Input from MDC teachers? How to alert to advanced child?

[supervee]

If any teachers have an ounce of time to respond this time of year, I would love to know the following to help my 2nd grader have a great year:

What is the best way to convey to a teacher that your child is advanced in a subject? OR What's the worst way, to be avoided?

Do you even want to know this kind of thing, or do you prefer to do your own testing and placement? (Is it helpful to you? Helpful to the child?)

When would you like to find this out? I take it Open House is a bad time, but it's early for conferences. Maybe a letter is best?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[A&A]

I teach high school, so I'm obviously not an elementary teacher. But my first question is.....what do you want the teacher to do with the information?

If you child is too advanced for the grade, please consider skipping a grade.

www.nationdeceived.org

[supervee]

Thank you, A&A.

The last two years of school, and the preschool before that, I did not say anything to the teacher. I figured it was their relationship to navigate, and that it was the teacher's expertise to teach, and I didn't want to interfere with it.

I still mostly believe that, but it didn't work out so well. He hasn't been challenged and has had some emotional issues stemming from it.

So I thought I'd try something new this year and alert the teacher about his areas of interest, but only if it would help.

It's kind of a weird year for a skip, but it's an option we keep open.

[MsElle07]

I would send an email during the teacher inservice week. They're more likely to have time to read it. I would just say, "I wanted to let you know that my son really enjoys being challenged in XYZ subjects, and I would greatly appreciate anything you could do to give him appropriate alternative assignments in subjects he already has a firm handle on...." Etc.

[supervee]

Thank you, Ms Elle. I like how that sounds, and that timing makes sense. I am hoping we get the teacher assignment tomorrow (fingers crossed) so I can do it this week.

[kmeyrick]

Originally Posted by supervee

If any teachers have an ounce of time to respond this time of year, I would love to know the following to help my 2nd grader have a great year:

What is the best way to convey to a teacher that your child is advanced in a subject?
Bring in some work in that subject and ask if this is evidence of being advanced. Tell the teacher this seems to be you child's strong suit and ask what can you do to enrich that. Also ask what enrichment the school offers when a child is advanced. For example, will he/she be placed in a higher reading group, being given more complex math, etc. Any formal assessments from professionals or other teachers should already be in your child's file, so the teacher may already have the information.
OR What's the worst way, to be avoided?
Don't assume the teacher is unaware of a child being advanced, they may already know. Don't go on the offensive, boastful, or be rude, of course. Just like anybody else, get flies with honey not vinegar. But there's no secret pitfall to avoid, really.
Do you even want to know this kind of thing, or do you prefer to do your own testing and placement? (Is it helpful to you? Helpful to the child?)
I wouldn't discount another professional's assessment, not at all. It has to be a professional assessment, though. Often we do our own assessments, to get more detailed information. For example, precisely how advanced is the child? Top of the class or two grade levels ahead, that sort of thing.
When would you like to find this out? I take it Open House is a bad time, but it's early for conferences. Maybe a letter is best?
I would do a letter. Teachers don't like to conference with parents during open house only because of the short time frame and it takes away from the other parents. A letter would be perfect. I wouldn't frame the letter all about your child's advancement, merely talk about your child, his/her personality, where he/she has trouble and where he/she is advanced. That way the teacher will get a sense of all of your child, and you won't seem like an over-anxious parent.
Thanks in advance for any insight.

Hope this helps. Have a good year! 2nd grade I've always thought was a charming grade.

[supervee]

Originally Posted by kmeyrick

Hope this helps. Have a good year! 2nd grade I've always thought was a charming grade.

Thanks! Seven is certainly a charming age! :

[supervee]

Originally Posted by kmeyrick

Hope this helps. Have a good year! 2nd grade I've always thought was a charming grade.

I just saw you answered my questions, too. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer. These are all very helpful.

[alegna]

As a teacher *I* would have wanted to know. A quick email or a personal word would have been great.

BUT many many teachers I taught with would have been put off by it.

good luck!

-Angela

[supervee]

Originally Posted by alegna

As a teacher *I* would have wanted to know. A quick email or a personal word would have been great.

BUT many many teachers I taught with would have been put off by it.

good luck!

-Angela

Wait--tell more! Put off by the delivery of the message, or by the message at all? And, would these have been teachers put off by the idea that kids can be advanced at all? If that's the case, how do you think it can be framed so that it benefits the child?

[alegna]

Originally Posted by supervee

Wait--tell more! Put off by the delivery of the message, or by the message at all? And, would these have been teachers put off by the idea that kids can be advanced at all? If that's the case, how do you think it can be framed so that it benefits the child?

Sadly -put off by the message.

Their reaction would have been either:

"so and so's mom thinks they're "advanced..." "

or

"and you don't really expect me to do anything about it - do you?"

IMHO any decent teacher should be ready and willing to meet students where they are and help them from that point.... BUT IME that's not what I ran into. [disclaimer, of course there were some... but FAR too few]

AND- what's worse - many administrations were even more against it than the teachers.

I'd feel out the teacher and go on gut instinct.

good luck!

-Angela

[supervee]

Okay, this is helpful. Thank you!

We luckily will have a principal who at least talks supportively from what I hear.

[A&A]

Originally Posted by supervee

He hasn't been challenged and has had some emotional issues stemming from it.


It's kind of a weird year for a skip, but it's an option we keep open.

Yes, please keep the option open. It may be the best option for him.

[mommyoftwo]

When I was teaching, I always appreciated as much information about a child as a parent was willing to provide early on.

Keep in mind that I was a special education teacher so I was working with kids with very diverse needs and abilities. Many were both gifted and LD. But a elementary teacher in a public school is dealing with the same diverse population.

If for some reason you don't feel comfortable approaching the teacher early on, he/she will notice pretty quickly that your ds is advanced unless he is the type of kid to hide is abilities a bit (common).

We are going to be much more proactive this year about making sure that my dd is working at her level. We kind of sat back and let her coast last year and I don't think that we did her any favors by doing so.

I guess what I am saying is that this year I kind of don't care if I put off a teacher by telling them that this is what my child needs. I was way too passive last year and my dd ended up reading a lot of Dr. Seuss books and practicing handwriting while I scrambled to put together more stimulated afterschool work.

[supervee]

Thank you for your insight, mo2.

(Our experience turning off the teacher last year was something you don't want. She "showed us" by sending him home at the end of the year with all his "work" from the semester... a bag full of empty worksheets and empty projects. And that was because we suggested maybe we wouldn't like him to be kicked so much.)

ANYway, thank you very much.

Good luck to your DD this year, too!

[LauraLoo]

Originally Posted by supervee

The last two years of school, and the preschool before that, I did not say anything to the teacher. I figured it was their relationship to navigate, and that it was the teacher's expertise to teach, and I didn't want to interfere with it.

I still mostly believe that, but it didn't work out so well. He hasn't been challenged and has had some emotional issues stemming from it.

So I thought I'd try something new this year and alert the teacher about his areas of interest, but only if it would help.

It's kind of a weird year for a skip, but it's an option we keep open.

I'm not a teacher, but I had a very similar situation with ds. We moved between K and 1st grade, so I did talk to the teachers and principal ahead of time. I didn't *say* he was the "g" word, but did let them know that he learned extremely fast and that when he wasn't challenged or forced to do repetitious work, he might present some behavior problems such as what we experienced in K, so my goal in sharing the information was to make everyone's job a little easier and I wanted to help with that. I think the advantage that we have is that in ds' RE program, they really do work at an individual level. Over the course of the year, the teachers really did find out that I hadn't over sold my ds' abilities, and if anything, I probably under sold it.

At the end of the year, it was his primary teacher and the ST that were using the terms "advanced" and gifted, and we had a meeting with his teachers for this year to share information to help prepare the teachers for ds this year.

But I am curious, why are you reluctant to grade skip?

[supervee]

Thank you, LauraLoo. Yes, that is my goal, too, and I like how you worded that. I'm so bad with words & grateful that you all have such good ideas!

The grade skip... well, he's going to a new school. I talked to the principal 3 years ago about him skipping kindy, and she thought it was a fine idea. But then we didn't send him to her school, so I'm a little spent in political capital in that area, for now.

Also, he has a cousin and a close friend that are in the same grade, same school. Asking for a grade skip would make that awkward. (That is me being a chicken.)

I also have this whacky idea that even kids who are advanced deserve 13 years of education, at their own level. (That is me being too tied to philosophical ideas...like that's never gotten us in trouble, LOL.)

No, I don't have a good reason. If the school suggested it, we would heartily agree and accept. If it seems appropriate, we'd pursue it for next year. For now, we just want to get him acclimated and feel out the terrain.

[Zach'smom]

Supervee- I am in the same place you are! Last year Ds found kindergarten "boring" many times. I got a lot of "Mom, I already know that." I volunteered at school a lot last year and was able to talk to his teacher on a regular basis. She did her best to accomodate his needs. Kindy was only for 2.5 hours a day, so I had a lot of time to provide other activities for him at home.

This year he will be at school full time. I am planning on volunteering a lot again and am hoping that I can have a great relationship with his new teacher. That way I can make sure that his needs are being met. I am also hoping that his kindy teacher let her know about my ds's strengths and weeknesses.

I know around here when you are doing the mountains of paperwork required for school they ask what they should know about your child. If you have anything similar you may want to let them know that your dc is strong in xy and z and isn't as excited about r. My feeling is that this is my child's education we are talking about. I am going to make darn sure that he is getting everything he needs. If there is anything that is concerning you set up a conference with the teacher, email her , call her, do whatever works. Just remember to be friendly and flexible. She does have an entire class of children with needs that need to be met.

[supervee]

Thanks, ZM.

In DS's old school, kindy was a good experience for him b/c they did a lot of projects and nonacademic things. It was fun, and we thought that was good for kindy. He learned a lot of things about plants, and bugs, and things like that.

In 1st grade--watch out for this if your kiddo is a strong reader--it was all about getting everyone in the class reading. And that's when it became an issue.

[Zach'smom]

What happens if your child is a strong reader? Ds was the strongest reader in his kindy class. We have spent a big chunk of the summer with me reading to him and him reading to me. In kindy he had his own bin of books and he was tested as need be so that she could provide him with more challenging books.