“Why should my child be the one that learns the least this year?”
This is based on the introduction to Susan Winebrenner’s orange book, Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom.
I want to say it all the time. But I’m not sure what that will get me. I’m already a “troublemaker” after all. But, maybe it will help SOMEONE who previously didn’t get why I am upset about what my kids are getting in school “get it.” Because little Johnny who is on grade level will gain a whole grade level this year in school, and little Tommy who is below grade level might even gain more than a grade level, but my kids, who are above grade level, will probably NOT gain a whole grade level in school this year. Is that fair?
I know that lots of people think it is elitist for me to want more for my kids, but, why should they learn less in school than everyone else just because they started out ahead? They learn quickly. If given ideal circumstances, they could learn MORE than one grade level’s expected learning in one year. And yet, alas, they probably will not. They will “eventually even out” with the other kids. I think that is a disservice to my children and am trying my hardest to keep it from happening.
A friend of mine works at a print shop and has got a copy of a book having to do with something called the Schoolwide Enrichment Model Reading Framework by Joseph Renzulli and is going to send it to me. I haven’t read very much Renzulli (and I cannot go back and check since I lost most of my email messages during the tragic fried hard drive incident in November), but I’m fairly sure he is the researcher that our school district is supposedly following in their plans for the new curriculum and 21st Century Schools. Anyhow, some related stuff is available online from the publisher, http://www.creativelearningpress.com
After I read it, I will report back. They have some printable activities on the website that teachers, etc can use to encourage creativity in kids.
Listening to NPR this morning and the sponsor of one of the programs was George Lucas’ education foundation Edutopia, so I went and looked them up, too. That led me to Big Picture Education. Cool. I haven’t read enough about the “how to get one” part…but, I am doubtful, nonetheless, as I seem to hit wall after wall trying to get something different here.
Oh, I’m also trying to read Bob Wise (former governor of WV)’s book Raising the Grade about high school reform. I read all the parts where he used analogies about the current education our kids are getting being like driving a 1963 (?) Corvette on today’s roads…Not so safe, not so efficient, even if it was cool and great then. But, as he points out, we are using a 100-year old (or older) model for curriculum and calendar and think we can keep using it, even though the world is so different and the jobs are so different now, and we don’t even KNOW what it will be like 20-30-50 years down the road when these kids are in the workforce.
January 16, 2009 at 7:17 pm |
I’d be the last one to tell you to give up trying to make things better. I admire your “sticktoitness” but you realize that everyday that your kids are forced to stay within the confines of the cookie cutter education we have, they are becoming the cookie. You and I both know that we don’t have time to waste (for our kids) on fixing the system. Their formative years are fleeting. You’re completely right though. They look at a child who’s “got it” and they say “oh,, he’ll be fine, now I can focus on this kid” and who can blame them? What else can they do? We know this isn’t the teacher’s fault, it’s the system. There’s no freedom in it. Education without freedom is just total fail.
::steps off soap box::