TheApple

Hy!

     I am teaching maths to  5 graders. They really don't know the basics of math. The teachcer in grade 4 didn't pay attention towards getting basics of math undurstood by the students instead she just pasted everything on board(told by the students).I had to work really hard to let them know the basics.i conducted two class tests and got the reslut signed by the parents to inform them true position of the students. 1st monthly test was not good(as aspected) but some of the parents started blamming me as a responsible of poor result. Before this i had had a meeting with management about this situation and they were quite satisfied with my efforts.

How should i deal with these parents?

Thank you very much for giving your precious advice!

i am realy doing the same and hope to get much metter result. The only to silent your critics is to show better performance.

By anyhow i am to improve my BABIEs.That is what teaching is all about (Your BABIES)

Navee,

I agree with Debo on this. I have had my share of parents that did not think that I was doing what I should but in the end they do come around and when I was having a problem reaching their child they were there. Do your best and respect the parents and their concerns.

I teach 6/7th grade language arts and reading. One of my students would stock pile AR books for the next quarter, take the tests within the first week and then cause distractions to her peers during class because she thought she did not have to continue reading. Well, as the teacher, I looked into her record and found that this was a common thing. I viewed her goal and then raised it so she could still achieve it, yet be less of a distraction in class. This made the child very mad. Mom called mad at me and wanted to cus me out for singling her daughter out and punish her for reaching her goal early. Mom and I had a nice parent teacher meeting the next day and I showed her what I knew and explained the policies and procedures to her. I explained that the procedure is that the student has two options one the original goal is met. 1) The student can read magazines, books, etc without having to test. But the student has to read during this time. 2) If the student does not want to read during this time and he/she has reached the original goal the teacher will raise the goal . So when our conference was finished Mom was on my side and understood that I was not picking on her child, but enforcing a policy I believed in. In the end the mom agreed with me and mom was able to express her desire to challenge her child as well.

Just talk to the parents and be honest with them. They can be the best tool when trying to get your kids to succeed and grow in learning. They want the same thing you do- their child(ren) to succeed.

 She is a very bright child, she just likes to read at home where her friends don't see her read. So she gets ahead so she can socialize. She's a preteen girl experiencing the changes of middle school and growing up. This was an issue brought up in our meeting.

I am realy thankful to your kind suggestions and ideas. hoping to have even better response from you. The answer to your Q's is yes!

any idea or suggestion will always be welcomed

debo says ...

Hi 411,

"She is a very bright child, she just likes to read at home where her friends don't see her read. "

This is another tendency of "gifted children".    I taught Gifted Ed for 8 years, I designed and ran the entire program....these are the indicators that would get my attention.   Perhaps you might look into this....you could go to a website for Gifted Ed and look for "Characteristics of Giftedness" categories...there are entire lists of tendencies to watch for...and being a "class clown", "reading voraciously" (often in private), moving ahead of others in their studies, and "challenging authority" ...are among the classics... if she is taking and passing these tests without the benefit of the full lesson given by the teacher...well...I'm just offering it as something to consider.

Sounds like you have a good perspective on being diplomatic and friendly with the parent... usually, the parents are the first to see the difference in their child...but if the girl is an "only" child, Mom will not have any others to compare with, so may not have noticed, yet...that's common.

The idea of having a Learning Contract with her might keep her involved during class time....do you extract & compact your Lessons? 

That's what it sounded like when you said she was taking the tests (at the end of chapters?) and moving forward in the book...

I'm really not trying to come off as if I'm "nosing in".... I'm just having "ideas"...hoping to be helpful.

Smiling,

~debo

I am not sure if she is gifted or is just playing the system. The class I am referring to is the AR class (Accelerated Reading). In this class students read books for points. Each book has a reading level and an amount of points. To place a student in a certain range the student first takes a placement test at the beginning of the year and then placed within the reading range. Towards the end of the year we retest the students to chart growth. I learned that some of the students try to beat the system. I was concerned when I encountered students ranges going down instead of up. Spoke with another teacher and found that the students tend to cheat on the test so they will not have to read the more difficult books. This is what this particular student had done. After talking with mom and investingating scores from last year we learned that she did not do her best on the placement test which gave her a lower goal and a lower reading level so she did not have to challenge herself.

Debo,

I understand completely. In my Special ed class I was required to do research concerning Giftedness/Talented and know she shows some signs of Giftedness. The way the system works in my district there has to be a pattern with the student and it needs to be noticed and expressed by more than one teacher. I did check. This is why mom and I worked on the changing her goal and increasing her level. This was a decision to help her and it did. Most of the time funding has a lot to do with how many studnets are tested and how many students can participate. I have noticed that our district has high measures for our students when they are tested because we are a high excelling school. Our test scores soar above the state average every year. This year we received a 100% in math because we had a student make a perfect score in the advanced placement algebra class. This was the rough composite (taken online so we had immediate test score), but it is still very impressive.

I think there should be more funding so more kids can benefit from accelerated programs. Until that happens I will continue to push my students to full potential with my differentiated learning techniques and lessons.

Thanks,

I live by the motto- If I don't do it and it needs to be done who will do it? Who is responsible if I know it needs to be done yet do nothing about it?