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About Me
- Marlene Armstrong
- I'm married to the amazing Michael and have 4 terrific kids, ages 25, 22, 18 & 16. I am also very blessed to have a grandson who is a year old. I have the best job -- I am an Assistant Principal at San Tan Charter School.
So far I have not had any students intimidate me. My biggest challenge is when a student expresses their knowledge related to our topic of discussion and I might not know if the information they are presenting is correct. A good example would be if my class was discussing WWII and a student stated something they believed to be fact and I might not have a clue if they were right or wrong.
ReplyDeleteWhile I would tell the class that I do not know if the fact is true, I would still worry that some students (including the student who made the comment) would believe it was true even if later we proved the fact to be false. I would also be concerned about sending the wrong message to the student by discounting his knowledge of the subject. Does that make sense?
I like it when my students and I have a good debate about our topics of study. They learn alot and so do I.
I think that I feel the same way sometimes. However especially teaching technology some of these kiddos know so much more than me. I honestly don't feel intimidated but sometimes I get mad at myself that I don't have that knowledge and then of course because of my personality I must go out and gain all of the knowledge that I can about that subject :)
ReplyDeleteAgree with both of you - can see how frustrating it must be with technology. I find it to be a thrilling moment when you realize a student is onto something greater and better. I acknowledge it, encourage the student to go with the thought and try to find more. These are the lesson plan changers.
ReplyDeleteGlad I am here - hope I will find the blog room again!
Wanda: How do you help those kiddos that are so bright in your classroom?
ReplyDeleteI give them private reign. They approach me personally with the burning questions and I give them whatever I've got. Even send whatever to them during Achieve. Like a time-turner, they take 2 periods at the same time until it spills over onto the rest of the class and they assist me in teaching. This can be frustrating to them, because their own understanding still lacks organization and maturity. It takes a lot of trust and discipine. Sometimes it just fades, if their curiosity has been satisfied.
ReplyDeleteThe good part is the feed back years later. They still come and share the connections they make and new insights gained.
ReplyDeleteYou know I forget about the feed back part! My 4th grade teacher Mrs. Brislan was amazing. She allowed me to start exploring on my own and move ahead at my own pace. It started a love for learning for me. Prior to that I was just addicted to always knowing the right answer. Because of her I started exploring and seeing things that I did not know exsisted before. I don't know where to find her so this is the best that I can do -- Thank you Mrs. Brislan for seeing in me what no one else did!
ReplyDeleteI don't usually feel intimidated by students who know more than me. I actually don't mind at all. They sometimes teach me things. That's where I learn some of the most interesting things from. Morgan Shimono has been looking up Dark Matter and how it relates to Black Hole formation. Pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteThese guys never cease to amaze me. I can't wait to see what he comes up with. Just as a general rule though, we probably shouldn't post any of these kiddos names on the blog. :)
ReplyDeleteI've had it happen a time or two, but rarely because I am pretty into my subject matter. What I do in a circumstance like that is grab the opportunity to run with it and make it the topic of the day. We can go on-line together and look it up or I can give the class an assignment to research it and have a discussion the next day. We should not be so liked into our lesson plans that we miss the opportunity to encourage real education.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that everyone benefits from these gifted opportunities that Ted pointed out? I truly believe that even though we are opening up a discussion about gifted strategies, all of the strategies will benefit all students.
ReplyDeleteAha! While I do not feel any of my own students are smarter than me (in math), I do have an achieve student that is in an advanced math class that really does terrify me at times. She is one of the few that do as for help, and if I can not help her, I do tend to feel intimidated. I send her to her own teacher and then I am left to feel bad about my own abilities. I feel as a math TEACHER I should be able to answer any math questions from our students, but the reality is...we teach what we know. I do like the idea of teacher/student teaching each other though. I like to ask the above mentioned student how she eventually solved the problem. I learn something new and she feels "smarter than a teacher!" Win-win!
ReplyDeleteI would not enjoy it if a student pointed out to me that he/she felt they knew more than me, but would find a polite way to make the point clear that we all have different types of knowledge. As a teacher, you cannot let them get to you. Otherwise you are in the wrong business.
Marisa: I have to say that every day my kiddos know more than me on the computers. I shouldn't say more, just something different that I don't know how to do already. I LOVE it!
ReplyDelete"Do you think that everyone benefits from these gifted opportunities that Ted pointed out? I truly believe that even though we are opening up a discussion about gifted strategies, all of the strategies will benefit all students."
ReplyDeleteGifted kids think differently--kiddos with IQs below 130ish spend 80% of the time thinking in the lower levels--knowledge, comprehension and application--most grade level curriculum is taught in those three levels. Gifted kiddos (IQ 130-155) spend 80% of the time thinking in the higher three levels synthesis, analysis, and evaluation. That's why they are so good at veering off topic or hijacking classroom discussions.
A truly 'gifted' program offers curriculum that the average learner cannot grasp. Sure there are strategies that work for many children but a gifted program needs to be differentiated to meet the needs of gifted learners, if it doesn't it shouldn't exist.
I agree about the curriculum. I think that what we have lost in most gifted programs is the rigor. We are afraid to challenge these kiddos because they might leave the program or heaven forbid they get a 'B' because they worked hard for it!
ReplyDeleteWhen I say what is good for gifted is good for all kids, I am referring to all kids learning at their unique ability level. Why are we teaching multiplication in 3rd grade to a student who can't read his numbers? Just because he is in 3rd grade? I feel that some educators want to see that the children are catagorized rather than what is best for the child.
Definately agree, there are so many systemic changes that need to be made in education---
ReplyDeleteAnd yet where in the world would we start?
ReplyDeleteI had a conversation today with a co-hort who is getting certified in gifted and was writing a curriculum unit that was supposed to start with essential questions--this is where gifted ed curriculum should focus. IT IS HARD!! I have written some curriculum units that start with essential questions but even the smartest kids rarely work hard enough to be able to 'answer' those questions. Look at this website, you can see tons of great questions. Talk about high level!! http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/essential%20questions/Index.htm
ReplyDeleteThank you so much....I will definately check it out & let you know what I think. Sorry for not responding sooner, I don't know how I missed it when you originally posted.
ReplyDelete