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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Please tell me you're a parent and not a teacher.  Because you really don't know what you're talking about re curriculum and challenge. [/quote]

So, that's not really a helpful and productive response.  If you disagree with one or more of the points above, please explain why.  Then we can learn from each other.   If you just say "you really don't know what you're talking about", that doesn't actually offer a counterpoint or anything to discuss.  Its just a random insult. [/quote]

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).  [/quote]

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