Well, for a variety of reasons including staying close to family and the fact that the job was more permanent, Wayne took the job at California University of Pennsylvania (no, I'm not making up the name... There's also an Indiana University of PA, just to confuse more people) and we set out to find a home near the school... We didn't have tons of choices in terms of school districts, but we soon learned that there were two types of schools in the area - the haves and the have nots... we settled in Charleroi, partly because they had a relatively new school campus where the heat worked in the winter and the air worked in the summer and they actually had a library program... and hoped...
Well, Robyn took to the US education system like a duck to water... she was always bright, but the structure seemed to suit her in the beginning and she flourished, to the point though that by Christmas she had no mark less than 105% in any subject. Now I guess some people would be jumping for joy if their child came home with grades like that... and don't get me wrong, we were proud parents... but we walked into our first 'official' conference with her second grade teacher determined that we'd get change...
~ first interruption ~
You see, I'm a big believer in letting kids experience failure early in life... not a ton mind you, but enough to know that life doesn't always come easy and that sitting on your laurels can lead to trouble... you see I remembered being a straight A student who, by highschool, had an attitude to match the stature and the work habits of a lazybones... so that by the time I got to university, I didn't get the full benefit of being there because I had learned to do only what was required to get the grade... and if I didn't even do that, to talk my way out of it... (again the rest of the story another time when I'm feeling nostalgic...)
~ back to the story ~
So instead of walking into the conference just to hear the teacher praise my child, I wanted to know what was going to be done to challenge her and give her the chance to not succeed as easily... and boy was the teacher surprised...
~ second interruption as I get on my high horse about education ~
I have a background in education, having experienced teaching grades 2, 2/3, and 5/6 before realizing that I didn't like the structure and rules of teaching in a traditional school.... and the one thing I loved, was challenging each and every child to do their best at everything... which meant teaching each individual sometimes, rather than the class... In the US, the trend towards standardized testing has resulted in 'standardized' teaching and removed some of the options for creative and meaningful teaching, integrated lessons and more profoundly inspiration from many of the gifted teachers in every school... there is something to be said that by 'teaching to the test' you miss the big and little pictures made by exploratory learning and organic development of ideas... it also means that individuality and differences are not celebrated in the classroom as much as grades, conformity and adherence to the formula of the day....
~ end of second interruption, getting down off the high horse with the aid of a small step stool and returning to the story ~
One of the things I became aware of at that conference that was different than any classroom I had ever experienced was that there was no room for change or expansion... the teacher was expected to teach the same page of math on any given day that the other six second grade teachers were teaching and that every child attempted to memorize the same spelling list, whether they could read the words or not... it was very black and white - you succeeded or you failed, and if you failed, you stayed for tutoring till you succeeded, but if you succeeded you were done...
So I asked the teacher how we could create dynamic learning opportunities for Robyn, who I was afraid would become me... disenfranchised and bored with the routine... she was already showing signs of poor work habits to come as she rushed through her work and did the minimum to get her A, without really taking time to think...
After a few more meetings and consulting with the principal, it was decided to test Robyn for 'Gifted and Talented' status... this was a big exception because they normally didn't test kids until the middle to the end of third grade for entry into a program starting in fourth.... but the squeaky wheel...
While we were negotiating how this would work,Wayne and I worked with Robyn at home to slow down her pace and do her work carefully, added our own questions to homework to make her think about her answers and generally supplemented her education as best we could
So finally, the school board came back with their criteria and testing model, modified for second grade... Robyn was to take an IQ test, several personality tests and other standardized tests to determine her eligibility for G&T status...
In most things she scored exceptionally well, but she failed 2 of the timed standardized tests... and we couldn't figure out why, because she knew the stuff... until I asked Robyn about it - We'd told her to go slow, think about every answer and why she would want to make that her answer... not to rush through her work and to be meticulous about reading everything... our own work was coming back to haunt us... and no one had explained to Robyn that the tests were timed... She'd never taken a standardized test before and had no idea what it was... The instructions had been to read the questions carefully and not to expect to complete the test, but didn't tell her that there was a time limit (implied I know, but this is a literal child). She also had never taken multiple choice tests where there were 'sorta right' and 'most right' answers...
So, with that in mind, they retested her, with the instruction to be thoughtful but work quickly and she passed with flying colours... once she knew the rules of the game and learned how to take standardized tests
By the end of March, she was pronounced Gifted and Talented and was the first ever second grader to become part of their pull out enrichment program... hanging out with 4th graders, but getting to try all kids of cool things... including helping to create a 'game show' for middle schoolers, taking a field trip to the Amusement park, not just to ride the rides, but to study the physics behind them... and doing tons of cool things that opened her mind to the possibilities...
Just as we got through that fight though, our family made the decision to move again, to a situation that suited Wayne better and would land us another 700 miles south, in Charleston, SC and start the next wave of education decisions...
Reflecting back, I know that fighting for her to be in that program, even for 3 months helped to shape the student she has become and helped to keep the flame of wonder burning...
Tomorrow's installment will breeze through the rest of elementary school (once we chose one) and embark on the dreaded middle school choices :)
Thanks for reading - I truly appreciate you for getting through my ramblings - please feel free to comment on any part of this
