Update on the blogs I follow
One of the blogs I am following is from Mark Pullen. In his recent post, he talks about the Gifted and Talented program and how it has become a way to move children who seem smarter into their own class while the other children are shoved to the back. He also talks about how G/T has become an elitist and it seems to make the class unfair to the children who don’t qualify. I think that this is something very interesting to learn about. As a student, I always thought that the G/T program was unfair in how they chose the students that were in the program.
http://mrpullen.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/rethinking-gifted-talented-education/
The other blog that I am following is from Susan Graham. In her latest post, she talks about an article that she read. This article talks about how children are not learning the skills at home that they need to know before they enter school. She also discusses how some school scheduling consultant (who was brought in to tweak the school’s performance) believes that they need to cut out their play time. “His advice: squeeze in a little more test prep by cutting the unstructured recess for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders in half, down to fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes of free play, twenty minutes for lunch, and two bathroom breaks a day at five minutes each is an inefficient loss of of time on task. For a 9-year old, preparation for life long learning may look a lot like a life sentence. Even prison inmates get yard time” (Susan Graham). I am totally behind Susan on this issue. I think it is horrible that people want to dump even more work on these elementary kids. Don’t they have enough on their plate as it is. Elementary school is the last stop in your childhood and we should let children enjoy their recess before they enter middle school.
on October 13, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Hmm. I think that students NEED some recess and free time. *I* couldn’t cope with a day like the one you describe!