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Does your child dumb her work down in school?


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My daughter is one of the best readers, if not the best, in 1st grade. So I do not understand why, when given choices, she chooses KG-level work, at least when there's a grade involved. Do any of your kids do this?

 

When it comes to the daily AR book tests, she chooses extremely easy books and then tells them that the book was read to her (when in fact, she is 100% on her own). (If the book was read to the child, the testers read the questions to the child vs. letting them take the test independently.) I wonder if she's trying to manipulate the system so she gets 100% on the comprehension tests? She also brings home "leveled readers" that are far too easy for her. Her sister, who is far behind her, has been doing a higher average level of school reading.

 

I guess it's possible that the logistics are not set up to accommodate advanced readers at school. However, we have tons of books at home that are on the AR list, many of which she has already read, and she says "no thanks" to them.

 

Also, I sat through her piano lesson the other day (for the first time), and she was pretending to not know / be able to do things she's very capable of. I had to threaten her with punishment to get her to play the song she's actually working on at home (since this is a new teacher and I didn't want her assigning work that is ridiculously easy).

 

So I am wondering if this is some sort of gold-bricking that she's doing. If your child has done this, what did you do?

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Sometimes challenging things kind of takes out the fun.

 

For a silly (and somewhat embarrassing example), when I play Guitar Hero with my family, I prefer playing on easy or medium. I know I could probably do a harder level, but I actually have fun when there's no struggle to keep up.

 

ETA: re: the piano piece...Does she like the song? Does she know it well? Is it possible she didn't want to "mess up" in front of a new teacher?

Edited by Marianne in TX
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DS recognized that he is different very very young of age. The daycare had him read to the classroom when he just turned 3 and after couple times, he told me that he doesn't want to read in front of other kids anymore. ( he still read to me). He did not want to read until he was in preK that there are other kids started to read. Even now at age of 8, he told his 4yo little sister not to show off in classroom (she reads chapter book and doing solid 2nd grade math), or she will not be able to make friends.

It is sad that they feel that they need to hide their ability in order to fit in, but it is reality

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My first thought was: How do the other kids react when one kid is working on advanced stuff? My DD was bullied in ps for being smart. She had classmates tell her to her face "dumb down a bit, you make us look stupid".

So some kids might want to hide their abilities because they had negative comments from classmates. Or from a teacher for that matter, who calls a kid a show-off or something similar. It may only take one mean spirited remark...

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Yeah, i was not a very socially aware kid, but by high school, i was starting to have friends, and they all said they were jealous when I got higher grades than they did (in the gifted classes . .. ) so I threw my grades on purpose.

 

but really, you should ask HER why. She knows. we dont. Without being mad or threatening . . . tell her you think she is able to read really hard books but you see she is choosing easy ones and ask her. Do you just want to read the same books as your friends are reading? or do you want to be SURE you will get all the questions right? then work with her on the issue . .. and possibly talk to her teacher . . .

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Sometimes challenging things kind of takes out the fun.

 

For a silly (and somewhat embarrassing example), when I play Guitar Hero with my family, I prefer playing on easy or medium. I know I could probably do a harder level, but I actually have fun when there's no struggle to keep up.

 

 

:iagree:

 

DD11 is a gifted pianist and she enjoys playing...OLD songs that she knows and can play well. She is a little twit when it comes to new challenging songs. We (teacher and I) try to balance it out so she doesn't start hating it.

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A child who is thinking and working above grade level can feel contempt for the system long before she's able to articulate all the reasons for her frustration.

 

I was teacher's pet in first grade, but by second grade I was disgusted at how I was expected to spend my day. I began goldbricking in school at eight years old and never stopped. Except for a few classes in high school that were actually challenging and interesting enough to inspire me to try my best, I did the required work and not one iota more. My report card was filled with As, but I was not proud of it. I was on the honor roll every year and didn't care. I didn't even attend high school graduation.

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Looking back the only year I came anywhere near reaching my potential was the year I had a teacher with a completely different approach. On camp instead of saying what we had to do everyday he gave us a list of challenges and a list of scheduled events we could use to meet the challenges requiring adult input. It was Lso the only school camp I enjoyed.

 

What do you know about the teacher's approach.

 

Also I am reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for about the fourth time. Do you always choose reading that challenges you?

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This is exactly what E did when he was younger. It drove me crazy.

 

I think you need to make the decision whether this is okay with you, or whether you want to talk to her teacher about challenging her more. I let it go for a while, and by the end of 1st grade he realized that getting attention from his teacher for doing well was even better than the attention he got for needing help. Now, in 4th grade, he's much more worried about other kids' reactions than he is about the effort or what his teacher thinks.

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My son learned to read when he was four. Last year when he was at his play-based preschool one teacher would make comments like "your son has such a good memory". When I asked about it, she would comment that he is great at memorizing books and signs. (for example she overheard him telling a friend that a sign said "no dumping drains to ocean"). When I would say he isn't memorizing he knows how to read, she would reply that it wasn't really reading because he wasn't sounding out. I just let the comment go because it was useless to explain that he had passed that stage of sounding out and was a fluent reader. She had her break during story time so wasn't in the room when books were read. The teacher who did read the books knew my son was reading because she told me that he sometimes would tell her if she missed a word in a book that she was reading.

 

If he were in kindergarten I would have been livid. I think the teacher' attitude towards high achieving kids sets the tone of the class. Does the teacher support the higher achievers? Sometimes teachers concentrate on the lowest students and don't push the higher achieves so everyone can work in the average range, which makes it easier for the teacher.

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My DD is in AR at her enrichment program, and has been told that she needs to be reading chapter books, regardless of the AR level. She tested this fall into 2.4-3.4 (same as last year), but the teacher wants to continue challenging her, not let her skate.

 

I would talk with your DD's teacher or send her a note, telling her your DD is not being read to but is reading independently. I would also insist your DD choose appropriate selections for her reading at home, and record them in pen on her AR log, and only count/sign for what you deem appropriate. Also note that she read, not that she was read to, on the log for the teacher to see.

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My daughter is one of the best readers, if not the best, in 1st grade. So I do not understand why, when given choices, she chooses KG-level work, at least when there's a grade involved. Do any of your kids do this?

 

When it comes to the daily AR book tests, she chooses extremely easy books and then tells them that the book was read to her (when in fact, she is 100% on her own). (If the book was read to the child, the testers read the questions to the child vs. letting them take the test independently.) I wonder if she's trying to manipulate the system so she gets 100% on the comprehension tests? She also brings home "leveled readers" that are far too easy for her. Her sister, who is far behind her, has been doing a higher average level of school reading.

 

I guess it's possible that the logistics are not set up to accommodate advanced readers at school. However, we have tons of books at home that are on the AR list, many of which she has already read, and she says "no thanks" to them.

 

Also, I sat through her piano lesson the other day (for the first time), and she was pretending to not know / be able to do things she's very capable of. I had to threaten her with punishment to get her to play the song she's actually working on at home (since this is a new teacher and I didn't want her assigning work that is ridiculously easy).

 

So I am wondering if this is some sort of gold-bricking that she's doing. If your child has done this, what did you do?

 

I don't know what you would do, because it sounds like your kid is in school. But yes, both of my kids chose favorite easy books when given a choice. But they are both readers and my first is amazing, having read thousands of books.

 

She's in all college level classes now, having just turned 16 a few weeks ago, and scored in the 99th percentile in language arts on the PSAT, so it didn't hurt much.

 

I wouldn't worry about it too much at a young age.

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I spoke to the teacher today. I mentioned that it was untrue that I was reading those books to my daughter and that I was getting frustrated to see her bringing home KG level books all the time.

 

She explained that they only give placement tests to the kids who say they are reading the books themselves. They just assume that if the kid says she's being read to, she can't read, and they don't even bother to check it out. (This is different from what I was told before.) She said she'd have her tested right away.

 

As for whether my kid is just doing this because it's fun: no, because these are books she would not touch with a 10-foot pole before. We own most of them. I used them to work with my slower reader last year in KG. The more advanced sister was reading meaty books by choice back then. In fact, she recently asked my sister to bring her a copy of Stuart Little to read. But, now I think I begin to understand - they are only letting the "non-readers" choose from a few carts full of beginning readers. I guess if none of the books are really worthwhile, they might as well pick the ones that they can get through fastest.

 

It will be interesting to see how the testing changes things.

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My DD started deliberately getting answers wrong and refusing to read harder books while in PS K-it was one reason why her teacher encouraged us to HS her, because she freely admitted that she didn't want the other kids to feel bad. She was fine if the teacher had her 1-1 and was doing advanced workm but didn't want to look different than the class in front of her peers. Her teacher told me that if DD went into 1st grade and did that with a teacher who didn't know her and realize that she needed to pull DD 1-1 and challenge her, that DD would blend in as "just another bright girl" and that eventually, DD's act would become reality. So she suggested that we homeschool, "at least until everyone else learns how to read".

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