Mom asking for advice from teachers

Miklos and Sozobe -

Thanks to both of you for the information on tracking. I didn't know any of that, but I can see how it could become self-fulfilling. What I had in mind when I asked about testing and placing according to ability was, of course, that the work be appropriate for the child - thinking that a teacher may not have time to do this in a class filled with children whose abilities ranged across the board. It's good to get this sort of information because it helps me to adjust my thinking and understand better what we need.

Miklos, you mentioned that people are gifted in different ways. It reminded me of a conversation I had with my son a few months ago. He asked me if the pets at Petsmart were smart, and because I wanted to impress upon him the value of different attributes I said, "Well, some of them are probably smarter than others but all of them have something special about them. They're like people. Some people are really smart. Others can sing beautifully. Some people can paint pictures, others can dance, and some people have wonderful imaginations and can make up stories to tell. Everyone has some quality that makes them special and interesting." And he says in a very genuine and thoughtful voice, "What makes you interesting?" (((sigh)))

Anyway, I appreciate the information so please continue to add anything you think a Mom like me ought to know. The more I know the more prepared I feel, and my son will be all the more ready and confident to begin school when the time comes.

Thanks again,

Virago

Wonderful post, Miklos, another fan here, of both you and Soz. But past that, it was one of the most sensible posts, in the way of listen up, here it is, that I've read in quite a while.

Virago,
I'm glad we can all help. There are so many problems to be faced with trying to get a child ready for school. Other areas that we have not looked at but will appear are: personality differences between student and teacher, peer pressure and the pressure to succeeed that children feel from their parents. ALL students feel these preasures. How the parent and the child cope with these issues determines how well the student will adapt and succeed.One comment that was right on the money was parental involvment and student success. No matter what school a srudent attends, if the parernts arer realistically involved, the student achieves more.

Hello, Ralph. Thank you for bringing up those points. Certainly there are many things to be considered and that will crop up. The things you mentioned can't be eliminated, but can hopefully be minimized if we put forth some effort and pay attention.

I have recently visited a wonderful school in my area. I was very pleased to meet with the principal and discuss some things with her. She was tremendously helpful to me. Turns out she ran a Montessori in another state before moving here, and this particular elementary school uses the multiaging method. The classrooms were bright with natural lighting, cheerful and stimulating. The teachers and staff were upbeat and happy to meet my son and me. The learning areas have self-contained restroom facilities, water fountains, ect, and for reasons I won't go into now - I liked this a lot. My son was excited - ready to attend this minute. He loved it. We're not zoned for this school, but moving is not out of the question.

I have tried to make an appointment with the principal of the school we are zoned for and have been put off twice. He really can't understand why in the world I would want to visit a school twelve months prior to time for my son to attend. He gives me his list of meetings and who all he has to meet with - (faculty dinner, fire marshal) and why it's really inconvenient, and how busy he is, and isn't quite succeeding in hiding the sarcasm and attitude in his tone. This is a gigantic billowing red flag to me, however I do intend to visit the school next week.

I do have a question. The first school uses a method of teaching called constructivism. I've researched this a bit, but would like to hear some opinions from you guys. Do you like this method? Does it work better than something else?

Thanks for your time, folks. I genuinely appreciate it.

Virago

Virago,
I took a quick glance to reconfirm my understanding of constructivism. Basically, it is a higher level of undesrtanding. It teaches students to take experiences and associate new knowledge with knowledge they already have. This helps students understand not only what the information is but how it relates to them. It also gives more connectors to remembering the information. To put it in other words, when we learn something new as an adult we try to connect it with something we already know. Constructivism teaches children to do the same thing.
there are a variety of teaching strategies out there. Each one has it benifits. There is also outcome based education, as well as rote memorization etc etc etc. you will find people who are pro and con of each type.
another thing to look at is how the school works with your childs learning technique. ex. does your child learn better by doing, reading, hearing etc. This is called multiple intelligences and is a belief of Harold Gardner.
I know, more for you to look at and research. Sorry.
Ralph

Thanks, Ralph, for your reply. And I'll take all the information I can get and look forward to researching it.

Actually, the principal at school A, the school I like, gave me a booklet with information including an explanation of multiple intelligences and learning styles. She explained a bit while I was there about how children learn differently, different styles and strengths, and that these are taken into consideration for each child so that learning becomes easier and more fun. Also she mentioned that some children learn better in groups, others alone, some prefer bright lighting, some don't. You get the idea. Certainly the classrooms looked nothing like they did when I was in school, not to mention the cafeteria. We ate lunch at long uncomfortable tables much like convicts. Not so these days. What an improvement. I haven't visited school B yet. The sad thing is that these two schools are in different counties. School A, a public school, is well funded from what I can tell. School B is terribly, horribly underfunded. I know this is old news to you guys, but I was shocked.

Constructivism seems to me to be a much better method than memorization. How many times do kids say "Why do I have to learn this?" However, if they can apply it to other things they're familiar with and see the value of it in their lives, then they have motive. Seems so to me. Of the three teaching strategies you mentioned, is one more popular/common than another?

Thanks,

Virago

Virago,
All methods are used by quality educators. The best educators impliment as many styles as they can to get their students to learn the most. For me, the key thing is to get my students to rrelate the information in what ever way they can. Since I teach history, I break down the conflicts of countries and world leaders to a personal one on one conflict. This helps them understand the information beter and they learn conflict resolution at the same time.
It is not unusual to have two schools in different counties having different fininancial abilities. In my home state schools are not broken down by counties but more along the line of districts. Some disctricts may have as many as 7 towns attending and some cities may have 2-4 highschools. and each school a nd school district has a different tax base available to it.
If school "A" is in your county it looks like its a easy choice.

Ralpheb

Hi, Ralph.

Problem is school A is not in my county and it's not possible to send my son there and pay tuition as I had thought. We'll have to sell our house and move to that district - and we just built the house we're in now. We moved into it about five months ago. This is one of the reasons I'm still considering school B, albeit half heartedly. I've already got a bad image of it due to the rude principal who doesn't want me to visit. What kind of principal doesn't want you to visit? If he acts this way toward a parent, how must he treat the teachers? How must he treat the children? Most likely we'll move, but I want to have all the information first so that we can make an informed, intelligent decision.

Thanks for your help.

Virago