I switched to a different school for 5th grade and was assigned to work with two GATE teachers. There was another student, Brian, who tested similarly to me. We were pulled out of class regularly and built projects around our areas of interest. During this time, my GATE teachers gave me extra tests at school. I think they thought I was some kind of genius or something because they made a big deal out of it. I don’t even know the names of the tests, but I remember being given certain materials to see how I could build things under certain circumstances (like – here is a roll of masking tape and four paperclips, how high of a structure can you build?). For one test, I made a 3″ tall structure out of three pieces of paper and four pieces of scotch tape that was able to withstand 300 pounds of weight. I’m not sure if it could have carried more because that’s all the weight they had with them.
Through it all, I felt pleased that all of these adults thought I was so smart. I did feel different because I was able to solve all kinds of problems and stuff that seemed like a big deal to the High Potential instructors. What I didn’t recognize at the time was why I was getting this extra attention. Was I really smarter than others? And, if I was, what was the purpose behind this extra attention?
I continued to test high on standardized tests for the rest of my academic career and altogether did very well. I floundered a bit in college, mostly because I think I was overwhelmed with the task of doing exceptional work academically while working 40+ hour weeks to pay the bill. That made me tired pretty much all the time and I don’t think I did my best work. (Sidenote – many wonder why I didn’t have school paid for me because of my great test scores. Well, I did get scholarships from those that I used to pay part of my public university tuition. I was offered full ride scholarships in Chemistry at some state schools, which I turned down because I wanted to be an actress and I wanted to go to a private school).
I realize now how weird of a kid I was. When I speak about things I did in my youth, others look at me like I am completely insane. Things like wanting an unabridged dictionary for Christmas in 4th grade because I had already finished reading the last one (…in case you never finished a dictionary, the Zebra did it…). I longed for it for many months and am sure I got beat up by my brothers a few times for wanting a dictionary. I read an insane amount of books and would always carry at least 4-5 leisure books with me to read during down time depending on my mood. These books were fiction and non-fiction on many different subjects; mostly novels, history, biography, topical, and how-to books. Another strange behavior occurred in 5th grade when I saw that my teacher wasn’t giving us art lessons. I was mad and jealous of the other class, so I did some research and found out what the state standards were for teaching art. I presented them to my teacher with an insistance that my class deserved an education in art that, at the very least, met the state standards. I could tell more stories about how I was weird, but I think I’ve proven my point.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up on my blog is because I wonder about High Potential or GATE education. Was the extra effort worth it? If I’m high potential, does that mean I somehow owe more to society? Am I reaching that potential? How do I know? My only guess is that an investment was made in GATE students only to up the test scores for my school district because I’ve had no further contact with anyone about it since I graduated high school. No one checks in on me to see if I’m actually reaching my potential. But, the label “High Potential” is interesting to me. Knowing that I was once labeled as that, I don’t know, it’s kind of weird.
I’d love to hear from others who were labeled similarly to see how you “turned out” and maybe some thoughts on the subject of giving the “smart kids” a different kind of education.
I was high potential in ISD 831. I remember, particularly in junior high, an emphasis on the development of writing skills. The main value of HP for me was probably the development of a stabled, successful peer group, with whom I worked collaboratively and competitely throughout K-12 (or at least 2-12, since I think I biffed the CAT test royally in first grade).
HP served me well in that regard. My friends joined the debate team, so I did. That lead to written/oral communication skill development that made my transition to college a breeze. Doing well in college prepared me well for law school, and working hard in law school has enabled me to give back socially by working hard to further the labor movement and reduce discrimination in the workplace.
I don’t think there was anything that I *did* in particular as an HP student that tapped into or encouraged special skills, but the social aspects were particularly helpful. My sense is that this is the primary benefit for most HP kids. I can’t imagine that the returns on resource and time investment for HP kids would be that great- my assumption would be that these kids will generally do well under any circumstances.
Well, If I remember correctly I was “spectacularly average” mainly because I never really cared about doing the work. Why do the homework if I had already learned it why would I need to do more work on the subject.
My question is with all the money the schools throw at “gifted students”(which the districts highlight as there own), are they handcuffing the slower or average kids (which the districts sometimes blame the teachers)?
I understand the need to challenge everybody…..anyways, I’ll leave ya’ll with that.
Oh yeah, did you ever get the dictionary?
Upon entering kindergarten, my older brother felt it necessary to give me an advantage so he taught me the powers of two. I know them now as the powers of two anyway. Then it was just some numbers that I memorized and just happen to spout them off at the right time, in front of the teacher. They immediately moved me to 1st grade math and I had the pleasure of being one grade ahead in math until high school. The great thing about this is that I was labled as HP and got to take all sorts of cool classes at other schools. I would be picked up once a week by a school bus (I was the only kid in this huge bus) and taken to a special class with 7-9 other kids. My favorite special class was paleontology. It was sweet, they gave us sharp dental tools and had us etching rocks looking for fossils. I have no idea how that brought out my supposed HP-ness but it was way fun to dig in the dirt while everyone else had to sit in class.
Meg – interesting thoughts. From what I gather from your thoughts, would the goal of the school’s supporting the HP program just be to give us connections & support? I found it interesting because the label “high potential” seems to imply that we would somehow be tracked to see if the additional instruction ultimately helped us reach our full potential. The GATE term seems to have no goal in mind beyond just teaching gifted kids differently. (Good to hear from you again, btw.)
Andy – Actually I would say that districts tend to do the opposite – give money towards special education while barely or not funding gifted and talented education. I think the GATE programs are taken more seriously in Minnesota than they are in California. Here, kids are listed as GATE based on test scores, or if their parents want to be in it (even if they aren’t necessarily gifted and talented). We have NO additional funding to do extra things with them and no person to make sure they are being challenged besides their regular classroom teacher. Special Education students get case workers who make sure that their curriculum is modified, testing throughout the year to see what progress is being made, IEPs (Individual Education Plans) that require teachers to make specific modifications, and even special aides in the classroom. GATE kids won’t get any additional challenges unless their teacher makes the initiative, which many don’t. I find also that GATE kids are misunderstood and that teachers who attempt to modify for them merely give them extra busy work or stick them tutoring others (which, according to several research studies, often leaves them bored with school). Oh, and yes I got my unabridged dictionary. I read every word throught the L’s and just skimmed the rest of the pages for interesting words.
Jeff – I’m so jealous that you got to dig for fossils. And, I love your math story. Hey, that math paid off with the big bucks, right?
This is why, even today, you might hear Stephanie casually mention in conversation that someone had been “bolshevistic”, but never “proletarianized.”
1. Steph, change your name to Rory and move to Stars Hollow.
2. I am proud to say that “the dictionary” is now sitting on a shelf in my bedroom.
3. I was also in the Gifted & Talented program. I actually went to an elementary school that was a magnet school for the G&T. We worked at our own pace (in 2nd grade I was working out of the 4th grade math book) and had teachers that specialized in each subject area, so we would switch teachers for math, science, social studies and reading/language arts. I remember being in a special pull out group for science and technology with about 8 other kids. We did lots of experiments with levers, magnets, pullies, etc.
Then I moved to the suburbs and the teachers had too many kids in their classes and not enough time to deal with G & T students, so I was in the “high” reading and math group but bored out of my mind for most of it. I remember the scholastic book order days. I would order 5 or 6 chapter books and have one finished by the end of the day and be half way through the second before the school bus got to my stop. I got in trouble a lot for not paying attention in class because I was reading something else.
I remember I was picked to run groups like peer-mediation, I was in “great books” which was the coolest club, in my opinion, it replaced “reading” class and was more of a book club/discussion group format. I also got to help take inventory in the school library for the last two weeks of school.
I was on the gifted and talented track until I was a freshman in highschool. Then my math teachers started assigning “responsibilities” instead of homework and I often chose not to complete the “responsibility” (which in some of the math classes weren’t graded) I didn’t (and still don’t) have a ton of internal motivation, so I decided I didn’t really care if I wasn’t advanced in math and science. I did keep up with the A.P. Lit & Language Arts program.
So that’s my story…I don’t know if we really need to give the “smart kids” a different education, I think we need to give all the kids a better education. I feel like too many corners are cut in school budgets and the demands on teachers are too great to really do the kids any justice. My simple answer is to offer smaller class sizes (as in less than 15 per room) and a curriculum that is adaptable to the individual – not the blanket curriculums that tend to get over-used.
In 2nd grade I took the “test”(it didn’t seem much like a test) and then was labeld as a GATE student. I didn’t know what that ment, but my parents went to a few talks…since then my brother and one of my sisters have been labeld in the same catagory.(the youngest has not taken the “test” yet)The schools in our area don’t take us out of class or have us do extra stuff. I am more advanced than many other students, but there is no difference in schooling except that now I have the option to take more advanced classes. These classes are not offered to GATE student only. I haven’t seen the affects, but I am in highschool. I love to read and get much of my knowledge from books. California says they are putting funding in for this, but I don’t see it…
After a series of tests, I was similarly labeled back in the early sixties. We were all put in the same class, and spent 5th and 6th grade together. We spent 6th grade in what was then called “Junior High”. I remember much more about the physical aspects of that education: we were allowed to see movies during lunch hour, go to “noon dancing”, hang out with the older kids, but we were the only class to stay in a self-contained room. I don’t really remember anything too unusual about the content of my education. We were all clearly reading above grade level, and occasionally the teacher would mention at what level we were reading. At some point it finally dawned on us we were unique (how smart is that?) and we took the teacher’s grade book to look up our IQ scores. I remember being quite annoyed I was not the highest. To this day I remember the name of the girl who did have the highest IQ.
How did we all turn out? Well, interestingly, there was a reunion of sorts for us at a time when we all should have graduated from college- some didn’t. I’d say the group was surprisingly normal, with a higher than average number of women in professional fields, for 1972 anyway.
Should “smart kids” get a different kind of education? My experience is the smart kids have little trouble entertaining or motivating themselves. It’s usually their parents that need to be placated.
Thanks for your blog. I came across it when I did a search to get some info from other art teachers. Good luck with your work.
I think Haleigh brings up a good point in that High Potential is treated exceptionally different depending on where you’re from. Seriously, there is nothing done for gifted kids out here short of an assigned teacher’s initiative.
I agree with what Abby said about having smaller class sizes so that teachers are better able to adapt their curriculum to meet the many needs of the students in their classes. Although, I would also suggest that schools need to challenge the GATE kids. I guess my bottom line opinion on the subject is that everyone needs to be pushed to meet his or her maximum potential. This means that GATE kids have to have something in place that stretches them beyond the regular classroom.
Isn’t interesting that there are many debates about how to serve GATE and how to serve Special Ed, but very few conversations about how to bettter serve the average student? Poor kids in the middle…
I was labeled HP in 2nd grade, had 3 years of wonderful “get pulled out of class and do fun things”, and then experienced the wonders of experimental education. My district decided that the future was “mainstreaming” where they put everyone into the same class. Thus, me and the other HP kids were put in classes with the “average” kids, and (get this) the special ed kids. That was my late elementary and middle school experience. The classes were designed around the lowest common denominator, and I was bored out of my skull. The stats showed that the “average” kids started testing higher, and the HP kids tested as high as they always did.
Basically, I ended up feeling that I was sacrificed in favor of the majority. Somehow, by being in the same class as me and my kind, the rest of the kids tested higher. That sounds really narcissistic, but there it is. I don’t even want to think about how messed up it was that the special ed kids were in our classes too.
My parents did what they could to find extra stuff for me to do so I didn’t totally stagnate, and eventually I made it to high school where I was able to take accelerated classes again. I walked away from this convinced that differently-abled kids need to be taught in different ways. Let the smart kids learn faster and broader topics. They can handle it. Give the special ed kids the care that they need. I really doubt that the severely autistic kid in my 7th grade science class got anything out of the lecture.
I don’t know if it was because I went to a Catholic school or because WI doesn’t have it, but I’ve never heard of the GATE program. I was put in some group with the “brainy” kids that I can’t remember the name of and we got to do things like association games and make plays and perform them. We also had a seperate math and science class which put me ahead when I got to high school. I really felt more comfortable in those seperate classes because I felt we all had similar goals and we could speak what was on our minds and not be sneared at by the popular kids and the dickhead bullies. We actually would get into some good discusions.
It was different in highschool, though, because instead of having classes with advanced peers I was in class with kids that were a year or two older than me. I think my motivation had been being around like-minded people. It wasn’t until I finally took an advanced English class my Junior year out of my own volition (I was so fricken bored and I was convinced my regular English teachers clearly were oblivious to my writing potential) that I re-learned how to be a motivated student and learner. I found a muse in my student teacher (she was engaged, but if I had been just a little older…) and I was in class again with people whose work and ideas didn’t suffocate my creativity. That class was pivotal in teaching me to learn independently.
Josh, what was your experience like in Green Bay? I think we had a similar track, but I know that you had some good teachers that really helped you, while I was bored to tears by or pissed off at most of mine. From the stories you’ve told I always wished I had Seige(is that how you spell it?). I needed a teacher willing to kick me in the butt. I remember a teacher I had, Ms. Sparks, who looked like she was fifty, but I heard a rumor that she was really in her thirties, who’s teaching was so stale. And it didn’t help that her room smelled and tasted like baby powder and chalk dust. She taught Algebra II and Trig and all I remember was that I got to catch a mouse that was in our classroom and free it outside (truly the highlight of that class).