to the program was emphasized. They recognized that it’s a big shift for kids to move schools and start a new kind of program. In practice, I think it is best to be proactive and contact the teacher if you have any particular concerns, or to find out how it’s going, rather than waiting to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm familiar with with all that background. I just suspect you are one of those parents who attributes all your child's issues to your child being gifted. Unless you have a PG child. That's very different from having a regular "gifted" child but you know as well as I those kids are rare even in our area.

Please count yourself lucky if your DC does not have some of the emotional/social issues others have discussed. Reduce the smugness and increase the empathy. Many of us with gifted kids have kids with serious struggles - we don't just "attribute" their issues to being gifted these are real struggles. There are many factors interwoven. There are many studies showing how gifted kids have increased anxiety, social struggles, etc. as a previous poster stated. If your DC does not have these issues and is a socially well adjusted, low anxiety, happy, and super smart kiddo - you are very fortunate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm familiar with with all that background. I just suspect you are one of those parents who attributes all your child's issues to your child being gifted. Unless you have a PG child. That's very different from having a regular "gifted" child but you know as well as I those kids are rare even in our area.

Please count yourself lucky if your DC does not have some of the emotional/social issues others have discussed. Reduce the smugness and increase the empathy. Many of us with gifted kids have kids with serious struggles - we don't just "attribute" their issues to being gifted these are real struggles. There are many factors interwoven. There are many studies showing how gifted kids have increased anxiety, social struggles, etc. as a previous poster stated. If your DC does not have these issues and is a socially well adjusted, low anxiety, happy, and super smart kiddo - you are very fortunate.

My child has a high IQ. My child has anxiety therefore my child struggles sometimes in the classroom. They are not the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm familiar with with all that background. I just suspect you are one of those parents who attributes all your child's issues to your child being gifted. Unless you have a PG child. That's very different from having a regular "gifted" child but you know as well as I those kids are rare even in our area.

Please count yourself lucky if your DC does not have some of the emotional/social issues others have discussed. Reduce the smugness and increase the empathy. Many of us with gifted kids have kids with serious struggles - we don't just "attribute" their issues to being gifted these are real struggles. There are many factors interwoven. There are many studies showing how gifted kids have increased anxiety, social struggles, etc. as a previous poster stated. If your DC does not have these issues and is a socially well adjusted, low anxiety, happy, and super smart kiddo - you are very fortunate.

My child has a high IQ. My child has anxiety therefore my child struggles sometimes in the classroom. They are not the same thing.

Lady, give it a rest. I am so glad you have a single anecdote by which you feel confident making broad proclamations. But no one is interested in your lack of understanding.