How to get teachers to respect other ways of solving problems? - Page 5

[Tigerle]

Originally Posted by EdnaMarie

Then her parents need to take out a second mortgage on the house and send her to private school or homeschool! Or teach her how to doodle! Or buy an extra book of puzzles (it's not in the school budget, trust me, and it's not fair to ask the teacher to buy that in addition to her own chalk) and ask the teacher if she can do those when she's done with her assignments early because they are just so easy.

I understand that this is a private school already, and not an inexpensive one, and that the parents have so far considered it as their best option because they have been promising to come up with appropriate differentiation as soon as they understand where her daughter is at. And that they have been using these examples of overthinking on her daughter's part as an excuse to say "you see, she isn't all that out there!" which is...I don't know, it's beyond inappropriate...really not adult behaviour on behalf of educators which should have a child's best interest at heart and which they shouldn't be given any more money for, IMHO.

[AllisonR]

I have only read the 1st page, but IMO people are taking this too literally.
In my view there are multiple answers, and using them shows flexibility, creativity and thoughtfullness on the part of a student. I would think this would be rewarded, not condemed.

Write the number.

six ________ eight ________

seven ________ nine ______

six seven eight nine
seven eight nine ten
That is probably what I would have written, because it fits as a set. If it was clearly not meant to be this way the sheet could have easily said:

Write the number.

five________ eight________

seven ________ nine ______

IMO, valid answers could also be six 7 eight 9, six 6 eight 8, six SIX eight EIGHT....
If the rules are going to be stringent, (not that I think they should) then the directions ought to be equally stringent. The directions should have said Write the numerical (not letter based) number.... or something equally rigid.

I know this example is not really the topic, but it is crazy IMO to have such an inflxibile attitue towards learning. We all learn in different ways, and come to the end result by different methods, and don't always even come to the same end result. This is what true learning should be about.

[expecting-joy]

So sorry for disappearing - I could not get into Mothering last night and now I only have about two minutes.

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

I understand that this is a private school already, and not an inexpensive one, and that the parents have so far considered it as their best option because they have been promising to come up with appropriate differentiation as soon as they understand where her daughter is at. And that they have been using these examples of overthinking on her daughter's part as an excuse to say "you see, she isn't all that out there!" which is...I don't know, it's beyond inappropriate...really not adult behaviour on behalf of educators which should have a child's best interest at heart and which they shouldn't be given any more money for, IMHO.

Yes, Tigerle, that about sums it up.

I, again, respectfully disagree that the directions were clear and that my dd was wrong. I'm fine with her learning to decode her teachers. Of course that's a great skill for life! Please keep in mind that she is SIX and new to this whole school business and that SHE IS NOT BEING TAUGHT how to do these problems. They are some kind of busy work/test of her. When the class as a whole does math, all they do is count and group in the manner she had mastered at 18 months. It's fine to repeat this kind of practice - we can never add and sort enough - but we're hoping for her to actually get to learn something new and be challenged, not confused or tricked. Of course she knows six = 6. She could do that before she was two. She can do that in Spanish and French and German, too. She's fine doing simple work. She loves just being with her peers. The point is the directions were completely unclear and there was no demonstrating of how to do the problem. Seriously, it's a ream and half of math worksheets they handed me last week and they are not one subject per page. The writing is small, there are eight to ten subjects per page and they do not seem to repeat - and yet they aren't yet particularly challenging in a mathematical sense. I am not talking about an overtaxed classroom of 36 public school first-graders - although those children should still be given appropriate instruction. Dd is is a two-classroom pod with two full-time teachers and a full-time aid with 15 first-graders and 15 second-graders. There are two other similar pods and a full-time math coordinator for K-9 (she has no classes of her own to teach). It is a very expensive school - too expensive for us, really - and we were guaranteed they could give dd an appropriate education. Our town does not provide resources to gifted children and the state does not require them to do so. So, my two minutes are up. Sorry, but I must get going with my other dd. I need to get all this schooling figured out for both of them. (Dd2 is even farther from the academic norm and would be fine with second-grade work right now and she won't be old enough for kindergarten for two more years. Argh.) I am currently looking into good options for gifted testing. Maybe, as PPs have suggested, that would help.

Thank you again and again for all your thoughts. they really do help, even if I move slowly as grasping what I need to do.

And on a lighter note, I'm glad dd's school problems have made for interesting discussions, since that was brought up above. 

[carmel23]

Asking that the child just "learn from this" or "deal with it" is like asking a 3rd grader to be happy in a 1st grade class... it just isn't going to happen. 

Good luck, OP! 

[joensally]

Originally Posted by carmel23 

Asking that the child just "learn from this" or "deal with it" is like asking a 3rd grader to be happy in a 1st grade class... it just isn't going to happen. 

Good luck, OP! 

Absolutely!

There is a notion of zone of proximal development.  Boredom is a fact of life and we all need to develop age-appropriate skills to deal with it.  A young child of six in a group environment should be dealing with self-managing through things at the bottom of her zone of proximal development (boredom, uninteresting, not personally meaningful) as well as things toward to top of her proximal development (challenging, working through frustration).  There is a ratio of 15:1.  The teacher can surely do better.

I'm dealing with this issue with DD a few years down the road.  DD attended an award-winning alternate program.  All things indicated it should have worked.  By 10 she was completely checked out, hated school and hungered to learn.  We moved her to a neighbourhood school with on the ball staff and she's challenged more.  She now struggles with work habits, personal organization and focus (because she didn't need to for five years of schooling).  They do use worksheets and she understands to read for what's being asked - she learned that somewhere along the way.  But she is doing worksheets that are meaningful and in her zone of proximal development and feels that her needs are largely being met.

There is actually a surprisingly high drop out rate among gifted kids.  The problems didn't start when they were 14.

[EdnaMarie]

Please keep in mind that she is SIX and new to this whole school business and that SHE IS NOT BEING TAUGHT how to do these problems. They are some kind of busy work/test of her.

Okay, sorry, I was reading the first posts and I did not realize that this was basically a test with NO explanation and NO chance to clarify.

However, in my opinion, that is less a problem of the teacher respecting other ways of solving problems, but her entire evaluation capacity.  There's no way she can analyze each individual answer for reams of worksheets.  They need to figure out how to use real assessment tools for your DD, and all the kids, really.

I am amazed that you're getting that at a private, paid school.  What a crappy deal!

[hyphenatedlady]

My son likes to read his own meaning into directions on worksheets too.  He understand that there are several ways to interpret things (which most kids his age don't get) and he usually leads himself down a murky path.  Luckily he is only in Kindergarten so for right now he isn't being graded but I am sure we will run into similar issues at the end of this year and in the years to come.