Billyman
10-14-2005, 01:18 AM
I have some questions/concerns for you guys.
You are all well educated so your input is not only welcomed but much appreciated. I’m really trying to gain some insight.
Madison is 6 years old and in the first grade. She was reading almost comfortably at a 3rd grade level but they (the teacher(s)) keep upping the ante. They keep pushing her farther and farther……harder and harder and now pushing for a 4th grade level. She’s 6 and in the first grade. She is the only one in her class at the level she is at.
Jess and I had talked about this kind of thing last year when she was at the top of her class in kindergarten. We had talked about the “what if” they want to put her in the “gifted” class. Although the idea is flattering, and it’s coming to pass right before our very eyes, we had decided last year that we didn’t want her subjected to the added pressure and work load. We had ultimately decided that we would allow them to hold her at a high level but not so far and beyond that she felt ill effects of it.
All the students in her class takes home a book they must read each night and they are tested on the book the next day. All the kids also have spelling and math homework along with said book(s). Tonight, she brings home a book 164 pages long wrapped in 26 chapters. It’s not small print but it’s not big print either. It’s loaded with big words, hyphenated words (they haven’t even taught hyphenated words in her class yet), sentences and phrases an average 6th grader might be able to understand. She was told she only had to read ½ the book by tomorrow but by chapter five, she was just reading the words and not the book. Any interest in it was long gone and she was only doing it because she knew she was supposed to. Needless to say, by this point she wasn’t able to absorb anything she was reading. Remember, she’s 6 and in the 1st grade. By this time is almost 8:00 (her regular bedtime) and the poor thing had already broke down in tears because of the expectations from her teacher(s).
Would you talk to the teacher and say “whoa, not so fast, lets educate her before just cramming shit down her throat or winding her up like a toy to see what she’ll do”.
Or…
Would you let the teacher find her capabilities and what is within’ or beyond her reach and at what time to do what?
Granted talking to the teacher(s) is a must for me at this point. I just don’t want to hold Madison back if she has the potential and she is able. But at the same time I want her to get a good education but I’d also like her to enjoy being a kid. I think they’re pushing a little to hard right now, but there again they have to find the boundaries of young minds.
Hmm…..
You are all well educated so your input is not only welcomed but much appreciated. I’m really trying to gain some insight.
Madison is 6 years old and in the first grade. She was reading almost comfortably at a 3rd grade level but they (the teacher(s)) keep upping the ante. They keep pushing her farther and farther……harder and harder and now pushing for a 4th grade level. She’s 6 and in the first grade. She is the only one in her class at the level she is at.
Jess and I had talked about this kind of thing last year when she was at the top of her class in kindergarten. We had talked about the “what if” they want to put her in the “gifted” class. Although the idea is flattering, and it’s coming to pass right before our very eyes, we had decided last year that we didn’t want her subjected to the added pressure and work load. We had ultimately decided that we would allow them to hold her at a high level but not so far and beyond that she felt ill effects of it.
All the students in her class takes home a book they must read each night and they are tested on the book the next day. All the kids also have spelling and math homework along with said book(s). Tonight, she brings home a book 164 pages long wrapped in 26 chapters. It’s not small print but it’s not big print either. It’s loaded with big words, hyphenated words (they haven’t even taught hyphenated words in her class yet), sentences and phrases an average 6th grader might be able to understand. She was told she only had to read ½ the book by tomorrow but by chapter five, she was just reading the words and not the book. Any interest in it was long gone and she was only doing it because she knew she was supposed to. Needless to say, by this point she wasn’t able to absorb anything she was reading. Remember, she’s 6 and in the 1st grade. By this time is almost 8:00 (her regular bedtime) and the poor thing had already broke down in tears because of the expectations from her teacher(s).
Would you talk to the teacher and say “whoa, not so fast, lets educate her before just cramming shit down her throat or winding her up like a toy to see what she’ll do”.
Or…
Would you let the teacher find her capabilities and what is within’ or beyond her reach and at what time to do what?
Granted talking to the teacher(s) is a must for me at this point. I just don’t want to hold Madison back if she has the potential and she is able. But at the same time I want her to get a good education but I’d also like her to enjoy being a kid. I think they’re pushing a little to hard right now, but there again they have to find the boundaries of young minds.
Hmm…..