Age Appropriate Curriculum

"Ms. S, I wanted to bring this to your attention. I know you will take it in the right way and help us. Kalpana said she feels bored in class. I am aware that the children in your class have a range of abilities. I am not boasting but her educational evaluation showed up an IQ of 155. I am a bit concerned that she may not enjoy school if she doesn't feel challenged. I don't know if giving her more written work or reading material will do the job. What shall we do?"

Kalpana was the youngest in the class—not yet five years but read chapter books (and explained the meaning of multisyllabic words) to her peers, spontaneously wrote a page long report on why she found Egyptian mummies fascinating at rest time and liked to discuss why inifinty + 1 was going to be a continuing process. As a teacher, I thoroughly enjoyed giving her a a 'tidbit' of information to see what she'd make of it.

Kalpana's mom hit the nail on the head:

• A multi-ability classroom meant that everone's needs had to be met—including Kalpana's.
• If Kalpana was bored, she wasn't going to enjoy learning.
• Additional traditional academic workload wasn't going to be the answer—she wasn't yet five years!

What did we do? My co teacher and I reviewed our day—and Kalpana's activities. We looked at her strengths and weaknesses—she was ahead academically but socially she was right where her peers were. She was developing social problem solving skills, and was very attentive and participatory when she was in charge of an acivity. She needed more help in group activities. Sometimes it was difficult for her to play with others because she couldn't adapt their ideas into her play scheme. It is all very well to be asked to read a book, but a five year old needs to be part of a group, giggle at common experiences and learn to give and take. These interactoins lay the foundation for future relationships, achievements and disappointments.

My co-teacher and I encouraged Kalpana to be more involved in play. We started by creating a morning routine for her—she engaged in theme related play with atleast one other student for the first half hour of choice time before she explored the book area. One of us was around to help her with turn taking skills...'Now it is XYZ's turn-how can we add her idea here?' As she became more comfortable with taking turns, the other students sought her out for play. Her peers realized that her ideas were a little more challenging and interesting. But our favorite moment came a few months later. We overheard two other students making plans with Kalpana for weekend activities, "Maybe my mom can call your mom and we can go to the park together. Do you want to go?"

Besides focusing on her social skills, we reviewed our classroom planning to challenge Kalpana academically. No, we did not increase her rote learning or provide her with worksheets. Instead we utilized the opportunities provided by our thematic units. Kalpana helped write the script for the class play during the 'Fairy tales' unit, she made banners and posters for the class presentation for the unit 'Animals in Winter', and was a 'peer tutor' for her classmates during math activities. We adapted her activities to include researching for information and conducting experiments to verify hypotheses.

Challenging a very bright child is a lot of fun—provided we focus on age appropriate learning and the sequential acquisition of skills.

In one of our after dinner discussions during my recent visit, I remarked on age appropriate curriculum. My friend, who sits on one of the curriculum development boards mentioned that yes, the syllabus has been developed keeping this is mind. But parents mistakenly believe that if their child learns more than what is age appropriate, then he (she) is very bright. So they compete with one another to challenge their kids beyond their capabilities. Schools fall for the same trap and trumpet how their students are high achievers (never mind the significant gaps in all round development) and they up the bar as well. All in all there is an artificial environment which puts tremendous pressure on our students to compete...

What separates the very bright mind from the average? The ability to think outside the box and create...can this be drilled in a coaching class?

Ms. S

How bright is my child?

“My child is really bright…she is only two and knows her numbers up to 30, and knows the alphabets. Are there any classes to improve her IQ?” A first time parent had me stumped with her question.

My September trip was amazing. I met many parents and professionals who do such amazing work—in advocacy, curriculum development, social empowerment to name just a few. When I sit down to write too many thoughts come rushing:) In an effort to organize these, I will start by writing about what I saw and heard about school curriculum, parental expectations, administrative negotiations, etc.

Let’s start with parental understanding of ‘bright’ ‘advanced’ and ‘IQ’.

Being able to count up to 30 is great. But remember, that is by rote. There is no comprehension of number value or one to one correspondence. Even counting by rote has several skills embedded. Can the child say the numbers in sequence, out of sequence, what come after, and finally, what comes before?

Similarly with the ABCs, there is a lot to learn before you start reading—letter identification, letter to sound matching, identifying sounds at the beginning, end and middle of words, blending and manipulating sounds. And phonics is just one skill necessary to be able to read. Comprehension requires more than the ability to decode.

IQ—aaah that wonderful word!!! This is a child’s potential. What the child does with this potential is up to the parents, teachers and the child himself. Does that mean more classes or drills? No!

In my opinion, children with high and low IQ are equal work. Why? Both need a lot of help in negotiating social rules in their community. Both children tend to get bored if the teaching material doesn’t meet their needs, resulting in behavioral issues. No matter how bright (or not bright) your child is what will help him succeed in life are good social skills and executive function skills.

In my first year of teaching, I worked in a program which catered to high school students with fairly severe cognitive impairment. My friend worked in another section where the program was geared for students with average or above average IQ but with severe behavioral problems. One of my students always impressed me at the fact that everyone was happy to work with her—because she was always polite, pleasant and clean. Even if a student was in crisis, he (or she) would become quiet when this young woman passed by. Not out of fear but out of respect or maybe even liking.

To be continued...

Ms. S