Other journal responses

-- Anonymous, December 14, 1998

Answers

Article Summary- "Meeting Parents' Needs" by Patricia King Rash Magazine Title- Gifted Child Today Sept/Oct 1998

I chose to read this article because I have a strong interest in gifted education. I taught the gifted program in the Proctor School District for four years. Reading this article rekindled some very important ideas. Most of us as educators think that it must be great and easy to parent a gifted child. However, this article emphasized that these parents often feel inadequate, alone, and confused. We seem to be heading in the wrong direction when it comes to gifted education. It is a common misunderstanding or myth that gifted students will do well no matter what so they do not need extra services. However, it is known that to be successful, most gifted children need accommodation of some kind. My own school district dropped their gifted program this year. Is this the right thing to do at a time when we want higher standards for our students? This article focused on the needs of the parents of gifted children. It emphasized ways that the school can assist parents in the following areas: Characteristics- Gifted children do differ from other children in many ways. We as educators can help parents become aware of the common characteristics that we see in gifted students such as insatiable curiosity, speedier learning, intense activity levels, require less sleep, may feel more comfortable with adults, etc.

Identification-Parents need to know that identification of giftedness should happen as early as possible. Methods used might be intelligence tests, achievement tests, teacher/parent nomination, product or performance evaluation.

Parents should know what options are available for their child and appropriately advocate for them. Their child has a right to the best education available with appropriate accommodations. We can also help parents build a support network. Parent groups could help parents by sharing problems, experiences and joys with one another. We can also keep parents informed about conferneces, programs, seminars, etc.

This article reopened my eyes to gifted education. As we forge ahead with the MN Grad Standards, I hope we can find ways to provide quality opportunities for our gifted youth. Although they are a minority, they have the same rights as all students. It is not okay to say," Well, they will be successful without our help." This is not what education is all about. It is taking the child from where they are and moving them forward. Education has become so complex. We are trying to meet the needs of all students whose range of abilities has become increasingly larger. My hope is that the new standards will be a positive thing for our gifted students. I do not want them to continue to be a forgotten minority.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1998

Shelly, I just read your response to the article regarding the parents of gifted and talented students. During the past couple of years at Lowell School in Duluth, we have had a teacher through the district, who provides additional classes for those students meeting the required guidelines. I would imagine, after listening to her speak at one of our staff meetings, that parents would have some of the same frustrations as parents whose children have learning disabilities. Yes, I agree, we do tend to forget that those students with tremendous abilities also need guidance and challenges to meet their needs.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 1999

Shelly -- I liked your comments on enhanced education for gifted children. In education it seems like every effort (staffing, funding and empathy) is made toward the child with learning difficulties or behavioral problems. The gifted child seems to coast through their school years with very little challange or stimulation. I do not promote eliminating the extra help some students receive, but I do believe it should be equal. If a student excels they should be encouraged to increase their skills and not have to patiently wait for everyone else to catch up.

It is indeed a loss for the Proctor School District to have dropped their gifted program. By doing so, their commitment to learning above and beyond the basics is diminished. The perception seems to be that average is good enough -- but exceptional is not worth the effort.

-- Anonymous, January 06, 1999

Hi Shelly, I enjoyed reading your review of this article. My favorite comment was when you said we must "take each child from where they are and help them to move forward". I think this is so essential to good teaching. If we stop looking at individual children ,but only at "overall group performance", we are doing a great disservice to many children. I agree that our gifted students deserve to be challenged to grow. If we allow them to just go along with the flow just because they are doing well, they may become disengaged in learning. All children need and deserve to be challenged so they can feel the glory of learning something new that they worked hard to understand. Thanks for reminding me of that!

-- Anonymous, January 17, 1999

Professional Journal Article Response I chose to read an article entitled "Are We Spoiling Our Kids?" by Barbara Gerbasi. This article showed up in the lounge at school last week. It was a great article and spurred a great discussion. Gerbasi started by discussing the idea that as parents we not only feel responsible for our children's health and well-being but for their day- to -day happiness as well. We go to great lengths to make everything all right. She describes the recent phenomenon of the " coddled child." We now perceive children as fragile instead of resilient and strong. Children are given less responsibility in this day and age even though we have record numbers of working mothers and fathers. Gerbasi emphasized the fact that we pave our children's way and shield them from difficult situations resulting in young people who are unprepared to cope with the trials of adulthood. Examples included a mother concerned about her 9 year olds ability to handle a tough teacher seeks another teacher- another mother helps an overextended son by completing assignments- another parent completes son's college application because she knows he will miss the deadline. What we need to do is to make sure that our children are equipped with the skills to handle these tough situations in a responsible way. Children need to know how to deal with tough feelings such as anger, grief, disappointment, jealousy, fear, etc. We tend to try and make things right for our children instead of helping them think through these situations and respond in an appropriate way.

I really enjoyed this article. Gerbasi addressed many ideas that affect me as both a teacher and a working mom. We do need to let our children make mistakes and get practice landing on their feet. This is easier said than done. It is difficult to stand back and watch children struggling with decisions and challenging situations. In the long run, however, they will be better prepared to experience future challenges. Parents who shield children from these situations deprive them from valuable life experiences. Many children in this generation look for quick fixes to difficult problems. In light of the recent school violence, our society needs to place more emphasis on conflict resolution skills and peaceful ways to relieve tough feelings such as anger, grief, disappoitment,etc. This includes modeling responsible stress relieving techniques such as listening to music, breathing techniques, talking to someone you trust, exercise, writing in a journal,etc. Gerbasi ends by stating that " True happiness cannot be given. It has to come from within-the kind of satisfaction you feel when you successfully surmount a difficult situation. The best gift a mother can give is to help her child develop the inner strength necessary to meet life's challenges head-on, and the confidence to know that he can conquer them." Point well taken!

-- Anonymous, May 09, 1999

Professional Journal Response

I selected an article titled " Helping Our Students See Their Learning" by Susan Mandel Glazer. This article addressed some alternative assessment techniques that can be used in the classroom to help students see what they are learning. It is often difficult for us to see our own thinking and learning. This was emphasized by the fact that many of our students don't recognize what they have learned throughout the day because they tend to think they always knew it. One way to faciliate the process of seeing what we learn is to use visual records of the learning process. Primary students can keep wall charts of what they know and what they want answered. Intermediate students can use learning or thinking journals. An example of an insect unit was used to demonstrate self-assessment skills. Glazer described a preassessment learning situation where students were asked to discuss what they wanted to learn about insects and activities they could do. Next, students were asked to respond to four questions in their journals. 1-Students made notes on what they already knew about insects. 2-They created a Table of Contents for a good book on insects. 3-They wrote feelings and opinions about insects. 4- They created their own semantic map of entry knowledge to visually organize what they knew. At the end of the unit, students were again asked to respond in their journals. It was easy for students to see knowledge gained. The visual record allowed students to assess their changes and growth. Most of the students were surprised at how little they knew at the beginning and how much they knew at the end. This assessment would not have been possible without the visual record for students to look back to. The students were also asked to reflect on their learning experience by responding to questions to help them analyze their learning. Examples- Have your feelings about insects changed? How does your knowledge about insects at the beginning of the unit relate to the knowledge at the end? In order for self-assessment to work, the tools need to be concrete and show the students their growth. Individual portfolios are also a natural example of this. Students can go into them to see and evaluate their own progress. "The more aware students are of their learning the more pride they will have (Glazer)." Alternative assessments can help students find more meaning in their learning along with leading on their way to becoming self-directed learners. Glazer states that "Children can assess their own growth in content and as learners." Let's give them the opportunity to do so!

-- Anonymous, May 09, 1999