Wow, it's been busy here!
First, the GT stuff: R's now in her third year of a FT GT program. We all love it. It's a great opportunity, both academically and socially, and if it's a good GT program, emotionally for kids who struggle with perfectionism or anxiety about starting something new or a whole host of other issues.
Like Geo said, having a tribe is huge. It normalizes a lot of things, because yes, there are several children with crazy high reading levels and/or math skills and/or science obsessions and/or writing and creativity skills, and/or music/art/etc. One of the kids in R's class is an early-entry student (started kindy at 4), and also a gymnastics star who had a special scheduled that allowed her to come to do gymnastics practice twice a week and then come to school about an hour late in the morning. So there are kids with really strong talents and kids who struggle in some areas and that's all normal in there. Differentiation is assumed, especially because the asynchronous development stuff means that kids are light years ahead in different areas, and that some of the kids in the class may be on grade level for their age, but need a little help to keep up with the fact that they are working a year or more ahead academically.
They aren't completely isolated. When it comes time for gym/music/art, the three classes split into different configurations so people aren't restricted to only knowing the kids in their class that year. That configuration changes again after winter break. They see each other at recess and lunch. When it comes time for the science and social studies units, the teachers often will try to each specialize in a subject and the kids rotate around, much as they do in specials. One might take rocks, another dirt, and another minerals, for a science unit, for example.
I think our school generally tries to avoid pointing out that one class is the GT class, even though probably everyone knows it's the case. (ETA: actually, we never told R why she was being tested or that she was going to be in a GT class. She was in second grade before she came home and was asking me about GT because they'd been talking about it in class. I didn't think it was worth mentioning until it came up, especially because her best friend is in a mainstream class and I didn't want to change that relationship. They are still best friends now and really well suited to each other socially.) Our school and the district as a whole is very anti-bullying. Also, I don't think we have many, if any, teachers who are sort of anti-advanced students. If anything else, it helps that kids with an ALP can simply head over to the GT class for reading or math or something, and the teacher can focus on the mainstream and struggling kids, which, honestly, makes a lot more sense (or alternately, for the struggling kids to have a class of their own while the mainstream and advanced kids share; either way reduces the spectrum spread). Last year, one of R's friends was going to the 3rd or 4th grade GT classroom for her math, and she eventually ended up moving up a grade. (She is crazy bright; she also missed the cutoff by 10 days and really should have been able to start kindy in 2009 rather than 2010. The district's early entry policy was new and no one told them about it, so they have struggled some to get her appropriate services.)
That's not true in all schools. Our district only has like 6 or 8 GT centers and our school happens to be one of them, with a configuration of 1 GT classroom and 2 mainstream classrooms per grade. Kids not in the GT classrooms have an ALP and should receive the necessary services in their school, but the reality definitely varies. Some schools are really good about it and other schools aren't, probably due a mix of personnel and personalities.
Another neighboring district has a "challenge school" that's not strictly GT. From what I remember, kids have to take a bunch of tests and do an interview and all before kindergarten to get in. They may admit more after they all take the second-grade tests. At any rate, it's a stand-alone GT school. A friend's three children all attend and I think they were having struggles with the superiority stuff, but then again, Cherry Creek is kind of a privileged area (expensive houses and low poverty), so I think that has more to do with peer group than school setting.
If there are any downsides, it's that it can occasionally be awkward at PTA or something if parents are introducing themselves as parents of a GT kid. This got kind of ugly when we were forming a search committee for the new principal and some brand-new GT parents were sitting at our table, probably thinking they were the only GT parents in the world, and whispering about how one of the parents on that committee "better be" at GT parent. I couldn't resist rolling my eyes and then pointing out that about 85% of the room was full of GT parents. Morons. Anyhow, the other parents were defining themselves as "just regular parents" which was kind of awful--no one should feel like they're "just" anything. The issue was handled very well by our previous principal who left at the end of R's kindergarten year, but we've had two temporary principals and the first one was truly useless, so I think our sense of community suffered some. We have a brand new one who is extremely aware that some people feel like there are hostilities between GT and mainstream, and I think he'll be able to smooth ruffled feathers.
A full-time GT classroom should be a much better fit than a once-a-week pull-out or promises of differentiation, etc. It will be teaching on a higher level, even if it has to pull some of the asynchronous students along in a few subjects, and GT teachers know exactly what they're in for. Ideally, a GT teacher will have the GT certification; ours all do. A teacher in a mainstream classroom has a lot more to balance, and while yes, the super teachers do it all and then some, I suspect the super teachers either don't have kids at home, don't sleep, or the class size is small. (R's class has 24 students; my niece K's first-grade class has 27. K's class is a mainstream one and she desperately needs an ALP, but my sister hasn't gotten her tested and is kind of resisting. I don't think they'll move to our school into the GT center because she really likes being able to walk across the street--and I understand that--but I also think K's academic needs will get overlooked as the teacher deals with the IEPs and some rambunctious boys in the classroom. The teacher, after all, needs an evaluation that shows she was able to pull the struggling students up because her salary and job security depend on doing so thanks to idiotic and unfunded legislation passed three years ago.)
Also? I was the kid who had the once-a-week pullout. It was the only thing that kept me going but it wasn't at all sufficient. My elementary school didn't even do reading groups after first grade. I was bored all the time. I had a lot of impulse control so I didn't act up, but it wasn't until we moved to a different district before my sophomore year of high school where I was challenged. Then I was able to move into honors classes, discover that yes, I had academic peers, and no longer be the odd one out. It was also great preparation for college, because I hadn't spent my entire K-12 education being the bright kid who never had to work hard. I knew that among my honors/AP peers, I was pretty average. My husband had been told he was the wunderkind forever and had a rude awakening when he started the honors college at our institution and discovered that hey wow, the entire college was full of wunderkinds.
One last thing: we got a brochure for the Western Academic Talent Search in R's Friday folder and while I don't think we'll pursue it at this time, it immediately made me think of Dingoes who may or may not know about it. sparkle--we're in the same region, which is the Center for Bright Kids Regional Talent Center. I think kerc and geo are both part of the Center for Talent Development. The offer another round of tests but the scores on those tests can offer students the opportunity to attend some really cool summer programs and more data to give to schools to force them to give students appropriate academic challenges. We received it because we're in the GT program and our GT program is interested in the test data (we'd have to pay for the test), but there are other ways to sign up for the necessary tests and then get into the summer programs. They mentioned the tribe stuff as well as the challenges, and I think they would be a great fit for a number of our Dinglets. (We're not going to pursue it, because, among other things, we feel like her academic needs are being quite adequately met and because there's no way we're sending her off to a week of sleep-away camp at age 9. Happily, she has a tribe already and for that we are extremely grateful.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kerc
State fair. Whoa. One kid about an hour into it said, "My ears are tired."
That is 100% the reason I avoid (pop) concerts and so many other loud things. My kids too, though I don't think they've ever said that. Then again, they don't need to, with me around!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sparkletruck
There are various potentially interesting outcomes; not that he will feel like he isnt a freak, but that he might have his superiority complex challenged. On the other hand. would I reinforce this by separating him from the "general population"where he does have to practice patience, sympathy, collaboration with different-minded peers, etc....
But he will have to practice patience, sympathy, collaboration and deal with different-minded peers, even in GT. The difference will be that he'll get to work on those skills in a setting where the range isn't as big. At least most of the time. Our school's 4th grade GT class includes the boy who had half his brain removed last year due to epilepsy that couldn't be controlled. He's in school, doing a partial day right now. He can walk though he's in a wheelchair because you know, he's busy training the remaining half of his brain to work the half of his body that lost it. He can talk, though there are struggles due to retraining half his mouth and face, and also because the side of his brain that was removed was his language center. He started talking shortly after surgery, so apparently his brain had adapted some due to all the seizure activity anyhow? In short though, his cognitive skills are enough that he'll be able to stay on track with his peers, and meanwhile, his peers are working with that delicate balance between helping and smothering.
RR: canoeing today, duathlon tomorrow.
NRR: went to the school board's study session on inBloom on Thursday night. The district is planning to pilot it here, and if you haven't heard about it, it's a "classroom dashboard" that allows school districts to connect all of their various systems in one place so a teacher doesn't have to log into multiple systems and then map it all on spreadsheets or something. It would also allow them to connect curriculum data, lesson plan ideas, test scores, acuity scores, etc. The controversy is all over the board, ranging from concerns that data might be sold so that parties can market more educational programs to the school based on the data, to fears that the system will be hacked. Anyhow, a lot of people who clearly have never attended a board meeting came and they were rude and they kept cheering when someone said something they liked despite the president's repeated requests for them to do a silent cheer (yeah, it's a bit goofy but it also keeps the meeting running...and considering that I've attended 7-hour school board meetings I don't blame them!). These people refused. They actually laughed when the school board president said she couldn't even imagine selling student data (this is a woman who went to school here, taught here, and now is superintendent of the district that contained her entire educational life). I was irate by the time it ended. I have no patience for bad behavior, and less for the fact that many clearly came only to protest, never mind the fact that the district has set up an advisory committee, is still working on what data will and won't be included, and may not go ahead with the pilot in the end. It's in the discussion state and people are so convinced that the "truth" is that the district is busy selling their religious affiliation. (Fact check: the district has never asked about anyone's religious affiliation. How can they include data they don't have?) Anyhow, I think we're in for a very rough fall. And I thought last year was rough with the mill and bond stuff!
We took off for the mountains right after that (literally; DH had the car packed when I got back), so it was a nice break.