As we enter the new school year, especially if you have boys in elementary school, do not let teachers tell you that your child fidgets, talks too much, or has a hard time sitting still. Unless it is extreme, this is normal boy (and girl) behavior. Instead, turn the tables and ask the teacher what they are doing to ensure that all students have a movement and mental break every 30-45 minutes. When most of us were in elementary school (if you are my age or older) we had 2 recesses, lunch with recess and PE. Today kids get a short recess before or after lunch only. When my son was in private school, they wanted him on meds. In public school, the principal realized that his blood sugar would drop at certain times of day and encouraged me to have snacks - giving him permission to go to the office, eat his snack and go back to class - it worked wonders! I also think we are misdiagnosing extrovert with ADHD and I know my extroverted son struggles with cooperative learning. He is the first to say he should not sit at a table facing 5 other kids if the teacher does not want him to talk. There are times where he self removes himself to sit alone so he can focus. Moreover, extroverts love to be engaged (and I would argue need to be actively engaged) so they tend to be the ones who raise their hands for every answer, often jumping out of their seat in hopes of being called on. SADLY, many teachers have more of an introverted, process mentality (which fits for the profession) and they view such exuberance as disrespectful and will often NOT call on the extroverted child to teach them to behave. If this happens to your child, be the advocate and ask how they are actively engaging your extroverted child - who needs to verbally express their understanding and be actively involved in their learning - into the process? Dont get me wrong - I have tremendous empathy for teachers as having a large classroom filled with introverts and extroverts, boys and girls is NOT easy. AND... we are also losing our kids academically in the United States. I dont think the problem is curriculum: common core or AIMS. So many teachers feel so pressured to teach to the test, keep scores up and make sure that kids pass standards that they no longer have the freedom to develop personal relationships with the kids in their class and use methods that they know will work, even if it means less content. As parents, we should be advocating with our politicians that the state does not need to invest in the next greatest curriculum but that any classroom over 25 should have two teachers. I love our school because the principal authentically believes that elementary education is for the social development of the child and the teachers DO NOT teach to the test. In fact, when it is standardized testing, we get calls saying it is just another day at Sandpiper and not to focus on it. But not all schools are like Sandpiper (and we still received an A rating on AIMS). We are lucky that the majority of our teachers are top notch, we have a very involved parent community and small class sizes. But Sandpiper is the exception, not the norm. I have read several posts this morning from friends across the country concerned about the start of the year. We cant leave it to our teachers alone - we have to be engaged and involved, we have to advocate, be reasonable (our kids are not perfect - only in our eyes) but also not allow the system to destroy our childs spirit.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 15:38:31 +0000
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