Disrupting Class

Thinking about doing our next book study on Disrupting Class, by Clayton Christiansen. What do you think of when you think of disrupting class? Before reading this book, I would say that I pictured this:



Now I realize that it means that students are learning at their own pace, in the best modality for them. Theoretically a tailor made education.

Are we afraid to disrupt the norm in education? Or can we put our thinking hats on and disrupt the status quo of learning? Join me in the interesting conversations that will be sure to follow. We will be starting in two weeks, plenty of time for you to order your copy for your ebook or a hard copy online! Looking forward to GREAT discussions!

How Much Time Should We Spend Helping Gifted Kids?

You have all been to the meetings...you know the ones...the ones where the focus is the students who are not performing. How many hours a day do you think that we spend on non-performing kids versus kids who have the ability to perform beyond expectations? I know in my classroom, I am guilty of doing this too. It is easier to not have to worry about them and know that they will be fine.....BUT is it right?

But I am wondering...how do we help those that can do, while still helping those that can't or won't do the work?

We spend 80% of our resources on those that won't or can't do and 20% on the rest of the population. My question for you is......is this fair?

There are some that say that if kiddo's get it, why are we worried about it? But I am thinking...if these students are challenged to perform to the best of their ability, how will their education look at the end of 13 years? Compared to one who just goes with the status quo and does the minimum necessary to please the teacher; what does their education look like at the end of 13 years?

Please share your ideas, concerns and venting as appropriate:

REALLY???

Found this statement at:  http://ow.ly/CxPShttp://ow.ly/CxPS

“My child is acting up because he’s bored. He’s so bright.”


“I’ve been teaching for 13 years, and I would say in that time I’ve had maybe one or two children who were truly bored and I immediately got different material for them,” says teacher Thea LaRocca, who has taught 3rd through 5th grades in Raleigh, N.C. “I didn’t need the parent to tell me.”

LaRocca says she understands that parents naturally want to think the best of their child, but she suggests that they try to be honest with themselves and think about why their child is acting up, then ask the teacher for strategies to deal with it. “If you truly think your kid is bright, ask for more work,” she says.

Are you kidding me?  In all of her 13 years, only one or two children were truly bored?  How does she know if they bored or not? I know that when I was in grade school I sat on the verge of tears most days because I was bored...I had already read every book I could get my hands on.  BUT, I was told to sit and behave like a good girl.  I did exactly as I was told and hated every minute of it. Thank God for my 4th grade teacher, who saw this and set me on to a different track, reading higher level books and letting me create crazy wild contraptions to show off what I had learned from what I had read. 

And how sad that she has had some 250+ children in her class and only one or two have been gifted? AND why would you simply solve the problem by giving them more work instead of different work? 

What do you think?  Would you want this type of teacher for your child?

Book Reviews

An idea that I have seen and hope to implement next year is having students write book reviews for books that they have read. The twist is that we would video tape the review and add special effects. Students would then be able to access the review via the school server and be able to add their star rating of the book. Can you see this working in your classroom or school? Do you have any ideas that could help improve this idea?

Differentiation

I am reading an article on Ability Grouping & Gifted Children from Duke. In it the article states that most teachers do not differentiate content for gifted learners. Do you agree with that statement? How about in your own classroom?

If you would like to read the article it can be found at http://www.dukegiftedletter.com/articles/vol1no2_rb.html

Using Trade Books for Reading

On page 97, the author states that students should be able to bring in trade books to read for reading time. Can this be incorporated into the reading plan? If you use a system like Accelerated Reader that tests and keeps track of the books the students read teachers may not want to allow students to read books that are not AR. Do you think that this is appropriate?

Self Choice

One of the strategies for working with gifted students mentioned in the book is self choice: Having the students come up with their own ideas for projects or activities.

Would you feel comfortable doing this in the classroom?

If so, how would you integrate it into your lessons?

Compacting & Differentiation in Content Areas

Chapter 4 gives great strategies about compacting curriculum & differentiation. I think both of these buzz words are going around right now. My question for you is do you personally use any compacting or differentiation in your current classroom and can you give us examples of what they are and how you use them?

Bragging

In our text, the author states in the "Working Conditions For Alternate Activities, #6: Never brag about your opportunities to work on the alternate activities." While I agree about this to some extent, I want to pose the question to open a discussion and please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

Don't we brag about everything to do with sports? If our team beats the other team, we make an announcement to the entire school. If we win the championship, we buy banners and post them for all to see with the child's name & player #. You hear teachers and other students congratulating the team members in the halls etc. When is it okay to brag about being super smart?