Wow! When we open up the lines of communication, it starts flooding! I just heard from Brenda Payne today. Brenda is just under Joyce Wilson, Asst. Superintendent of Elem. Education. Brenda as you know was in the meeting last week. She is now on board with helping to promote Richardson Gifted to all of the principals. Angela Vaughan, MST principal, is going to speak to the others at their weekly principal meeting letting them know some of the things we are doing as parents and educators to open the lines of communication and to improve our gifted kids’ education. This is a step in the right direction, folks!
I have been hearing from several of you regarding things that aren’t working & even some things that are. Please keep the stories coming. Please continue conversations with teachers and principals. We want them to know that we are on their side. One thing that Brenda suggested in our conferences was to use an inquiring voice versus a demanding or accusing voice when speaking to them.
I heard from another parent who said their teachers are doing a weekly pull out for advanced readers and another one gets regrouped during intervention time. FYI-All schools have intervention time. Some will group the on level & above levels with a teacher for advanced instruction, some will give them independent enrichment projects to do in the classroom, and some even still will just leave them to do SSR-sustained silent reading. Ask your child what he/she does during that time. If you’d like to see more done, ask the teacher if they could group the on & aboves and create an enrichment project. Our 5th grade teachers just completed one and based on their recent TAKS simulation, they will be regrouping the students according to the scores. This is great by the way for those with asynchronous development (strong in math, but not reading or vice versa).
If you’d like to see some of these things happening in your schools, ask, but don’t demand. Use words like “could we try …”, “what if we did this instead of that”, etc. Start with the teacher & give him/her the benefit of not going directly over their head. If you don’t hear back from the teachers, then go to the principals. Again, use the same inquisitive voice. When they listen & follow through, don’t forget to thank them!
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you to officially join Richardson Gifted (www.richardsongifted.com/membership) and to spread the word to other parents of gifted children. We aren’t just for students in RISD. We are open to homeschoolers, preschoolers, private schoolers, and anyone in the area who needs support and advocacy for their gifted children.
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