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][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]

This is just not true.  And I understand the concept -- my kids were both in Montessori ages 2 - 5.

[b]My DS read at a high school level in kindergarten.[/b]  I know you will roll your eyes but it is true.  He was thirsty for something to actually learn in early ES.  Sure, teaching someone else is a new skill but it doesn't substitute for a yearning to be challenged in and interested in school.  He LONGED for textbooks.  he was frustrated and angry that he had to sit around and talk about the Little Red Hen -- not a lot of deeper understanding of material right there.

And something you seem to not understand about gifted kids -- they are intellectually advanced but often emotionally/socially at the level of their peers.  So to expect a kid in K or firts to have the patience to be a teacher is frequently unrealistic.  Plus, there was social issue to all of it -- other kids didn't necessarily want to be taught by a peer, and this can create bullying/teasing situations.  Finally, you are assuming that teachers have the skills to successfully oversee multiple reading groups and 25 kids in a classroom and help a bored, unchallenged and frustrated six year old learn how to patiently and productively teach his peers.

Kids have a right to learn in every grade.  And not learn an ancillary skill like how to teach others, but to expand their own knowledge and stretch their skills.  It wasn't until 4th grade at an HCG that my child received this, and he did get a lot of bullying and teasing from other kids along the way.[/quote]

Oh, good grief.  Are you serious?  You contradict your own statements. You say that intellectually advanced kids are not necessarily emotionally/socially advanced.  Well, then your kid might have been able to read the words of Lord of the Flies in Kindergarten, but if the kid didn't have emotional maturity, I highly doubt your kid understood the themes and content of the book or any high school book for that matter.

I'm not suggesting that advanced kids spend all their time teaching other kids.  I'm suggesting in the context of rewards, that this be employed as a method -- that kids be encouraged to take a vested interest in the success of the group, not just the individual.  And that partly comes from encouraging kids to work with other kids of all levels.

Furthermore, for people with these kindergarten kids who are reading at middle school and high school level, if they truly are reading that level (and by "reading," I mean comprehending themes and concepts), then they shouldn't be in kindergarten, because no kindergarten teacher is going to be able to teach other kindergarten kids AND teach a 6 year old who understands high school level books.  But yeah, I am rolling my eyes, because I do seriously doubt your 6 year old could comprehend high school reading.  And if that was truly the case, the school would have recommended your kid skip a grade or two at the least.

And no "teaching" isn't an ancillary skill.  Communicating ideas to others, trying to break down things you supposedly know is an essential skill.  If a kid can't explain concepts to other kids, then the kid doesn't fully understand the concept.  Period.

The more I read these boards, the more I think all of the parents of so-called "gifted" children who hem and haw that their poor kid has the misfortune of having to be surrounded by other kids of other levels are simply deluded about their own child's actual skill level and intellect.   The way parents on these boards tell it, you'd think there's little army of 6 year old geniuses.  And I highly doubt that is the case.

And if you think bullying is a problem, then socially isolated kids who get As isn't going to help the situation.

I also firmly disagree with the notion that it's the low-achieving kids who are bullying the high-achieving kids.  Bullies come in all forms.  I've known quite a few bullies who got As, but they never learned social skills or cooperation, they were used to getting what they wanted, and they knew how to manipulate others.  Sure, there are also low-achieving (academically speaking) bullies, too.  But bullying is a complicated social phenomena that doesn't simply break down into the smart kids get bullied.  In fact, most experts agree that the victim of bullying is usually someone who has low self-confidence and is perceived as a vulnerable target.  It has little to do with intellectual ability or lack thereof.

If your kid got bullied, it wasn't simply because he was reading at a high school level.[/quote]

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