Midterms

For the first time ever, we got a midterm report from AJ's teacher. We are continuing to learn that AJ's teacher this year doesn't do things like everybody else. While some kids are struggling with that, AJ seems to be thriving. He is taking greater responsibility for his work and is less inclined to take the easy way out. We are still seeing some mighty basic math homework a lot of the time, but not all the time. AJ, who has brought home straight As since he started getting grades, actually seemed proud of his grades this term. I think he had to work for some of them. And I think he's starting to learn that working means you're doing okay, that you're not supposed to know everything before you start. If the only thing AJ gets out of this year is the message that working is worthwhile, then the year will be a success as far as I'm concerned.

There were three other areas of note that came out of the midterm report.

1. AJ's teacher had the students evaluate their own progress, and their self-assessments were included with the midterm report. I asked AJ about it and he said it was really hard to do. He did, however, offer a fairly accurate assessment in most areas. Although I did think that his high rating on listening in class was undercut by the five warning slips also included (these were handed out throughout the year to date), as each one was for talking in class. He's his mother's son, for sure.

2. As I mentioned in a post at the beginning of the summer, AJ's school has adopted the Accelerated Reader program for guided reading. This involves standardized tests for level assessment. Each book a student reads for independent or in-class free reading is assigned a number of points based on length and difficulty. After each book is completed, the student takes a computerized test of 10-20 questions about the book. The questions are quite detailed and it is not uncommon for students to have to test more than once. After a successful test (which I believe is defined as 80% or higher, although I'm not sure about this), points are assigned to the students account. If the student gets all the questions right, they get full points. If they miss a question or two, they'll lose a few points. Students need to accumulate a certain number of points in their accounts each trimester. The idea is to motivate students to read and to encourage them to read more challenging books, which garner them more points. Readers with greater ability will be expected to earn more points per term than those who are still struggling with the basics.

In principle, I think this program can work. But the book level system is highly flawed, as I mentioned in my previous post on lexiles. AJ's teacher is using book level rather than lexile number. They are basically different ways of stating the same information. The book level is defined by grade level. For instance, a book that is deemed a good reading level for an average fourth grader in the middle of the year will be level 4.5 (month 5 of fourth grade).

Up until now, they've been able to read whatever books they like. But the Midterm Report informed us that from here on out, the only books that would count toward the point totals are the ones that fall within their reading range. AJ's level has been determined to be between 4.5 and 8.9. I'd say that's probably about right in terms of ability. It's better than it could have been -- he's testing at an advanced high school level. The problem is, he likes to read a lot of books that are in the 3.8-4.4 range.

The latest example: Diary of a Wimpy Kid was assessed at 5.2, nearly a grade level above Adam Rex's The True Meaning of Smekday, a much more challenging book from both the standpoint of vocabulary and subject matter, which is registered as 4.5. Smekday was just barely inside AJ's reading level. It's his favorite book at the moment. If it were one point down, he wouldn't have been allowed to read it. If any of you has read both of these books, can you explain the book leveling? It's a mystery to me.

I'm all for pushing AJ to challenge himself with reading. I think he often cops out of things that are a little harder than he's used to because he's afraid he won't succeed. But the book levels seem so random to me that I'm not sure of the value of the cutoff. The AR program does try to acknowledge age appropriateness with their book search system as a separate category from reading ability, for which I commend them, but as I pointed out in my previous post on the subject, the age assignments are frequently random (although not as downright inappropriate as some of the things we found on lexile.com).

I'm a little concerned that AJ is feeling like his book choices are not good enough, like his reading is not up to par because many of the books he likes are below his assigned level. In order to encourage him, this weekend I took him to the bookstore to pick out a new reading book. He came home with Pseudonymous Bosch's The Name of This Book is Secret (book level 5.6). He is loving it and is excited that there are more in the series. So we're good for now, at least.

3. We discovered a really not-so-good result of the school day that is now 45 minutes shorter than it was last year thanks to budget cuts: they can't teach science and social studies at the same time. They are alternating science and social studies units. How can kids not have both subjects all the time? I read Obama's sweeping statements about the education reforms that we need, about having a longer school year, blah blah blah. I have one thing to say to him: Show me the money.

Back to School

AJ finished his first week of school and is still enthusiastic about it, which is a definite step up from last year and a huge step up from his attitude over the summer. This is a great relief to all of us, especially AJ. There was no homework last week, so we haven't seen enough to know how the work is going to be, but we did hear that the first book the class will be reading together is Patricia MacLachlan's wonderful novel Sarah Plain and Tall, which they are using to supplement their social studies and science study of the prairie and prairie cultures. Sarah Plain and Tall is a HUGE step up from the regular classroom reading they did in second grade (AJ didn't do the regular reading, but I worked with kids in the classroom who did). It's a book I read and enjoyed as an adult. I also love the way the curriculum integrates the various disciplines in a multi-faceted approach to a topic. AJ really responds to such an approach.

We think, although we're not sure, that the Challenge Program (which is what the school calls its program for gifted students) starts this week too, possibly tomorrow. I'm very curious to see how exactly this is going to work. The challenge program is both an in-class modification program and a pull-out program. A letter that came home this week suggests (although it is not totally clear) that the math part of the program will be initiated in the pull out program but will also replace classroom work with work at the appropriate level, generally at least one grade level ahead. The reading program, however, is more like a book group. The pull-out reading group will read and discuss novels together in addition to the classroom reading. The gifted teacher has not overly impressed me, although I also really don't know her that well. And the things that have given me pause are all about social skills, not about interaction with children, so I think it is something that is likely to improve. She wrote a very good letter about why she does what she does and about how her own experience as a gifted child has affected her approach toward gifted learners.

So in general, I am feeling very optimistic for the new year. Even so, I'm already thinking about what words I should put on a spelling list for AJ if the first list, which should come home tomorrow, is too easy. AJ says spelling is his favorite subject, which I think is because it is the only subject in which he was consistently challenged last year. Here's hoping for a better balance in the weeks to come.

What's going on with your kids? How are you and they handling the first weeks of school?

August

Summer is winding down around here. AJ starts school a week from today. Tomorrow the class lists and teachers will be posted, like Luther's theses, on the front door of the church school.

Last year at this time, we were preparing to meet with AJ's teacher. We'd arranged a meeting for the morning after the class posting by going through our school principal who set it up without telling us with whom we were meeting. The district gifted coordinator came too. And while I think AJ's class was not ideal for him, I think that meeting made what could have been a dreadful year into a passable one.

This year, we did not request a meeting. Why, when we felt that last year's meeting was so important, did we skip this step? There are several reasons. One is that we have a much bigger paper trail on AJ now than we did then, including detailed IQ scores that clearly place him upwards of the 99th percentile. Numbers speak louder than words in getting action in public institutions. The second reason, though, is that we're venturing into new territory: a formal gifted program.

I did check in with the gifted coordinator last week to make sure we didn't need to be meeting this time and she agreed that the best approach this time was to let AJ and his teacher (whoever it turns out to be) get to know each other first. She also told me that AJ will be pulled out of class, most likely on Monday afternoons, for 2-3 hours, half for reading, half for math.

I'm still trying to get a sense of how the gifted program works. It is curricular, meaning that it's replacing classroom work, not adding to it. My sense is that the reading part is not all that different from previous years, but that AJ's reading group will be overseen by the gifted teacher rather than the classroom teacher. Math is the area with which I've been most frustrated. I feel AJ lost ground last year because of a lack of systematization with his substitute work. I hope this new system will be better.

AJ's greatest interest is who will be in class with him. After last spring's testing fiasco, we know that only one kid tested into the program in the normal way and, because this kid happens to be one of AJ's best friends, we know who that is and that he will be in class with AJ. What we don't know is whether there are other kids who, like AJ, got in some other way. I think this friend of AJ's will be a good companion for him in class. He is less of an outside-the-box thinker than AJ, but he is more mature and disciplined and academically driven, something for which AJ could use a model. I suspect their strengths will play nicely off each other in class.

Also on the table for fall is the new possibility of taking classes through the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University. When we had AJ tested for their programs in first grade, we ended up deciding we couldn't handle the commute. But this year, they've added a new location for some of their programs, one that is only a half hour from here. Their classes are expensive and I'm not sure we'll qualify for financial aid, but they also sound awesome. You can read about their offerings here.

How are you getting ready for school?

Scores are in

We got the full results of AJ's WISC testing today. He hit the ceiling. Take that, stupid school gifted program policy that ignores the obvious! Ahem. Please excuse me if I'm feeling a little childish about this. It's been a long haul and I've mostly been very polite.

Also, AJ reports that during his ITBS testing with the gifted teacher yesterday that she remarked, "Wow, you have a very large vocabulary." Well, duh!

I promise I will stop sticking out my tongue at everyone by the next post.

Rules and regulations

AJ's taking the first part of the ITBS tomorrow. Because of the problems he had on his last standardized test, the OLSAT, we printed out a practice test from the internet. My intent had been to just talk through it with him to make sure he understood the questions, but he loves tests and sprinted on through it. The only two questions he missed were both errors from excessive speed. So we came up with three rules to help him tomorrow.

1. Read the directions carefully
2. Take your time
3. Check the question number and make sure it matches the answer sheet number every time you color a circle.

He's looking forward to it. I'll be glad when all of this stuff is over.

Testing, testing and more testing

AJ had his WISC testing yesterday, which I've written about more anecdotally here. AJ took the WISC-IV and got a score clearly in the gifted range. Even better, he had a great time. It was as if a switch was flipped and his brain went into high gear afterwards. He's been extra fun to be around ever since.

I dropped off the score sheets at AJ's school right when school let out at 3:15. Within 30 minutes, I received an email from the gifted teacher saying she wanted to schedule AJ for Iowa testing. This meant that AJ's WISC scores were substituted for the anomalous OLSAT scores. One more battle completed. One more round of testing to go.

I didn't realize from talking to anyone -- not the gifted teacher, nor the classroom teacher, nor the principal, nor the curriculum director -- that there was another round of testing for identification. Although, I'm not entirely surprised, as the gifted teacher had said something about Iowa testing next year if he qualified. If I'd know that there was another round, I would have pushed for him to do Iowa testing (also known as ITBS or Iowa Test of Basic Skills) at the school earlier.

The ITBS is an achievement test, rather than an aptitude test like the OLSAT. Most schools we've investigated seem to use a combination of aptitude and achievement testing for gifted identification. AJ's school district gives all students the OLSAT in second grade and then pulls those students whose OLSAT scores qualify them for the program and adminsters the ITBS only to them. When I was a kid, everyone took the ITBS. The achievement tests that AJ's school administers to everyone are much less comprehensive. I'm sure that the decision to do it this way is all about economics.

I am slightly nervous for AJ taking the ITBS because, like the OLSAT, it is a color-the-bubble test. It is an "off level" test (or, at least, that's the way AJ's school does it), which means some of the questions will probably deal with concepts AJ doesn't know. But AJ has traditionally done well on these types of tests. And since the rest of the identified kids have already taken the test, AJ will be in a room by himself with the gifted teacher, so there will be fewer distractions than usual -- probably best for him. There are a few sample pages available on the web, which I plan to show him, just to give him an idea of what to expect, and I will prep him for the procedures, including telling him that some of the questions will probably be about things he hasn't learned yet. But I don't plan to do much. My goal is to make him comfortable in the testing room, to to help him cram.

AJ's testing will take place over the next two weeks. Thanks to his alert classroom teacher, who let us know about the OLSAT problem as soon as she knew herself, we were able to work both within the school system and also to acquire independent outside testing in time to get the ITBS done before the end of the school year. I have already written to tell her how very grateful we are for her help. As hard as this process has been, is, I feel we have been very lucky with our teachers.

But our schools, like the rest of the country, are suffering financially. Yesterday, an article appeared in the local paper quoting our district superintendent saying that they are looking at closing another school next year as one way to balance the budget. Our classes are already 26 students and up, even in kindergarten. The rooms aren't even big enough to hold any more students. So while one battle appears to be winding down, another one is just beginning. There are more letters to write.

I'm still working on post of general advice for effective public school advocacy. Additionally, the psychologist who administered AJ's WISC test gave us a 25 page resource guide for parents of gifted children, including organizations, support groups, publications and websites. Some of these are local for us, but some are national. I plan on investigating as many as I can over the coming weeks and writing about them here, so stay tuned!

Another meeting down. How many to go?

I met with the principal of AJ's school today. Mr. Spy stayed home, as this seemed like more of a formality. It turned out, however, to be quite productive, I think. One of the things that has helped immensely in all of this is that there is excellent communication between the various people we've been talking to. When AJ's teacher notified us about her concerns about the test scores, she also talked to the gifted teacher and the principal. When we talked to the gifted teacher, she filled in the classroom teacher and the principal. So everyone knows what is going on. This, I am learning, does not always happen.

The principal is also on our side. Although he is not the one who makes decisions on variance from district curriculum policy, he does have the ear of the person who does and he is going to do what he can to help. He had, in fact, already mentioned that there was a problem to the curriculum director who told him that this problem was not uncommon and that they made decisions on a case by case basis, which sounds promising. So in our meeting, he wanted details so he could most effectively make the case. He thought that we should probably talk to her directly too, but thought it would be best if he spoke to her first and then had her contact us before the end of next week. He asked a lot of questions and I gave him a lot of paperwork, which he said he would copy and drive over to the district office on his way home today. So things are moving at a reasonable pace. If only I could get the psychologists to call me back. It is, apparently, the busy season for shrinks.

Sheep and Goats

I was about to start my weekly volunteer stint in AJ's classroom. This morning I was helping students edit letters they'd written to each other and to their teacher ("Dear Mrs. F, How old are you? May I guess 29?"). Mrs. F. came out of the classroom to talk for a minute while the students were rummaging through their desks in preparation for their next activity.

"We got the test scores yesterday," she said. I knew instantly that she was talking about the Otis-Lennon test that all the 2d graders took earlier this year. "It's not good." AJ didn't make the cut-off for the gifted program. "He was close, but he didn't make it."

This is not good news. Although also not entirely unexpected. This is AJ's first real experience with group standardized testing. The testing we did privately last year was one on one. Moreover, he had never done questions like this before and the school did nothing to prep the students. For a kid like AJ, who tends to freeze when he sees something he is not 100% sure he knows, this is not a good thing. From all I had read about the test, it was set up to play to his weaknesses. Many of the questions are somewhat ambiguous. Students are supposed to look for the best of several answers that may be right. AJ sees too many options in such situations. Instead of thinking it through, when there are multiple options, he shuts down.
Mrs. F. went on to say that AJ appeared agitated during one section of the test in particular. She thought he was guessing because he didn't understand what he was supposed to do. It was a section with pictures instead of math or words. My suspicion is that this test has tested his ability to take tests, not his "mental capability," as it says it is supposed to."

He is apparently not alone. A couple of studies have been done that have demonstrated very gifted kids often do poorly on the Otis-Lennon. Still, it is one of the most commonly administered tests for identifying gifted children, mainly because it is cheaper to administer than most tests. It takes only 45 minutes and requires no special training for the administrator. And considering that, many reviews suggest it is a pretty good test for the investment. But it doesn't seem to be very accurate. I've seen variability rates as great as 9%. But still, how do we process not making the cutoff on one test and 99.9th percentile on another? And am I wrong to give more credence to a test where a psychologist sat down with my kid for over an hour and talked to him over a fill in the bubble test that took 40 minutes that was taken in a classroom full of distractions?


We are trying to figure out what to do next. These kind of things make me second-guess myself all the time. Am I pushing too hard? Am I kidding myself? And then AJ starts doing something at home where it becomes clear to me that we are not in error. We have off-the-charts test scores form private testing and two classroom teachers who will vouch for him. That should be enough. But as I understand it, school policy bases admission to the program on Otis-Lennon scores alone. I can certainly understand why a school would have such a policy. You need to be able to draw a line in the sand. But does it really make sense to draw the line in this particular case?

Mrs. F. said she can make sure he gets into the cluster class with the other gifted kids next year, but she thought we'd better get involved if we want him in the pull-out program. We're meeting with the gifted teacher on Monday to figure out what the story is. But my first contact with her was not encouraging and we're preparing for a fight.

I'm putting together a dossier which includes AJ's previous test scores (even though the school already has them) as well as written reports from his teachers at a summer camp for gifted kids last year, a recommendation written for his application to the camp by his first grade teacher and, hopefully, some of the articles about the fallibility of the test. I may also contact the university where we had AJ tested last spring, which offers some resources for parents of gifted kids and may be able to help.

And for my own sanity, I called Siren to bend her ear about it. She suggested we consider offering to take him for a full IQ test if necessary.

Logically, I would think that the school would have enough grounds to make an exception -- we have test scores and teacher recommendations. That really should be enough. But we haven't had to confront a formal policy before. We're not sure what's going to happen.

But another issue is how much we want to fight for this. We don't really know much about the program and I have to say that my interactions with the teacher who runs it have not been overwhelming. Is this something we should even be worried about? Is clustering enough? He will be tested again next year. Should we just wait? Siren rightly suggested we hear what they have to say. I knew I could count on her to keep me from going off half cocked. So I am resigned to wait until Monday. This is good, because it leaves me enough time to have nine heart attacks over my nearly-but-not-quite finished taxes.

And I was hoping for an easy transition this year. I guess there's no such thing.

Report card time again

The second trimester report card was much better than the first. AJ improved in every area that had room for improvement. Moreover, since report cards went out, we've had more and more communication with his teacher. AJ is now in a math class of one. She's been pretesting him separately and giving him his own stuff to do. And while he's still been bringing home the same homework everyone else is doing which we adapt to his level, he's going to be getting separate homework too. I'm looking forward to seeing it when it arrives. In reading, it seems like his teacher is not only trying to find books at the right level, but also books he'll really like. She's been asking about what he likes and running titles by me. She's trying to pick things that fit in with the unit the class is working on and she's prereading the books before assigning them, to make sure they're appropriate for a second grader. This is above and beyond behavior, I think. I am grateful.

Meanwhile, at home, it seems as if AJ is having a bit of an existential crisis, one which is making me realize how much grownups -- even well-meaning loving grownups -- tend to categorize kids rather than really pay attention. AJ is good at many things and every time he gets good at and interested in one thing, it's assumed that that's his thing. I think this bothers AJ. For a long time he was into space. He always got space presents and books for presents. He liked them to a point, but at some point I think he decided he didn't want to be The Kid Who Liked Space. So recently, when we cleaned up his room, he asked to take down all the space posters. It made me a little sad. He's been drawing solar system pictures since he was two years old. I miss how excited he was about space. But he is on to other things. He doesn't have time for nostalgia. Similarly, when he became the Kid who Loves Science, he started focusing on sports. And when he became The Kid Who Loves Football, he decided not to sign up next year. I have total respect and understanding for his refusal to be boxed in by labels imposed on him by others. But I worry sometimes that he is sacrificing some things he really enjoys.

That is why I've been trying very hard to back off his new thing, the piano. He's been taking lessons for three weeks and is doing, by all accounts, amazingly well. I'm a musician myself, so of course I'm proud of him. But I'm trying to let him do his own thing. I remind him to practice and help when asked, but otherwise, I try to stay out of the way. He has his first recital tomorrow (after only three weeks? Yes, it's true, but it is just because of the timing of AJ's first lesson -- the recital was already scheduled) and he is even more excited about it than he was about losing a tooth yesterday. I'm impressed with how he's applying himself, how he runs down to practice before breakfast and again after school. How much he's learned in such a short time. But I'll be there clapping loudly tomorrow night. And I promise I won't let him be The Piano Boy. He'll just be AJ, playing the piano beautifully.

Midyear Evaluations

This week was midyear parent-teacher conference week at AJ's school. The midyears are by request only, not required. AJ's teacher did not request a conference, but I did. I always do. I can't imagine not taking advantage of a chance to get a better picture of what's going on or to let the teacher know you're paying attention.

My agenda this time was minimal. I wanted to see how some of the organization/behavior issues were going. I wanted to find out what exactly was happening with the school reading groups -- AJ tells us very little and I haven't worked with the reading groups on my volunteer days in a while. But mostly, I wanted to find out what on earth was going on with math.

The news was mostly good -- very good. The behavior issues seem mostly about maturity and the fact that AJ will always take an opportunity to act silly/crazy if someone else is acting that way. This is mostly limited to one other person and they've been separated, so that is going better. We will probably always have organization issues -- AJ's just not a natural. But he's trying. We've been making fewer after school returns to school to find lost homework. He's reportedly keeping his classroom supplies in better order. He has good days and bad days, but there's progress. At home, I see him taking more responsibility for his work. I don't have to remind him quite as much. The things he does daily, he does well. He still struggles with the once-a-week things, since they aren't as securely fixed in his routine.

The reading news was great. I got to see the book he's been working on, one of the "Dear America" series. AJ loves it and it's challenging enough, especially when combined with a series of questions he has to answer at the end which require him to pull out information from the novel and analyze it after he's done reading. This week they'll be starting a Louis Sachar novel that I'm not familiar with called something like "Sideways Tales from the Wayside School." We also got to see a portfolio of his writing, which was wonderful. They are doing a lot more writing than I thought they were -- little comes home, so we didn't realize what they were doing. There were scads of essays, short stories, poems and other types of creative writing.

It turned out, though, that it was good for me to be concerned about math. AJ's teacher showed us a sheet of midyear evaluation scores. Everything was 100% or higher (spelling has extra credit options) except for addition -- that was about 50%. Why was this score so low? Part of it was because AJ didn't read the instructions. When he sees things he thinks are too easy for him, he doesn't bother to make sure he knows what to do. I see this on his homework all the time. But much of it was the opposite problem -- he did read the instructions, but didn't remember that the teacher had told him to do something different. AJ is supposed to multiply most addition worksheets because he doesn't really need the addition practice and he's working on other things. She has reminded him several times, but he doesn't remember. So his score dropped. Now I understand the teacher's point of view here. I know exactly how frustrating AJ can be when you are trying to get him to do something different from the way he's done it before. It take numerous reminders over a fairly long period of time for the behavior to change. This drives me crazy, as I'm sure it drives his teacher crazy. But in this case, I have a little more sympathy with AJ. On the one hand, he's being told to pay more attention to written instructions. On the other, he's hearing that he's not supposed to follow written instructions. I suggested that the multiplication substitution be put in writing, either taped to his desk or, better yet, written on each worksheet.

Meanwhile, we are working with AJ on deciphering word problems. He's got his multiplication and division down, but he doesn't always know how to translate a word problem into a math problem accurately. Yesterday he came home with an assignment to write his own word problems with which he is to try to stump the school principal, who will do one student-created worksheet a week. AJ is very excited about this and I am too. What kid doesn't want to try to be smarter than his teachers and principal? And what a great way to get inside the way word problems work -- instead of yet another work sheet, a creative project. The teacher gets a big gold star for that one.

AJ spent much of the week working on his science fair project with his two friends, which meant I got to spend some time with two of my favorite parents. All three of the kids are definitely performing above average. One of them in ways very similar to AJ. He's in another class. Talking to his mother, I realize how well things really are going this year. Her son is getting minimal reading challenge and only gets challenge spelling when the bring a list in from home, like we did last year. He's getting no extra math at all. The mother of the other boy, who has been in AJ's class for the past two years, agreed that while their teacher this year is not as remarkable as their teacher last year, that she's doing a pretty good job.

The best news I heard at the conference was that when his teacher asks, "Who wants a challenge," he's always the first one with his hand up, shouting, "Me! Me!" This is a big change from last year, where he was often embarrassed about doing something different from everyone else. The difference is that this teacher has integrated challenge assigments seamlessly into her curriculum. In some cases, she offers the challenge assignments to everyone who wants to try them. In part because of class reorganization, AJ gets to work with a partner or in a small group on a number of tasks. The teacher is also using the Everyday Math curriculum in exactly the way I'd hoped she could. Everyday math cycles through a series of topics every year. When they get to a section where AJ is not challenged, she is pulling the assignments from the same topic in the 3rd or 4th grade book. He's still doing the same thing, but at his own level. Consequently, I think AJ is feeling much more a part of the class. This is particularly crucial this year, because he's much more aware of same/different issues than he was last year.

So, there has been definite progress on most fronts since Fall. Good news indeed.

Gray matter

We seem to be running into another problem of the well-meaning-teacher-doesn't-get-gifted-kid's-brain variety. AJ came home with a notebook marked "Reading Response Journal" on Friday, with a note inside stating that it would be due back each Monday. On the first page, a writing prompt had been pasted in: "If I were in this book I would..." and AJ had written a single sentence in response to a book called "Imogene's Antlers," which the class had read back in December. That was it. No other instructions. AJ said that in class she had asked for 2-3 sentences on each of 3 books each week, but he didn't know what he was supposed to write about. Was he supposed to do the same question for each book?

Now AJ is a daydreamer par excellence, so it is entirely possible that he missed the assignment given out in class, and that would be his fault. But since the teacher went through the trouble of printing out a piece of paper that had the deadlines on it, couldn't she have printed the assignment on it too? I have emailed her for further instructions which I'm sure she will provide and we'll have that part figured out.

But that's not the only problem here. There is also the issue of what books we're talking about. Imogene's Antlers is a good book, but not a good book for AJ. It is a good book for AJ four years ago. AJ could read three books like Imogene's Antlers in about five or ten minutes. The fact that he was reading it in school again this year ticks me off, but that is a problem for another day. The problem, for the moment, is the assignment: if this assignment is supposed to be based on for fun reading (which, since it seems to be taking the place of independent reading logs he's been doing since September, seems likely), then AJ's books will take a lot longer to read and three books a week would make this a huge assignment.

Common sense would dictate that he should write responses to what he's reading three times, whether it be three different books or not. But that is not what the admittedly vague assignment said, at least according to AJ. This worries him.

AJ has always been fixated on rules and following them to the letter of the law. It is, I think, a result of not fully understanding the world around him. If you are following the rules, you are doing the right thing. Gray areas are very confusing and unsettling to him. If anything, this trait has been increased this year by the way he and his teacher seem to misunderstand each other a lot of the time. He is worried about doing what he thinks is the right thing and then getting in trouble for it, which sometimes happens. To have an assignment this vague, particularly since it is made even more vague due to the difference of his reading from the rest of the class, causes him great anxiety.

AJ no longer accepts our suggestions for how to do vague assignments, so we are waiting to hear back from his teacher, which probably won't happen until tomorrow. In the mean time, we had him read a shorter book, one that offers him no challenge, but enables him to follow the letter of the law, as he understands it. And he followed the same prompt for Imogene's Antlers, because it was the only thing he had to go on and he was afraid of making a mistake.

I really do not like how AJ has become afraid of schoolwork, how much he balks at homework now. He used to love doing writing assignments. Now he dreads them. As for me, I'm dreading the upcoming parent-teacher conferences. Because there is a lot to talk about.

Parent-teacher conferences

At our first parent-teacher conference of the year last week, AJ’s teacher Mrs. F handed us a packet of grade 3 and 4 math worksheets that AJ has been assigned to work on when everyone else is doing the regular curriculum. “I’m not sure why he’s having trouble with this,” Mrs. F. said. “It shouldn’t be hard for him. But I find him just sitting there staring at it and not doing it. I even asked him to put a star on the pages he thought were hard and a smiley face on the pages that were easy. But he starred some of the easiest pages.” I told her we’d go over it with him over break and I’d try to get to the bottom of it.

AJ is starting to struggle with the format of school. His teacher this year is much more structured than any he’s had before. I get the impression that he feels like he’s always doing the wrong thing, but I haven’t yet figured out why. His teacher, who is trying to do everything she can to help him, is truly frustrated and perplexed. His test scores are off the charts, but he is having trouble with a number of class activities.

We had trouble working on math over break, a subject that AJ has always dearly loved. But every time we’d sit down to try to look at it, AJ would burst into tears. I have been trying so hard not to let it come to this point. My own love of math was squashed by a clueless (and downright mean) teacher in the second grade. This is what I’ve been afraid of. But eventually, we were able to get past the tears and into the problems. And AJ started to have fun again.


This morning, I sat down and wrote a long email to Mrs. F.:

AJ and I went over the math packet over break and I tried to get a sense of what had made him star some pages. He also worked on a few pages on his own and we talked them through afterwards. After looking more carefully at the packets, AJ decided that it was all pretty easy for him but mostly not so incredibly easy as to be boring (except for the time pages, at which he rolled his eyes).

I think his stars say more about his difficulty understanding instructions, both those you gave him on starring things, and also the ones on the starred worksheets. He said they are easy now that he knows what they are, but that he didn't know what things like "expanded notation" meant at first. [AJ’s class curriculum is the somewhat controversial Everyday Math program; the packet is drawn from the much more standard Spectrum series; the presentation and some terminology is markedly different.]

He also isn't clear on what the "show your work boxes" are for [each problem has a space on the right margin marked “show your work” -- are they required or are they just there when he needs them? Because he does a lot of the work in his head, if he needs to show his work, someone might need to show him what that means. I did talk to him about how he will at least at some point, need to demonstrate how he figured things out (we talk about this a lot at home, so that shouldn't be a total surprise to him, but he's not used to writing it, and he may balk at it because it slows him down). You'll see how he tried to fill in the "show your work" columns on some of the pages and I think it will give you a good window into how his math brain works. For example, On Lesson 2.3 of the Spectrum Math grade 3 (page 22), the first question gives digits for the various places and he has to figure out what number it spells. The number is 600,903, which he got correctly. In the "show your work" section, he wrote out the number, and then wrote the numbers for each place squished in underneath each digit(100,000, 10,000, etc.). Below that, he wrote "3x3=9" with arrows connecting the 3 and 9 with their twins in 600,903. Then he wrote "3x2=6" and drew arrows between the 3s and 6s. He told me that he thought it was cool that you could make all the digits out of 3, so he decided to show that. Further down the page, where he had to write biggest and smallest numbers made with the digits, he ended up writing the (correct) answers in the "show your work" column and leaving the answer blanks blank. He was so worried about showing his work, that he forgot to write the answers where they were supposed to go.

But AJ also wasn't sure what "hard" meant -- from his perspective, it was too vague. He doesn't always deal well with grey areas. I explained it to him as "hard is something you don't know how to do by yourself and you need someone to show you how to do it." By that definition, the only stars that remained were on the "expanded notation" pages. And once he figured out what that meant, then those stars disappeared as well.

Based on this, I'd like to see him gaining more independence on worksheets like this, being able to carefully read and figure out the instructions for himself. But I also think he may need some spoken words about what to do before each one. It's not so much that he gets it wrong all the time, but that he doesn't trust himself to be getting it right. He seems to expect that he's going to do it incorrectly and wants reassurance.

The other thing it seems like he needs work on, is interpreting word problems. There weren't actually too many examples of that in the packet, but he doesn't trust himself to turn the word problems into equations a lot of the time. He wants constant reassurance. And when the word problems involve subtraction or division, he doesn't always get the order right.

And, perhaps most important, overall, defining things with almost comic precision helps him out a lot. If there is an exception of any kind, he will find it and be confused by it. He hasn't yet learned the psychology of figuring out what the question is asking by what makes sense, not just what is literally stated.

I think, although I’m not certain, that his teacher is turning him loose with extra work and is not willing or able to spend much time explaining things to him. And I know that AJ is not always willing or able to get up in the middle of class and go ask his teacher what he needs to know. His class is very large and, as generally happens, those who are struggling to work at grade level get more attention than those who are working too far above grade level. But all second graders need help and personal attention, no matter what level they’re at. None of them is independent yet. I didn’t want to come right out and say, “pay more attention to my kid,” because I know she’s doing what she can. But at the same time, she needs and wants to know how to help him. I hope I was diplomatic enough while also being clear.

Onward and Upward

Today was AJ's last day of first grade. Among the million and one papers that came home were the results of the school administered standardized testing. He got every question on all the exams right. AJ and I are both sad to be leaving his teacher. We went back into the school to find her after the final bell and thanked her for all she had done (we also each made her a thank you card because I think these things are always good to put in writing). I told her about my meeting with the gifted teacher a couple of weeks ago and about how we were planning an education team meeting in the fall with AJ's new teacher and the gifted teacher and us. Mrs. M. volunteered to join us. I was thrilled. I had wanted to ask her, but had decided not to because she will be on maternity leave. Things are definitely looking up for next year. You can read a fuller account of today's events at spynotes.

Take a memo

This morning I went to meet with the district gifted teacher. I was much better prepared than I was last year and consequently, the meeting was much more productive than last year's. I've learned a lot this year.

I went in with a list of things I wanted to talk about: AJ's testing, creating an IEP or something like it but perhaps less detailed (more on that in a minute), and getting info about summer programs I might not know about and help in finding math materials to work with over the summer.

First of all, it turns out that the decision to test was an excellent idea. She said several times how that will help a lot in terms of getting AJ what he needs from the school. I'll be passing the scores on to her as soon as we get them in written form.

Second, I requested some kind of formal and written goals for AJ. I mentioned the idea of an IEP, but it seems that a formal IEP will not fly this year for several reasons, although having IEPs for each gifted kid is a goal she's working towards eventually. At the moment there some "major roadblocks," she said, mostly financial and mostly stemming from the state of Illinois' decision to more or less eliminate funding to gifted programs a few years ago. Before the cuts, there was a gifted teacher for each school in the district (in which there are six schools, two of which have close to 900 students apiece). Now there are two for the district altogether, each spending about a day and a half a week at each of three schools. Before the cuts they had begun to establish a county-wide group for gifted students and their parents so they could pool their resources and network. That project was scrapped when the money pulled out. Less money and fewer people means there's not an effective way to oversee a formal IEP. Moreover, since there technically is no gifted program until third grade, IEPs aren't considered yet. It's sad seeing what could have been, but it's also hopeful to see the energy and creativity going into the program. It's too bad the teachers and money are stretched so thin.

However, there was some good news too. Because the gifted teacher feels that IEPs are fundamentally useful as both a way of holding gifted kids accountable for their individualized work and also as a tool to help parents, the classroom teacher and the gifted teacher work together, she's interested in trying to come up with something. We just can't call it an IEP. The challenge will be that we won't know who AJ's classroom teacher is until a week or at most two before school starts. This doesn't give us much time for collective planning.

I underscored some of my reasons for wanting a plan like this. I want continuity and direction in assignments. The breakout challenge assignments that are more puzzle-like are great, but when they're substituting for classroom work, I fear he's losing a sense of moving from point a to b, which is important both in terms of his establishing good work habits and understanding what is expected of him at school and also to give him a sense of accomplishment. AJ enjoys achieving mastery. He likes having a task and being able to work on his own to achieve it. I don't think he's always had a clear sense of his goals this year. I think if he did, some things would have been easier. For instance, he has balked at writing assignments. When he's in class, his classroom teacher will tell the class to write "at least 3 sentences" about a particular subject in their journals. AJ will write exactly 3 sentences. If the teacher pushes him to do more (which she does), he feels like he's being punished and tries to get out of it. I think if he knew ahead of time that his expectations would be different, if he knew what they were and why they were different, I think we wouldn't be having the attitude problem. Like most gifted kids, he has a love-hate relationship with his talents. He likes feeling special, but he hates feeling different. Clarifying that there are expectations for him just as there are for the other students in the class but that the goals will be different because he is at a different level is extremely important.

We decided to do several things. First, I'm going to try to write up a more anecdotal description of the work I've been doing with AJ (this will include both the work I've done with his classroom teacher on independent reading and spelling as well as other stuff) and create a list of things we'd like him to accomplish this year. I will take care to make this look like more of an idea list than a hard and fast plan, because I don't want to come across as someone who's going to be bullying the classroom teacher. But I want to have some information for her and speed up a conversation that will take place much later than is ideal. I will also get the test scores to the gifted teacher as soon as I can, hopefully before the end of the school year. She will get AJ's scores where they need to go and she will use them to help lobby for pretesting in math for him next year as a way to identify areas where he'll need supporting curricular materials. It will then be possible to assign extra math materials that coordinate with the curriculum the classroom is doing by topic. She is hopeful that we'll be able to do this because a) AJ's school has already been trying hard to help us out b) we have test scores to back up the need and c) she was able to put this through at a different school this year, so a precedent has been established.

As soon as the teacher assignments are posted (which I'll probably know before the gifted teacher will), I will contact both the gifted teacher and classroom teacher to arrange a meeting all together, hopefully before school starts, but possibly not until shortly thereafter.

I also found out several interesting things about what lies ahead. At the end of second grade, the kids will be tested for both aptitude and achievement. The aptitude tests are limited in terms of how high they go. The achievement test in reading makes up for it on the reading end. If students test high enough in math, they will be tested further. The tests include the Otis-Lehman and the Gates-McGintie. She didn't specify what they used for the additional math testing.

Also, I learned that starting in 5th grade, which is when students move to the middle school (our district has a strange arrangement where they go to elementary school PreK-4, middle school for 5th and 6th and a junior high for 7th and 8th) there will be a class of gifted kids. They'll be at various levels in various subjects, but they will all be together. Once they move to the junior high, they will be clustered within a given subject area as they move from class to class. This sounds like a logistical nightmare for the school, but it sounds great for us.

All in all, I felt much better after this meeting. Last year I didn't have enough of a plan. The gifted teacher is a talker, so I kind of got derailed. This year I was in charge of the agenda and I felt like by the time I left we were all on the same page, that I had learned some things about her and about the way things work in the schools and she had learned more about AJ and what we want and need. It sometimes feels awkward to take a professional approach to these meetings. I want to come across as friendly and helpful, not as some crazy parent dictator. AJ's teacher assures me that I don't come across that way and promises she will tell me if I do. But I still want to respect the expertise of the people I'm working with (unless they give me a good reason not to). I feel like we've got a collegial situation at the moment, one where we're all engaged in the same project and I don't want to mess it up. And even though it may be odd in this setting, I plan to write up what I took away from our meeting and email it to the gifted teacher to confirm that we're thinking about the same things. I really hope I don't come across as a slave-driving nut.

Time marches onward

So I've had a few days to think about the testing. I'm still not sure how we're going to use it. And I'm holding off on decision-making until we get the written report, which I hope will be more comprehensive than the minute and a half verbal review we got in the office. Here is what we know for sure: AJ is working at least three grade levels ahead of the norm. AJ's school only goes to up to the 4th grade, therefore there may be limitations on appropriate curriculum available from within the school next year.

Here are some variables: The gifted teacher at AJ's school also works with the middle and junior high schools, so while the basic school curriculum may not be advanced enough, she should be able to provide materials. Also, the math curriculum, Everyday Mathematics, seems tailor-made for a kid like AJ. It keeps cycling through concepts big and small, so it looks to me like it's relatively easy to adapt what's going on in the classroom by asking more complex questions about the same material. This year, AJ's been going back and forth between the regular curriculum and what they've been calling the "challenge" materials. The challenge materials are terrific and interesting and definitely challenging (even for me sometimes, not that math is my strong suit). But the drawback with them is that they are not tied into any kind of classroom goals. Challenging work is great, but next year, I'd like to see if there can be more of a focus so that AJ can feel like he's mastering some skills and not just like he's playing games. If this stuff is replacing curriculum material for him, I want to make sure someone's still holding him accountable for the skills he needs to know. I'm mostly concerned about this with math, where I feel I'm not as competent at overseeing the process. I've also been able to see that with math, he's been jumping around a lot. He needs more accountability, particularly with rote exercises, where he doesn't always pay enough attention. I see him doing a lot of things I did -- boredom makes him slack off on the easy stuff. It's understandable, but someone still needs to be letting him know that it's important to be paying attention to the easy stuff too, because if you don't do it right, then the hard stuff doesn't work either.

I emailed AJ's teacher about the test results and to ask her advice. My plan, as I posted here a few entries back, was to make appointments with the school principal and the gifted teacher. I still may, but AJ's teacher is thinking that the principal meeting may not be necessary, as we've filed the paperwork and he has seen it and AJ's teacher has already spoken to him. I may go ahead and do it anyway, though, because my reason for meeting with him has more to do with the issue of classroom size than the other stuff. But I may defer to AJ's teacher's judgment, because I'm not really sure how involved the principal is in this stuff anyway. The School Board will ultimately make the decision about the number of second grade classes and the principal is the one who has to deal with the fallout (i.e., angry parents). I'm going to think about that one for a day or two.

AJ's teacher also suggested that I think about what we might want to ask the gifted teacher for. Are there any particular things we want AJ to do next year? I think I'm going to have a talk with Mr. Spy and AJ about this. What do we want him to accomplish next year? Should we create a math contract the way his teacher wrote up reading contracts this year? A document that explained the goals to AJ and laid them out for his teacher as well? This would be so much easier if we knew who AJ's teacher was going to be. I would love to sit down with the classroom teacher and the gifted teacher and hammer this out in person. But by the time the classrooms are assigned, it is too late.

Still, things are happening. I'll be interested to see where this ends up.