Just Stop Worrying And Turn Them To Your Own Use
http://www.coolrocketschool.com/ judiethcarol&rocketcat feb 20, 2010 c.
A private school teacher and tutor shares a conversation about the Scholastic Aptitude Test, SAT preparation, reading, reading clubs, standardized tests, relaxation, confidence, self-esteem, gifted program strategies, attention deficit strategies, and general helpful tips for having fun.
This nine times certified teacher says: "I don’t want you to worry any more. It’s just not necessary! You can make these tests work FOR you and NOT AGAINST you. Have some fun. Life is short."
I have nine current certifications to teach school. I have Gifted certification, English, Reading, and Exceptional Education, P-12, certifications.
For many years, I worked in the private sector; and I have my own business. Though I am trained and certified to work with a variety of learning disorders, the year-long, rigorous training and education I received to achieve Gifted certification has been the most useful in all of my lesson planning and individual plan writing for all of the students in my varied classes, including the one-on-one classes. Many of the students I tutor are in their homes. Some are homebound due to a reason preventing the daily attendance of public school.
Some of my classes of one student have been in a private school. These students were privileged to have individual attention at great expense to their parents, but they did not receive any more attention in their hours with me than I give any other student with whom I spend one-on-one instruction. They did have around the clock attention and supportive surroundings for education and positive self-esteem. I will share some information with you about how you can accomplish this atmosphere of support for yourself and others.
There is no substitute for love and a gracious home for an individual, but there are schools where students can be in a safer, more nurturign environment than some students are in today. This is true even when the students are in public schools. Sometimes, parents, guardians, grandparents, and other family members are just too distracted to realize that they have a great deal of power in relation to the welfare of their children in their schools. Before I began teaching, I knew that the students need their parents, guardians, and grandparents in relation to making sure they receive the attention they need.
What I have learned that I did not know about schools is that the placement of each child within the structure of the plans, schedules, and offerings of each school is too much of a 'lottery' for my individual comprehension or tolerance. I had experience with the randommness of scheduling in a high school while attempting to advocate for students with exceptionalities. Together with a full schedule of teaching, the case managers design and monitor individual education plans, legal documents developed in large, inclusive meetings, also under the management of the teacher/case manager.
The purpose of the individual plan for students with exceptionalities is to 'level the playing field' to allow students to receive the services and accommodations to succeed in the classroom (ALL of the students). Therefore, at the same time, the teacher manages the plans for the students who have IEPs, she/he is, simultaneously, implementing methods to assist every other students in every class. All students will have the particular attention they need to succeed, even without a document called an "Individual Education Plan" (IEP).
This is what I know I would like to see happen for the students. As far as I know, most other teachers would like to give each student the particular attention that she or he needs to succeed. I hope that most of the students want to do well in school and to build self-confidence. I hope parents and grandparents want all of this positive reinforcement and upscale teaching practice in their community schools.
What just happened here in my paragraphs of writing with some precision? Look at that last paragraph. I wish I could tell you that the entire community, grandparents, parents, administrators, government officials...Everybody...wants what is best for every student in public (or even private) school.
I am NOT going to tell you this because I do not even know what goes on in the minds of other people. Sometimes when I find out some of it, I am not only surprised, I am afraid! So I won't even go there. I just want to tell you this: Nobody (no body, no body, no one, no other person) cares about you as much as YOU have to care about you. How profound is that? Well, it took me over half a century to figure it out, and I am still learning some things related.
I want to help students to get through high school with the courses they need and want and with some courses and outside activities of interest (band, sports, drill team, newspaper, drama, art). This is a time of life that makes up part of a person's ongoing sense of humor, wit, intellect, interests, loyalties, friendships, and knowledge. If your mama and daddy and grandmama and Aunt Judy who is a teacher... are not making sure that you get the computer courses you want, the art classes with that cool teacher, and senior advanced placement English, then, who will help you? Get that person on your side, working day and night for you, pronto!
There is no way to summarize this concept adequately. I will make the mission an ongoing one. Here is today's attempt:
I am not a parent, and I did not think that at this late point in my life that I would use my 'pen' or keyboard to make any parent feel guilty for not doing more. Parents, in general, do plenty that I cannot imagine doing on a daily basis. But now that I have spend some days with children, teens, and young adults doing what is on a job description printing out single spaced on page after page after page---I feel I should remind you of your power.
I think some parents, as feisty as you are in other areas, are still a bit intimidated by your child's view of your coming to their school. You may not get the response you hope when you make an overture to his or her teachers on the first day or any day afterwards.
Hang in there, please. Go online and find out what you can about your child's classes and the school. Do everything you can ahead of time about scheduling. Understand the scheduling procedures, the credits for graduation, and the application procedures for SAT, college, and scholarships--and even part time jobs. High schools have college visiting days for the seniors. When your son or daughter is a senior, please make sure to take advantage of days to visit on the campus of a college every month--even one or two that are not first or second choice. Visit colleges even if you and your son or daughter are not considering college right now. Visit technical schools nearby, as well.
Once you are out of the school system, the resources of the community are not as accessible to you. They are more accessible than some of us realize, but when you have a child in school, more health, reading, diagnostic, and preparatory resources are available--public and private. Be an advocate and teach your child to be a diplomatic advocate for herself or himself.
When I was teaching in a public school in a rural area, I was so willing to help students to do resumes and applications for scholarships. Only a few asked for my help. Some students were rude to me when I offered. The ones who asked were also eager to tell me when they were accepted. People will help you if you learn how to ask and when you learn how to recognize them.
In my columns, I hope to convey to parents, mentors, other teachers, and to students that you do have some control over these factors, even without the large amounts of money that some people pay for private schools. Too, there is a time to consider whether one or two years of a particular form of private instruction may remedy a crisis situation. Sometimes, a few hours of instruction can be a key to finding the way to be in a program for support while in college. There are small colleges designed to support students who need particular accommodations. Sometimes, the only accommodation a student needs is the feeling of belonging and safety. Look to your churches, recreation centers, libraries, and programs connected with local businesses.
For individual students, I teach science, social studies, language arts, and mathematics through middle school to modify the accommodations for students with exceptionalities. For individual students, I have also taught high school levels of environmental science, Algebra, computer applications, and economics, as well as English. I have experience teaching gifted, autistic, and dyslexic students in ways to adjust the educational syllabus to the learning styles..
In today's terminology, this is called 'differentiated' instruction. In the classroom, it means that the same concepts may be taught in different ways, with different students working on a variety of projects at the same time. In communities near universities, you can probably find a private tutor who has training and/or experience in differentiated instruction. Your tutor can give you help to do hours on your own, with a peer, or with a family member.
I work with many students whose individual educational plans describe their issues in school as including: attention deficit, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, behavioral disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and Asperger syndrome. Recently, however, I am writing about how to modify instruction; and I work with students as a private tutor, one on one. If you are a tutor, or if you have a tutor, or if you want a tutor, please listen to my columns and send questions. I have many resources, and I will offer suggestions.
Asperger syndrome is one of the specific diagnoses covering an array of different symptoms, and it has the name of a doctor tacked onto it. This is the doctor who first identified that these individuals, despite their disabilities, are highly gifted in some areas. What throws off the quick identification (even by teachers) of the abilities of the students with Asperger syndrome is their social difficulty.
A person with Asperger syndrome will drone away in a montotone about one subject without allowing interruption and without eye contact. He or she will be compulsive about the same subject, again and again, and appear to have little interest or understanding of anyone else's feelings or interests. From this sketchy summary (drawing from a Mayo clinic summary), one can visualize a few self-absorbed acquaintances, probably. But the Clinic's warning is that even though children are generally somewhat egocentric, if a child is this way to the extent of not making friends and focusing on only one area of interest, an evaluation may be in order.
I began this column by mentioning that I teach gifted students, and I mention Asperger syndrome students rbecause my message to students today is gleaned from my own difficulties, as a teacher, to protect and to defend the egos of fragile, sensitive students. As a matter of fact, most of the students I had in private school were not only 'rich' in the economic sense, they were also talented and nice looking. But many of them had suffered deeply in public school. Their suffering was not, as many comedians would surmise, allleviated by their family's income. (I read a joke today in a magazine. The comedian said that all he asks is the chance to prove that money cannot make him happy.)
The money does help to find a way to remove the student from a bad situation. For example, one of my students at the private school was almost blind. He was teased and left out of things in public school. In private school, he was left out of nothing. He had assistance in seeing anything from the computer to the way to the dining room. He had a driver to the school and to anywhere else he wanted to go. In my opinion, all of this does not make up for sight; but if I had the money, I would want to do these things to make things better for my child with a loss of sight.
In another class, I had a pretty, blond girl who had been extremely popular in public high school. She had attention deficit issues, and her inability to concentrate and casual attitude led to some problems in school and in her social life. When she was in small classes in the private school, she was a radiant influence on everyone around her. People who never would have been in her little group in high school were her closest friends in private school, as she learned, for example, how to put together a literary magazine in a computer program I downloaded for us to learn together.
She wrote numerous essays under my tutelage, and we read novels together and discussed them. She coordinated art work from the art students and poems from the literary students and cartoons from the skateboarding students. The two boys in my advanced senior English class were always early because she would stay late to talk with me after her class. What a great influence she continues to be on all of us, and I have not seen her for many years!
There are many stories about teachers improving the lives of students. Every teacher has more stories about the students who improve the understanding and the values of the teachers.
When this girl first came to the private school, just being there was like a punishment to her from things going wrong in public school. But she did have the right attitude from the beginning. She was making it work. (I can see her in mind's eye right now. For our class, she had on the standard uniform: plaid skirt, navy blazer, light oxford cloth shirt; but she would doff the jacket after writing for awhile and roll up the shirtsleeves.
When she graduated from high school after I left the private school, I got a call from her. She was doing well in college in another state, a small Southern college, several miles away from Atlanta. She was understandably proud of herself for getting accepted and for going on an adventure in another state.
When you have news like this, call a teacher! I was so happy to hear from her--so happy that she looked me up to share good news!
As a teacher, here is part of what I learned from the pretty, popular, 'rich' girl in private school: She, too, needs a teacher's attention. I am grateful that her parents were able to send her to a school where I met her when I was working in that environment because I learned from that experience.
If I had encountered her while in one of the public schools where I have taught, I would have run right past her down the street after a fleeing, blind student the size of a football player. She would be a blond blur in cheerleading attire, and I would not be noticing she needed my teaching attention.
judiethcarol&Rocketcat Feb 2010
