If you look over there to the right, you will see a new widget for the AJ's Clubhouse goodreads account. A while ago, clubhouse contributorfreshhell and I were discussing the challenges of finding good books for kids with advanced reading and comprehension skills. AJ outgrew the text of picture books ages ago, but he still loves the pictures. He loves long chapter books, but the themes of many of them go over his head, because they're designed for older kids. So we started thinking about what were the best books for our kids. Because our kids are still young, we focused on books for intelligent 5-8 year-olds, or as freshhell has put it, "what to do when they outgrow Dr. Seuss." We made separate lists (which were frighteningly similar) and solicited ideas from other friends and readers. Freshhell is now in the process of publishing that list as a goodreads bookshelf. This list is a composite of our findings. Some of the books are good for early readers to read to themselves. Others might be better to read out loud now and maybe read independently when they are a little older. All of them are great books that are worth reading, no matter who you are. This list is primarily fiction. I hope eventually to add non-fiction as well and will probably have some posts on individual topic areas here as we we add to the general list.
We hope you will check it out and that you will find the list helpful and interesting. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know. But please keep in mind that the list will take a little while to be up in full. Freshhell's typing as fast as she can!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Welcome, Jeanne!
You may have noticed a new name in the contributors column on the right. Jeanne has joined freshhell and I as contributors to this blog. She's working on a couple of posts for later this summer. In the mean time, you can read what she has to say at her blog, Necromancy Never Pays. Welcome, Jeanne!
If you would like to be a contributor to this blog, you may contact me at harri3tspyATgmailDOTcom.
If you would like to be a contributor to this blog, you may contact me at harri3tspyATgmailDOTcom.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
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.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Big Science (yodeleheehoo)
I am not familiar with Brian Greene or his work, but his Op Ed piece in today's New York Times really hit home for me, so much so that I could have written it myself.
I am no scientist. My own work is firmly ensconced in the humanities. I haven't studied science since my freshman year in college when I sat in the back of a large biology course trying to figure out why everyone else was freaking out only to realize that I had wandered into a premed section. But I think the big questions in science are incredibly cool. I've been known to read books about physics for fun (although admittedly not since embarking on a dissertation). But unfortunately, a lot of us never get around to the big questions, because our educational systems think the small questions need to come first.
I'm not saying that the smaller questions, the details, aren't important. But doesn't it make sense to get people excited about science first and follow up on the details later? Because if you do it the other way around, they may never want to follow up. But if you start with big science, you can wow them. It's exciting. It's an adventure. It's philosophy and religion and history and art and poetry all rolled into one.
I feel the same way about math too. It's why I was sitting at the kitchen table the other day working on problems in base 2 for AJ to solve. It's why we celebrated Pi day on March 14. It's why we draw fractal trees in our crayon forests. Just because we can't grasp the details doesn't mean we can't grasp the general idea. If AJ learns to love the general idea, then eventually he will seek out the details on his own. That's my philosophy and I'm sticking to it. It seems to be working so far.
I am no scientist. My own work is firmly ensconced in the humanities. I haven't studied science since my freshman year in college when I sat in the back of a large biology course trying to figure out why everyone else was freaking out only to realize that I had wandered into a premed section. But I think the big questions in science are incredibly cool. I've been known to read books about physics for fun (although admittedly not since embarking on a dissertation). But unfortunately, a lot of us never get around to the big questions, because our educational systems think the small questions need to come first.
I'm not saying that the smaller questions, the details, aren't important. But doesn't it make sense to get people excited about science first and follow up on the details later? Because if you do it the other way around, they may never want to follow up. But if you start with big science, you can wow them. It's exciting. It's an adventure. It's philosophy and religion and history and art and poetry all rolled into one.
I feel the same way about math too. It's why I was sitting at the kitchen table the other day working on problems in base 2 for AJ to solve. It's why we celebrated Pi day on March 14. It's why we draw fractal trees in our crayon forests. Just because we can't grasp the details doesn't mean we can't grasp the general idea. If AJ learns to love the general idea, then eventually he will seek out the details on his own. That's my philosophy and I'm sticking to it. It seems to be working so far.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Addendum
Good news on the school front: There will definitely be four, not three, second grade classes next year. I ran into AJ's teacher on the playground after school and she filled me in. She also said that right after she'd sent her reply to my email, the principal walked into her room to ask her about AJ. So it sounds like a principal meeting really won't be necessary. I am going ahead with the meeting with the gifted teacher and hope that it can at least partly about planning, no doubt at a preliminary level, since we still don't know his teacher and won't until August, at a curricular level for next year.
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.
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.
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