Any teachers out there?

[Crankin]

Stacie, that seems very odd that with this kind of program (i.e. heterogeneous grouping) there are not projects and other tiered level assignments for the kids. This was required at my last school. It is EASY to have the kids read, test, read and do no writing or thinking! I have found that oddly, many teachers who have taught "advanced" level kids in the past tend to want to stick with the mindless multiple choice method and get by on the strength of their good lectures, etc. This is not the way education is today. For G-d's sake, some of my least able writers and readers flourished when they had the chance to do a Power Point presentation for a project.
I'd also be happy to help you with a supplemental reading list.
And yes, I think I would have strangled my kids if i had home schooled them!

[Veronica]

Amelia Earhart - research project! What does he think happened to her? He has to support his hypothesis with some research. You could probably get newspaper articles from the time, other books to read about her. Science could be stuff on engines, flight, weather, human psychology...

Or encourage him to write a "puff piece " about what happened to her...Bermuda Triangle, alien abduction, murdered by her navigator...


V.

[uforgot]

Amelia Earhart - research project! What does he think happened to her? He has to support his hypothesis with some research. You could probably get newspaper articles from the time, other books to read about her. Science could be stuff on engines, flight, weather, human psychology...

Or encourage him to write a "puff piece " about what happened to her...Bermuda Triangle, alien abduction, murdered by her navigator...


V.

Make paper or balsa airplanes! Study Bernoulli's principle. Why do planes fly? What sort of things could have brought her down?

[stacie]

Dear friends, I just want to thank you so much for the support. We attended open house last night. I thought it was important for my husband to see what I was seeing. It was not comforting My son is attending one class which seems interesting. It's called critical thinking. The focus is to get kids reading and talking about books. There is a great deal of discussion and then writing about your ideas in detail. The teacher pleaded with me to help her convince administration that she cannot be successful teaching to 45 kids. There was a general feeling of frustration, even opposition from the teachers.
I'll stop with the self pity. I've cried and worried more than you can imagine. I'm afraid that I'm not up to supplementing his education. I'm fearful. I can't talk to my girlfriend's here about it. They were able to get their children into the better schools. I'm thankful you have allowed my to cry on your shoulder and I will accept you offer to help with finding mind stretching work and books.
We talked at breakfast and decided to stay in this school for the first nine weeks with the agreement that we will do these additional things on our own. This isn't my first choice, but a compromise. I'll need your help.

[maillotpois]

I've been lurking on this thread. The perspectives have been great and I really thank you all for sharing your experiences and your thoughts on this issue.

My daughter started middle school today. I'm actually more worried about the social aspects than the educational. Girls can be SO rough on each other.

My daughter is very bright but she can be lazy. I know that I will need to push her to read extra and do extra projects. I don't think they have "advanced" classes in the 6th grade level here - she only got her teacher/class list a couple of days ago. I'm in wait and see mode....

[stacie]

I received my first ever email from my son last night. It said I love you and played the song You're beautiful.
I feel more peace than I 've felt since this started.

Mail, I spent a week on a field trip with kids this summer. I was surprised at the way girls treated each other. And these were the really nice girls! I would encourage you to read Reviving Ophelia. I wish my mom had read it. I felt more empowered just understanding why I got so screwed up!
Be the strongest woman you can be. That will help her so much. Listen and Talk a lot. Knowing you are there to support her and go to bat for her will give her strength. I hope she has a great first week.

[maillotpois]

A friend made the same book recommendation! I have it - I have to read it.

Our situation is tough socially because we're scraping by in a very affluent community. So we're lucky in that the public schools are well supported by the community and the families. But it's a lot of pressure all around. The girls my daughter hangs out with can have anything they want, etc. Our financial situation is not as rosy. Even if we could afford to give her everything, we wouldn't of course. But we can't and moreover, I work full time, which is also different from most of the other moms. She's a great sport, and I am really making an effort to work at home as much as possible so I am as available as possible. I just know it is going to be tough.

Reading about the email your son wrote made me cry! Yesterday after a very good guitar/piano lesson, DD was marching around the house chanting "I am 11!" over and over - it was so funny, but I wish I could just bottle that self-esteem and positive energy she was feeling at that moment because she'll need it later, I just know.

[Crankin]

Excellent book recommendation. The girl thing is pretty, well, horrible. I looped with my kids for 6th and 7th grade and after 2 years together it was unrelenting. And some of the parents, moms especially, just had no idea that their precious daughters could be so mean. At least I was mean at home, too! I definitely was one of the mean girls, but I don't think anything I did in middle school could even come close to what I witnessed in the last 10 years or so. Probably the worst thing was hearing that one of my former students was beaten up by 3 other kids who were all on my team after they went to the high school.
But, usually it peaks by the beginning of 7th grade and as they get near 8th grade, they become more human...

[stacie]

I disagreed with you Robin when you said heterogeneous classes could work. The more I have researched it and dug into what is happening at my son's school, the more I realize that is not the problem. There is no homework and class assignments are often "draw a picture about the book we're reading." Or write a paragraph and draw a picture about a scientist. Clearly not 6th grade assignments. I haven't seen the type of assignments my son is getting since 3rd grade. I've brought enough attention to this to bring the school board to my son's school and to have the classrooms monitored. The resulting meetings with me were tearful exchanges with administration. I wasn't the one crying. The problems at this school are so deep rooted. Do the teachers really believe they are teaching at the appropriate level? Do they give these assignments because it's easier to grade a picture than an essay? I had the opportunity to look at the county curriculum and I found that very little is being followed. Very little work has been done and what has been done is busy work. This is horrible. We pulled the records from last year and the 6th grade students actually went backwards in their test scores. How long has this been happening? I feel so bad for the new principle. She is new to the school and new to the position. Things are being done to get my son out of this horrible situation, but I'm concerned about the other 900 children at this point. I will talk with the school superintendent again on Tuesday. I have to say they acted quite quickly when I wrote them. Thanks to all of you I was able to be very thorough in explaining what was happening at my son's school. This is utterly shocking and unconscionable. I've heard of teachers like this but I'd never experienced it myself. This team of teachers all have 30 or more years experience individually.
To their credit, several teachers and administrators have thanked me for being the whistle blower. When I asked other parents to fight it with me, they stopped talking with me. They only wanted to complain about it, but when I said we should take action they abandoned me. My son learned something. One person can fight for something and make a difference if they really believe in it. This school is a long way from being on track, but it has started.

[Veronica]

I am amazed that the administrators and teachers at your school have not been pouring over the school's test scores. We spent a LOT of time analyzing scores - too much it seems sometimes. We're all so worried about losing funding if we go down.

Funny story - at least it is to me. Our 4th grade did really well in math this year. They also happened to implement a math program that many teachers are resistant to. So of course administrators are saying, "Look what happens when you do what we say." Funny, these kids also had awesome scores as third graders and as second graders. Admin ignores that little detail. They also ignore that the teachers didn't implement the program, exactly as directed. Whatever...

About the drawing, visualizing is a valid technique in reading comprehension. If the staff at your child's school is using Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis or Guiding Readers and Writers by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell they have probably elected to start with visualization as the first comprehension strategy they are teaching. It is one of the easier ones to teach.

There are six Comprehension Strategies in these books - making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, determining importance and synthesizing.

We usually start with making connections at the elementary level - even in 5th grade. You have new kids who haven't had the strategies instruction before.

V.

[lyca]

Hi, Stacie-

First, I want to say that I think it is great that you are taking such initiative for your son's education and for your son's school. I really hope progress will be made for your son and all those other kids!

Second, I'm just throwing in my support for what Veronica said about visualization and reading comprehension. Last year I had a college professor ask my doctoral seminar to draw a picture representing a concept we had been discussing in class. I thought he was insane, but I did it anyway. I found that it actually solidified some ideas that I hadn't connected before. I also often use pictures in studying for exams. I find that if I can't remember a word, or phrase, or idea, I can call up a picture.

Keep it up and best of luck making changes!!

[Triskeliongirl]

I'm curious, which would you choose? Private school is out. I bargained on magnet schools and lost. I was assured we would get in if I took certain steps which I did.
Beautiful custom made Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel will be collecting dust it seems.

I find the above statement an interesting statement of your priorities. You say you want a good education for your child, but then you seemed to have chosen to purchase a custom bike for yourself rather than pay for your son to attend a high quality school. You mention working part time, why can't you work full time? I am a mom that chose to work hard, and forgo custom bikes in order to send my kids to high quality private schools. Its not that I don't think that all kids deserve high quality public education, its that I can't fix a broken system as a single person, but I can choose how hard to work, how to spend my money, and how to educate my kids. I know my comments are harsh, and I know I don't know anything about your personal finances, but I just feel very strongly that the most important thing a parent can do for a child is provide a good education.

[Aquila]

I'd like to second what Lyca and Veronica said about drawing and visualizing. As a college English prof, I often have my students do a sketch of a difficult poetic image; the physical act of drawing can help one remember something (as can saying something aloud, reading aloud or silently, hearing something). It also helps us understand how the image is working so that we can discuss it better. It sounds hokey, but I started doing it in classes because it helps me as a reader; it's one of the strategies I use to learn.

[Crankin]

I am glad that you understand, Stacie, what I was trying to explain. The reason that heterogeneous grouping doesn't work a lot is because it is not done the right way. Why? Because it is hard and it takes a lot of work, monitoring, re-teaching, assessing and having tiered levels of assignments and assessments for every concept you teach. I don't want to bad mouth an entire group of people, but the school I last taught at was a lot like you are describing. Fortunately, the administration, over a 10 year period was able to get rid of a lot of the offending teachers. When I was hired, I had 22 years of experience and the other teachers saw me as the devil... I just kept doing what I had been doing and eventually, after about 5 years, I was surrounded by colleagues that were doing things the way i did. High expectations for all does work, but very few schools are willing to make the effort to do this.
It is great that you finally got them to listen. However, you very well may have to work full time to afford private school if things do not work out. I worked the whole time my kids were growing up and they certainly did not suffer.
As for the visualization, yes, it is the first strategy to use for comprehension. But, make sure your son is exposed to all of the strategies as i think Veronica listed. They are taught in order of the amount of inferential reasoning needed.

[Geonz]

... and don't forget that we're a diverse bunch of humans in the world. I, for one, don't visualize.... though just *working* at it helps sometimes. (I think in words. You should see me working on my bike!!! I mean hear me... I *have* to converse with it...)