My son has accomodations at his school for special needs. He is also in the gifted program. His gifted English teacher keeps telling memy son does not get assignments and his papers are awful and she really does not think he belongs in her class. Finally, I gave up and dh and I worked together to write his papers with/for him. One paper, I wrote myself and my son read over a few times and personalized it a little. I know...a little over the top to write it myself....but..the others, one he did with me proof reading and 2, he and dh worked on together. DH went to U of Chicago. All papers were submitted. I heard today now that all the papers were awful and he lost the point and he just is not fit for the gifted program based on his inability to do any sort of decent writing! My GRE scores were 2300 and yet, I am not smart enough to put out a paper for a 9th grade level gifted course? I was in gt classes myself at that age and always earned A's. His other GT teacher says he is great and wonderful writer and gives him raving grades. I pray often to God to please help me make the right decisions and point me in the right way. I keep not wanting to homeschool this oldest child (high school and nervous about doing high school mostly) but now, I think God has stuck a huge, bright neon blinking light in my face....has he? Am I missing something here?
It sounds to me like she decided he didn't belong in her class before he ever turned in the first paper.... I would, I think, wait until he's turned in another paper, and after she's graded it, ask her to go over it with you in detail "so I can help him more at home". Then after she's said her say, I would start with my qualifications just the way you said here. Then just when she's wondering where this resume is leading, I'd tell her that I wrote that paper for the express purpose of testing her! Do you have any of your old papers still?? I'd be very tempted to spring one of those on her. Then I'd take my qualifications and my son and go home!
You shouldn't have written any papers for him at all, and I bet it was recognized that these were done for him. You even kind of backed up the teacher's assessment that he can't do the work. Is the G&T program all or nothing, meaning if he were dropped from gifted English does that mean he's out of G&T altogether? Could it be English isn't his 'thing', but maybe some other aspect of the program is his 'thing'? Here there's gifted placement for different subjects.
But what if this creates an awkward situation for the child? Not only that, I bet momofafew would get a mouthful about doing the work for him.
If she's already decided to homeschool him (which was actually my thought - she said she thought God was shining a big light in her face about it), who cares? Between her and her dh, they can easily handle high school.
I don't think you son got anything out of YOU and DH writing papers. what kind of lesson is that? ------ certianally not a christian one.
Did anybody see this in the original post? His other GT teacher says he is great and wonderful writer and gives him raving grades. I have SOOOOO known teachers who were totally prejudiced against kids with special needs and have all but refused to teach them in their "regular" class, and others who could not recognize that some kids can indeed be gifted but yet have LDs or other special needs. From the description, it sounds like this English teacher is like this, determined to criticize everything he turns in as inadequate. She also said that she and dh worked together to write WITH/for him. dh and I worked together to write his papers with/for him. So the boy did SOME of the work/writing himself. I wish I had a nickel for every parent who did a paper or a project FOR their kid instead of just "guiding" them with it, and the kid turns it in as his own. At least this one read it over several times and personalized it to himself. Thousands of kids across the country don't do that much. And yes, I know just because thousands did something wrong doesn't make it right. But if these parents are already suspecting God wants them to homeschool this child, nowe would be the perfect time, I think.
Ya know, I'm with Lindina. The boy HAS been writing them himself, but it seems the teacher has been hyper-critical and not very helpful/constructive. Writing it WITH him has just proven that the teacher is prejudice. I doubt she even noticed the difference in the writing, or she would have just accused him outright of not having done it himself.
That's why I asked if the G&T program was all or nothing. If he gets dropped from the English program can he still be in gifted math, for example? If it had been me, I'd have requested a meeting with the English teacher to see what I could do to help the child. If that got me nowhere, I'd ask for a meeting with the principal and both G&T teachers together, to see why there's such a difference of opinion. If that got me nowhere, fine- remove him from the program. I wouldn't want my kid with a teacher that didn't want him there. And writing a paper for him- like mom admitted she did- is doing him a real disservice. What if the paper got raving results? She'd have to keep doing it, because now the teacher would expect that level of work all the time.
Let me respond to paper grading as a former professional English teacher. I can't tell you how often I would hear, "I gave this exact paper to this person [professor, teacher friend, blah blah, etc] and they said they'd have given it an 'A'. They said you grade too hard." There are 3 major levels of writing--- high, medium, and low. They range from extremely narrow audience to wide audience, and the style of writing and expectations will vary depending on what level you're looking for. The lower the style, the more freedom there is. Plus, some teachers will grade far more heavily on content than on technicalities; others will do the reverse. Still others will try to grade in the middle. In other words, grading is subjective in that what the teacher is looking for is going to differ from person to person. I got literally A+ on papers from the head of the graduate program in college but C-- on a paper from a journalism professor who was subbing in for an English prof who couldn't fulfill the semester. It's not that one teacher had it in for me and the other didn't; it's that one had different expectations from the other, and I could meet one's expectations better than I could the other's. And, I will certainly echo what others have said--- you should NOT have been doing your son's papers at all. If he can't do the work, then he shouldn't be in that GT class.
He still did 3 of the 4 papers and she said they were all the same. If he drops gt English, he has to drop the other GT class where the teacher says he is a great writer and holds him out as an example and his papers and such.
well I don't know if I should say anything but I do have to agree with Becky, no one should do his work for him. It's his work and he is the grade for it not you. That is more then likely why the teacher through it away if she knew his work and then got a paper from you and dh she knew it. they aren't dumb. I wouldn't say teacher was unfair. I would say it would of been better to go talk to the teacher and say hey he has hand 4 papers in already what do you want from him. I would and I say it now I wouldn't do it for him.
One thing that sticks in my mind about reading this thread is the aspect of helping son with / doing paper writing. We can split hairs on how much helping is actually doing the work. First, I want to say that my son is not an advanced student, so perhaps things are different because of that. I have found that if I give him a model or even walk him through a procedure, it helps him to do the work correctly. If he only received directions and was left on his own, he would not be able to do most of his work. Because of this, I do not see anything wrong with "holding" a child's hand in writing or any other school work. Second, when we went to a college fair, the universities told us that they expect the student to get help, even professional help, in writing their admittance papers. They said that this would show that the potential student knows how to get the help they needed. My husband and I initially had thought the universities would want the papers written in the potential student's own words and only their words. Third, teachers are human. Some are prejudice against some children. Sometimes the teachers don't even realize it. Momofafew, you and your husband can homeschool your son especially if God is behind you. You sound very capable. If your son wants to be homeschooled, it will be a joy and fairly easy. Good luck with your decision.
I think the issue should be brought up to the teacher. An easy way to rule out bias would be for her to grade the papers before knowing who wrote them. A student could assign numbers to each of the students to put on their typed paper instead of names. When the grading is done, the teacher would be given the list that matches student names with the numbers. I would involve the principal and then challenge her to do this. You absolutely should not pull him out of the gifted program on the advice of ONE teacher. If you want to homeschool him, that's great; you most certainly can do it. Regardless though, I think the problem needs to be addressed for the sake of others. Children are not placed in gifted programs by one person's decision. Usually they are tested and possibly reveiwed by a group of professionals. Even if this teacher is not biased, she is out of line to try and singlehandedly remove him. Just because he is gifted doesn't mean that he came to her already knowing everything. If that were so, she wouldn't have a job. It is hard to teach kids to write -- ask anyone on this forum. However, that is the job for which she signed up. He came to her with the potential to write well; now she needs to teach him so that he can reach that potential.
The testing to put him in the program was extensive. He had to take the ITBS and the COGAT and score over 96th percentile in the 6 areas (3 core areas per test). He made the scores. Then once you make the scores, your file goes in front of a panel who reviews each student and officially accepts or rejects them. I am not sure what the panel would reject a student based on, but you only get in front of the panel with qualifying scores.
There is nothing wrong with helping him write his papers. When DS first started writing papers, I had to give him a lot of guidance. Now at 9 he writes beautifully,almost like an adult. In fact I think I posted one of his papers here a while ago. As for the teacher, I would request a meeting and find out exactly what she is looking for. Just ask her to show you what makes his papers "awful". Then ask her to show you another students paper and compare the two. A good teacher will want you to work with your child. When DS was in PS, his teacher refused to recommend him for GT math because he has Aspergers. She said he wasn't GT material. I had to go all the way to the schoolboard to get him placed. Once he got in the program he did fine and she ended up with egg on her face.Some teachers are like this when it comes to children with special needs.they just don't want to deal with it.
After reading all of this, I think before I made any kind of decision, I would meet with the teacher and give her my thoughts in a kind manner and tone. I'd ask for her opinion on the matter and seek resolution before I made any changes.
I agree with a few other people, regardless of the situation doing his work for him teaches him nothing and at the same time it's almost proving to that teacher he isn't good enough. Even if it was only one paper. Helping is a whole different thing. I would request a meeting with the teacher and principal at the school and see what can be done and what she felt was so awful about them.
