Hi there.
I’ve just written a rant! Yes, I know, another one… but now into slightly calmer waters…
In the rant I said that there are only 2 directions children can follow when they haven’t a clue what’s going on in class. They can’t read properly, so their chance of surviving in class is severely curtailed. The direction they follow is to become an increasingly troublesome behaviour problem. Their intelligence is used in a destructive way. These kids are clever, but grossly under-educated. They can’t use their brains to extend their knowledge because they haven’t got sufficient foundations to build on. They don’t have confidence in their abilities because their abilities have never been explored. It’s just assumed that because they fall behind in their work there must be something wrong with their level of intelligence.
I’ve just had one of this category of kid started in my group. His behaviour in school is appalling. He’s violent, confrontational, verbally abusive. He’s also judged by school to be ‘bright’… So why then can’t he do basic arithmetic? He’s 10 years old for heavens sake… He only knows his 2 times tables by using his fingers to count up… He can’t do basic 2 digit calculations… He’s got a reading age nearly 2 years behind his chronological age…. Yet school consider him ‘bright’.
How? And why aren’t they asking themselves, ‘If this child’s bright but underachieving to such an appalling level, what on earth are we doing wrong?’
But that doesn’t enter their heads… It’s far easier, because of the boy’s increasingly bad behaviour, to make that the reason for his under achievement. Can’t possibly be something they’re doing (or not doing!), can it? Actually, he isn’t without academic ability, but the school’s results certainly aren’t indicating that…
Another example, this time a little girl who falls into the category of ’can’t do it but not making a fuss’…
I was in a year 3 class the other day and all the children had laptops, working on maths games to do with fractions – they had to colour a flag in various colours depending on which fraction was indicated. As I watched this little girl she simply clicked on and off one or two squares, time after time. I quietly approached her and asked if she understood what to do. She shook her head and I noticed she was nearly crying… it’s heartbreaking to see a little kid like that. Such a quiet, unassuming little girl but hadn’t a clue what she was doing…
It became apparent that she didn’t even understand what a fraction was! But this little girl was bright.. within quite a short time she had understood the basic concept and was happily colouring her flags. What’s happening to little kids like this – out of their depth but certainly nothing wrong with their intelligence levels? Poor little things…
So much paper work collected on children but what’s it used for if it isn’t indicating that they need help in certain areas, or that they’re doing well and need challenging to extend their knowledge.
Just quickly that reminds me of a major behaviour problem of a few years ago. A tiny little guy – about 5 or 6 years old with seriously deteriorating behaviour. I was called into the school and just on the off chance I asked him if he’d read to me. He was delighted and brought a book. His reading was remarkable – unbelievable for such a little guy. I asked the school what age his reading assessment indicated. They hadn’t done one – but when they did the assessment he had a reading age of a 10 year old! Incredible. An infant with upper junior ability… cater for that and problem solved! Hardly rocket science is it?
If you’ve got major behaviour problems start thinking about why… it could be due to ineffective behaviour management or because of bad teaching. I know, nobody teaches badly on purpose, but differentiation is a major part of – and it can save you so many problems!
Food for thought – thanks for your time. Liz Marsden @ Behaviour Bible.