Tag Archives: School performance

Gifted Children — But Gifted in What Way?

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Gifted Children — But Gifted in What Way?

Today’s Learning Curve with Roger & Virginia explores the many aspects of the ways in which children can be gifted and how you can benefit your child by knowing this; and what to do about it.

Our expert guest and friend today is Francie Alexander, the Vice President and Chief Academic Officer for Scholastic Education.  This is a return appearance for Francie; her last show with us addressed how to prevent your child from losing recently learned material in what is referred to as the “summer slide.”  (Click here for our June 6, 2012 show)

Francie reveals there are many different areas in which a child can be gifted.  A parent needs to appreciate this and the various many ways in which the child can express it.

Parents can too often be concerned that their child “is not academically gifted” and fail to see what particular gifts the child has and work to facilitate and strengthen those gifts.

Is your child gifted academically, socially, physically, artistically?  If academically, what particular part or subjects?

Learn how parents should focus on their child’s strengths and enhance them; not overly fret over apparent “below expectation” levels of skill or ability.  Validating what the child does well actually lifts all other aspects of the child’s endeavors.  But stressing and fretting over the child’s apparent lesser abilities only drags down the child’s confidence and self esteem and damages their overall achievement.

Learn why and how parents should keep their gifted children engaged and moving forward.

Learn about the extensive resources available at Scholastic, Inc., for parents to use with their variously gifted children.

Be alert to the possibility that your gifted child may have difficulty collaborating with other children; and the fact that gifted children need to be taught just as much as “regular” children.  But most important: let your gifted child follow the line of interest it has its attention on.

Learn the traits of gifted children:

  • Language development
  • Questioning and probing
  • Integrating advance words into their conversation
  • Focused on the pursuit of a purpose
  • They love to learn
  • Physically, they have good eye-hand coordination
  • Love to play and excel at a sport
  • Able to take any object (crayon, pencil, clay, cloth, etc.,) and create something from it

CLICK HERE TO HEAR FRANCIE ON GIFTED CHILDREN: 

092412 Gifted Children

Roger and Virginia at The Learning Curve

 

INEQUALITY FOR ALL: The Challenge of Unequal Opportunity in American Schools

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INEQUALITY FOR ALL:  The Challenge of Unequal Opportunity in American Schools.

Why Can’t We “Get it Together”?

That’s what Virginia and I were left wondering after this interview with Dr. William Schmidt, the author of the exciting new book: INEQUALITY FOR ALL:  The Challenge of Unequal Opportunity in American Schools.

No, it’s not about rich versus poor or disadvantaged versus privilege.  It’s a revelation of the fact that our schools, even within the same districts, cities and States do not have comparable curriculum content and standards on the same critical science and math subjects.  And the greatest variations are in middle-income school districts; and it happens even within the same school.

In other words there is no equivalence between classes of the same Grade on the same subjects.  And this results in many kids being short-changed or otherwise graduating with different knowledge than other kids who’ve done the “same” subject Grade classes elsewhere in the system.

Dr. Schmidt reveals that some teachers are not properly equipped or competent to deliver the math and science curriculum—and that is part of the problem.

Compared to this, the nations that are bettering us overseas have national standards of common core material that all kids are exposed to.

By “common core standard” is meant what is to be taught: not how it is to be taught.

Parents will ask: what to do?

The answer is go to the Common Core Standards website http://www.corestandards.org/ and see what their child should be learning at each grade, and take the action needed to have the material delivered to your child.

This is important because math is the language of technology and the information driven society we now live in.

Click here for more information on INEQUALITY FOR ALL:  The Challenge of Unequal Opportunity in American Schools.

If that link doesn’t work go to http://promse.msu.edu/ and look in the “what’s New” section.

William H. Schmidt is University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University and co-director of theEducationPolicyCenter.

 

Click here to Listen: Dr. William Schmidt — INEQUALITY FOR ALL: The Challenge of Unequal Opportunity in American Schools

 

Roger & Virginia at The Learning Curve.

Part 2: Dr. Richard Gordon Speaking on Why Inner-City Schools Often Underperform Suburban Schools.

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The Learning Curve May 9, 2011

Part 2: Dr. Richard Gordon Speaking on Why Inner-City Schools Often Underperform Suburban Schools.

This is a no-holds barred interview with Dr. Gordon giving us first-hand in-the-trenches findings of facts regarding inner city minority student performance, why it is and what needs be done to improve it.  Dr Gordon holds a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from NYU, a Master’s in teaching from Harvard. He has had numerous publications and a book on the subject: The Emperor has No Clothes: The crisis in American Inner City Schools. (Available thru Amazon.Com).  He has consulted for many school districts inMass., NJ, and NY; and has been principal evaluator of millions of dollars ofNew York CityPublic School programs. He was a professor at City Univ. of NYC andClarkUniversity inMass. Most important, he has had some 40 years in public education, most of which was in inner city schools, including E.Orange (NJ), Dallas(Tx) andShreveport (La). Additionally, he was an assistant principal in an inner city school for 2 years(Orange,NJ). Thus, he know of what he speaks, first-hand and theoretically

Clock her to listen May 9, 2011

For more information go to http://www.howtolearneasily.com  send any questions you have to questions@howtolearneasily.com