It's not that I didn't expect to have this conversation with him at some point. I found school pretty boring too, sometimes. But not in first grade.
But apparently he's bored during math because he's not allowed to go ahead on the worksheets - they do them TOGETHER. Every time. So I tried to point out the stuff he does like - recess, lunch, art, PE, computers. I asked if he got to read at school because he likes reading. His reply was, "Sometimes. But I don't really like reading."
Fifteen minutes later he was eagerly reading his Lego Club magazine.
When I went into Ironflower's room, she continued the conversation. "I just don't like math. I get so bored because we do the worksheets all together too. Though I do like Minute Math, because then I can go at my own pace."
Having talked to a few other mothers on the playground recently, I have found out that this is a common frustration among the parents. There are a lot of teachers at the school who won't differentiate instruction. And this is a highly ranked school. That's what's so depressing.
Actually, infuriating.
It's not about my kids being held back in some way, exactly. I'm sure they will get through their grade level curricula just fine. They're smart, but it's not like I think they'd be doing trigonometry if allowed to go at their own pace. And it's not about them being bored, exactly. Learning to cope with boredom is one of the reasons I send them to public school in the first place.
It's that differentiated instruction is what good teachers do.** It's that public educators in a well-funded school shouldn't tell parents of kids who aren't doing well to just hire a tutor, as has happened at my kids' school. It's that smart kids who love to learn shouldn't be bored during math and reading. It's that having the whole class doing worksheets together is INEFFECTIVE.
I'll bring it up at conferences next week, but I don't think I get any farther than all the other former teacher parents who have brought it up before.
People have suggested that I teach them at home on top of what they're doing at school. I thought about it. And then Ironflower figured out multiplication while they were playing play dough over the weekend.
I think that I'm just going to encourage them to play together more.
But now I'm wondering if this is common. Does this happen at your child's school? That worksheets are done as a class? And that there are no reading or math groups? No wonder more and more people are homeschooling.
5 comments:
What has happened to our schools? I'm just dumbfounded.
My kid is only three, but I thank stuffs everyday for Montessori which allows him to learn what his wants at his own pace.
I think it's ridiculous across the board to expect everyone to work at the same pace. Some will be faster, some slower and no one should be expected to slow down or keep up to make it easier on teachers.
My girls have some things that they do as a class, but there are reading groups that are separated by reading level/ability. And they do spend a lot of time working independently, and then correcting as a class. They really dig their red pens. My 2nd grader gets advanced homework, and my 4th grader does extra spelling and vocab lists to extend herself. I think we're just really, really lucky. I would be so pissed if I was dealing with what y'all are.
EVERYTHING here is differentiated. They even want me to differentiate music class. (not really practical all of the time, but I do my best)Our school has new guidelines that ALL students must grow (even if they are already significantly above grade level) on the district's chosen assessment. C's class is divided by reading levels and the teacher uses the Daily Five to keep kids reading while she works with each group. (sorta like centers, but more rigorous.) They do their math worksheets on their own and then the teacher goes over the answers as a class. She allows students to write in their journal or draw on the back of the worksheets, or read a library book from their desk when they are finished. C even goes to another grade level classroom for reading since there is no one in her class on her level.
Reading your post makes me feel a little better about taking C to my Title I school every day. At least I know we are doing something right!
I homeschool, so in some ways I don't have much to say about this. But I will say one thing - I don't really understand the advice to teach them at home. If you wanted to spend hours teaching them at home every day, wouldn't you just homeschool? The point of school is to teach your kids. They shouldn't have to do school twice because their public school isn't meeting their basic needs.
I hope you are able to get somewhere in the conferences. Differentiated instruction makes sense, and should be the way it is done.
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