Reply to Silver Spring's Eastern Middle School gets slammed for rewarding good students

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
One approach could be to reward based on group accomplishment.  So let's take the party idea.  Tell the kids that the class has to reach Goal X in order to have a party.  Let's say Goal X is a math test.  One group of kids in the class has aced the material; another has not.  Break the kids in groups and have the kids who have aced it try to explain the material and assist the kids who have not.  The kids for whom the material comes easily are challenged because it is one thing to solve a problem; it is quite another to explain to another person how to solve a problem.  It challenges those kids to be leaders.  It also helps the kids who are struggling by giving them one on one attention.  And often a kid will learn more from a peer than from the teacher, because a kid will explain something in terms another kid will more easily understand.  It also teaches the kids to cooperate, because the reward depends on cooperation.

It amazes me when parents complain that their advanced kid isn't challenged if he/she is with not-so-advanced kids.  Because there are actually ways to challenge the advanced kids.  And it isn't by just surrounding them with other advanced kids.

I tutored when I was in school, and honestly, the material I tutored is the material that, to this day, I know the best.  It was a challenge communicating concepts so that someone else could understand.  It also taught me valuable skills that I have certainly used as an adult.  And it also fostered in me an inclination to understand people instead of dismiss them.

This is just one suggestion of how a reward, such as a party, could be used in a school or a classroom.

But it has to be a combination of group work and individual achievement.  Group work where just one product is submitted often results in one or two kids doing all of the work.  But a system whereby all kids will have to do an independent assessment but the incentive for all is for the class as a whole to do well gets around that problem.  [/quote]

No.  I'm sorry, but as the parent of a gifted child, I have to draw the line at employing my child to do the teacher's job.  My child is at school to do her own work and learn for herself.  If DC wants to volunteer after school as a tutor, then that's fine.  But, during the school day, my child's job is to learn something new for him/herself.  NOT spend time teaching someone else.

If that sounds harsh, you have to understand that gifted children are frequently put in this position from very early grades.  They are assigned to "help" other kids read, to explain their answers to other kids or to "show" what they can do.  This means that the time they have at school to learn something new is spent reviewing something they already know with someone else.  Maybe you felt this gave YOU a deeper understanding, but this is not true for everyone.  In addition, this puts them in a very difficult position socially in the class.  They also are often not qualified for it.  My gifted child read at a 6th grade level in Kindergarten, but had NO IDEA how to teach another child to read.  [/quote]

+1M

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I agree completely.  In kindergarten and first grade, my DS' "reading group" was helping other kids read simple books.  It was a disservice to the other kids and to him.

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You all have a very limited understanding of how a gifted child can be challenged.

First of all, it does challenge a gifted child to articulate how they understand things.  It challenges them a great deal.  Real learning, enrichment isn't just a constant barrage of new facts.  It's learning to communicate a deeper understanding of material.  It's learning about audience and how to break things down.  And believe me, it does more to prepare children for success in adulthood than most anything else, unless you plan for little gifted Johnny to live in a gated community and never interact with the rest of the world.

And if you think that puts them in a difficult position socially but throwing a party for only them (or doing any public acknowledgement of their success) doesn't, then you are mistaken.

And if your gifted child read at a 6th grade level in kindergarten but didn't know how to teach someone else, then learning to teach someone else IS a NEW skill/thing.  It amazes me that you can't recognize that.    [/quote]

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