The parental take on the "short and sweet" is probably neither short nor particularly sweet to any of the others involved in the question of what and how to teach.
[See my earlier entries in the What to Teach sequence of entries, First entry here , and the second here . This entry and the one which will follow will focus on parental and individual takes on exactly the same profile of skills.
* A reminder: Bill Wong is a hypothetical person. His profile does represent, however, the very real complexity that each person, each learner brings to the discussion of what to learn/what to teach.
| Now Bill's Parents and I process Bill's Results. What do they think should be taught? |
| Mr. and Mrs. Wong have requested a review of Bill's test results. They want to plan his middle school and high school education. As we sit down they both glance at their copy of Bill's Profile of test results(Copy just above )
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Mr.Wong: Is this some kind of report card or something? We called for this meeting to talk about Bill's future.
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Spike Hall: It's Bill's Achievement Profile. I've taken all of his achievement test results and summarized them in this form. This form or graph can really help us think about Bill's future.
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Mr. W makes sure his copy is the same as mine and then notees, " It's pretty complicated , I see that, but I don't see any of the courses he's signed up for on the chart!. What's it have to do with
what we're meetings for --
And what're the
vertical lines about and the colored dots and so on. Mrs. W nods in agreement. |
Spike Hall: Ok. Each vertical line is an area of development. For example, gross motor development translates into, say, athletics. Each vertical line is an, like athletics, area of important development that starts with what you and I and Bill -- everybody-- generally bring into our first days a Kindergarten class and ends with what most of us master in our late teens. Generally speaking, roughly one hundred things, things that need to be learned pretty much in order, are, learned each year of school. Of course there are individual differences and school to school differences.
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Mrs. W asks, "Are those differences important?" Oh -- and what is that horizontal line across the graph. Is that important? I see some of his dots, five, are above the line and a couple are a little bit below?
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Spike Hall: That's an important question Mrs. W. That line represents what other boys and girls of Bill's age are capable of doing -- on the average. You can see --
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Mr. W interrupts to say: Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Math and Ethics are the ones that are obviously above and Receptive Language and Expressive Language are below. What does all of that mean.
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In everyday speak? Bill's capable of reading and writing and speaking but, at least on tests and during observations, he comes up a shade under the class average in those skills. But in athletics, in penmanship and in drawing and in knowing and sharing what he considers right and wrong he is outstanding. Sometimes his skills in communication -- or reluctance, I'm not sure, your experience at home may help clear up that mystery -- get in the way of his strong sense of right and wrong and of justice. But he's clearly a leader, a leader for the good, in my opinion, in these areas.
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Mr. W: So he's high in some areas and low in others. Are we supposed to do something because of that?
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Spike Hall: I'd say yes! We build on this at home and at school. We can, I believe, be pretty darn active in involving Bill's high skills (and high interests) in his schooling and in helping him bring enhance the other skills to support his strong areas. I believe that, now that we have this information, we can use it
to tailor how we advise Bill on activities and how we encourage him to take on new projects and to set goals.
In other words, with this material in hand you and I and Bill can all make life more challenging and more
interesting to Bill. At the same time, we can help him see how other areas (math for example) can support the
growth areas that he really does like and with which he has such considerable skill. |
Mr. W: Makes sense so far. But we need to talk over the results with Bill. It's ok, right? (Hall nods emphatically). He's never seen this kind of thing before.
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Spike Hall: Makes sense. Then maybe we can have a follow up with all of us and Bill
putting together a plan or outline that builds upon Bill's interests and strengths to take him farther on the path
he seems to be on. |
Mr. W: Hold it. What if he changes his mind three years from now? What if he wants to, all of a sudden, focus on, say, poetry -- which is not interesting to him now.
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Spike Hall: That would be his choice. The idea isn't to make him a slave to his best
skills or his least skills. Rather-- it is to have his skills work for him and for his life interests (and your
backing for them) be in the driver's seat rather than some anonymous and bureaucratic textbook series.
When he has the inclination to shift his priorities our job isn't to stop him or to say, blindly, "Go for it!".
Our job, at least as far as I see it, is to help him learn and to help him project the consequences of his
actions and plans into the future -- and to weigh those consequences against his needs and our greater
experience. |
Mr. W: Sounds good. Mrs Wong: Good but work too. But nothing we wouldn't be doing anyway. This is the first time I remember thinking that school and home we're obviously working for the same thing.
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Spike Hall: Nice to hear you say that Mrs. W. I'll look forward to hearing from you two and Bill after you've had your first talk. If I can help interpret or back up interpretation at school with Bill in class
let me know. Then we'll all get together in the next 2-3 weeks.
I appreciate your coming over and your kind comments so much!! |
