The irony is that in the current schooling system the "gifted child" is the one left behind. There are children left behind when the focus shifts from education to testing. Children are taught to be in the middle.
Where does this leave the child that isn't in the middle?
What message does teaching to the middle send to a gifted child?
What is a gifted child?
How are they challenged?
What motivates them to learn, grow and push themselves?
These are all great questions which came up in the parent homework workshop tonight. Gifted children seem to have a theme when homework doesn't go their way - they throw fits.
I define a gifted child as someone who is present. They know that teaching to thirty children in a classroom doesn't make sense. They know they learn more out on the school playground than sitting in their chair. They aren't challenged by the work in the classroom. It annoys them that they have to be held accountable to a level below their learning capacity.
The main thing to find out is when a child like this is struggling are they acting up, or acting out?
Acting up is a way that they are asking for help. They are really saying, "Doesn't anyone else out there see that this doesn't make sense?" It is their cry for help. If nobody sees that the teacher isn't challenging them then they lose. They lose because they have to spend hours and days in a room that isn't challenging.
If they are not heard during the acting up phase it will lead to the acting out phase.
The acting out phase simply means they were not heard during the acting up part.
Acting up is healthy.
Acting up is how this country was founded.
Acting up is how we learn and grow.
Get involved with your child. Find out what is really going on in that classroom.
If they are not engaged in the classroom then find ways to engage them out of the classroom.
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