[Oz-gifted] Encouraging active participation

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Kirstie

>Has anyone had any success with this? The kids have all agreed to have a
>meeting with their teachers to talk to them about the work. I will be
>there but will let them do the talking. My eldest's PEAC teacher has
>indicated that she would like to see him take a more active role as well
>as he has a tendency to sit back and let others do the talking.

Quite frankly, no.  I haven't had any success with this method.

My ds is in year 1, and quite capable of doing year 4 maths work.  The 
teacher tested him and told me that.  My dd is in year 3 and doing year 4 
maths work, and my ds can do her homework (probably better than she can).  
The teacher explained that he can't be given any harder work because he 
hasn't been taught the "less efficient" strategies for doing the problems.  
So, it doesn't matter how bored he is, or he tells her he is, she already 
knows.  Fortunately they do a lot of open ended games and things which means 
that he just uses harder numbers, or uses his own techniques to get the 
right answer.

Also, his library teacher wouldn't let him borrow Deltora Quest from the 
school library because he is in year 1.  Admittedly she is new, and the 
other library teacher had my dd to contend with, so knows the family, so to 
speak.  We just borrowed it from the local library, and he is using it as 
his home reader.

I find part of the problem with my school at the moment is that my dd is not 
"achieving".  She is only getting distinctions in the UNSW competitions, 
whereas her best friend is getting high distinctions.  They don't notice 
that her best friend really works hard to achieve, and my dd is just 
coasting (and is nearly a year younger).  It is the results that seem to 
matter.

Anyway, my kids are currently happy with their schooling, and really look 
forward to the extras that they do outside school, so that's what matters to 
me.

Lynda