Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Gifted Students and Ability Grouping

It is interesting that, within a week of #edchatie and #gtie both discussing mixed ability/streaming/setting on twitter, this article by Dr Emer Smyth of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) appears in the Independent. 

"Some second-level schools use streaming, placing pupils in particular classes on the basis of entry tests. Thus some pupils are taught in lower ability classes, not only for English and maths but also for metalwork, physical education and religious education." 

In my experience, most Irish schools engage in setting, not streaming. Streaming, whereby a student is placed into a high or low ability stream for all subjects does not make sense to me. It does not allow for the very many students who are much better at some subjects than others. Setting for individual subjects such as maths and Irish/English makes perfect sense as I cannot imagine how a teacher could adequately teach both higher and lower level in the one class when the course work is different, never mind having to deal with the wide range of student abilities. 

But now to the bee in my bonnet:

"Contrary to popular perceptions, there is no benefit to those placed in higher ability classes; their results are similar to their peers in mixed classes."

Everything I have read suggests that high ability students do better in high ability groups than mixed ability groups. I fully accept the drawbacks for lower ability students, but I am not convinced that the negative impact is entirely due to the grouping itself. It seems to be at least partly related to the expectations, the behaviours and the teaching. However, that's another issue.  In this article, Dr Emer Smyth refers to a "ceiling on potential achievement" being set in lower ability classes. Could a similar ceiling effect not also be part of the reason  that high ability students in high ability streams do no better than their peers in mixed ability classes? 

International expert, Dr Deborah Ruf has just written published School is Not Real Life, Part 3 in which she says:

"Most people think that teachers teach to the average. Well, no, they don't. They can't! If they taught to the average, too many of the slower learners simply wouldn't catch on to most of what was happening in the classroom. Teachers teach to the top of the bottom third once they know their class. This way, they reach the slower learners fairly well and the majority of the kids in the middle get lots of encouragement and opportunity to manage their time, learn study skills, and how to handle a certain amount of intellectual struggle and feel success when they finally "get it." The sad truth, though, is that the brightest students end up spending a lot of time waiting for something new to happen. Depending on a number of other factors, like whether they are male or female and their personality profiles, they learn a lot that ends up not being helpful to real life. They learn that if you are smart, you don't need to study or work hard. They learn that their parents and teachers don't know what they are talking about if they think this assignment matters. They learn that they are smarter than everyone else in the class and are in for a shock when they actually do get out into the real world."

Why is equality of achievement the holy grail of education? What about equality of challenge? Are we closing the achievement gap by holding the most able back? In what other area are we so focused on equality of achievement? We are happy to promote and celebrate the pursuit of excellence in sport and music, for example. Why not also in learning? Why is the education system in Ireland now heading down the same standardised testing route as the US with its No Child Left Behind policy? It has now become known as the No Child Gets Ahead Act and, to my mind this is not fair or equitable either.


Here is the transcript for #gtie chat on setting/streaming and mixed ability.
Here is the transcript for #edchatie on setting/streaming and mixed ability.


Glad to have that off my chest. Off to make dinner now!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Homework Tips For The Easily Distracted

Getting through homework can be a major battle for some students and gifted students are no exception. The reasons are varied: some have ADD/ADHD; some have already been bored by the material in class and just can’t face doing yet more of the same at home; some find it difficult to resist the pull of other more interesting projects. Young people today are digital natives in a vibrant and fast-moving world of technology and information. It must be incredibly difficult for them to switch their minds away from all of that and to focus on the rather more mundane task of homework, particularly when they have been told to use the internet as a resource. Whatever the reason, there is a problem as most teachers expect students to do the homework. It doesn’t matter whether or not they clearly understand the material, it matters that the homework has been assigned and everyone must do it. Over recent years, I have been given some advice which my own easily distracted student has found helpful and I thought it would be useful to share it.

There are two parts to maximising your chances of success:

1. You must establish a routine and a system. Everyone is different in this respect, so you may need to try a few alternatives before you find the one that works best for you. Then you must be tough on yourself and stick to it.

2. You must set yourself up to succeed. The psychology of this is important as constant failure will drag you down whereas constant little successes will make you feel more confident and more likely to succeed further. It doesn’t matter how small the success or how trivial it seems to others. This is about removing fear and dread and replacing it with confidence. As the saying goes, success breeds success.


Before You Go Home


At the end of each class, make sure you have made a note of the homework assigned. If you have any doubts, now is the time to ask.

At the end of the school day, to go through the list of homework and pack your bag carefully before leaving school. A few minutes spent at this point making sure that you bring home all the necessary books and materials may save a lot of time later.
  
Getting Ready


Have a specific starting time so that you can’t keep putting it off.

Some people need a break after school before they begin, others find it better to just keep going. If they take a break, they find it hard to get back into the right frame of mind again. Be very careful about watching TV or going on that games console, as they switch your mind into a totally different mode and it can be very difficult to escape from them and switch back to study mode!

Exercise raises the body's levels of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline which aid concentration. You may find that things go better after a rugby game, dancing, a run or even walking the dog.

Make sure you eat something before you start. It’s hard to concentrate on an empty stomach.

Don’t kid yourself. You cannot do homework in front of the TV or while facebooking and texting. Find a place with as few distractions as possible and get your head “in the zone”.
  
Getting Started (the hardest part!)


Have a list of the homework to be done so that you can tick each item off as you finish it.

Decide how much time you think each item should reasonably take.

Then do something quick to begin with, or something you quite like. This way, you will find it easier to get stuck in and get one item ticked off on your list.

Next, do the item that you least want to do so that it isn’t hanging over you all evening. It will give you a boost once it’s done and it’s best to do the most difficult item before you get too tired.

Make a note of the time you start each item and the time you finish it. This helps to show you how much time you are spending and will, eventually, show you how you are improving. It will also be useful to show to any teachers who might doubt your effort!
  
Keeping Going


Some people find doing something active helps concentration. Try chewing gum, using a stressball or a piece of modelling clay/bluetack (this can be used in school too). Try sitting on a move-and-sit cushion or an excercise ball.

Contrary to the usual advice, there are a few people who work better with music in the background...Try it, but be honest about the results! Others find that white noise helps.

If you find yourself drifting off too frequently, set a timer to ring at intervals to bring you back. You might need to begin with just five minutes, or less. Set the timer and know that once you have done five minutes, you have succeeded. Enjoy the success and then go for another five, and so on. It is far better to set the bar low and succeed rather than constantly fail and feel frustrated and panicky. Over time, you should aim to increase the amount of time you go for. Often, when the stress of facing an enormous task is removed, your brain works better and you will actually get much more done.

As you complete each item of homework, tick it off on the list and get up and move around. Get some fresh air or a drink/snack. Just don’t get sucked in by the TV or a video game, though...we all know that vast amounts of time can whizz by when doing those things and before you know it, you will have left yourself with no chance of getting all your work done. 

If All Else Fails

If you find that, despite your best efforts, you are spending hours and hours getting through your work and really struggling to get it all done, speak to your teachers about the problem, or get your parents to do so on your behalf. Once they appreciate that you are trying, they may very well be happy to support you. Maybe they can help you decide how much time each piece of homework should take and maybe they will be happy to accept an incomplete assignment once they know that you have spent a reasonable amount of time on it. Maybe they will suggest that you don’t need to do all the homework at all and that a shorter assignment will do. After all, homework is supposed to reinforce what you learned in class and show the teacher that you have understood it. There is often more than one way to achieve this.


For Parents

For students who have difficulties, it is important that their parents accept the problem as genuine and that they support them. They will be feeling bad enough about themselves as it is, without you adding to the sense of hopelessness and inadequacy. This will include speaking to their teachers to make them aware of the problems so that they can help. It may even mean seeking the advice of a psychologist. Don’t let the fear of labelling get in the way of seeking help. Teachers will have come across similar problems many times before and may well have some useful suggestions to make. Psychologists are trained to offer advice for problems such as these and a little input from one of them can make all the difference.

As with the organisational difficulties discussed in the previous post, it is important that, as your child gets older, they take ownership of these difficulties for themselves. Finding a teacher/mentor who is willing and able to help is very important in this regard as it means your child doesn’t have to continue depending on you, but learns to recognise when they need help and to seek it for themselves as they will have to do once they head out into the world on their own.

Further Reading:



How To Improve ADHD Symptoms With Excercise interview with  John J Ratey, MD

Does Your Gifted Child Have ADHD? by Kathleen Nadeau, PhD

Friday, September 2, 2011

Organising the Gifted but Scatty

Do you have one of those kids who lives in a world of their own much of the time, completely oblivious to the passage of time; who needs constant reminding to "put the other sock on and finish getting dressed"; to "never mind that the dog's water bowl is empty, you have five minutes to eat your breakfast and get out to school"?
Does the start of the day go something like the version on the right below?
llustration by Buck Jones, used with the kind permission of Allie Golon of Visual-Spatial Learners

You finally get them out the door and are just recovering when you spot the Irish homework that was slaved over for hours the night before, sitting on the table. Or the text arrives to say "I've forgotten my maths book", "forgotten my lunch", "forgot there was P.E. today"...and so begins that inner battle: if you constantly bail them out they'll never learn, so you should let them suffer the consequences of not planning ahead and paying attention, versus the gut feeling that they really can't help it and will be devastated to turn up in class without all the right things.
In my experience there are some kids who, by suffering the consequences of their actions or lack of them, will quickly learn to be better organised. However, there are some who really do have genuine organisational difficulties related to what are known as executive skills deficits. No matter how hard they try, they always struggle to be organised. They know this and it frustrates them, causes them distress and makes them feel useless.

Sometimes the issue is just delayed development of executive skills, sometimes it’s ADHD, sometimes it’s that your kid is a visual-spatial learner. Whatever the reason, recognising for themselves the tasks with which they struggle and learning how to best to work around the problem is something that will stand to them forever. Plenty of scatty, disorganised people go on to lead productive, creative and fulfilled lives. For them to be left to constantly mess up or to have you forever picking up the pieces for them is hugely damaging to their self esteem and will delay their independence. The trick is to get the balance right between being supportive and allowing to learn by failure.

As a parent, I have found it helpful to avoid comparison of my children's progress in this area with that of other children of the same age. My goal is to ensure that, by the time they reach adulthood, they have learned to be as independent and self-sufficient as possible and are ready to leave the nest. In the meantime, they may need a little more support than their peers, but it's not a competition. It can also be helpful to discuss the problem with your child's teachers so that they understand and can work with you. It is absolutely vital that your child is included in the process so that they take responsibility for their own progress and learn to advocate for themselves as they get older.
Here are some tricks which help them to cope better.

Getting out in the morning:

1. Mornings are usually hectic and full of distractions, so pack your schoolbag and look out all your clothes before going to bed the night before. Use the school timetable to check off what is needed.

2. Set a timer in your bedroom to go off when it really is time to be dressed and ready to go for breakfast. (To begin with, mum may need to pop her head around the door at intervals to make sure progress is being made. Don’t bite it off!)

3. Follow a routine and do everything in the same order so you don’t leave anything out.

4. No TV or other distractions!

5. Have a mental checklist of the essentials and go through it before you leave. Schoolbag, lunch, money, bus ticket...whatever you need, but keep it short or you’ll forget items. My own list, which I automatically recite on my way out the door, is “keys, money, phone”.

In school:

6. If you have a homework journal, USE IT. If you don’t have one, get one. Write in, not just the homework given, but when it is due and any other special announcements. eg If the teacher tells you there is a test or you must bring in a particular item next Wednesday, write a note in next Tuesday’s slot to remind you

7. Colour code your books. You can buy sheets of coloured stickers in various shapes and allocate one to each subject eg red circles to maths, blue squares to English etc. Stick these to the spine of all your books, copybooks included. Then, when you look into you locker, you will see quickly which books you need for each class...provided you take the time to keep your locker tidy.

8. Colour code your timetable to match the book system.

9. Make lots of timetables. Stick one where you do your homework, one in the kitchen, one inside your locker. Make a small one, laminate it and keep it in your pocket.
Most importantly:
10. Accept that this is not your fault and, once you are doing your best, don't be too hard on yourself. If you keep working at it, after a while, these habits become automatic and you will find life much easier. Some of us spend our whole lives using to-do lists and little tricks to keep us on track.
Further reading for the frazzled:
Smart But Scattered Peg Dawson and Richard Guare
Visual Spatial Learners Gifted Development Centre
Parenting Your Gifted Child With ADHD Davidson Institute for Talent Development

For my next trick, I will be bringing you some homework tips for the easily distracted.