Mamacita says: I hated elementary school, and by “hated” what I really mean is, well, HATED.
I learned to read when I was really little, but I have never read as most other people do. When I read, I look at a page and immediately, that page is affixed inside my head. I can later “bring it back,” inside my head, glance at it and know what it says again. If I had to, I could read it back word for word, but that is not how I read. I look at the whole page and just “know.” From the time I was very young, I could do this. It’s really handy on planes, for I can re-read entire books by just closing my eyes, concentrating on a particular book, and seeing it page after page in my head.
Now, try to imagine explaining that to an elementary school teacher. I do not mean to disparage my former teachers, but only one of them ever even TRIED to understand what I was telling her about how I read. The others just kept telling me to slow down, because I was making the other kids feel bad. All through grade school, to “reward” me for being fast, I was sent out into the hall to tutor slow kids.
I still have nightmares about sitting out in the hall trying desperately to get some slow little boy who was exactly my age to understand words like “lamb” and “cereal.” I can still hear my teachers telling me, in that slow, patient voice they used when they were actually really pissed but couldn’t show it, to “slow DOWN” and making me write list after list of little baby words when they KNEW I already knew them. WHY? When I was reading “Gone with the Wind” in fourth grade, my teacher made me check out a little baby book from the library and do a report on it “so the other students will be able to read it, too.” Sometimes, the school librarian would forbid me to check out a book because the “age disclaimer” on it didn’t have my current age listed.
In first grade, I used to keep a stack of library books on the floor under my desk – they wouldn’t fit inside the desk – so I would have SOMETHING to do when the silly little word lists and baby readings and insulting little history paragraphs, etc, were finished, so my teacher, when she glanced my way, would see that I was still reading and wouldn’t make me go out in the hall and do her job for her. One day, she bent over, picked up my stack of books, made a comment to the class about how Janie must think she needed a foot rest, and took them away from me. She told me she was taking recess away from me because of my disrespectful attitude. I was a little kid and didn’t know enough to keep a straight face, and when she saw that I was positively ECSTATIC – I hated recess! – she changed her mind and made me go outside. Sigh.
I’ve been obsessed with astronomy since I was very young, but I soon learned not to do any reports about it. I was also very interested in phosphorescence in nature; after a few accusations of copying, I gave up being myself and started doing stupid projects and paragraphs about stuff like “Which will rust: pebbles or nails?” like everybody else in the class was doing.
Listen, I was no genius child. I was just a reading child. Kids who read know tons more than kids who don’t read. We know ideas and themes and learn early on how to connect all of that to the real world. Readers are unfazed by political incorrectness or correctness – we UNDERSTAND, because we know about context, even if we’re young. As for vocabulary. . . I can’t even discuss it rationally, even still. Being forced to write list after list of one-syllable beginning reading words when I was already reading “Gone with the Wind” was so insulting that I used to wipe tears of indignation off my face as I wrote. I can remember thinking, “Why do they make me come here? Do they wish I was slow? Do they WANT me to go backwards instead of forwards? Why do my teachers help everybody but me?”
I still wonder, because from where I sit, most of our public schools could not possibly care less about the fast kids, or the gifted kids, or the reading kids, because everything – curriculum, money, attention – everything seems to be aimed at the lowest possible common denominator.
This is very, very wrong.
Cream rises to the top, it is true, but if nothing is done with it, the cream goes bad. Worse still, if the cream is forced back down and mixed into the rest of the milk, pretty soon it disappears altogether. Oh, the milk is better off, but the cream isn’t. Doesn’t anybody care about the cream any more?
Education in this country seems to be intent on making everybody equal at the expense of those who are already advanced. Beating the smart kids back down into the rest of the crowd isn’t merely a bad idea, it is an evil idea. It’s EVIL to force the brightest kids back down into the masses of average and below average kids. The whole idea of education is to allow people to ADVANCE, not to deliberately hold them back. Self-esteem be damned; if a kid can do it, let him/her do it! If a kid can’t do it, keep him/her back until he/she can. DO NOT hold back a bright kid if he/she’s proven over and over again that the curriculum is far too simple. And holy scheisse on a popsickle stick, do NOT send a bright kid out into the hall with the slow kids day after day and rationalize it away by calling it “compassion curriculum” or any other made-up name that really means “we don’t have any place for kids this fast and bright and since we have to do SOMETHING with them, it’s a lot easier for everyone concerned to just turn them into unpaid teachers and send them out with Billy and Johnny, who still can’t get it. It’ll teach them all to get along. After all, they’re going to be associating closely with each other out in the real world, and. . . .” Oh, are they? Of COURSE they are. Sigh.
Please don’t yell at me in the comments and tell me how cruel and impatient and uncaring I must be to advocate for the bright kids. I honestly believe that there should be a place for every category of kid. Unfortunately, since every child is a unique individual, it’s not possible to do EXACTLY that, but most schools do their best, unless the child is extra bright, and then the assumption is made that smart kids should count their lucky starts that they’re smart, and that a bright kid can adapt to anything so we don’t have to accommodate them.
Parents, perhaps you don’t know that in many states, G/T falls under the jurisdiction of Special Education. If your child is bright and isn’t being challenged at school, or is being taken advantage of, call your state dept. of education and find out if you need to get an IEP for your child.
Once armed with that, you can force the school to accommodate your child. Get all the parents of extra-bright kids together, and maybe you can bring justice for them to your local school.
Don’t expect it to be easy, because it won’t be. Schools are strapped for cash, and a program for kids who don’t seem to need any help with the state standards won’t seem like any kind of priority to many administrators.
Don’t take “no” for an answer. Your children are worth a battle or two. Or three. Four. Eighty-seven. Do not give up. Keep on. Threaten a lawsuit. DO it.
I never considered myself “gifted” or “talented,” but I was certainly not challenged in grade school, and I was certainly taken advantage of. Don’t let this keep on happening!
Our brightest kids are being neglected and forced BACK. What the bloody hell is wrong with us as a culture? ALL kids deserve encouragement, but the brightest kids are the ones who could do the MOST with even just a little bit!
And now I’m rambling, and probably sounding like a misanthropist when I don’t mean to be. I think ALL of our children deserve the very, very best, and it’s just not fair that most schools aren’t even trying to give it to them.
As for those little age disclaimers inside the book jackets. . . . only the worst, stupidest librarians and teachers pay any attention to those. If a child wants to read a book, the good librarians and teachers allow it. The best ones ENCOURAGE it.
And if your child or student tries to explain to you that he/she reads in an unusual way, LISTEN.
My seven-year-old self thanks you.
I was an IQ160 kid genius and natural talent speedreader, now trying to launch a second career as a science-fiction writer. Here’s what my pre-college school career taught me:
ANY NAIL THAT STICKS UP GETS HAMMERED DOWN. HARD!
To this day, I cannot function at ANYTHING creative unless I am totally, psychologically alone.
I was an IQ160 kid genius and natural talent speedreader, now trying to launch a second career as a science-fiction writer. Here’s what my pre-college school career taught me:
ANY NAIL THAT STICKS UP GETS HAMMERED DOWN. HARD!
To this day, I cannot function at ANYTHING creative unless I am totally, psychologically alone.
On a slightly related note, as a teacher, I get somewhat annoyed at my colleagues who think that because they have gifted/talented students who do good work, that that somehow makes them wonderful teachers. (Yes, I am little resentful about teaching all lower-level students, why do you ask? **g**)
Having been one of those students, I know that most of them would do the same quality of work no matter who was standing in front of them. I think that is one of the reasons G/T students get overlooked, because they don’t seem to need extra help.
On a slightly related note, as a teacher, I get somewhat annoyed at my colleagues who think that because they have gifted/talented students who do good work, that that somehow makes them wonderful teachers. (Yes, I am little resentful about teaching all lower-level students, why do you ask? **g**)
Having been one of those students, I know that most of them would do the same quality of work no matter who was standing in front of them. I think that is one of the reasons G/T students get overlooked, because they don’t seem to need extra help.
I’m another one who learned to read very early — my mother taught me to read while I was in kindergarten, and I remember being very indignant when I got into first grade, and the teacher gave me a book with no words in it. Fortunately/unfortunately, at that time I attended a very experimental school (it was a Dept. of Defense K-12 school in the Philippines) and in 2nd grade they put me in a 5th grade reading class. It screwed up my handwriting and social skills for a while, but it did help my reading.
The schools I was in never heard of gifted students, but we were tracked, which was almost as good, I guess. The book I read in high school that made the biggest impact on my life and my schooling was Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert Heinlein. The lesson I learned from that was that I had to take responsibility for my own learning. Because of that book, I took six years of math, mostly as independent study.
If you as a parent are not satisfied with your child’s education, DO SOMETHING. Yes, it may not be fair that you have to do extra work, but at the end of the day, your child is your responsibility. You know your child much better than the teacher, who either can’t or won’t accomodate each students’ starting point, background knowledge, and learning style.
I’m another one who learned to read very early — my mother taught me to read while I was in kindergarten, and I remember being very indignant when I got into first grade, and the teacher gave me a book with no words in it. Fortunately/unfortunately, at that time I attended a very experimental school (it was a Dept. of Defense K-12 school in the Philippines) and in 2nd grade they put me in a 5th grade reading class. It screwed up my handwriting and social skills for a while, but it did help my reading.
The schools I was in never heard of gifted students, but we were tracked, which was almost as good, I guess. The book I read in high school that made the biggest impact on my life and my schooling was Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert Heinlein. The lesson I learned from that was that I had to take responsibility for my own learning. Because of that book, I took six years of math, mostly as independent study.
If you as a parent are not satisfied with your child’s education, DO SOMETHING. Yes, it may not be fair that you have to do extra work, but at the end of the day, your child is your responsibility. You know your child much better than the teacher, who either can’t or won’t accomodate each students’ starting point, background knowledge, and learning style.
I’m the parent of a spec needs student and a GT student. IMHO, every child in every school should have the equivalent of strength-based IEP (enforceable). What is frustrating is that the special ed IEP process is totally deficit-based.
I agree parents need to be advocates all the same….if your child isn’t being challenged, get out and organize!
I’m the parent of a spec needs student and a GT student. IMHO, every child in every school should have the equivalent of strength-based IEP (enforceable). What is frustrating is that the special ed IEP process is totally deficit-based.
I agree parents need to be advocates all the same….if your child isn’t being challenged, get out and organize!
Interestingly, I had a similar experience in school, and was just sharing this with a friend of mine yesterday when he asked why we were planning on homeschooling my son.
I, too, was no genius, but was a reader. I LOVED to read. I always read ahead in all of my classes, and had the entire text book finished when it was early in the year. I’d get in trouble for reading ahead, but what else was there to do when I’d finished all of my classwork and wasn’t allowed outside books?
They told me in third grade that I was reading at a twelfth grade level. and even then, I thought, “Isn’t 12th the highest grade? So what next?” What next, indeed. Sit down and suppress all of your intelligence for the next 9 years, that’s what. Get all your work done and then sit in class, bored to tears, finishing all of your homework for that night before you even leave school. Let your brain rot while not ever being challenged, ever, because the class has to cater to the middle – not the slowest and not the fastest, but to the average.
A lot of kids get left behind in that scenario.
Interestingly, I had a similar experience in school, and was just sharing this with a friend of mine yesterday when he asked why we were planning on homeschooling my son.
I, too, was no genius, but was a reader. I LOVED to read. I always read ahead in all of my classes, and had the entire text book finished when it was early in the year. I’d get in trouble for reading ahead, but what else was there to do when I’d finished all of my classwork and wasn’t allowed outside books?
They told me in third grade that I was reading at a twelfth grade level. and even then, I thought, “Isn’t 12th the highest grade? So what next?” What next, indeed. Sit down and suppress all of your intelligence for the next 9 years, that’s what. Get all your work done and then sit in class, bored to tears, finishing all of your homework for that night before you even leave school. Let your brain rot while not ever being challenged, ever, because the class has to cater to the middle – not the slowest and not the fastest, but to the average.
A lot of kids get left behind in that scenario.
As a high school student, I took things into my own hands and created a curriculum for myself, took it to the principal, superintendent, and school board in order to implement it, and then basically planned out a couple classes for myself. Why? Because I wasn’t challenged enough and I wanted to be. A huge issue now is that we accommodate everyone EXCEPT the G/T students, which is my biggest pet peeve in education these days. Even in my education classes in college, we spent tons of time on all the other “exceptional students” and only spent about fifteen minutes total, in an entire semester’s work, on G/T students and their “special needs.” The basic idea most people came away with was that G/T students should have accommodation plans to ensure they are being educated to the best of their ability to learn; however, all the other students were much more important and their parents were more likely to demand attention for them.
You’re my heroine for bringing this to the forefront more and more. One thing aspiring teachers should remember is that more of the same work is not sufficient for G/T students: They need more advanced work in a similar vein to keep their minds stimulated. I only had one teacher in all my elementary and secondary school years who actually understood this, and he will always be remembered fondly for his understanding of what I needed in class to be successful. He didn’t give me more work on top of what everyone else was doing; he gave me more advanced work than everyone else was doing to keep me interested and attuned to what he was teaching us. (Still on topic, of course, with what he was teaching. He was an amazing teacher.)
My seven-year-old self and your seven-year-old self would have been good friends. We could have commiserated about the terrible teachers and how misunderstood we were.
As a high school student, I took things into my own hands and created a curriculum for myself, took it to the principal, superintendent, and school board in order to implement it, and then basically planned out a couple classes for myself. Why? Because I wasn’t challenged enough and I wanted to be. A huge issue now is that we accommodate everyone EXCEPT the G/T students, which is my biggest pet peeve in education these days. Even in my education classes in college, we spent tons of time on all the other “exceptional students” and only spent about fifteen minutes total, in an entire semester’s work, on G/T students and their “special needs.” The basic idea most people came away with was that G/T students should have accommodation plans to ensure they are being educated to the best of their ability to learn; however, all the other students were much more important and their parents were more likely to demand attention for them.
You’re my heroine for bringing this to the forefront more and more. One thing aspiring teachers should remember is that more of the same work is not sufficient for G/T students: They need more advanced work in a similar vein to keep their minds stimulated. I only had one teacher in all my elementary and secondary school years who actually understood this, and he will always be remembered fondly for his understanding of what I needed in class to be successful. He didn’t give me more work on top of what everyone else was doing; he gave me more advanced work than everyone else was doing to keep me interested and attuned to what he was teaching us. (Still on topic, of course, with what he was teaching. He was an amazing teacher.)
My seven-year-old self and your seven-year-old self would have been good friends. We could have commiserated about the terrible teachers and how misunderstood we were.
I am the Gifted & Talented Coordinator for my district. I am responsible for 150 kids’ academic needs. (we have 8 coaches for our 40 member football team!)
I am not allowed to see my high school kids (schedule problems), I occasionally get to see my Middle School kids, and am not allowed to make accommodations for the elementary kids. I can only have them for “pull-out”. Believe me, we work hard and fast and furious during that time! And they love it! And want more.
So how, exactly, has the learning experience for these kids been improved since we were kids? How can NCLB truly “improve academic achievement” for them?
I am the Gifted & Talented Coordinator for my district. I am responsible for 150 kids’ academic needs. (we have 8 coaches for our 40 member football team!)
I am not allowed to see my high school kids (schedule problems), I occasionally get to see my Middle School kids, and am not allowed to make accommodations for the elementary kids. I can only have them for “pull-out”. Believe me, we work hard and fast and furious during that time! And they love it! And want more.
So how, exactly, has the learning experience for these kids been improved since we were kids? How can NCLB truly “improve academic achievement” for them?
Your post made my day. I was the same child growing up. I loved reading. My mom would have to hide my books so I would sleep at night. Luckily I was blessed with a 2nd grade teacher who saw my love for books and she pulled books from the library especially for me. I got to read 8th grade reading level while others still were in beginning levels of reading. 3rd grade was a huge push backward, my teacher felt inconvenienced at having someone so excited to read at a higher level. Nowadays, I wish I had the time to read.
As a student teacher, I am continually amazed as I observe in different classrooms at how teachers handle advanced or gifted students. Some follow the take away recess method and others foster the love for knowledge. I think it is something all teachers really should pay more attention to. Over and over again we are reminded as education students to make sure not to leave anyone behind, but sometimes it is at the cost of leaving a love for reading or knowledge behind, which I think many forget. As a Spanish teacher, I am continually on the look out for effect ways of reaching out to those students who want to learn more, but it really it tough. Hopefully I get better with it in the future.
Your post made my day. I was the same child growing up. I loved reading. My mom would have to hide my books so I would sleep at night. Luckily I was blessed with a 2nd grade teacher who saw my love for books and she pulled books from the library especially for me. I got to read 8th grade reading level while others still were in beginning levels of reading. 3rd grade was a huge push backward, my teacher felt inconvenienced at having someone so excited to read at a higher level. Nowadays, I wish I had the time to read.
As a student teacher, I am continually amazed as I observe in different classrooms at how teachers handle advanced or gifted students. Some follow the take away recess method and others foster the love for knowledge. I think it is something all teachers really should pay more attention to. Over and over again we are reminded as education students to make sure not to leave anyone behind, but sometimes it is at the cost of leaving a love for reading or knowledge behind, which I think many forget. As a Spanish teacher, I am continually on the look out for effect ways of reaching out to those students who want to learn more, but it really it tough. Hopefully I get better with it in the future.
If memory serves, didn’t they cut the G&T program back at My Old School District to pay for a new gym floor for the *junior high*?
People wonder why I rarely go back home.
WF
If memory serves, didn’t they cut the G&T program back at My Old School District to pay for a new gym floor for the *junior high*?
People wonder why I rarely go back home.
WF
I felt very much the same way. Third grade was my first terrible school year, because my school changed the reading program from a level-based one to a grade-based one.
I started in Kindergarten with the level-based program, reading stories while the other kids were still learning their ABC’s. My very kind K teacher explained to me that she was sorry that I had to sit through those lessons since she knew I already knew how to read, but I would have to be patient while the other kids learned and I waited for my reading lesson.
In second grade, I was the only kid in the grade reading at the level I was, so to have me be in a reading group with someone else, I got skipped up a level to be with the third grader who was the highest level reader in her grade.
In third grade, I was forced back YEARS of reading experience when the program was changed to one where the whole class read the same book at the same time, and I had to sit there, bored to tears, while other kids struggled through books that I’d read years before. This continued throughout high school, even, since I was reading the books that my two-years-older brother brought home from his English classes.
Our talented and gifted program (diluted, by the time I got in, in fourth grade, by lowering the bar to allow more kids in, which diluted the amount of attention we got and what we were able to do) was cut when I was in eighth grade. My mom fought for years to get it back, and the town finally agreed. Too late to be of any more use to me, but great for the kids who can still benefit from it.
I felt very much the same way. Third grade was my first terrible school year, because my school changed the reading program from a level-based one to a grade-based one.
I started in Kindergarten with the level-based program, reading stories while the other kids were still learning their ABC’s. My very kind K teacher explained to me that she was sorry that I had to sit through those lessons since she knew I already knew how to read, but I would have to be patient while the other kids learned and I waited for my reading lesson.
In second grade, I was the only kid in the grade reading at the level I was, so to have me be in a reading group with someone else, I got skipped up a level to be with the third grader who was the highest level reader in her grade.
In third grade, I was forced back YEARS of reading experience when the program was changed to one where the whole class read the same book at the same time, and I had to sit there, bored to tears, while other kids struggled through books that I’d read years before. This continued throughout high school, even, since I was reading the books that my two-years-older brother brought home from his English classes.
Our talented and gifted program (diluted, by the time I got in, in fourth grade, by lowering the bar to allow more kids in, which diluted the amount of attention we got and what we were able to do) was cut when I was in eighth grade. My mom fought for years to get it back, and the town finally agreed. Too late to be of any more use to me, but great for the kids who can still benefit from it.
I don’t read like you do, but I do read pretty fast. I was reading Alex Haley novels in 3rd grade. Luckily, I was at a hippie-dippy private school where each child was actually treated as an individual, and we were encouraged to strike out on our own in areas where we excelled.
With my own kids, I’ve been very fortunate. The SLPS has a gifted program where my kids are learning at an accelerated pace. It’s not perfect, but they’re not bored.
Your remarks about readers are on the money. I’d never thought of it that way, but being a reader DOES give you a sense of context. The knowledge base aids you in seeing more than one side of an issue or an event.
I don’t read like you do, but I do read pretty fast. I was reading Alex Haley novels in 3rd grade. Luckily, I was at a hippie-dippy private school where each child was actually treated as an individual, and we were encouraged to strike out on our own in areas where we excelled.
With my own kids, I’ve been very fortunate. The SLPS has a gifted program where my kids are learning at an accelerated pace. It’s not perfect, but they’re not bored.
Your remarks about readers are on the money. I’d never thought of it that way, but being a reader DOES give you a sense of context. The knowledge base aids you in seeing more than one side of an issue or an event.