Reply to AAP - why not have it for all of FCPS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was the kid who struggled with skip counting, well all math. My son was laying out Lincoln logs to show how multiplication worked when he was 4. He didn't call it multiplication, he just was goofing off with grouping the logs in piles and figuring out how you could get to the same number with different combos. We process information very differently. I was not ready for AAP in third grade, I think my child is. I did take, and pass, AP classes/exams and went on to earn a PhD. It took me longer to grasp and apply concepts then it takes my son at the same age but I turned out just fine. The vast majority of kids whose parents are involved and engaged will go on to do well regardless of language immersion, gen ed, or AAP.

There are some kids who are ready for deeper dives into material or who can move faster then others and there is nothing wrong with that. AAP is meant to challenge those kids, hopefully. Then there are kids who would be lost in those classes and feel frustrated and fall behind. Asking Teachers to try and differentiate across the wide spectrum of kids abilities at this age is not going to help the kids or the Teachers. Heck, there are people who complain that there is not enough differentiation in AAP and that their kids are doing worksheets and working on computers while other kids are working with the teacher all the time.
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How and at when did you accelerate and move ahead? which teachers helped you with that? do you have any suggestions on a good model for that?

You make a good point of ensuring that kids are not struggling with any curriculum.  But, presently open enrollment in honors in middle school is having many teachers manage classrooms with 2-4 years of knowledge gaps in the same large group of students, as parents want honors enrollment for many kids.  So it seems that supporting kids early in elementary school with a good academic program and basic concepts can prevent the same problems of stuggling kids and overwhelmed teachers further ahead. [/quote]

My Mom fought for me to receive support at school and spent a lot of time working with me on my homework. We figured out that I was able to do better on tests when I took them by myself and could talk out loud to myself. Classes that I was getting C's and D's in turned into B's once I had untimed testing in a quiet location. I rarely needed the extra time but I needed the quiet space to talk out loud. It turns out that I process verbally and when I was answering orally my answers were more through and organized. I also stopped skipping steps, I think because talking out loud forced me to slow down and decreased my getting ahead of myself.

I took a slower math path, Algebra, Algebra 2, and then Geometry. I did not take Math in my senior year. I took Chemistry, biology, Earth Science, and Anatomy for sciences. I attended a very good liberal arts college with smaller classes and my Professors there were very supportive.

My Mom fought hard for me to receive 30 minutes a day support outside the classroom. She insisted that I had access to Teachers for tutoring and support, I would go before or after school. And I worked with tutors when I needed to.

And the reality is that my LD's were relatively moderate and my parents could afford to find me the supports I needed. And I was always strong in English, reading, and social science. So I had parts of school that were easy for me which probably helped prevent me from becoming overly discouraged. It also gave me a more clear path for college and later Graduate School.

I agree with your last point. Too many parents are focused on AAP or honors or advanced classes. I took AP and Honors classes in my strong areas, English Literature and History. I took a slower path for math and science because those were a challenge for me. There is no way my parents would push me into Honors Math and Science, we threw a party when I got a C in stats at college. I think that was the proudest my parents have been at me, I got a C in a college level math class. Too many people are caught up in kids getting into prestige college X. There are a lot of good colleges and Universities out there that are not on everyones radar. All that matters is that you graduate from an accredited college with your degree. It helps some people to graduate from Harvard or Michigan or UCLA but the vast majority of people are successful and do fine in their adult life with degrees, or no degree, from a College that most people have not heard of. 
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