Communication In Math Class

I once had a parent very upset with me because I gave her son a math assignment to do with a partner.  “Are you trying to teach my child math or are you trying to teach them social skills?”  Well, both.

Times have changed since I was a student and since many of today’s parents were students.  It is true that my middle school math class was silent.  No talking was allowed.  We all sat in rows alphabetically.  I sat behind the same boy for all of 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade.  I never talked to him or any other students in class nor did we ever share our ideas in front of the class.

If one talks to adult mathematicians, however, it is clear that the work of a mathematician is social work.  Solutions are rarely arrived at on one’s own.  It is through collaboration and discussion that solutions are found. 

The new Common Core Math Practices reflect this.  One of them reads: “Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.”  Students need to learn to clearly explain their thinking to others.  They also need to learn how to disagree with and question the work of others in a tactful manner.

My husband and I recently remodeled our 50 year-old kitchen.  He was very invested in the color of the new floor.  He really wanted a deep reddish color.  I wasn’t focused on the floor at all and was ready to go with the first color suggested by the contractor.  I was focused on the backsplash and what kind of tiles to use there.   My husband wanted the backsplash to be plain white.  By bringing our two different perspectives together, we were able to create a finished product that is more complete and more elegant than we could have done on our own. 

I know you have had this experience too.  You worked on a work project, a house project, or had a discussion with someone.  By bringing your ideas together the final result was much stronger.

A math problem flows in the same way.  Yes, we can often solve a problem by using algorithms to get the solution but another person might have a more elegant way of getting to the solution.  Their path might take into account patterns or ways of grouping numbers thus making the problem so much simpler than you originally thought.  They might have attended to a piece of the problem that you hadn’t considered carefully enough, making the final solution more complete.  In addition, the sharing of ideas makes each person reconsider their perspective in light of new information and either reject their first idea or add to it.

By talking about math with our children, we can also help them see new connections in math and think about concepts in ways that may be different or new to our children.  We also help them learn that math is part of the real world.  It is not just something that is done inside of a math classroom.  We can work together on sudoku puzzles on an airplane or play Blockus together in the evening.  It is more enjoyable if it is shared.

It is funny to think back to my middle school math classroom.  In addition to regular math class, I was on the math team.  The same teacher practiced with us after school, solving complex problems together as a group but during our regular class time we were in those rows.  Why did the teacher teach the two groups so differently?  The implication was that kids who were good at math should talk about it and those who weren’t should listen quietly to the teacher’s ideas.  Maybe those of us on the team got better at math BECAUSE we talked about it after school.

Common Core directs all students today to be doing math like mathematicians.  We want them to talk and share ideas and learn from each other.  Not only will this prepare them better mathematically but it will make math feel like math is a part of their whole lives, not just their school lives.

Watching Our Language

I often give talks about math to groups of parents.  So often parents come up to me afterwards with a question or a comment.  They preface it by saying, “I’m not a math person.”  This comment always makes me wonder, “Have you figured out how to double a recipe?  Do you manage your bank account?  Can you tell how much the pants will cost if they are 25% off?”  Yes, you are a math person.  You may not love math, but you are a math person.

We cannot deny how much math affects our modern lives.  Each morning when my son wakes up he checks the temperature for the day and compares it to the day before.  “Oh, mom, it is going to be 13* cooler than yesterday.”  My daughter collects snacks for her Girl Scout troop.  “If we have 12 girls and each box of granola bars holds 8 snacks then I need to bring two boxes.”  We get in the car and I calculate if ¼ of a tank of gas will get me the 30 miles to school and back.  Every hour of the day we are involved in some sort of math.

Two hundred years ago women were considered too delicate to think about math.  We need to stop perpetuating this idea and give our daughters (and sons) the confidence that they CAN do math.  It is OK to say, “I don’t know how to do this problem,” but follow it up with, “Let’s figure it out together.”  Your child will get the idea that they can do math if they stick with it and talk about it.

Most parents know that it is important to read to their children at night but so few parents know that it is also important to do math with their children.  No, I don’t mean worksheets.  I mean, real-life math.  First you need to realize when you are using math in your life and then you need to talk about it with your children. 

Has the price of gas gone up?  If it goes up five cents per gallon how much does that change your weekly gas bill?  Talk about it. 

Are you wearing a fitness tracker?  Have you hit your 10,000 steps for the day?  How far do you have to go?  Talk about it. 

Just this morning the DJ on my radio said that she didn’t like doing math.  Talk about it.  Break down those perceptions.

My children are now in middle school so they are studying decimals and percents.  I have been using that language to give them answers to their questions.  How much longer until we get to the birthday party?  We are 50% of the way there.  Do we have any cake left?  75% of it is gone.  Talk about it.

So many of the jobs of the 21^st century require math skills.  We are doing our children a disservice when we set them up to think that they are not a math person and thus cannot do many of our modern jobs.  Change the language in your house.  Change your child’s attitude and tell them we are all math people.

Building a Strong Mathematical Foundation

Before the days of GPS systems if you needed to go somewhere in a new town you would get out a map and take a look at what route you might take.  You might decide to take the freeway.  You would do that route for many days since that was the one route you had learned and each day it would get a bit more comfortable and familiar. 

After many days of following the same route, you would move to an abstract level.  You wouldn’t need to consult your map anymore to double check the name of the exit.  You would be sure to turn right at the T in the road rather than turning left.  If you wanted to stop and get a coffee on your way, you would know how to alter your route slightly to hit the Starbucks.   If you were on the freeway one day and there was a traffic jam, chances are you would have a good sense of how to exit and take some side streets because you had studied the map and had an idea of the surrounding area. 

Building a strong mathematical foundation with students proceeds in much the same way.  We want them to move from a concrete understanding to an abstract understanding but this process takes time.  We start with the students using tools and building models to develop their understanding of a concept just as you used a map to plan your route.  Once students develop some comfort and skill at this concrete level we can start moving them to more and more abstract levels of understanding just as you did when you were able to alter your route to grab a coffee on your way.

We want students to have a good sense of the surrounding area.  If they get stuck in one place, they should have ideas for how to go in another direction.  The new math practices call for students to “Use appropriate tools strategically.”  In order to chose a route and decide upon the best course of action, students need to have options available.  When we were in school most of us only learned one method for solving a problem.  Teachers have learned, however, that we do students a disservice when we only teach them one method of solving a problem.  If they get stuck or want to check their answer, they don’t have any other tools to choose from.

Additionally, teaching multiple strategies helps to meet the diverse needs of a class.  At any point in time students will be spread out along the continuum of understanding of a concept from concrete to abstract.  All students can be working on the same problem but they might not all be working on it in the same way, at the same level.  Students can learn from their classmates’ methods and ideas about solutions.  The whole group grows mathematically stronger as their consider the problem from different perspectives.

Recently I have been studying some of the math programs that are available for elementary schools.  Though Common Core standards are very clear about having students work at a concrete level before moving on to an abstract level, most of the math programs are not aligned with this thinking.

One program I reviewed had pictures of a few models but then when it came time for students to work independently, all of the work was abstract.  It takes time for students to move from a concrete to an abstract understanding.  Considering the example of the route in a new town again, you might have needed to consult your map each day for a few days before you could travel the route unassisted.  You traveled the route over and over and soon you became very comfortable with it.  We cannot just show students a few pictures of objects and assume that they are now ready for abstract thought about the topic.  Students need to build, model, and discuss their ideas.  They need to consider other students’ models of the concept and look at theirs in light of the new information.  The only way that students can build a strong foundation is to move through these steps from a concrete to an abstract understanding of the concept.

I see too many fifth graders who tell me they hate math.  It doesn’t make sense they say.  It isn’t interesting to them.  When I talk with them further I realize that most of these students never had an opportunity to explore concepts at the concrete level.  They were given algorithms and told to memorize them.  They were then able to apply those algorithms if the new problems looked just like the problems they had practiced.  If they hit a problem that looked slightly different or asked them to use their skill in a new way, they did not have enough of a mental image of the concept to be able to choose a new route.

Teaching students multiple ways to solve problems gives them a stronger mathematical foundation.  They can consider new problems from different perspectives and then choose the best method for solving them. They are flexible thinkers who can try new approaches when the one they are using doesn’t work out.  Teaching in this way also helps to meet the diverse needs of a group of students.  This is one of the strengths of the new Common Core Standards.

Scarcity

Wow, thank you Lynne Twist for giving us a lens through which to view the current culture in many schools.  In her book, The Soul of Money, Ms. Twist writes about the culture of scarcity. “No matter who we are or what our circumstances, we swim in conversations about what there isn’t enough of.”  Parents devote great amounts of time to avoiding scarcity by filling their children with extracurricular activities and tutoring, worried that their children are not getting enough education at school.  Parents are working so hard to make sure their children are at the top of the pack in academic subjects.  They are also driving hither and yon to make sure that their children are well rounded and skilled in many areas.  Will the extras be enough for my child to get into a good college they wonder?  Perhaps we could do a little more.  So they push and sign up for one more activity, all at the expense of family time, friend time, and play time.

What if we didn’t need to do all of this?  What if we just said, “This is enough.”

Angelique, a good friend of mine, with children the same age as mine once said, “They don’t need that much, Alison, they really don’t.”  In so many ways she is right.  Our children don’t need five winter jackets.  One will do.  They don’t need birthday parties with 30 friends who each bring a present resulting in a mountain of new toys they won’t have time to play with.  They don’t need special activities every day of summer.  Time spent reading books, digging in the dirt with friends or sorting collections of coins can be just as fun as a big trip to a museum. 

Lynne Twist writes, “Scarcity is a lie.  Independent of any actual amount of resources, it is an unexamined and false system of assumption, opinions, and beliefs from which we view the world as a place where we are in constant danger of having our needs unmet.”  Let us think more deeply about what we want for our children.  Parents of school age children voice great concern about getting their children into the “right” college.  Is that our end goal?  Will life be glorious if our children get one of the coveted spots?  Perhaps our energies would be better spent teaching our children how to build and sustain relationships with others. 

Dan Buettner has studied people who live 100+ years.  He went to “blue zones” around the earth.  His goal was to figure out what lifestyle habits the people followed.  Sure, there were the expected habits of eating healthy food and exercising but he also found that putting family first, celebrating elders, and laughing with friends were key to a long life.   Today’s family time has been so chopped up by our focus on extracurricular activities and academics.  We would develop healthier habits and save money if we dropped some of the extracurriculars and spent more time with our families.

We need to move from a you OR me culture to a you AND me culture as suggested by Buckminster Fuller.   In this kind of environment children would be supporting each other and looking out for one another rather than competing with each other for coveted spots at Stanford and Harvard.  In a you AND me culture people will use their time, energy, wisdom to work towards common goals.  In every classroom we teach that two heads are better than one. People working together create something greater than one person can working alone. We need to carry this through to a life view that people working together are better than people competing with one another.  We all will be better off if we can make this change.  There is enough for everyone.

  

Plan For Success

The new school year is almost upon us.  As you are helping your child pick out a new binder and highlighter markers for the new year, there is something that you can do to get ready for the year too.  Think about your goals for your child for this year.  How do you want them to grow this year? 

You might chose something academic like, “I’d like my child to consistently use capital letters appropriately 90% of the time.”  It might be something more metacognitive like, “I’d like my child to manage their homework time independently.”  It might even be something about friendships like, “I’d like my child to broaden their friendship circle by playing with two new friends this year.”  Whatever you choose, make it something small enough that your child can accomplish it in the next few months.  You may want to pick more than one goal but don’t pick more than three.  Your child can only stay focused on a few goals at a time and it will help their teacher be focused in their efforts as well.

Once you have your goals, be sure to share them with your child’s teacher.  If you have an intake conference early in the year this would be the time to share your goals.  If your school does not have intake conferences then you can either send the teacher an email or request a conference (you would want to choose this option if you have a fairly large or serious goal you are working on). 

At the end of my daughter’s second grade year we received her standardized test scores.  Oh boy, did she struggle with the writing mechanics section of the test.  Yes, I saw this at home too.  Her use of capital letters and punctuation was haphazard.  At the beginning of her third grade year I shared my goal of focusing on punctuation with her teacher.  This teacher had a more holistic approach to teaching writing but she knew this aspect was important to me so she was sure to spend time working on it with my daughter.  By the end of year, through work at home and at school, my daughter’s skills had improved a great deal.

I always reach the end of the school year and think about how much my children have grown.  They will grow in so many ways that we cannot name them all but by picking a few goals you can focus your energy as well as build a strong connection between the classroom and home and ensure that those particular goals receive attention. 

Dr. Phil McGraw discusses the importance of knowing where you want to go so that you can get there.  Without a clear goal, it is hard to know where you are going or even if you arrive.  “People that are successful have a strategy from getting where they are to that success. The difference between goals and dreams is a timeline. “Someday” is not a day of the week. You have to work for what you want; not for what you don’t want… every day.”

I think we do children a disservice when we don’t teach them how to work towards goals.  I am NOT recommending that you pick huge, lofty goals and have your child work many hours a day towards them.  A balanced approach is necessary. I do think, however, that it is healthy for children to learn to work towards goals.  This is a life skill that you can help your child develop now.   There is a great deal of discussion in education circles now about the importance of grit in helping children become successful.  Working towards goals, facing setbacks, and forging ahead towards those goals are ways of teaching students grit. 

The beginning of the school year feels like a new beginning each and every year.  What new things do you want to begin with your children?

Plan for success this year.

We Need A Food Revolution

In a few short weeks we will get the emails from my children’s soccer coaches inviting them to show up for the first practices of the season.  As I sit here eating a peach that I plucked from the tree in our garden I am thinking again about the food paradox that exists at so many of my kids’ events.

Everywhere I take my kids they are getting filled up with unhealthy food choices.  When we go to a birthday party the kids are usually served pizza, which is full of saturated fat, sugar, and sodium.  Then they fill up on birthday cake or should I say frosting with a little bit of cake beneath it.  A party at school often involves lots of cookies and candy.  A sleepover with a friend once resulted in my child having eating nothing but banana bread for 24 hours. 

Don’t get me wrong, I like a slice of pizza and a piece of chocolate as much as anyone but I do think we are sending the wrong message to our kids when we are feeding them empty calories at every turn or not encouraging them to eat a wider variety of foods.  My son is twelve and we have only once been to an event where the host provided a healthy spread for the children.  All of those years of birthday parties, school celebrations, and sporting events add up to a lot of missed opportunities to teach children about healthy food choices.

Children’s sports are an arena where I feel we are particularly remiss in the messages we are sending around food.  I sign my kids up for sports so they can get exercise.  I want them to learn new skills and make new friends as well.  I want them to feel strong.  Blocking that shot, making a goal, or swimming a faster time in the pool are all ways they can build their confidence and feel their own power.  All of these are elements of a healthy lifestyle.

I assume many parents have these same goals in mind.  So, if our goal is encouraging healthy behaviors, why are the children given snacks at the end of the event that run so contrary to this goal?  What message are we sending to our children when we teach them to replenish their bodies after a workout by eating all of this unhealthy food?

When my son played baseball each game ended with all of the players sitting in the bleachers sharing a meal together.  It was actually a really nice time.  The players got some time to just hang out and it built community among the parents as we struck up conversations too.  Each family would take a turn bringing the snack/dinner.  My son and I would start discussing our snack weeks beforehand.  My goal was to bring some healthy food that would appeal to the kids.  His goal was to make sure I didn’t embarrass him. 

We watched to see what the families ahead of us in line would bring – Costco pizza, Caesar Caesar Pizza, Round Table Pizza.  Hmm, we were sensing a theme.  The pizzas were often accompanied by huge Gatorades in shocking colors and topped off with a bag of Chips Ahoy or Oreos.  Could we turn this around and create a snack that would appeal to the players but would fit my desire of encouraging better eating habits?

We decided upon hot dogs (nitrate free!) in whole-wheat buns.   Only one kid complained about the whole-wheat bun.  Then we popped popcorn ourselves and added just a touch of salt and butter.  It tasted good but was not overwhelmed with fat like some of the microwave popcorns in a bag.  Lastly, we had 100% apple juice.  Still thirst quenching but free of red dye #40 and yellow dye #5, which are both banned in a number of European countries.  This meal passed my son’s cool test and satisfied the players’ hunger in a healthy way.

During soccer season there is a different protocol in our town.  The kids don’t eat a meal together but instead get snack bags that they take away and eat on their own after the game.  Often my kids get bags that are so full of candy they seem like a trick or treat bag from Halloween.  I don’t think a bag of M and Ms or a Ring Pop really has anything to offer a body that has been running for an hour straight yet family after family follows this model when they put together the snacks.

One year my daughter had a great soccer coach who brought orange slices to every game.  My daughter doesn’t even like oranges but since everyone else was eating them she did too and by the time the snack bags came out she was too full to eat anything in them.  Yay, a little victory for fruit!

A friend of mine has two boys who are actively involved in sports as well.  When it is her family’s turn to do snack my friend makes up a huge batch of smoothies.  She brings those to the park and serves them up.  Thirst quenching and healthy!  She has also done fruit kabobs, which the players gobble up after the games. 

Oprah once said, “… better food is the foundation for a better life.”  We need to show our children the way.  The habits we help our children build now may well last a lifetime.  If we let them eat a steady diet of chicken nuggets, pizza, and sports drinks now these will be the foods they turn to when they are adults.  We need to start seeing the act of providing healthy food choices as important to our job of parenting as helping with homework and encouraging them to play sports.

Ingredients for a Great School

I know that my ideas about what one would find in a great school are not unique but I have been touring schools this year and have been so surprised to find that very few schools actually employ current methods and thinking about education. So, I hereby submit my list of ingredients for a great school. I hope my children have the opportunity to attend a school like this some day.


1. A clear mission and vision. A clear mission and vision are the steadying forces that guide a school. When a parent advocates for a special program or desired additions, the mission and vision can help a school decide whether these new additions make sense. Without them, schools try to become all things to all people and end up with frenetic programs. Be clear about what kind of school you are. If parents aren’t interested in what you offer, they will go somewhere else.

2. Faculty and staff who act with integrity. The adults in a school environment should be models for the students. It’s as simple as that.

3. Involved parents. There is such a thing as parents who are too involved. However, I have also seen the other extreme where a school has too little energy because of the lack of parental involvement. Parents are needed to help in classrooms, plan science fairs, bring in speakers, and create community events like the pancake breakfast. In this tough economic time, parents are also essential for raising money to bring programs to the school.

4. Respect for students. OK, doesn’t this seem obvious in a school? Recently a first grade boy asked the principal of his school for some new balls to use at recess. The balls were promised. Two weeks later the little boy still skipped to school each day, eager to see the new balls but they had yet to arrive. Adults who work in schools must always remember that they are creating an environment for little people. Things that may not matter much to us mean a lot to them. A gentle tone of voice, promises kept, a celebration of student work on the walls, all of these things mean a lot to a young child. They want to be proud of their school. They want to feel like they belong. They want to feel like they matter.

5. Teachers who are learners. Colleagues who want to learn from each other. I swim on an adult swim team. I am quite good at all the strokes but my backstroke has never been fast. I recently took a swim lesson to improve my technique. It was so hard for me to do all the things the coach was asking me to do. It was a great experience as a teacher, however, to be in that position again and realize how it feel to my students day after day as they try to do things that are challenging for them. In addition to empathy for our students’ experiences, teaching is a profession that is always changing. Teachers must continue learning to do their best to meet the needs of their students.

6. High expectations for students. Jaime Escalante and Erin Gruwell have proven that if we hold high expectations for students, they can do more than we have dreamed. Maintaining low expectations only ensures that our students achieve at a low level. Even high test scores do not mean that we can now sit back and relax. There is so much more to learn than those items that can be tested. We must expect that each student will move forward on their educational journey every day and we must create the conditions for that to happen.

7. Small enough class sizes that each teacher can truly know their students. A teacher cannot teach students whom they do not know. They need to know what their students already know about a topic under discussion. They need to know their students’ motivations for learning. They need to know a bit about what their students do outside of school. They will bring all this information to bear as they design the most effective lessons for these students. Without this information, the teaching will be flat and less effective.

8. Curriculum based on essential questions. If you haven’t yet read the work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, do so. In their book, Understanding by Design, they lay out the simple, yet often ignored idea that teachers should be clear what they want their students to learn and work towards that end. They state that we cannot teach every fact or detail so we must teach larger enduring understandings which students can them use as a framework for understanding new ideas.


9. Creativity. In A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink advocates that we emphasize creativity in our classrooms. In the near future, jobs such as computer programming will be shipped overseas. What will be needed are people who can solve problems, work well with other people, and design new products and processes. We need to start teaching our students these skills when they are young. Everyone can fill in the blanks on a worksheet. Learning to use our creativity to solve problems takes more practice.

10. Differentiation. The best classrooms are those in which teachers are able to differentiate to meet the needs of different students all within the same room. It takes experience to do this. Without it, a group of students is always left out. This group is often the gifted students.

11. Something extra. Every school should offer something extra to its students. It could be a focus on science or a second language or a large arts program. It could be a focus on learning about the world or a focus on social and emotional learning. These things do not necessarily cost a lot of extra money but they do make the families feel like there is something special about their school. It helps families feel like there is a reason to be at that school rather than the school down the street.

12. Opportunities for inspiration. Authors who visit and share about their work. Conservationists who talk about their work with orangutans. Artists who show us how they create their paintings. A book arts class led by someone from the San Francisco Center for the book. A field trip to help at a shelter. All of these out-of-the-ordinary events feed the mind of a young child and open them up to possibilities. Last year my class was able to hear a conservationist speak. This inspired a group to have a bake sale to raise money for the orangutans. They decided this all on their own and with a little adult guidance, were able to pull it all off. We never know how these “extras” will resonate with the students. They might be the seed that blooms into something great later on.

13. Space. Children need lots of room to run and play. State regulations require a certain amount of outdoor space for children to play. School-imposed rules about the space, however, often leave children with little else to do than sit quietly. In addition to needing space to unleash one’s wiggles, children also need natural spaces. In Last Child in the Woods, Richard Love tells us about how children have lost their connection to nature and it is actually leading to increased levels of ADHD and depression. One school in Palo Alto has a whole garden and a farm. They are growing vegetables and welcoming bees into their hive. They have two goats, chickens, two sheep, and a duck. And yes, the rest of the playground is a blacktop playground but a corner of it has been cut out for the farm. At that school there is lots of room to connect with nature and lots of room for wiggling.

Training the Teachers

This month the principals of the seven schools in the San Bruno Park School District were all offered an opportunity to have training for their teachers in meeting the needs of gifted students. The training would be funded through a grant so would come at no cost to the schools. Not one principal jumped at the chance.

The same offer was going to be made to the principals in the Burlingame School District but no one there responded to letters and e-mails.

A principal of a school near Menlo Park attended a meeting with the parent of a highly gifted child. The principal told the parent that the teacher had direct orders from him not to modify the curriculum one bit for the child.



A traditional career path for a principal is a few years in the classroom, then an administrative position, then perhaps a move to a supervisory role (such as assistant superintendent) at the district office. When we consider that 61% of public school teachers have had no training in gifted education, then it comes as no surprise that principals are putting up barriers for gifted students.

It is very clear that teacher education programs need to include classes in gifted education. I have heard so often that we need to train teachers to work with inner city kids, not with “easy” gifted students. What this does not take into account is that there are gifted students in every school. Joy Oatman from Tilman High School in Chicago Illinois states, “People need to know that there are children with talents here. People who live in the inner city in the barrio, or on the reservation need to know that their children are smart. There’s too much raw ability going through the cracks. If a child we might lose had the ability to cure cancer but ends up joining a gang or dealing dope, that’s a double loss to the country.”

Yes, teacher education programs need to change but one area that we can start to change right now is to educate our teachers who are already in the classrooms. The parents of gifted students can do this. All parents of gifted students need to learn to advocate for their children. We need to start teaching the teachers that the needs of gifted students are different. We need to ask for enrichment programs, depth and complexity in the curriculum, and practice with critical thinking skills. We need to go into the classrooms and share our talents with the students and through our modeling, hopefully change the thinking of the teachers, a little bit at a time.

I recently suggested the idea of “compacting” to a teacher. This is a method often used to meet the needs of gifted students. She hadn’t heard of the term so I explained that she would give the post-test to her class before teaching the next unit. If any of her students scored 90% or above on the test, then they already know those skills and should be given the opportunity to move ahead with their learning rather than required to do the work as outlined in the textbook. She followed through with my idea and was surprised to realize that half of her class scored 90% or above on the post test before she even taught the unit. Wow!

What would it be like if we changed our goal from “high test scores for all” to “continuous academic progress for each student”? Many of our students are already performing well on the tests. How can we really say our students are “learning” when they are just doing work that they already know how to do? What could they do if we made sure that each day they learned something?

The San Bruno Park School District spends a huge portion of its budget on special education funding and roughly 1/15 of that amount on education for gifted students. Is it fair that all of these resources are being poured into some populations of students and not others? Let’s make “continuous academic progress for each student” our mantra and work together with our teachers make this a reality for our students. A few years down the line, this may pay off as one of these teachers becomes a principal and searches out programs for the gifted students, as well as the other populations in his/her school.

Camps for Gifted Students 2010

Summer is just around the corner. Summer is a fun time for kids to explore a topic in depth that they don’t have the opportunity to study during the school year.

Depending on a child’s school situation, summer can also be the time for gifted students to connect with other gifted students. Linda Silverman once told a group that the biggest gift one can give a gifted child is a friend. For students who haven’t yet found other gifted friends, summer camps can provide an opportunity.

I keep finding out about different camps in different places so I thought it would be helpful to put together a list here. This list was started as part of my research into camps for gifted students on the San Francisco Peninsula but it expanded as I found out about camps that look interesting but aren’t necessarily targeted for gifted students. Most of these camps are open for the K-5 age range. There are many fantastic local experiences for middle schoolers. I will save those for a different post. Make a comment about other camps you have tried or let me know how your child enjoyed these!

CAMPS AIMED AT GIFTED STUDENTS

San Carlos Charter Learning Center will be launching a summer program for gifted students in grades 4-8. Find out more at: http://www.scclc.net/

Nueva School has long been known in the area as a place to find creative, original programming for gifted and talented students. With their summer camps, they open their reach to the broader community.

http://nuevaschool.org/welcome

UC Berkeley is also known for its summer programs for gifted students. It is a bit of a hike from the Peninsula but it might be worth the drive for some students. Here is how they describe their program, “The ATDP, at the University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Education, offers challenging summer classes for K-11 students. ATDP courses offer students opportunities to gain in-depth knowledge of the subjects that interest them. Taught by outstanding university, public, and private school instructors, our classes are designed to engage our students' hearts as well as their minds. Admission is based on the student's overall academic profile. We consider grades, achievement test scores, an essay, and a teacher recommendation.”

http://www-atdp.berkeley.edu/

SUBJECT-BASED CAMPS THAT WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO GIFTED STUDENTS


I LOVE Crissy Field and their camps have also received rave reviews. Imagine your child spending time outside in this beautiful area with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Then imagine them learning about the animals and plants of the area. It sounds terrific to me. Can I sign up?

http://www.parksconservancy.org/our-work/crissy/programs/summer-camp.html

The Marine Science Institute in Redwood City offers classes and camps. Kids get down and dirty as they explore the marine environment.

http://www.sfbaymsi.org/marinecamp.html

For the past few years my family has really enjoyed Camp Galileo. We like the emphasis on art and science since those two subjects are not emphasized in our school. My kids also like the silly atmosphere. My son did comment that Camp Galileo is “intense.” There is a lot going on and it is a high energy place. Not the best place for a quiet, sensitive child but others will greatly enjoy the camp atmosphere.

Their website states: “Camp Galileo is a summer day camp which inspires kids to imagine new ideas, collaborate with peers and express themselves creatively. Kids enjoy art, science and outdoor programming every day, wrapped in fun camp traditions and delivered by highly enthusiastic staff. Our hands-on curriculum is developed in partnership with The Tech Museum of Innovation, de Young Museum and Klutz.”

http://www.galileo-learning.com/camp-galileo/index.html

Camp Edmo is a new camp that is similar to Camp Galileo in that it emphasizes art and sciences. It was created with people from the California Academy of Sciences, The Exploratorium, MOCHA, and Zeum. I don’t have any firsthand experience with this camp yet and would love to get some comments from people who have tried it.

http://www.campedmo.com/program/arts-and-science/


One of my dreams is for my kids to spend a week at farm camp. They are such suburban kids who are never more than ten minutes from a Walgreens or a Safeway. I love the idea of them helping with the animals, getting in touch with the garden, and enjoying life without TV. What better way to get our children invested in nature and its preservation than to spend an extended period enjoying it. These two farms are near Petaluma.

http://windrushfarm.wordpress.com/

http://www.plantationcamp.com/About_Plantation/Why_Plantation_is_Special

Hidden Villa offers a day camp that is similar to farm camp. Their mission is to “develop young leaders committed to social and environmental justice and equipped with a sense of awe for natural and human beauty, tools for non-violent multicultural community building, and the confidence to make positive change in our families, communities and the world.”

http://www.hiddenvilla.org/camp_preview.php

If your child loves animals, the San Francisco Zoo also offers camps during all school breaks.

http://www.sfzoo.org/openrosters/ViewOrgPageLink.asp?LinkKey=13779&orgkey=1875

The ability to work with technology is increasingly becoming a necessary skill. Tech Know How Kids offers camps that teach technology through legos, K’nex, and computers. The instructors at these camps have not received my highest ratings for their warmth and friendliness but the students learn a lot of skills. My son was absolutely in heaven spending the whole day building with legos, and learning new things that he could do!

http://www.techknowhowkids.com/

Parents often ask me about writing camps for their budding writers. Up until now, I haven’t known of any in the area. I did find this one that meets in Redwood City. “Each summer youth ages 8 to 15 come to learn about writing techniques and develop their own creative projects in a relaxed and comfortable setting. Camp Director Beth Harrison engages campers in writing activities and games designed to stimulate their imaginations and teach them effective writing strategies. Guest writers join in to teach and inspire participants.”

http://pwlp.org/youth-programs/summer-camp

I also found this one that meets in San Jose:

http://www.lekhapublishers.com/summercamps.php

If your child is a musician, you might want to look into these music camps: San Francisco Conservatory of Music http://www.sfcm.edu/summer/index.aspx or the Peninsula Youth Orchestra http://peninsulayouthorchestra.org/pyocamp.htm. Your child could also attend summer camp with the Grammy-Award Winning Pacific Boychoir Academy. They do not need to be a member of the choir to attend the day camp. Visit their website at: http://www.pacificboychoir.org/daycamp.html.


So many great camps to choose from! Don’t forget to plan in down time during the summer as well. Unstructured play gives children time to develop their imagination and creativity. Those are important skills too.

Stories of Life With Gifted Children

Over the years, I have heard so many fun stories from families about the students that I teach. Of course, all children do funny things. Gifted students, however, often take things in a different direction than anyone would have expected or they have that unique blend of their physical age combined with their different mental age, which can lead to some comedic happenings.

I will never forget Back To School Night during my first year teaching at a school for gifted students. I was teaching first grade. A parent raised his hand and asked what to do when his daughter opens the refrigerator to get a glass of milk and then becomes so engrossed in reading her book that she just stands there with the fridge door open, reading, oblivious to the cold or her thirst. Her dad had recently found her like this and estimated she had been standing there for twenty minutes. The whole parent group burst out laughing.

I also remember talking with the parents of three highly gifted students. They were amazed at how other parents could take their children out in strollers. They said from the moment their children could walk, they didn’t want to be in a stroller. A stroller limits a child’s explorations. Their children wanted to be out and about, interacting with the world. My son was exactly the same way. It was so fun for all of us to find each other and feel connected over this fact because we had all often felt so different from the stroller-toting families we saw around us.

It is a delight for parents of gifted students to connect with other parents of gifted students and hear their stories. For this reason, I greatly enjoyed reading Karen L. J. Isaacson’s book about her gifted family. It is called, Raisin’ Brains, Surviving My Smart Family.

Isaacson has a lot of stories to share. She is a parent of five gifted children and comes from a family of talented individuals. Her book is easy to read and entertaining. Sometimes she gets so involved in sharing stories that her chapters lose their cohesiveness but readers will enjoy the stories, even without this organization.

I appreciated hearing about the experiences of Ms. Isaacson’s children in school. It sounds like their school does have a gifted and talented program but it is also clear she has encountered a few teachers who aren’t quite sure what to do with her children academically. Upon starting kindergarten, her oldest was already reading college textbooks. His teacher, however, wouldn’t let him work on anything more challenging than ABC’s claiming, “We need to make sure he understands his letters first.” Oh, yes, I think every parent of a gifted child has met a teacher of this type. I have met many of them through my work coaching teachers to work more effectively with gifted students. As a teacher, I must say in their defense that some teachers just haven’t met many gifted students and don’t know what to do with them. What these students need, to begin with, is a teacher with an open mind and a learning attitude. Once teachers have that mindset, gifted students will benefit immensely.

I also enjoyed Ms. Isaacson’s fresh, laid-back attitude. So many parents of gifted students are pushing the students to perform at the top of their class, participate in summer programs for high-ability children, and take classes on a whole range of topics. It was interesting to read about a family that was not engaged in this frenzy. While Ms Isaacson clearly sees her children’s various abilities, she mostly lets them travel their own paths. She is there as a supportive parent but is not engaged in directing their every move and ensuring that each activity provides academic stimulation.

I hope other books of this type will follow. All of us parenting and/or teaching gifted students will enjoy hearing the stories of others and feeling the warmth of connection that comes from knowing that we are not alone on our journey.