Friday, April 17, 2009
Allowing Students to Learn at a Faster Pace
The author makes the statement "gifted students should be allowed to move through it at a faster pace than the rest of the class." Do you believe this to be true for most highly intelligent & gifted students? If so, what percentage of students do you believe are allowed the opportunity to learn at their own pace and continue learning in America? And what do you feel about this?
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If pace means covering objectives faster so that they can get going with good stuff, I am all am for it.
ReplyDeleteWhat I have found though is that it is these students who see more, or something else in the objective and so slow up the pace with a much deeeper approach.
I agree with Wanda. While I think some things can be covered more quickly, as I dive deeper into the history of gifted instruction, it seems like it is more important to create activities that delve deeper into the subject matter. For example a 7th grade objective is for students to learn how to interview and be interviewed and then write a formal interview article. I usually teach this at the beginning of the year as an icebreaker for everyone to get to know each other. For most of my students, interviewing their peers provides me with the opportunity to teach these objectives and evaluate mastery.
ReplyDeleteCould gifted students go deeper by creating more in-depth questions? Could they interview an adult about a topic they are interested in learning more about. Or could they take on the character of a historical person, research that person's accomplishments, and then be interviewed by a peer.
I think whether we accelerate the curriculum or provide activities that are more challenging for our gifted students is dependent on what is being taught and what they already know. There needs to be a happy medium between having 30 students all on different curriculum tracks and differentiating lesson objectives that meet the intellectual needs of every student.
We are reading the book Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom by Susan Weinbrenner
ReplyDeleteI think that you are both absolutely right -- this would be decided on an individual basis. For example math it would probably be acceleration whereas in Language Arts it might be more in depth extensions. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteFaster isn't always (maybe even it's seldom) better. We're after deep thinkers. There's a fine line between racing through curriculum for the sake of getting through, and really investigating and learning at a deep level.
ReplyDeleteI agree with "faster isn't always better" but picking up the pace for bright kids would help a lot and would cut down on what they hate most--repetition. Research shows that gifted students need 1-3 repetitions to learn something where the average learner needs 17 repetitions. Could the gifted learners be delving deeper? or extending what they have learned?
ReplyDeleteWhatever you do make sure that they aren't helping the slower learners catch up! Gifted kids hate doing it and even if they don't hate it, they are there to learn new material, too.
There are many obvious problems with moving through the curriculum at your own pace...here is a comment I made to a guy I was arguing with on this exact topic a couple of years ago. Rather than retype I'll c/p what I said to him about the 'bullet train approach' to teaching, in this case mathematics.
"I actually agree with what you say “One have to learn a set of skills and knowledge during certain number of years to survive (and be successful) in the human world”. But maybe I’m more of a realist. I’ve been teaching for 25+ years and have had my 3 gifted sons in public schools and state universities for that whole time. (They are now grown—a lawyer, a chemical engineer and a philosopher)
I have always been concerned about the lack of academic rigor and the pace of the curriculum in schools, especially grades K-8. I am a special education teacher who provides services for gifted kiddos. I teach in a Title 1 school in a large suburban school district. Here are the facts—50% of our students are children of poverty, do we leave some of them behind in our quest for “a set of skills”? 25% of our kids leave during the year and are replaced with new move-ins, do we leave them behind? Some are underachievers and choose not to perform, do we leave them behind? 20% do not speak English as their primary language, do we leave them behind? Many have no parental support, do we leave them behind? Some are gifted girls who just want to “fit in”, do we leave them behind? Some of them only come to school 3 or 4 days a week, do we leave them behind? We’ve established who gets left behind.
OK, now we have this forward moving group. Some are moving faster in math, some reading, some computers, some history, some science, some art, some music. Are you going to be the person that schedules these kiddos into classes with teachers qualified to teach them? Let’s take math for example…you have 8 kids ready to move forward through pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, Pre-Calc etc. Who is going to teach them? If they don’t take the class at a high school they won’t get high school credit; if they don’t take Honors they won’t get a 5 point A and it will affect their GPA. The teachers certified to teach them have 7-12 certificates, so cannot work in an elementary school. Let’s say, this does work—and you can find a highly qualified math teacher to teach them and they get the credit they need for their high school transcripts no matter their age-- 8 years old, ten years, old, etc. Then what?
They need to be driven to the local college or university for advanced classes, they can’t drive—parents work all day. Are you as a tax payer, going to have your local school district provide transportation? Then what, doesn’t this kid still need Science instruction? History instruction? English instruction? Does he go to grade school for this? middle school ? high school?
Does he need recess? Gym? Choir? Fieldtrips? Does he need to learn how to work with others? Have time to think about what he is learning? Think critically and creatively?
For those parents and teachers who want the “bullet train approach” claiming faster is better, I have seen no workable solutions—just a lot of complaining. If you want changes in your child’s school then lead the charge, if the schools won’t listen change schools, if you can’t afford to change schools then home school. If you teach in a school that won’t listen then change schools, if you can’t change schools then change careers. We are all just doing the best we can. What I do is provide gifted kids with alternatives to low level discussions, slow progress, material already mastered and drill and practice—even if it is only 20% of the week—it’s better than nothing." Thanks for letting me sneak into this conversation. N
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ReplyDeleteI'm subscribing by email (didn't do it on my previous post) to follow the conversation. N.
ReplyDeleteRe: anonymous
ReplyDeleteTake Math, for example. I brought home the 7th grade Math book in our curriculum this weekend to see what I need to telescope for an accelerated 5th grade student who finished the 6th grade curriculum. I had no idea just how much *verbatim* repetition goes on between grades. In a 13 chapter, 7th-grade book with 150+ "sections", there were fewer than 20 sections that were not word-for-word titled the same as sections from my 6th grade book. I'm not talking about chapters with enhanced areas of focus, I'm referencing the sections that make up those chapters.
If I don't move this student through those sections that he has already learned this year quickly, we will have no time to dig into *anything* with any level of depth.
What I've found in my first-year as a teacher is that most of curriculum is foundational. There can be no deep thinking until that foundation has been built. As Nancy pointed out, research shows that gifted students learn (most everything, not just the basics) with fewer repetitions.
Teaching gifted students in the way they learn best naturally leads to a "faster pace."
I had an interesting 'pacing' issue come up recently. In our district 6th graders who qualify can take Pre-Algebra before school, Alg 1 as 7th graders and go to the high school to take Honors Geometry. Not a perfect example of acceleration but better than nothing.
ReplyDeleteI have a few gifted students who didn't want to take PreAlg at 7:00 in the morning but will be bored to death with PreAlg as 7th graders so I offered parents and kids the option of getting a PA book and working through the material over the summer then taking the Algebra 1 entrance exam in the fall.
I thought I was being so helpful-- I asked their 6th grade classroom teachers if they would e interested is assessing 6th grade skills and letting the kids work independently through the first few chapters of the 7th grade PA book independently. A plan was hatched. Two weeks into the plan I get a call from the classroom teacher and she said even though these kids are exceptional math students they are making numerous mistakes in PA assignments. We put a halt to the PA group and it reminded me that even exceptional math students (at least most) NEED to be taught. Lesson learned.
I've heard brain researchers say that if a gifted kid teaches themselves incorrectly it is very hard to retrain them!! So from this cautionary tale?? If kids should be accelerated they need instruction.
Even the best laid plans.....it is so true. I thought that I had an excellent plan for gifted kiddos this year in order to meet their social emotional needs. What I found was that the school staff resented that we were doing something special, the other kids resented that we were doing something special, the gifted kids didn't think it was so special. The only people who were happy with it were the parents -- lesson learned -- I got great reviews on our schoolwide parent survey -- you have to please the parents :) Obviously I am tweeking it for next year, but at the end of the day we have to realize that we don't fail if we have tried, we just now have more information on what will work and what won't. We only truly fail when we don't do anything.
ReplyDeleteRuss, Nancy & Anonymous: I love what you have to say about gifted. I feel like I have learned more today about what others feel about gifted than I have for the last year trying to introduce gifted to our school district...thank you for your great comments.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI'm "anonymous," didn't seem to be able to save with my name...especially in math, the basic foundation is repeated year to year but each concept can be taught and delved into at an intense, deeper, level. I also agree with Nancy re. the problems in moving too quickly. What do you do once they hit the ceiling of what the district can provide, whatever level they are at? For instance, exhausting all math/science options by tenth or 11th grade -- and again, having that problem with transport to a local college (too young to drive), not to mention tuition costs.
It's not an easy fix, this issue needs careful thought and planning. And another side-issue we encounter - is that if accommodations are made for a few exceptional students, we get reams of parents wanting the same accommodations though the fit for their children is not recommended. Causes a lot of grief and anxiety for everyone when these parents try to push the envelope. Not a reason not to offer, but just a side development that causes grief for districts. No wonder so many of them just put their heads in the sand and don't do much but token services.
Marlene: One thing I have learned in my 25 years of teaching gifted is how to judge perceptions of other teachers, parents, kids etc. BUT it has taken a lot of years of 'foot-in'mouth' experiences.
ReplyDeleteiteach: In a perfect world kiddos would start their math training in kindergarten and move through the material year by year or semester by semester without the roadblocks of Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5 etc. BUT again, other roadblocks--qualified math teachers, transportation, scheduling. It takes a gutsy admin to break out of the molds of school as it is today!
...more on 'making mistakes', why do we who work with gifted kids always feel like second class citizens? We have the BEST students, small class sizes, paraprofessional support, no discipline problems, supportive parents, no standardized testing or state assessments--- I finally said to myself " WOW, it is a great job and I love my kids!!" No excuses, my job is advocate for my students and I really don't care what others think. (BUT it does take a while to build the confidence to get to that point)
ReplyDeleteHere's an interesting aside--my new boss (director of gifted) was trained to support behavior disordered kids--I was complaining to her one day that 'we don't get no respect' and she said it was exactly the same with her BD teachers and as I finally realized Reading specialists, learning disorder specialists etc.all feel the same disconnect from regular ed staff on occassion. Later N
....and music teachers, gym teacher, librarians, art teachers, counselors, and on and on.
ReplyDeleteITEACH: I am actually experiencing this with our oldest son this year. As a sophmore, he is taking College Trig. Fortunately at our high school he can take this as a dual enrollment course. UNFORTUNATELY, we had to pay for the VERY expensive book. Would we ever expect a remedial student to pay for their books? This is the level that he is in as a sophmore, it isn't his fault. I cannot even imagine what he is going to take next year and I don't think the school knows yet either. Thankfully he is driving and he can drive to the college, but it shouldn't be the answer. What if we had a freshman that didn't drive who qualified for this level of math?
ReplyDeleteNBosch: Oh my goodness -- maybe you were joking --
ReplyDeletebest students -- yeah some of them -- others are in trouble all of the time because we haven't provided services for so many years.
Small Class sizes -- Ours are larger because we are grouping all of the gifted together. For example our average achieve class is 18 -- my gifted achieve teachers have an average of 25.
Supportive Parents -- this is very true!
I do not have any paraprofessionals. In fact at our middle school I am the coordinator..this is above and beyond my regular day of teaching. In fact I give up my prep in order to teach a different gifted class each day. (without pay) We have 118 identified gifted students.
We still have state assessments.
But I would say that I still have the best job in the world!! I'm a glutten for punishment!
I wasn't joking about my great job!! BUT in our state gifted is mandated and in special ed---we do not teach general ed curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI'm so jealous!! Gifted education is mandated in our state as well....but not how we teach it. So our kids are scattered throughout the school and they have not solid plan for them. What state are you in? We are in Arizona.
ReplyDeleteI teach in Kansas. I hold my breath that the gifted mandate will continue until I retire! I think it would be fun to set up a program for gifted students, but I'm sure it hard to rein in parents, teachers and kids once things have been put into place.
ReplyDeleteThis is fun sitting silently and having nbosch voice our concerns and silent fears. I especially like the foot-in-mouth part. Now I feel that I fit again.
ReplyDeleteOur jobs are so great (no pun intended) that the last thing we ever wish to do is to make mistakes or not be able to support our students and their learning. Back to math where I had a similar discussion with a teacher today. I know two teachers who have such great minds that they are able to teach many different ways of reaching the ultimate goal. Diversifying is their speciality. Knowing one way to get to an answer might be good enough for normal paced thinkers, but I have seen how various ways of computing a problem captivates the accelerated learner and broadens their spectrum.
I teach in a very rural community and we are finding technology to be a huge benefit for our gifted and highly able students. Where we may not have a teacher qualified to teach college trig, the next town over may. We are currently having a college calculus class for our seniors via teleconferencing. Luckily it is going very well, so there is hope for additional classes down through the years. Just wanted to add another option to the problem of getting the younger students access to college level classes.
ReplyDeleteI think that a number of schools are allowing this option for students. In today's world there is really no excuse to teach students at their unique ability level using technology.
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ReplyDeleteI know this topic is old, but I just read an interesting research paper related to instructional textbook material. According to Michael Kirst (1982); who conducted an extensive research project related to textbook development and content; today’s textbooks have been dummied down by two grade levels over the last 10 years. This would support what Russ Goerend said about the amount of repeated material across grade levels. This puts even more pressure on teachers to create their own materials so that the needs of every child can be addressed.
ReplyDeleteMy new favorite saying is "No one approach can address the educational needs of all children." Not sure where I read that.