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Our program is a pull out program as well where the younger kids get an hour and the older ones get 2 hours. Ours has a specialized GT teacher who focuses on things like creative thinking, deductive and convergent reasoning and all manners of brainstorming. They pick topics like archaeology, criminal justice and mysteries in addition to more general ones like power and challenges.
The kids learn different ways of approaching issues and solving them in some cases. My now 12 yr old daughter learned that criminal justice was not something she was interested in at all after they finished that particular unit a couple of years ago. haha
It's a wonderful added bonus that is scheduled at the same time every week so that the teachers can make plans for the handful of kids missing that class time. With my daughter it was perhaps 6-7 kids out of the 4 classes. With my son, who is in 1st grade it's only 4 kids out of the 4 classes.
Classes going into middle school have no direct connection to the GT class, but instead are based on the teacher recommendations along with student/parent agreement. My daughter is in 6th grade and taking Pre-Ap Math, Pre-AP English/Language Arts and a GT Science class.
Those are offering her a much better opportunity to grow than the GT pull out program did, however it's something that was a different kind of benefit to her.
And, as a side note, there was no kind of fall out to those in the program nor those out of the program. It was just another normal part of the week for the school.
This is sort of what I was thinking, that the program at our school is more enrichment, rather than actual academics. I would be more interested in faster paced math and reading longer books and going more in depth in their normal curriculum, rather than the neat projects and cool field trips. Those kinds of things I would rather do with my children, outside of school, instead of missing a regular class day. I really like both my children's teachers and I'm just not sure missing class for "enrichment" is worth it. I have to supplement their core subjects on my own anyways.
However, it's the access to more advanced classes in middle school that I feel they may be closed out of, if I don't have them in this 1 day a week program. If honors in middle school is just as challenging, then I don't have a problem having them go that route, instead of the "gifted" route.
As far as the social aspect goes, it might help and hurt them at the same time. They get a chance to meet some more like minded friends, but possibly get alienated by their current classmates. This is the part that bothers me the most because I really can't predict how it'll go.
I appreciate everyone's thoughts and advice. I know all programs are different, but it's nice to get as many perspectives as possible.
It would depend a lot, I think, on the regular classroom. If there's a lot going on which might be missed by being elsewhere every Monday, then that's a consideration. OTOH, if it's extra reinforcement of lessons which your child doesn't need, then it may be an exercise in boredom staying in the regular class that day.
Another option, which the schools won't generally tell you, is to go ahead and have the testing done. And if you don't want little Rufus in the gifted class (because it's pointless, or the teacher is not a good one, or whatever reason), have "Gifted Services" listed as being on a consult basis on his EP (which is what this county, and I think most of FL, calls the gifted education plan). That way he's still acknowledged to be gifted, but you're not doing anything about it currently. You have the option to change your mind in the future, if circumstances change.
Cigarboo, why don't you spend some time visiting the program in place at your child's grade level?
Did you tell us what grade level your son is? I may have missed that.
My boys are in K and 3rd.
The school is not very open to parents visiting any classroom in general. We're new to the school so I'm trying not to become the pushy parent, especially for an issue I'm a bit ambivalent about. I did get an opportunity to see some of the kids only because I was volunteering for something else and some of the "gifted" kids were working on a project in the same room.
That is when the "gifted" teacher approached me. My children have already been screened. She wanted me to push the front office to move quicker so she can get them sooner. She's described her class and it sounds interesting. Definitely something I would do if it were an after school thing. I'm just not sure if it's worth taking my kids out of school for. I didn't want to be too critical about the program, because she obviously thought it was a wonderful program.
It's not so much that I think they will have trouble with the academic part of what they miss each week in their regular class. I just like the continuity of them being in a 5 day a week class, for the full 5 days.
For my kindergartener, he loves his friends, his teacher and his routine. I think he would miss his class. His teacher is excellent and goes above and beyond as far as teaching goes. They are always doing crafts and projects, cooking. The academics is simple for him, but he has no complaints. He just does it and moves on. He's not a distraction in his class. I do the reading and math at home with him, we always go places to "enrich" his learning. That is why I'm not sure whether it's worth it.
Now my 3rd grader is a bit different. He's very shy and timid and it doesn't help that he's new to the school. Socially, he's a bit on the fringe. He's had a few issues like kids trying to copy from his work/test, which upsets him, but he's too afraid to tell the teacher because he doesn't want to be a tatle tale. Stuff like that. It would probably benefit him to meet kids who are a bit more like minded. However, my concern is that if he gets pulled out,(he would probably be the only kid in the class pulled out) his social situation the remainder 4 days would get worse. I don't want to make him a target to get picked on. Right now, the situation is not so bad, but kids can get mean. To me, I'm not sure I want to go down that road, unless I felt the risk is truely worth it. With a five day program, I would jump right in, but 1 day a week, I'm just not so sure.
I know it's best to find someone already in the program, but I don't know anyone. But that's why I really appreciate everyone's input.
That sounds great. Here, it's closer to 50 kids and two teachers. The class is made up of all the eligible children in that grade, some bused in from other schools which don't have gifted programs of their own.
Yeah - the gifted program at our school has gotten slashed to bits in the past few years. Its not highly marketed/popular/etc... so you don't get hordes of people asking for testing for it or anything. Our school has 350 students and there are probably 8 students, at the most, probably fewer, in the program. There is one other student from my 5th grader's grade in it. The earliest they will test for it is the spring of 1st grade (my 1st grader is supposed to be getting tested), so you usually don't see anyone younger than 2nd grade in it.
We are down to an itinerant teacher who goes back and forth between two schools to work with the kids. Last year they turned the gifted teacher's classroom into a computer lab (and just had her put her desk in the corner and moved her bookshelves and maps etc.. over to make room for all of the computers) and cut her down to half-time. (kind of reminds me of putting Milton and his stapler in the basement)
I think they truly treat it as a special ed program for kids who score really high on the tests AND stand out to their teachers as a child who approaches learning differently from the average "good" student. My 2nd grader has higher grades and is a better student than both of my boys but no one (including me) thinks she needs to go to this program. She does wonderfully as a high achiever in Language Arts and a hard-working student in Math in the regular classroom. Our school seems to be able to accommodate high-achievers in LA/Reading in the regular classroom fairly well b/c they track the kids into reading groups by ability, whereas Math is not tracked/grouped.
I participated in a pull-out program over a series of years as a kid. No teasing occurred, and no distinctions were made by peers, until our program started getting some press and we started getting some pretty public recognition...and then there was a lot of sour grapes...a lot of this was because of the way some of the ADULTS involved handled it, I realize in retrospect, which is pretty uncool. I was about 11 when there started being social ramifications, which is a tough age for that sort of thing, not that any age is easy. That said, any teasing did run its course and level off, and the benefits of doing a more ability-appropriate type of schooling, even on an occasional basis, far outweighed any temporary social negatives. It also provided me a chance to get tighter with kids who were more interested in the sorts of things I was interested in, too, so there were absolutely social positives.
The school is not very open to parents visiting any classroom in general. We're new to the school so I'm trying not to become the pushy parent, especially for an issue I'm a bit ambivalent about. I did get an opportunity to see some of the kids only because I was volunteering for something else and some of the "gifted" kids were working on a project in the same room.
That is when the "gifted" teacher approached me. My children have already been screened. She wanted me to push the front office to move quicker so she can get them sooner. She's described her class and it sounds interesting. Definitely something I would do if it were an after school thing. I'm just not sure if it's worth taking my kids out of school for. I didn't want to be too critical about the program, because she obviously thought it was a wonderful program.
It's not so much that I think they will have trouble with the academic part of what they miss each week in their regular class. I just like the continuity of them being in a 5 day a week class, for the full 5 days.
For my kindergartener, he loves his friends, his teacher and his routine. I think he would miss his class. His teacher is excellent and goes above and beyond as far as teaching goes. They are always doing crafts and projects, cooking. The academics is simple for him, but he has no complaints. He just does it and moves on. He's not a distraction in his class. I do the reading and math at home with him, we always go places to "enrich" his learning. That is why I'm not sure whether it's worth it.
Now my 3rd grader is a bit different. He's very shy and timid and it doesn't help that he's new to the school. Socially, he's a bit on the fringe. He's had a few issues like kids trying to copy from his work/test, which upsets him, but he's too afraid to tell the teacher because he doesn't want to be a tatle tale. Stuff like that. It would probably benefit him to meet kids who are a bit more like minded. However, my concern is that if he gets pulled out,(he would probably be the only kid in the class pulled out) his social situation the remainder 4 days would get worse. I don't want to make him a target to get picked on. Right now, the situation is not so bad, but kids can get mean. To me, I'm not sure I want to go down that road, unless I felt the risk is truely worth it. With a five day program, I would jump right in, but 1 day a week, I'm just not so sure.
I know it's best to find someone already in the program, but I don't know anyone. But that's why I really appreciate everyone's input.
So they are pulling kindergarten kids out for 1 full day a week for the gifted program? Is your kindergartener highly gifted? In my schools they haven't started testing until 1st grade for the highly gifted program and 2nd grade for the regular gifted program. Is it just kindergarteners in the kindergarten gifted class? Or is mixed levels? That would be a question I would want answered. Will your 3rd grader be in a class a full day with only 3rd graders or 3rd, 4th, 5th graders?
Location: Long Island via Chapel Hill NC, Go Heels?
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When I was in elementary school, we just did projects and went over real life news topics and did brain work outside of class everyday for about 2 hours until the end of school. We didn't miss too much because the work in class wasn't hard at all. It was quite minor. I'm probably one of the youngest, if not the youngest on the site, so I'm just throwing out what I experienced.
Last edited by TarheelsMatt; 01-14-2010 at 12:28 AM..
Reason: grammatical errorssss.
My sons were both in gifted education. In elementary school they were pulled out for one day a week. In middle school they had a gifted literature class. Only by being in the gifted education program could you be in this literature class. I believe it helped both my children a lot. It kept them from being bored. Also, in high school they took gifted electives like International Studies. It was worth it. Our experience was that the kids wanted to be part of the gifted program. There was no teasing because it was considered a privilege to be part of the program.
I went to a pull out program like this for a number of years through elementary and middle school. The same group of 5 students (out of a grade size of about 275) participated throughout the entire time. Missing one day of regular classwork a week was not really an issue and the projects we worked on as part of the program were both fun and interesting. Most of the time the students were able to select the subject matter for the course of study and that made things more enjoyable. When we entered high school the same group of students were able able to take AP tests freshman and sophomore year leaving the latter grades for the SATs, and to take some classes associated with a local college which were also offered at the high school.
In retrospect the only downside to this situation was the fact that the five of us were always grouped together. It would have been refreshing to interact with others in this manner. Overall though, it was a wonderful experience and some of what I learned and experienced came in handy later in my college career.
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