I could use the education article on the front page of today’s Post –”Elementary Math Grows Exponentially Tougher“– as a jumping off point to talk about the math curriculum in MCPS. And believe me, that picture of the student using her fingers surely touched a nerve here. But I’ll save that for another post. Instead, I feel compelled to comment on the role of elementary school teachers in identifying exceptionally verbally gifted students.
You’re saying “huh?” But bear with me. Here’s the quote that got me going:
” [Kenneth I.] Gross [a University of Vermont mathematics and education professor] and others say many elementary and middle school teachers — generalists relied on to teach reading, science and social studies and even to make sure a child’s coat is zipped — are drawn to teaching by a love of children and literacy. Most had little exposure to high-level math in college and are more at home with words than numbers.
“Many of them fear math,” said Vickie Inge, math outreach director with the University of Virginia’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. “Many of them had trouble with math themselves.”
Now a person would think that these child-loving, literacy-loving teachers would be just the people to identify and support the highly verbally gifted student. But nothing could be farther from the truth.
People who are drawn to elementary teaching are helpers and nurturers. They are driven by the desire to make a difference, to reach and raise up those who are least able. They tend to be deeply egalitarian. As a result a child who is already a precocious reader, an articulate speaker with advanced vocabulary is not going to get a lot of sympathy or support. (Especially if the child is active, highly creative, asks a lot of questions and is not always perfectly compliant, as are many highly gifted kids. In short, highly gifted kids can be a bother.) That child already is where the teacher expects to take all the other children and therefore the fact that the gifted child already is there isn’t quite that impressive. If anything, it enables the teacher to spend more time with those who “really need it.”
Have you run across the saying “All children are gifted, they just open their presents at different times?” Well I have, and it seems to be the attitude of many elementary teachers. (It goes hand in glove with “They’ll all even out by third grade.”) In addition, elementary teachers are *all* about literacy. This is what they *know*, what they studied in college after all. So there’s always some other little fillip that a child hasn’t mastered. There’s always the “but” as in, “yes Sally is reading several grades above level, but… I’m concerned about her…fill in the blank.” Trying to advocate for a gifted verbal child in the early elementary years is an invitation to being pegged one of “those” parents.
By contrast math is — as noted in the above quote — not something that most teachers are comfortable with. When a mathematically gifted child reveals his or her talent the response is different: “OMG, Sally is already doing long division, how am I going to deal with this!?” Mathematical talent is the very stereotype of what is considered gifted. It’s what teachers “expect” gifted to look like–especially when the average teacher gets zero training in giftedness and meeting the needs of highly gifted students. So most often the answer is to move Sally up, accelerate her in math, pass her up the chain and out of the class. And frankly it’s relatively easier to meet the needs of a mathematically gifted child. Math is a linear subject, with each skill building on the next. The curriculum has a more or less neat progression.
Meeting the needs of the verbally gifted child–if the child is even recognized as having special educational needs — is seen as much more difficult. There is no neat progression in a single subject; verbal ability pervades the entire school curriculum. If we acknowledge the child is verbally advanced, then — gasp — we might need to advance him or her in reading, and social studies and science and art… Where does it end? We might — gasp — need to grade skip them. But then there’s the “problem” that the child will be reading and thinking about and discussing topics that we think he or she isn’t ready for. Or those (sarcasm alert) dreaded social impacts. So better just to offer assurances that students are regrouped for reading, or point up those areas of relative weakness.
Finally, I hate to say it, but some people in the classroom aren’t exactly intellectual giants. The Post article makes that point as well:
“Judy Schneider, a 25-year teacher who is a math specialist at Widewater Elementary School in Stafford County, is midway through the Virginia program. She helps teachers understand math and reach students through dynamic lessons. Recently, she helped a fifth-grade teacher who was preparing to teach a lesson on fractions but didn’t understand the material.
Math wasn’t always Schneider’s strong suit, but after taking courses in algebra, geometry and statistics, she is able to help colleagues improve.
‘I was such a bad math student as a child, all the way through high school and even into college,’ she said. ‘Math was something I struggled with, and all of a sudden algebra makes sense to me. I want it to make sense for the kids.’”
Not exactly the profile of a person primed to foster precocious mathematical talent, eh? Unfortunately many teachers come from a place of academic struggle rather than academic boredom. So it’s not surprising that they often do a poor job of identifying and supporting highly gifted students.
(Here’s the link for a good article on the distinct cognitive profiles of verbally versus mathematically gifted students.)
I thought I would share our experience: when we first brought our tests results to the school to get a grade-skip going, I began by noting our daughter V’s very high verbal skills (about 7 years above grade level, and even a few years ahead of what would be predicted based on her IQ). The principal interrupted immediately and said, “I don’t do anything based on reading — I care much more about math.”
OK, well, she was 2-4 grade levels advanced in math too, depending on the areas tested, though this is not her area of greatest giftedness or interest.
So we got things going, getting her to spend 1/2 day in a one-grade-higher classroom (a major disappointment to say the least — the Ed. Psych. later said, “Why would a one-grade skip be an improvement for her if she is up to 7 years above grade level?”
The 1/2-day was all language arts/history. The math skills that were so important to getting the school on board? Oh, well, let’s take it slow, one thing at a time, don’t stress out her teacher (though the only stress the teachers had was moving her from one classroom to the other at lunchtime — there was no adaptation to curriculum at all).
I think it was about another month before we started homeschooling.
BTW, take it from a former English professor — they don’t all even out, ever!
I’m finally considering homeschooling my 7th grade son who is verbally gifted. 143 on the WISC-IV. 99 percentile for verbal reasoning. He recently earned near the highest score of his entire grade in state standardized tests in the areas of Language Arts. However he’s earning an F in his LA class due to not getting assignments completed. He has always earned very poor grades. The reason is because his processing speed is distinctively very slow. Doing worksheets and many other performance-based curricula are akin to torture for him. He’s in the 5th percentile for speed processing. He knows a lot but can’t show it fast enough for any classroom setting. It’s been very frustrating for him. All but one teacher over the years has considered him lazy. He usually doesn’t feel like his teachers care about him. They tolerate him at best, he believes. He behaves well…doesn’t have any issues with getting along without creating distractions for others–often goes unnoticed. I don’t know the first thing about homeschooling. I don’t feel that I can give his what he deserves. The school system has the resources I lack.
But as time goes on and he enters Jr. High and High School I see he’s not accessing them because teachers think that since he can understand so much and verbally explain everything with such a high vocabulary he should be able to do everything else, too. My problem is that I don’t know where to turn.
Vonda, I am reading this in 2013. My son is identical to yours and going into 7th grade. I’ve just pulled him from school. Please can you let me know how you have had success in the intervening years….
I have to say that I have a differing opinion on the mathematics issue. I think teachers have a more difficult time recognizing mathematical talent because they don’t know what it really is to be good at math. For so many elementary school teachers, they focus on how well a child can calculate while failing to notice that they may have an excellent grasp of the concepts. I unfortunately have run into this a lot.
But my feeling in general is that teachers in general aren’t terribly tuned into what giftedness is.
I just found your blog via a recommendation from Crimson Wife. It looks great!
You make a good point, OverwhelmedMom. There’s an awesome op-ed in the NY Times this week that makes a related point about science education: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01greene.html?em&ex=1212638400&en=0763f2d29058a80b&ei=5087
I think part of the problem is that most people, including teachers, think that they are gifted verbally. They don’t think it’s anything special or unique.
As an editor, I can tell you this is not the case. I can’t tell you how often I hear, “Why do I need an editor? I know how to write.” Since all people communicate, many do not value those who communicate at a higher level. And these kids have a difficult time finding others at their level to communicate with, which makes them seem even less valuable. Also, how many people even know what good communication is these days? In a world of text messaging and errors on CNN and in the NYT, eventually everyone will create their own languages, their own definitions of correct. We will have a modern-day Tower of Babel with no one able to understand a word.
I’m so fed up with mediocre teachers. Best advice I can give anyone and what I’d do if I could time travel? It is easier to homeschool than to fight with the school. Rinse and repeat. It is easier to homeschool than to fight with the school.
Not worth it. Do it yourself. My 5th grade daughter pulled Wuthering Heights off the shelf and started reading it. Brought it to school. Teacher took it away from her and told her the book’s not appropriate for her age. This in a gifted/talented center.
I don’t know the first thing about homeschooling. I don’t feel that I can give his what he deserves. The school system has the resources I lack.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Vonda, the school system does NOT have the resources you lack. You just think that now. So did I. Every newbie of a 2e (or just a very highly gifted kid with executive functioning issues) thinks this.
Talk to some people. Get on TAGMAX. Talk to Gifted Development Center, they are VERY supportive of homeschooling EG/PG and/or 2e kids. So is Stephanie Tolan. So is CTY.
You will come to realize your strength. No one knows your kid better than you do. You will eventually laugh that you once believed they could do it better than you.
I am curious about those who homeschooled children 7 plus years ahead. I don’t want to send my child to college at age 10. So how does one continue to challenge? I have a PG daughter who at years old who tested at the 9th grade verbal reasoning level and the 4th grade quantitative reasoning level on the WIAT II. she has been in school since grade 2 for 4 years now and i have to say, the gap has closed some. i don’t know if that is because she is not challenged or that is her normal development. she is happy, intellectually curious etc. i don’t know that i think it’s necessary for an early leaner to continue at that same pace their whole life. it seems to me it is the parent who wants this more than the child.
[...] past 2.5 years in this blog, namely that verbally* gifted kids (and by extension I guess, adults) have it harder vis a vis their artistically and mathematically/science gifted peers. (*IMO, verbal giftedness [...]
when will the school system realize we are failing our children? We could have the next Einstein in the class and they won’t know it. Verbally gifted, of course. (didn’t know what to use for the analogy.)
My child is still very young and assessments reveal that he is “average” in most subjects. In fact, he needs speech (articulation) and occupational therapy for handwriting. He began speaking relatively late, but when he started speaking finally he spoke in paragraphs and his comprehension was remarkable. His vocabulary is impressive and never fails to earn surprised comments from other adults with children of similar age. While he reads at First Grade level, the books that I must read to him to keep him interested are in the 5-9 Grade level, and he is able to grasp concepts, understand metaphor, compare the text to other texts and to real life, and other tasks that are delineated in the GLEs for Fifth-Ninth Graders. I was much the same at his age in that, although I was not an early reader, I was reading adult literature by Fourth Grade with speed and comprehension. My writing ability is also above average and has served me well despite a lack of formal education (I dropped out of high school). The question that I have is, “What does it matter if verbally gifted children receive ‘services’ through the school system?” If the child has literate parents and a library card, surely guided reading assignments, discussions, projects and field trips based on literature can be part of the child’s home life. I do not mean to dismiss the legitimate concerns of those who have posted here, but I feel very lucky that my child has a “giftedness” that is not difficult to cultivate in a our society given our accessibility to materials.
The topic of high IQ is so politically charged in our school district. To make matters worse, the gifted topic comes under special education, but, as far as I can assess, the professionals in special ed have no first hand knowledge or understanding of giftedness. The more gifted parents who connect online about their gifted kids the better. It really is an experience that you can only discuss with other people who know.