Cleo.. does this sound true?

[cdgni]

My daughter told me something yesterday.. and I'm not sure if it is true or simply something she thinks is true.

 

She's in CM2 (or fifth grade for everyone else). Her schooling is in French.

 

She said that there are two classroom. One classroom for all kids of about the same level. Then her classroom -where the kids are either smart or .. let's just say the opposite. The teacher expects the smarter kids to help the slower kids.

 

To your knowledge, would a French school separate kids this way? If so, I kind of applaud it at it is teaching more to the students level and not mixed levels.

 

She told me that no one has said that they do this, it was merely an observation on several students part. But maybe they just wanted to think those other kids are way below themselves.

Edited March 31, 2010 by cdgni

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

SOrry I can't really help.

I'm not in France, I'm in Quebec, where they wouldn't do such a thing. I've never heard of anything like that being policy anywhere. It could be just her school though.

[cdgni]

okay.. thanks. I might ask the teacher later.

 

I think it is actually a good idea if my daughter was right. I would rather have a teacher teach to a group of children with similar abilities than to a mixed range class room.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I think it is actually a good idea if my daughter was right. I would rather have a teacher teach to a group of children with similar abilities than to a mixed range class room.

 

For the record I think it's a bad idea. I wouldn't want my bright child to spend her time at school helping a slower child during school hours, instead of learning new stuff. My son would give up on school in such a setting.

[Harriet Vane]

For the record I think it's a bad idea. I wouldn't want my bright child to spend her time at school helping a slower child during school hours, instead of learning new stuff. My son would give up on school in such a setting.

 

:iagree:

[cdgni]

For the record I think it's a bad idea. I wouldn't want my bright child to spend her time at school helping a slower child during school hours, instead of learning new stuff. My son would give up on school in such a setting.

 

While I'm not certain that my daughter is right, what I like about the idea is that I'm presuming the teacher is teaching to an advance level. When the advance kids learn it, they can teach the slower kids.

 

Of course, I'm not even sure if it's accurate. What I would really like to see is 3 different classrooms with children with similar abilities together.

[Pixie]

I grew up in France and I have never heard of class separated by levels at the elementary level.

The only time I experienced that was in high school, in 10th grade (2nd in France) for math. 3 classes had math at the same time and were separated according to abilities, but they was no teaching lower level groups or anything like that.

[Reya]

While I'm not certain that my daughter is right, what I like about the idea is that I'm presuming the teacher is teaching to an advance level. When the advance kids learn it, they can teach the slower kids.

 

 

Okay. So I understood and could do all K-6 mathematics before enrolling in Kindergarten. All I needed was practice for speed. So in your world, the teacher would drill math facts and teach me Algebra I, and I'd teach the other members of my class, then, hmmmm?

 

Oh, and I started enjoying reading right before 3rd grade and was reading at a 12th grade level by my 9th birthday. So that means that the teacher would have then assigned the books I was reading in my spare time (Robinson Crusoe, etc.) and I would have magically gotten all the other kids to understand it, too.

 

Ability grouping is sadly underutilized in the early grades and is pathetic in the upper grades, even internationally. It's why I homeschool. The super-duper expensive private gifty school near me thinks it's being generous by letting kids work up to 4 grade levels ahead. Golly gee willikers! That means my next door neighbor's child would be taught only one grade level behind his real grade level in reading, as of first grade, and my "slower" kid would merely be held back two and a half grade levels from his real level in both reading and mathematics by second grade. I'm pretty offended that they call themselves "for the gifted," as a matter of fact. Instead, they should call themselves "for the pleasantly-but-not-too-hard-to-teach gifted."

[LeslieAnneLevine]

I'm late to this thread and don't know if this will even be very helpful, but when I ran a little English course in France one mom told me that her son's Grande Section class was divided. One group of more mature children and one group of children who, like her son, were more "bébé". This was said right in front of her son so I guess it was no secret but it seemed harsh to me, especially using the word baby to describe a 6 year-old. I don't know what the rationale was behind the division.

[Laura Corin]

One group of more mature children and one group of children who, like her son, were more "bébé". This was said right in front of her son so I guess it was no secret but it seemed harsh to me, especially using the word baby to describe a 6 year-old. I don't know what the rationale was behind the division.

 

.. that is from age 4 to 12, and the children are divided based on where their birthday falls in the year. There's no secret about it: everyone knows that one class is for younger children, the other is for older children. Especially in the younger years, when a fifteen month age difference can denote an enormous maturity gap - Scottish schools have wide age ranges in each class, due to flexible entrance policies - this makes teaching the classes more rewarding for all.

 

This is very different from having brighter children teach slower children.

 

Laura

[LeslieAnneLevine]

.. that is from age 4 to 12, and the children are divided based on where their birthday falls in the year. There's no secret about it: everyone knows that one class is for younger children, the other is for older children. Especially in the younger years, when a fifteen month age difference can denote an enormous maturity gap - Scottish schools have wide age ranges in each class, due to flexible entrance policies - this makes teaching the classes more rewarding for all.

 

This is very different from having brighter children teach slower children.

 

Laura

 

Yes it is different. My point was to say that I had heard of a class in France being divided. In this case it had nothing to do with birthdays. I had five kids in the English class and they all turned 6 during the session except for the one designated as being babyish. He was already six when the session began. So obviously not the same deal as in your boys' school, though I do find that interesting--I hadn't heard of classes being automatically divided that way.