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by parent trying to decide by tomorrow
Aug 27, 2009
My husband and I find ourselves faced with a unexpected decision, whether to send our daughter to a charter school or to the local junior high. Today I was driving I n a part of town I normally am not in. I saw one of the old Catholic schools with huge banners waving announcing school tours, grades 6-12, free tuition. Thinking it was a new school i...See MoreMy husband and I find ourselves faced with a unexpected decision, whether to send our daughter to a charter school or to the local junior high. Today I was driving I n a part of town I normally am not in. I saw one of the old Catholic schools with huge banners waving announcing school tours, grades 6-12, free tuition. Thinking it was a new school in town, I went in to check it out. It turns out it was charter school that I thought was located way outside of town, not only has its location changed it now has busing, suddenly making it a viable option for us. We now have to make a quick decision because school starts Monday.
First size. Class sizes will be held to 17 kids per teacher. The class that they would put her in will have only 10 (6-8th gr) total. She is coming from a very small school with only 20 per grade, the public school, also 7- 12, will have 350 per grade. This is all good, but because of its size, it doesn’t offer any extracurricular activities. Right now my daughter is really excited about tennis which she signed up for, and is really upset about giving it up, BUT she is very tiny and unathletic and hates to exercise and we had already made the decision not to spend any really money on supplies till she made it past the first week. So in other words, I don’t want to base the decision on sports which may last only a week or year. She will however truly miss being in the theater and speech clubs.
PROJECT BASED—The school is project based. This idea intrigues my husband and I and makes us nervous. DD is gifted; she has been accelerated three years in math and one year in everything else. The public school says they do acceleration by the teachers giving some type of packet to the GT kids who want it. So far they have not let us see any of these. Nor are the GT kids grouped together in anyway. We are not sure if the project based theme will be good for her. She gets really good grades, but except for in math, DD tends to putz in school, she never gets in any real trouble but doesn’t have a good attitude and is constantly daydreaming, reading or scribbling in a notebook. In 5th and 6th grade, she found out what the minimum was expected for a half way decent grade and did that. This was a drastic achievement over 4th where, trying to pretend she wasn’t smart, she did the bare minimum to pass. My husband and I are worried whether or not she is a good candidate for project based schooling. He is worried because ever since 3rd grade, she has not been self directed at all and that is what this school aims for.
By the way, she will know nobody at the charter school and know only 3 girls at the public. She is not really friends with any of them and didn’t even wave at them when we saw two of them in the mall. Yet one of the major reasons she says she wants to go to public is because she has friends there.
I am terrible confused and we have to make a decision basically by tomorrow, Monday at the absolute latest. There is one other option, the charter school starts Monday, but the public doesn’t start till the 10th. My husband and I thought a trial week might be a good idea.
Please any feedback would be appreciated. What do you know about project based schools? Can you think on any questions to ask tomorrow when I take my husband back to tour the school? And is a trial week a good idea? If so any ideas how I can get my daughter to see it as a unique opportunity rather than losing her last week of vacation.
I have a group of six fourth graders who've shown that they've mastered fourth grade math. Wouldn't it be best to skip them to 5th grade math, rather than offering enrichment only? Are there any down sides to that?
by 7th grade parent
Sep 3, 2009
Last year DD was in a small pullout gifted math class. According to the teacher, they covered Pre-Algebra and the last two months of the year they were working on Algebra.
When we went to enroll her in 7th grade last night, the principal was concerned about our decision to put her in Algebra. He said her NWEA scores were not as high as tho...See MoreLast year DD was in a small pullout gifted math class. According to the teacher, they covered Pre-Algebra and the last two months of the year they were working on Algebra.
When we went to enroll her in 7th grade last night, the principal was concerned about our decision to put her in Algebra. He said her NWEA scores were not as high as those students who are normally placed in the enriched Algebra Class. We asked about her being placed in the regular, non enriched class. He said our choices we either the enriched Pre-Algebra or the enriched Algebra class. Apparently once you are in a "track" you stay in it.
The other classes (English, Soc St. and Science) do not start their enriched sections untill the 2nd quarter, the idea being to get the kids used to junior high first.
Math was actually DD's lowest test area. Her scores were still very high in it (working three grades above) just that her other scores were higher. Math is also not her favorite area, The other three areas are. Even though math was her lowest area, it was the only one that she recieved any acceleration/modification/differentiation in.
My husband and I don't know whether to keep her in the enriched Algebra class or put her in the enriched Pre- Algebra class? I am afraid that if she fails at it and they switch her down in 3-4 weeks, she will be afraid or unwilling to try any of the other enrichment assignments. We haven't seen these enrichment packets, so can not yet judge their value or if they will actually happen. So we are nervous about turning down the one accleleration she has actually been given in exchange for these promised accleration packets. She will refuse to do them if they are additional work not work in lieu of.
I am open to any thoughts or suggestions. School does not start till the 10th, so I still have some time. By the way I am planning on taking DD on Tuesday and seeing if we can view the enriched preAlgebra book, that will at least give us alittle more info. Does anyone have any idea what they are talking about for these enrichment packets?
Thank you
by Donna music/TN
Sep 4, 2009
Does anyone have any suggestions for helping a GT kinder, who is performing at an advanced level on writing and drawing tasks, but is getting extremely frustrated due to her work not being up to her personal standards? The class is doing Kidwriting, and she shuts down the second a letter isn't written correctly (IE, the second it doesn't look exact...See MoreDoes anyone have any suggestions for helping a GT kinder, who is performing at an advanced level on writing and drawing tasks, but is getting extremely frustrated due to her work not being up to her personal standards? The class is doing Kidwriting, and she shuts down the second a letter isn't written correctly (IE, the second it doesn't look exactly like the one on the wall), a word isn't spelled correctly (she will not accept phonetic spelling or a magic line-if it doesn't "look right" after she's written it, she gets very upset), or when her drawings don't match the picture in her mind. She also doesn't want to dictate to an adult because "I can do this". Her handwriting is actually very good for her age, and her pictures have a lot of detail. Her vocabulary and sentence structure are amazing. We have tried encouraging her to tell her story into a recorder or typing it, but she's very concerned about it not being fair.
The K class has 24 students, with 2 adults for most of the day. There are no direct GT services for kindergarten. The child does have an IEP with a teacher on consult, but since the teacher doesn't teach young children, she's not providing many suggestions, either.
I am teaching a fourth grade gifted cluster, with several students who are below grade level. I need to create a station for prefixes -ly and -y. Is it appropriate differentiation to have the gifted students work on a variety of suffixes instead of just the ones mandated in the basal?
by Adrian D (Mr.)
Sep 8, 2009
lease ALL teachers if you have a word document attachment of a lesson plan schdeule that looks very good.please send me it as a email to [email removed]
Thanks! (Never be a copier be your self you will get more places if you do!)
by Jen Sherman
Sep 15, 2009
Hello. I am starting a Talent Development program for our online school. This will be a virtual classroom for talented students. The class is going to be project- based. Each student will design his/her product based on interests, ability, and drive. I expect many products will include mentorships and internships. I am looking for any and all ideas...See MoreHello. I am starting a Talent Development program for our online school. This will be a virtual classroom for talented students. The class is going to be project- based. Each student will design his/her product based on interests, ability, and drive. I expect many products will include mentorships and internships. I am looking for any and all ideas for such an endeavor. I'd really like to visit a school or speak with a coordinator/teacher who has had great success with individual learning contracts, internships, mentorships, etc. I'd love to see some examples of what talented students have done when they were "turned loose" and able to truly explore their passions and interests.
My students will have no time conflicts, as they can attend school 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Transportation also shouldn't be too much of an issue. So, any feedback for ideas for projects, contacts who would be helpful, websites, organizations, etc. is welcome :)
Thanks in advance for your expertise and advice.
Does anyone have info about their state's policy on middle school kids earning credit for taking classes in high school? Several of my students take advanced math at the HS; they're only in 7th grade. The HS principal says they are not earning credit, though. Is that normal? I don't think it makes sense....I'd love to hear others' thoughts.
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Teacher Chatboards
While a middle schooler should certainly have input into which school is chosen, it would be a very rare one indeed who would have the wisdom and maturity to choose well.
Parents have to make these decisions, not leave the raising...See More