Carol
Posts:
6
Registered:
12/6/04
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Re: Ability grouping (was:Re: Affective learning in mathematics; What is math?)
Posted:
Dec 19, 1996 6:10 PM
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Shyang Hwang wrote:
>
> Carol wrote:
> >
> > Herman Rubin wrote:
> >
> > > As I tell graduate students, research consists
> > > in seeing the obvious. It consists in making the "deep" results seem
> > > utterly simple. We cannot teach this, more than we can teach someone
> > > who can merely wield a paintbrush how to be an artist.
> >
> > Well good for you for being so able to see the obvious. That ability will be
> > needed if you want to save all the gifted children of the world from being
> > damaged by the mediocre. Right now in your own neighborhood there may be a
> > third grader who is using the class computer to write a program to help teach
> > one of his table mates how to add. Hurry, go save him before he is doomed to
> > an academic career of mediocrity. Oh yes, you better go remove that
> > tone-deaf child from music class. So, what if this is the greatest joy she
> > has known in her life....she's damaging the others! Her sheer will to
> > learn will do her no good if she is not one of the "bestowed". Hurry, remove
> > that street kid out of that upper middle class school, he might tell them
> > about some of the horrors that out out there in this world. There are
> > millions of children out there ....hurry before it's too late for them.
> >
> > Terman probably didn't have the gift you have for identifying the gifted.
> > That's why HE left out the Nobel Prize winners from his group. You wouldn't
> > do that know would you? Anyway, I'm sure the "gifted" ones he choose got good
> > jobs...some of them probably even became university professors.
> >
> > Well, I've got lots of things to do before my children get back from their
> > long winter break. The first on my list of things to do is to watch out for
> > people who tell them to only look at the obvious.
> >
> > --
> > Please e-mail me at carolmc@earthlink.net. The above address is incomplete to
> > prevent junk e-mail.
> >
> > "There are more things in Heaven and on Earth than are dreamt of in your
> > philosophy"
> >
> > W. Shakespeare (an ordinary student who wrote plays for ordinary people)
>
> Dear Carol,
>
> Although the debate has been intense, I think you need not be this
> bitter. I can not tell how you have interpreted Herman's statement
> about seeing the obvious, but I think there is a chance that you misread
> it. He is right, and the ability to see the obvious is a very precious
> gift. The majority of people see the obvious as, well, the obvious,
> while great minds see the obvious as a key to understanding nature.
> There is the story that Archimedes discovered the buoyancy principle
> when he saw water spilling out of the bath tub as he took a bath.
> Folklore has it that Newton got the idea of universal gravitation from
> seeing an apple fall. Einstein is said to have started his inquiry into
> relativity when he looked at the station clock from a departing train
> and wondered how it would be like if the train was traveling at the
> speed of light. (What do you think it would be like?) It does not
> matter whether these stories have been exaggerated or not. It is,
> however, true that these guys saw the obvious, as seen by the ordinary,
> and made extraordinary discoveries.
>
> I have seen a lot of post by you, here in k12.ed.math and elsewhere.
> While I disagree with you most of the time, when I agree with you I feel
> that you are a very caring teacher. I think one of the reasons why this
> debate has got to this level is that your mission and that of Herman or
> anyone else who may disagree with you is just different. I think that's
> OK. This is a forum, and we are entitled to our opinions. However, I
> don't think we need to be frustrated. Just state your opinion and let
> people decide.
>
> I might add that caring is not necessarily equal to helping. We all
> have limits.
>
> Regards,
>
> Shyang Hwang
Shyang-
Thank you for your insight. My biggest obstacle to getting all my lessons
plans ready before the children get back from vacation has been my obsession
with this ability grouping thing. I have not been able to figure it
out...."why can't I just let go of it?" I keep asking myself. No one wants to
face the fact that they might be bitter....it's an ugly quality and certainly
doesn't belong in a teacher. And yet...you have a point, and I have to face
it if I am going to be able to let go of this and move forward in learning
how to teach my children.
After my parents got divorced, I missed a lot of school due to sickness.
The following school year (third grade) I found out that some of my friends
had moved to different schools to be a part of the gifted program and as hard
as it is to admit......I was jealous. I was jealous of the field trips, I
was jealous that they got to read Shakespeare, while I was stuck reading the
"Red Robin" reader...or whatever it was called. But mostly I was sad because
I lost my friends. In spite of the fact that my first friend in the
neighborhood lived right across the street from me....we were no longer
suitable playmates....she was gifted....I was not. The next year the school
did testing for the musically gifted...I soared with flying colors. I was
told that they would provide me with the instrument of my choice and free
music classes. I took those classes and for the first two years I sat in
first chair and felt really special because I was musically gifted. Most of
all, I was proud of the fact that I didn't even have to practice very much to
keep my first chair position. As you can probably imagine, with this
attitude that I didn't need to practice, another student started to challenge
in ways that I couldn't compete with. For a while I could second guess her
and practice those songs that I predicted that she would challenge me with
and be able to hold my position. Finally, one day she was simply better than
I was....I couldn't compete....so I quit.
When I moved on to seventh grade I was in a low math class and my friend was
in a high one. Again I was jealous....why did I keep having to work on the
boring multiplying and division when she got to learn algebra and geometry?
She on the other hand was totally stressed out because she was sure that she
was going to be benched for the rest of her life because she was going to get
a "C". I made honor society and for the first time I was getting all "A's".
She got benched. I moved to another school district and was told not to be
disappointed if I did't do well....I was going to be put in normal classes at
an accelerated school. It was an "open school" with progressive ideas about
giving students more control over their education. I thrived at that school
for two years I even joined orchestra and didn't mind being a poor player in
an excellent group. I played last chair violin for the musical "Hello Dolly"
and loved it. Dark days were ahead.
I had to move to South Carolina. I was put in the honors classes. The
first day of school I listened to my Honors English teacher brag about how
she was able to make sure that Belinda did not get into honors English even
after an apparently valient fight. Belinda was black and we didn't want to
let them start thinking it was alright that they take honors classes. I knew
Belinda from my history class. I cried for a week. Knowing that my father
was not leaving SC for a few years I found out about what I could do to get
me out of that school. Ended up all I needed to do was to take an additional
English class and drop my elective and I could graduate a year early. I did
that, but without any preparation for college level material. I will end the
history of my life there.....I'm not sure if you are interested anyway. I
think I am doing this as a way of letting go of the pain and moving forward
with my search into becoming a better teacher.
--
Please e-mail me at carolmc@earthlink.net. The above address is incomplete to
prevent junk e-mail.
"When you hold a child's hand, point to the sky and say,
"Look at the airplane up there, where do you think it's going?"
and he replies, as though to an idiot, "To the airport, of course!",
whose fault is it?"
{Found in the program for Cirque du Soliel}
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