Reply to Bright but not gifted children essentially being ignored?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. I have definitely not been expressing myself well since so many of you seem to be missing the point I am trying to make.

I'm not too worried about what the teacher thinks. I haven't told her what I've said in this post. I simply asked her if my DD could move to the next word study group.

Thanks for your advice all the same.[/quote]

Not to worry OP , you are expressing yourself just fine. It's the bunch of toddlers mommies who have no experience with a child being in school who are derailing the conversation and basically not getting it.

I have been where you are and yes, Word Study was always one of those issues that drove me nuts.

Yes, the teachers are always say there can be movement in the groups but if you question a bit more you find out that in fact they only consider moving kids a couple times a year and that the groups are hardly "fluid". If you want your kid to move to another group, then push for it but know that this means getting the Principal involved.

Teachers can and do keep kids in lower groups for many reasons and many times the last reason is academic.  Most teachers have a very poor understanding of what Word Study is and how to use it.  Yes, I actually read the book the school used and discovered that my child's teachers in 1 -3rd had little understanding and implemented it very poorly.  It's not hard to figure out what book they are using for Word Study - look at the sheet of words that comes home and the book reference is generally there.

I also discovered that there was in fact a standard test in the Word Study book that kids were given to determine the level.  I found that the teacher didn't score that test correctly. I discovered this when I asked for a copy and was reluctantly shown it a conference.  I then pointed out how and why the test was incorrectly scored.

I generally noted that Word Study did very little to actual increase spelling and vocabulary and reading.  It wasn't just my child, I noticed when viewing writings of other kids in the class that were on display.  When I viewed kids who were in the highest Word Study group (the groups were written on a white board in descending order from highest group to lowest btw so this is how I knew what group each kid was in), then viewed their writings on display, I noticed that most kids still were misspelling quite a few basic words.

Keep pushing forward OP and keep insisting.  Ask which manual they use for Word Study, ask which tests they give, etc.  Once the teacher realized that I now had the exact same knowledge she did in regards to Word Study, she backed off.  She could no longer just insist that she knew and I didn't.  All I had to do was bring out the book and say "Ok, show me."

Lastly, it's important to know that things like Word Study are not taught in college/grad school.  The teachers are not learning how to actually implement these kind of programs while in school. They learn this through getting the book and being told to do it once they have a job and they also go to workshops that might last a couple hours.  That's it.  They really have no more knowledge many times about these specific type programs than anyone could get from reading the book.[/quote]

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