[Ohiogift] gifted parents as advocates

Tue May 28 12:54:34 EDT 2013

As a parent of 3 gifted children two of whom have accelerated through grades
I could not agree more.  You have to help the teachers understand what your
child needs.  We were told that our kindergartner who read on a third grade
level should be content to "cut color and paste."  The teachers,
administrators and district folks all know us and our kids are doing great
as are the teachers who have supported them but it was an uphill battle.
Please continue to talk to your kids about their day and their teachers - we
too would have had children labeled as disruptive just due to boredom.

Cherese A. Fiorina
cherese at konabear.com
www.konabear.com

From: ohiogift-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
[mailto:ohiogift-bounces at lists.service.ohio-state.edu] On Behalf Of Colleen
Boyle, PhD
Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 12:32 PM
To: Jane Brewster
Cc: Ohiogift at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: [Ohiogift] gifted parents as advocates

Jane, I am glad you spoke up and are now seeing great progress with your
daughter.  I am also glad your daughter's teacher was open to your
suggestions.  I know that is not always the case.  I do think the statement
your daughter's teacher made about never having a child like your daughter
before is telling.  Most teachers don't know what to do with these kids.
One thing I think is important for parents to remember is that, unless they
have a degree in gifted education, most educators - teachers and
administrators included - have had little to no coursework or training in
the nature and needs of gifted learners.  Gifted coordinators try to get
some professional development in where we can, but with all of the state
initiatives demanding attention, we are usually lucky to get more than 20
minutes, if that, at a staff meeting to mention gifted kids let alone
provide any meaningful training to most teachers.  It is my experience that
most teachers want to do what they can for a gifted child, but they don't
know what that is.  I know it seems crazy that there are no gifted education
courses in teacher or administrator preparation programs; but,
unfortunately, that is the sad reality.  I share this as a way to encourage
parents to start a dialogue with their children's teachers and school
administrators.  Don't assume they know what to do.  You don't have to know
what they should do, either.  But, make your concerns heard and get your
district's gifted coordinator involved in the conversations, too.  (We often
won't know these conversations are happening unless a parent calls us first
or if it escalates to a building principal.  Encourage the teacher to bring
us in from the beginning.)

Colleen Boyle, Ph.D.

Gifted Coordinator and Educational Consultant

Columbus, OH

boyleconsulting at me.com

Specialities:

Educational Psychology

Gifted Education and Psychology

Educational Administration

On May 28, 2013, at 8:36 AM, Jane Brewster
<JBrewster at brewsterandbrewster.com> wrote:

I have never posted before, but this topic is near and dear to my heart.  I
am not an educator.  I am the parent of several gifted children (and a past
school board member).  Parents absolutely MUST step in and advocate for
their children, beginning with the local classroom.  My daughter entered
kindergarten a year early and is currently in second grade.  During an early
conference with a teacher this year, I was told my daughter was not
motivated.  She was disruptive in the classroom and not progressing beyond
the beginning second grade reading level the teacher had given her.  I
discovered it was the teacher's habit to make each child read the same book
three times.  I asked the teacher (okay, I wasn't that nice) to quit making
her read the same thing three times, when she clearly already understood it,
provide her with more challenging work, increase the difficulty of her
spelling assignments, and, in addition to the usual test for the reading
level, allow my daughter to p
rovide a report or project for each book she had read.  Amazingly (not
really), she has progressed in her reading level to about the end of the
fifth grade.  She and I did some really cool projects at home, too (no help
from the teacher).  Sadly, had I not intervened, I believe my daughter would
have continued to disrupt the classroom and refuse to do her work, making it
appear that she was actually BEHIND rather than ahead of the other kids.  I
will say that the teacher later indicated to me that she had never had a
child like my daughter and was thankful for the insight I had provided into
differentiation in the classroom.

Jane

Katie and other gifted parents,

Margaret is absolutely right.  You must advocate for your son. Talking to
your legislators is crucial.  Ann Sheldon and/or the Ohio Association for
Gifted Children website at oagc.com can give you advice.  Click on advocacy
on the left, and then advocacy alerts you will see that gifted is once again
embroiled in a fight to have units reinstated so that districts actually
have gifted teachers and gifted coordinators who understand and actually
like gifted students and know how to address their needs.  The House had
addressed this issue, but the Senate seems poised to revert to the initial
budget which did not specify exactly how money should be spent for
gifted--if at all.  Regrettably most classroom teachers have had zero
coursework of any kind on gifted children.  Your representative needs to
hear your story. 
Good luck to you,
Barb

_______________________________________________
Ohiogift mailing list
Ohiogift at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/ohiogift

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/ohiogift/attachments/20130528/a7bb52ca/attachment.html>