Independent School Teacher Pet Peeve Thread
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Anonymous
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If PP wants to talk about profoundly gifted kids, it's absolutely fine with me, either here (I'm used to derailments) or by starting another thread. Really, starting another thread would be better for everybody, because people on this thread can go back to talking about teachers' peeves, and she could give her new thread title that would signal what it's about.
The reason I'm sick of PP - and I've seen her do this lots on past threads - is she works herself into a state of righteous indignation, getting mad at teachers and other posters alike, when we were having a conversation about 95 percentile kids and she wants to talk about that extend rarity, the 99.999 pctile kid. It helps with the whole righteous indignation thing if she doesn't mention she's changing the goalposts, which is impossible to know until she does something like post a sappy letter from an obviously PG kid. |
Anonymous
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Sorry, PP with the PG kid, you're giving parents of very gifted kids, including me, a bad name! You may think you're advocating on behalf of all gifted kids (because it's clear you don't actually have a kid at one of these private schools). But your belligerent attitude, hogging of a thread that's not even on this subject, and manipulative letter are actually undermining what are valid (even if very limited in applicability) points.
Belligerence and manipulation and conversation hogging are teacher peeves, I would think, whatever the underlying merits of your concerns. |
Anonymous
Sorry -- I think 21:27 handled the substance well. I thought the poster I quoted had a very narrow understanding of curriculum and of teaching -- e.g. teacher transmits a flow of information of a certain difficulty at a certain speed to students who receive and absorb it. At least that's how I interpreted her comments both about the curriculum for the 80th percentile kid boring the kids in the 95+% and her comments about lower grades being frustrating because there's no differentiation. What the local private my DC attends does exceptionally well (and small class size is part of this) is teach in ways that are broad, deep, and diverse so that kids at a variety of different levels are engaged and challenged. While I'd say there was a strong floor/baseline in terms of expectations, there's also an open-endedness that enables very gifted kids to soar. Part of the reason my DC is in private school rather than a MoCo gifted program is that I'm not a fan of the hydraulic model of education I attributed to PP. Challenging a gifted student is not just a matter of pushing more information faster. It's about giving kids the space and support to explore, make connections, experiment, etc. And in that sense, what's good education for "gifted" kids is good education for most kids. The kind and amount of support differs (and so will the challenges the kids set for themselves), but the pedagogy is pretty similar. Curriculum is a somewhat separate issue and often a minimum standard (what you want everyone to take away -- not the most/only/best someone could learn from a class). |
Anonymous
Seriously? You're copping to that? |
Anonymous
I would wonder if the author of the letter was autistic. |
Anonymous
The author seems fine, in the sense that she does cutesy and manipulative really well. But if a parent can't see how manipulative it is to give this letter to a teacher, instead of talking to the teacher, then I would wonder about the parent. |
Anonymous
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I posted the letter. It was very misunderstood. It is called The September Secret and it was written by Wenda Sheard who is a PhD and well known and award winning advocate for gifted education. The letter was written in the perspective of a child to allow the reader to experience this all too familiar scenario through the eyes of the child. It wasn't a "pretend" letter meant to deceive. I included the credits to the letter which should have made this clear in the post.
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Anonymous
Perhaps she intended it to allow the reader to experience it through the eyes of the child. If she did, I don't think she has much empathy towards children. To me, it reads very much as the experience as seen through the eyes of a very self-centered and unemphatic adult. Many Ph.D.s and a very large fraction of famous people are self centered enough that they would not understand how condescending this letter would seem to anybody with even average intelligence. |
Anonymous
sorry, I meant empathetic in the previous post. (I'm clearly not PG, although I live in PG 
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Anonymous
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OK, I'll try to explain the reaction you got.
I think many of us noticed that Wanda's initials were different from the fictional child, whose initials were "JR" if I remember correctly. I can't speak for everybody, but one reason for the involuntary gagging might be the sheer cutsy-ness of the letter ("PS, I think my brain works in binary"). Moreover, it just struck me as manipulative. For example, the goal of the letter is clearly to inspire a teacher, and I get that, and I have no problem with this goal on the face of it. But the way this letter goes about it is through guilt, by dragging the kid's social life and stressed parents into the picture. The letter made me think the real problem is the stressed parents, who need to get a grip (e.g. those blogs somebody linked to). But instead, the letter puts these social and familial problems out there and asks the teacher to solve them all. |
Anonymous
Parent here. So true! |
Anonymous
| Its a terrible letter, I don't care who wrote it. Silly, manipulative, and, well, stupid. I can't imagine any educator doing anything other than rolling her eyes at it. |
Anonymous
| Another pet peeve ('tis the season): kids who ask for college letters of recommendation and never get around to telling the recommending teacher where they got in or are choosing to matriculate. It's part of our job to do it but it's still nice to hear what happens once the letters are mailed! |
Anonymous
| I haven't been posting on this thread, but it's sad that there are people out there who are so hostile to the pg population. Do you hate other kids who are outliers and try to silence their parents? Why so angy? Get help. |
Anonymous
It's not the kids teachers are hostile to, it's the PITA parents who think that they could do a better job than the teachers and administrators who do not, gasp, recognize and cater the curriculum to their so very brilliant child. |