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.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Book Review: MVP* *Magellan Voyage Project by Douglas Evans
MVP* (*Magellan Voyage Project)
by Douglas Evans
Pictures by John Shelley
Asheville, NC: Front Street Press, 2004
ISBN 1-932425-13-6
I picked Douglas Evans' MVP off the bookshelf of AJ's school library on one of my volunteer days thinking a book about sports might be something he'd like. It turned out not to be a book about sports at all, but something much better. I think AJ read it 5 times at least before we took it back to the library.
MVP is an adventure story of the first order. It includes many of the elements that make AJ love a book:
Evans introduces his protagonist Adam Story, who narrates the story, with a classic palindrome: "Madam, I'm Adam." Palindromes permeate the book -- many of the characters have palindromic names (I'd venture to say that the palindromes seem to hint at the character's helpfulness or trustworthiness, but I haven't thoroughly checked to see if this is true throughout).
Adam is a loner, although not entirely by choice. He lives in relative poverty with his mom on the wrong side of the tracks, but attends public school in a fancier district because his mother works in the school's cafeteria. He feels isolated by his circumstances On the afternoon of his 12th birthday, while he is closing down the school's Homework Club, he is visited by a strange man in a cape who invites him on an adventure: to circumnavigate the globe in 40 days. The man reveals himself as Prince Olioli Oh XL of the kingdom of Babababad, and the producer of the Magellan Voyage Project, the organization behind the journey. Prince Oh offers to fully and generously finance the trip and to arrange it so Adam's mother doesn't even know he's gone. If he accomplishes the trip within the time frame, he will be rewarded with 4 million dollars.
Adam deliberates but eventually chooses to take the challenge. His journey introduces him to dozens of characters, some helpful, some harmful. He sees the world and gradually learns that the Magellan Voyage Project and Prince Oh himself are not quite what they seemed at first.
The story is fast-paced, exciting, clever and funny. Like any good adventure story there are lots of twists and turns, but the protagonist triumphs in the end. Its only weakness is that in prioritizing plot and pacing, character development gets short shrift. I would have liked a little more depth in the characters we spend the most time with, particularly Adam and one of his fellow travelers, Meredith. But overall, this is an excellent book for for elementary-middle school readers (and their parents). It's also very well suited to younger advanced readers like AJ. It's adventurous, but not too scary, and all subject matter is totally appropriate for younger readers. And the cartoonish line drawings throughout the book are engaging. AJ, Mr. Spy and I all loved it. And we are certainly not alone -- MVP was one of the nominees for the 2008 Rebecca Caudill award for Young Readers in our home state of Illinois.
As a parent and educator, I'd also add that there is a lot of potential for educational tie-ins. AJ read up on the countries the character passed through. We followed Adam's journey on a globe. AJ planned his own around the world routes, using maps and internet sites, just like Adam did. We will definitely be checking out Evans' other books and as for MVP, we're all hoping for a sequel.
by Douglas Evans
Pictures by John Shelley
Asheville, NC: Front Street Press, 2004
ISBN 1-932425-13-6
I picked Douglas Evans' MVP off the bookshelf of AJ's school library on one of my volunteer days thinking a book about sports might be something he'd like. It turned out not to be a book about sports at all, but something much better. I think AJ read it 5 times at least before we took it back to the library.
MVP is an adventure story of the first order. It includes many of the elements that make AJ love a book:
• Boy protagonist
• Adventure that takes place in the "real" world (i.e., no magic/supernatural stuff)
• Word play or puzzles (in this case, lots of palindromes)
• Kids having adventures not only without parental supervision, but entirely without their parents knowledge.
• Kid conquers world! (in this case, literally as well as metaphorically)
• Silliness abounds
• So does excitement
Evans introduces his protagonist Adam Story, who narrates the story, with a classic palindrome: "Madam, I'm Adam." Palindromes permeate the book -- many of the characters have palindromic names (I'd venture to say that the palindromes seem to hint at the character's helpfulness or trustworthiness, but I haven't thoroughly checked to see if this is true throughout).
Adam is a loner, although not entirely by choice. He lives in relative poverty with his mom on the wrong side of the tracks, but attends public school in a fancier district because his mother works in the school's cafeteria. He feels isolated by his circumstances On the afternoon of his 12th birthday, while he is closing down the school's Homework Club, he is visited by a strange man in a cape who invites him on an adventure: to circumnavigate the globe in 40 days. The man reveals himself as Prince Olioli Oh XL of the kingdom of Babababad, and the producer of the Magellan Voyage Project, the organization behind the journey. Prince Oh offers to fully and generously finance the trip and to arrange it so Adam's mother doesn't even know he's gone. If he accomplishes the trip within the time frame, he will be rewarded with 4 million dollars.
Adam deliberates but eventually chooses to take the challenge. His journey introduces him to dozens of characters, some helpful, some harmful. He sees the world and gradually learns that the Magellan Voyage Project and Prince Oh himself are not quite what they seemed at first.
The story is fast-paced, exciting, clever and funny. Like any good adventure story there are lots of twists and turns, but the protagonist triumphs in the end. Its only weakness is that in prioritizing plot and pacing, character development gets short shrift. I would have liked a little more depth in the characters we spend the most time with, particularly Adam and one of his fellow travelers, Meredith. But overall, this is an excellent book for for elementary-middle school readers (and their parents). It's also very well suited to younger advanced readers like AJ. It's adventurous, but not too scary, and all subject matter is totally appropriate for younger readers. And the cartoonish line drawings throughout the book are engaging. AJ, Mr. Spy and I all loved it. And we are certainly not alone -- MVP was one of the nominees for the 2008 Rebecca Caudill award for Young Readers in our home state of Illinois.
As a parent and educator, I'd also add that there is a lot of potential for educational tie-ins. AJ read up on the countries the character passed through. We followed Adam's journey on a globe. AJ planned his own around the world routes, using maps and internet sites, just like Adam did. We will definitely be checking out Evans' other books and as for MVP, we're all hoping for a sequel.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Testing 1-2-3
This week, all the second graders at AJ's school are taking the Otis Lennon School Ability Tes, or OLSAT. The OLSAT is not an IQ test, but it is often used as an entrance exam to gifted programs. It is the only aptitude testing that AJ's school uses. Third and fourth graders take a state achievement test.
The school uses the OLSAT to determine tracking and special services. Starting in third grade, students are clustered with others at their level within their classroom. Those performing well below or well above the norm will get special services. AJ's scores on this exam will determine whether he gets into the gifted program next year.
I'm not concerned about that. I'm sure he'll do well enough to get in, and even if for some reason he didn't, we have enough paperwork to get him in the back door. But I did want to make sure he knew how to take the test.
This will be AJ's first experience with standardized testing. I would like it to be a good one, for his sake. He will expect to do well. His teacher hasn't said anything about the test, what to expect, how to take it. I wanted to make sure AJ knew how to handle the mechanics -- finding directions when they are at the top of each page instead of by each problem (a known issue for him), coloring in the circles accurately, what an analogy problem question. But I wasn't sure if I should. I don't want to pressure him. I honestly don't think this test is all that important in the general scheme of things (if he does well, it will help; if he doesn't, it probably won't hurt much). I also don't want to prep him if we're not supposed to. In the end, I decided to walk him through the basics. I really don't know much about the test, so I don't think I could possibly give away much.
What would you do?
The school uses the OLSAT to determine tracking and special services. Starting in third grade, students are clustered with others at their level within their classroom. Those performing well below or well above the norm will get special services. AJ's scores on this exam will determine whether he gets into the gifted program next year.
I'm not concerned about that. I'm sure he'll do well enough to get in, and even if for some reason he didn't, we have enough paperwork to get him in the back door. But I did want to make sure he knew how to take the test.
This will be AJ's first experience with standardized testing. I would like it to be a good one, for his sake. He will expect to do well. His teacher hasn't said anything about the test, what to expect, how to take it. I wanted to make sure AJ knew how to handle the mechanics -- finding directions when they are at the top of each page instead of by each problem (a known issue for him), coloring in the circles accurately, what an analogy problem question. But I wasn't sure if I should. I don't want to pressure him. I honestly don't think this test is all that important in the general scheme of things (if he does well, it will help; if he doesn't, it probably won't hurt much). I also don't want to prep him if we're not supposed to. In the end, I decided to walk him through the basics. I really don't know much about the test, so I don't think I could possibly give away much.
What would you do?
Friday, February 20, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Madder Men
In light of my last post and your comments on it, an article in today's New York Times Arts section seemed particularly timely.
The article,"Scholastic accused of Misusing Book Clubs" by Motoko Rich, discusses a watchdog group's opposition to the presence of advertising links and non-book items in the Scholastic Book Club flyers that go out to thousands of school children every month. I know several of us here at AJ's Clubhouse have expressed our concern about this before. The watchdog group is called Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. You can see more of what they do at their website, linked above.
The argument that Scholastic offers is that some of these items help bring reluctant readers to books by luring them with posters, toys and games. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood objects globally to anything that is not a book being marketed in schools and that the add-ons only teach children acquisitiveness, without actually teaching them to value books (I have heavily paraphrased here and take all credit for any oversimplification). I think my own opinion on the matter lies somewhere in the middle, although closer to the CCFC's side. I have already discussed in this space my discomfort with brand name advertising in schools. I don't, however, put the selling of a book with a poster in the same category as the selling of a video game. Scholastic has both types of things. I don't think video games belong in school flyers. But I have no problem with posters -- as long as the poster has something to do with the book. AJ loves it when his books come with posters. He has a number of them up in his room. But I would be surprised if he would choose a book simply because it had a poster. The poster would only encourage an interest that was already there. I don't even have a problem with some of the non-book items Scholastic sells -- science experiment kits, for example. If they get a kid to engage in some scientific inquiry at home, that's great. The Mad-Libs they've started selling are good too. Although not designed as educational tools but for silly fun, they encourage reading and writing and they taught my kid the parts of speech. My objection to most of the non-book items is the quality control -- the few science kit type products we've ordered from Scholastic have been cheaply made and hard to use. If they are going to sell such things, they should make sure they are good quality and worthwhile educational products. Not video games. Not advertising. Not junk.
Of course, what Scholastic wants to market outside of schools is its own business. Inside the school, where they have a captive audience that has to be there -- they have not chosen it -- marketing non-educational, branded, or plain inappropriate products is reprehensible. And Scholastic has been doing plenty of all three.
The article,"Scholastic accused of Misusing Book Clubs" by Motoko Rich, discusses a watchdog group's opposition to the presence of advertising links and non-book items in the Scholastic Book Club flyers that go out to thousands of school children every month. I know several of us here at AJ's Clubhouse have expressed our concern about this before. The watchdog group is called Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. You can see more of what they do at their website, linked above.
The argument that Scholastic offers is that some of these items help bring reluctant readers to books by luring them with posters, toys and games. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood objects globally to anything that is not a book being marketed in schools and that the add-ons only teach children acquisitiveness, without actually teaching them to value books (I have heavily paraphrased here and take all credit for any oversimplification). I think my own opinion on the matter lies somewhere in the middle, although closer to the CCFC's side. I have already discussed in this space my discomfort with brand name advertising in schools. I don't, however, put the selling of a book with a poster in the same category as the selling of a video game. Scholastic has both types of things. I don't think video games belong in school flyers. But I have no problem with posters -- as long as the poster has something to do with the book. AJ loves it when his books come with posters. He has a number of them up in his room. But I would be surprised if he would choose a book simply because it had a poster. The poster would only encourage an interest that was already there. I don't even have a problem with some of the non-book items Scholastic sells -- science experiment kits, for example. If they get a kid to engage in some scientific inquiry at home, that's great. The Mad-Libs they've started selling are good too. Although not designed as educational tools but for silly fun, they encourage reading and writing and they taught my kid the parts of speech. My objection to most of the non-book items is the quality control -- the few science kit type products we've ordered from Scholastic have been cheaply made and hard to use. If they are going to sell such things, they should make sure they are good quality and worthwhile educational products. Not video games. Not advertising. Not junk.
Of course, what Scholastic wants to market outside of schools is its own business. Inside the school, where they have a captive audience that has to be there -- they have not chosen it -- marketing non-educational, branded, or plain inappropriate products is reprehensible. And Scholastic has been doing plenty of all three.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Mad Men
AJ is a huge fan of the website Funbrain. He loves the math games especially. He plays them in school when they have their computer lab day. I like the games too, but I'm a little squeamish about all the advertising. On the one hand, I'm sure the advertising is the only reason sites like this exist. And anything that gets a kid playing math for the sheer fun of it is doing something right. On the other hand, AJ is being bombarded with ads for Y0g0s and McDon@ld's. AJ and I talk a lot about advertising and what it does and how it works and why you should interrogate it, so I'm not really worried that he's being brainwashed. His friends are much more persuasive advocates for those particular products anyhow.
So my questions for you are, is advertising ever appropriate in educational materials? I am thinking not just of websites, but also things like the preschool math books based on Cheeri0s and M/Ms, school fundraisers with local fast food franchises (ours does D0min0s, Wendis and McDs every month with prizes for the class with the biggest haul) If so, how much is too much? What should we be doing about it?
So my questions for you are, is advertising ever appropriate in educational materials? I am thinking not just of websites, but also things like the preschool math books based on Cheeri0s and M/Ms, school fundraisers with local fast food franchises (ours does D0min0s, Wendis and McDs every month with prizes for the class with the biggest haul) If so, how much is too much? What should we be doing about it?
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