I didn't realize. . .

[velvetpage]

. . . how easy the week had been - until A came back from being sick. I last saw this kid on Monday. We've done a lot of stuff since Monday, and he won't catch up on his own.

Question for parents on my list: how much of the catching-up process is the teacher's responsibility, how much is the child's, and how much is the parent's?

Question for teachers: as above, and also: how do you fulfill your part of that responsibility?

Comments

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

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<<how much of the catching-up process is the teacher's responsibility, how much is the child's, and how much is the parent's>>

I think this depends a lot on the grade. In high school, I hand out a syllabus at the beginning of the year that makes this quite clear: If a student is absent it is their responsibility to talk to the teacher upon returning about what they missed, and if they were only absent for a short period of time, to have spoken to a friend in the class about getting their homework. If a student was absent for a prolonged period of time, it is up to me and the parent to negotiate a fair plan for helping them catch up while they are still absent, or with the student when they return.

In the event that the student approaches me as they are supposed to and I am not prepared, it is no longer their fault that they are late, and they get a "free pass" as far as due date is concerned.

However, my understanding was that you're not allowed to mark your students down for handing in late assignments. So that kind of policy would be meaningless even if you had high school students. Which you don't.

Given that, I think it is important for you to consider what needs to be made up for the child to continue in the class, and what can be chalked up as a missed activity. Then try to get the kid to believe they have to make that stuff up, and explain to the parent that to be able to follow the class the kid needs to do these things.

[shavastak.livejournal.com]

An interesting question, and one I will be interested to hear the answers to, because...catching up is something I never had to worry about until college, and in college the answer is clear: it's the student's responsibility and noone else's.

Not that I wasn't sick in school - I was probably sick about as often as other kids - but I never had a problem keeping up. Usually, it was the teachers that had trouble keeping up with me. After all, I spent three years of elementary school being taken out for half a day to do interesting, mind-expanding kind of stuff that didn't have anything to do with what they were actually trying to teach us at school. It never occurred to me to wonder what I was missing during those times, until now. I wonder what I would have learned if I had stayed?

I really feel sorry for kids who have trouble keeping up in school, but I feel very helpless around them. I have never had their problems, and so I don't feel like I can relate. I never felt like school was particularly difficult. Even in graduate school I had no problem learning the stuff; any problems I had related to how much work there was to do, and never to the difficulty of the work itself. I wish I could give that kind of gift to everybody, or at the very least, explain why some people are like me and some people aren't.

[stress-kitten.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting experience that, isn't it?

I was never tested for giftedness. (They didn't test in our school to the best of my knowledge... either that or we had no gifted kids.) I kind of wonder what would have happened if I'd been given those opportunities. As it was, I finished my work in school and then spent the rest of the time reading a book under my desk. The teachers pretty much left me alone as I was no trouble to anyone. As a result, I had no coping skills the first time I experienced failure/difficulties/frustration (admittedly, those were mostly emotionally related, but I still didn't have coping skills to handle the fact that my school-work suffered because my priorities shifted to my emotional well-being). I still have to focus myself and work really hard when something is being difficult for me, because I'm not used to having to deal with things that are hard. I am always proud of myself when I bull my way through a frustrating encounter until I achieve success. And I always recognise it, because a small part of me goes "wow... you wouldn't have done that a few years ago. Good for you!" Frazer is a good example to me in that way because he is frequently frustrated with his code to the point he is swearing at his computer (or giving it a Gestapo-like interrogation, complete with faux-German accent... omg, I kill myself laughing when he starts with that. "Vat iz it zat you vant? I has given you everythink you need. Show me vat is wronk or I vill do somethink zat you vill not like!")but he keeps at it until he achieves success (at which point he comes out of the office in hero-pose(tm)and proclaims his magnificence to me). I think it is that example more than anything else that has led me to be able to continue with those tasks rather than saying (as I used to) "aw, forget it. It isn't that important. Whatever" and giving up.

As an educator, I'm not sure I necessarily believe in "designating" bright kids. Having extension activities and things to push them, yes. Giving them the chance, and expecting them, to push themselves, yes. But the question of pull out programs is always a sensitive one. I've also seen kids that are merely bright, not necessarily gifted, given the designation because there is a % of kids that should be considered gifted, so 2 people from each class are gifted... figure out which two. And, as is the question for those "designated" LD, why are these children gaining access to things that could benefit a larger % of the class than are permitted to take them.

I'll be interested to see if my opinion on this changes after I take my course on the Nature and Nurture of Gifted Students this summer.

In terms of catch up work (to get back to the actual topics involved in this post...) I have never had to do so as yet (not having my own class and all that) but I have seen several ways of doing it. One which I really liked was that for short absences, the student had a folder on their desk into which was put all the sheets and information of what they had missed that day. They were responsible for looking it over and asking their friends, then coming to see the teacher if they had any difficulty understanding it.

For longer absences, I think that I'd actually have the parents and the student come in and give them an outline of the core topics missed so far, explain why it is important for the student to master then (i.e. so that he can understand the work that is coming up) and let them know that because of this long absence, they're going to have to put in a fair bit of extra work to make sure the student doesn't fall behind. No, it's not fair, but the world doesn't stop because you're sick/away.

I think the WHY will be very important, because while I'll be willing to spend a little time redoing some of the core lessons if the student comes to me, I also believe that parents need to take responsibility for their child's learning as well. Give them some web-resources and some activity ideas to take home, and let them know that the class will be continuing along and that you are available to help if the student requests it, but that the final responsibility is up to student and parent.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Re: Gifted - I was tested, and didn't quite make the cut. In Ontario they do the tests and expect a certain number per school board, rather than by class or school, so such programs are quite rare. I was like you - I would sit reading with a book hidden under my desk, and the biggest trouble I ever got into was when the book was too interesting to put down so I didn't finish my classwork first. My brother, however, suffered a great deal from never being identified (like me, he didn't quite make the cut.) He never developed any work ethic about school, and he knew that if he didn't finish his homework, he could still do well on the test, so why do the homework? The end result: he's spent seven years in and out of university, has paid for five full years, and has yet to achieve a three-year B.A. The amount of money he's thrown away, some because he goofed off and some because of depressive episodes left untreated, is absolutely breathtaking. My little sister managed to develop the work ethic, but at great emotional hardship because her giftedness (which I'm certain is there) is linguistic rather than the across-the-board type they test for. So she was accused of copying when she wrote short stories that the teacher felt a twelve-year-old couldn't have written (I know how rare it is for a good writer to emerge by twelve, but Heather was one and so was I.)

I think our school system is too focused on the kids in the middle and at the bottom. 90% of spec ed help goes to the kids at the bottom of the spectrum. The kids who are at the top or near it, while not necessarily gifted, still need enrichment that too often, they don't get. Bottom line: we need to start streaming in middle school, based on reading level, general academic proficiency, and goals. Kids should know by grade seven if they want an academic high school education or a more vocational one. After that, their education should be geared along those lines, with catch-up courses offered in the summer for kids who decide they want to switch streams. Why force kids to keep taking literary English classes up until grade twelve, when they could be starting an apprenticeship program after grade ten that will be much better for them, and save us all a lot of money and effort? The skilled trades are suffering, people are getting degrees who have absolutely no need of them or any real desire for scholarship, and kids are being trained to believe they're stupid because they can't learn in a way that we don't really need them to learn, anyway!

That's my rant. I'll get back to the other question in the next comment.

[shavastak.livejournal.com]

Oooh please tell me how that class (Nature & Nuture of Gifted Students) goes! I have never heard anyone talk about that particular category in anything approaching an academic or scientific way, except by one person who really seemed not to understand me and my 'gifted' friends at all. I would be interested to find out what you learn. Also, feel free to use me as an example in class or ask me questions to get an 'insider's' point of view - that is, not just the view of a smart person, but one who has been through a series of gifted programs.

RE: catchup work, I think ideally for long absences some of the work would be sent home to the parents so that the kid would at least have some idea of what he was missing. Not sure how you'd manage that, especially if the absence is unexpected and/or involves the kid being completely out of commission.

[kesmun.livejournal.com]

I can see a bright kid in VP's class actually ending up not being able to read the book under the desk because some other kid decides to make a deal out of it. It happened to me. With my temper problems at the time (yeah, I still have them sometimes, but have better control), I'm surprised that kid didn't get decked.

Your man sounds like my HusBrat, but with a much better sense of humor. Not five minutes ago, he was miming putting his fist through the monitor. Yelling and screaming is a regular part of life with him over there. Ugh. But apparently your man has a good healthy sense of himself, too. Heroic poses and proclamations of magnificence when he does something good are awesome.