So often I write about how the kids are evil this and obnoxious that. Of course, it’s all meant in a light-hearted manner, because even though they do annoying things, they are just doing what kids do.
(Kids are annoying.) I still love them, though. I can have the most frustrating afternoon with them, then, when the
I’m-Done! moment has passed, I go right back to looking for things to do with them, like an addict to my drug of choice.
(Kids! Don't do drugs!)
But today I'm not going to complain about the kids. Rather, I'm quite proud of them these days and it's about time I write it down. But before I go on, let me just say that while I am writing this to keep with the blog mission (letting family and close friends know about what’s going on with the kids, and recording the events of their lives for them to look back at one day), I'm writing this all down because this post contains many things that I’m not going to really tell the kids about – for now. This is going to be one of those they’ll-learn-about-it-later things. That’s not to say that I’m not going to tell my kids how awesome they are (because I am!), but they don’t need to know the details.
So the kids. Yes, the kids. The kids are in first grade this year, and they love school. They had a great kindergarten year with a fantastic teacher, and again they have a fantastic teacher this year. We have been lucky. But luck is a small part of it. The kids enjoy school, and we make education a priority.
Now before you start groaning and eye-rolling (there’s plenty of opportunity for that in a minute), I’ll forewarn you that this is going to be a post about annoying education stuff. Stuff that is important to us, that is important to many other people too, but I find that when it gets brought up it up often gets interpreted as snootiness. But why should that be? It's like there is some taboo when talking about education. As soon as someone says “I value education for my kids” they get dropped in the “Oh, those insufferable parents” pigeon hole. Well, screw that. I’m here to talk about education and my kids. Education is important for success in life, and as a parent you have to be committed to it if you really want your kids to do well. Why should that be poo-pooed? Right? Good!
So yes, Damon and I are
those parents. Those of the mindset that it’s not just up to the schools to educate our kids. It’s a partnership. They do some; we do some. We both benefit from the other's commitment and input. And let me say, also, upfront, that trying to do well in school is an expectation in our family. Now that may seem a bit strong, but really it’s one of the many basic expectations many of us have - just like we expect the kids to be kind to others. Or expect them to be honest. Or expect them to be a good sport. These are all things that we just
do. Damon says it best when he says that the culmination of raising kids is when you have created good people. Education is one facet of it. And, because it's an expectation, we don’t reward (like give the kids $ for grades) for doing well in school. I mean, does anyone say "
Great job on not stealing from Wal-mart today. Here's $5."? No. Instead, we focus on encouraging and supporting, congratulating and recognizing, while avoiding bribes and prizes. And it's important for us as parents to set these expectations, because if we left it up to the kids, everyone would be expected to know how to draw every kind of dinosaur and be fully knowledgeable in all things Junie B. Jones. I just don't think many places are hiring for those skills. So, yes, while we set the expectations for the kids (trying hard in school, or being kind or honest), for it to carry throughout their lives, we are also trying to teach them that motivation and reward comes from within. If they learn that, they will be set up to succeed at many things.
Let me just say though, in case that did not come across right, that it’s not
doing well in school that is expected, but rather
trying to do well. If my kids try hard every day and come away with B’s on their report card, and I know that is the best they can do, that is great and I will be so proud of them. Proud because I know they tried and that’s what’s important. But not C's. If they are getting C's then they are a failure in my eyes. I will disown them. (
HA! Kidding people!!!) But if I know that they can do better - whether they are getting C's, B's, or even A's - and aren’t putting in a good effort, then I want them to try harder.
That is the expectation.
I’m guessing by now the eye rolling has started and you’re thinking “
Yes, yes, Laura. We get it. Blah blah education. There’s more to life than school...” But, I’m sure you will agree that there’s an opportunity for learning in everything we do. And you can often find a way without hitting someone over the head with it (
as opposed to my post today - booyah!!). We spend much of our time with the kids trying to teach them and instill in them a love of learning. I could go on and on about all the things we do - in fact I did, but then I deleted it, because that's not really the point here...
Ok, ok. If you are still with me, let’s continue. So this year, as I mentioned, the kids are in first grade. They don’t really have grades on their report card, but rather: Above Level / On Level / Below Level / Not Evaluated. Last year on their report cards they got On Level for everything even though the teacher told us that the kids were doing very well. Even the written comments were the same for both of them. I guess they just phone it in sometimes. This year, the teacher actually did assess the kids some so we could see where their strengths are.
But, report cards really don't tell us much. So recently we also had a parent-teacher conference which revealed a bit more about the kids. (I say “reveal” because while we suspected how they were doing, we couldn’t base it on much. Do your kids talk much about school, even when you ask them about it all the time? Yeah, neither do ours. Why is that?) The kids recently sat for the MAP test. It’s some standardized test that kids take several times a year (they didn't take the test last year since I think they had a different standardized testing regime). I don’t know much about the MAP test, but I’m a bit skeptical of any standardized test and how teachers can be pressured to teach to the test. But, as Damon says, we need to trust our teachers, and then work with our kids at home to make it the best all around. And, at this age, we don’t really have any other measure of how the kids are doing except for the report cards that we get. (I’d be interested in hearing what my teacher-friends think about the MAP test!)
Now, according to the
NWEA website, the MAP test is setup something like the SATs, in that “the difficulty of each question is based on how well a student answers all the previous questions. As the student answers correctly, questions become more difficult. If the student answers incorrectly, the questions become easier. In an optimal test, a student answers approximately half the items correctly and half incorrectly. The final score is an estimate of the student’s achievement level.”
The kids’ teacher said typical scores for 1st grade (at least in KY) were 160 for Reading and 163 for Math. When discussing Kestian’s scores, her comment was “Well, he blew it out of the water.” Ha! I'll say! He scored a 210 in Reading and 208 in Math. Adelaide is right behind at 191 for Reading, and 204 for Math. They were #1 and #2 in their class, respectively. Their teacher said that when looking at their scores on a national level that they were given an “*” since they were off the chart.
Now, since this is not some scale based on 100, and one’s score seems to be determined by some algorithm, it’s a bit difficult to interpret it all (although, since the FCPS site does not have any MAP information posted, this site helps some:
http://www.phpta.org/MAP.htm ). If you look at this document
http://www.nwea.org/sites/www.nwea.org/files/resources/State%20Proficiency%20Tables.pdf (scroll down to Kentucky) you can see where the kids fall:
Reading
- Kestian: 210 = 7th Grade Proficient / 4th Grade Distinguished
- Adelaide: 191 = 4th Grade Proficient / 2nd Grade Distinguished
Math
- Kestian: 208 = 8th Grade Apprentice / 5th Grade Proficient / 4th Grade Distinguished
- Adelaide: 204 = 7th Grade Apprentice / 4-5th Grade Proficient / 3-4th Grade Distinguished
Actual scores aside, I'm somewhat surprised that Adelaide scored lower than Kestian on reading. Between the two of them, she seems to have more interest in reading. But I also know that she gets nervous on tests, not wanting to put down an answer unless she’s sure it’s right, often second-guessing herself. It’s quite possible she got spooked during the exam. It will be interesting to see how she does next time.
However, the fact that Damon also scored
insanely high on standardized tests in elementary school leaves me not too surprised that this is going on with the kids. (
I don’t know how I did back then…Mom, Dad: do you remember? Surely some of their genius comes from me - :).)
Now, if anyone is still here reading this (
thanks for hanging in there!), you probably have a headache from excessive eye-rolling
[Note: Damon does -DMO] and are garnering some unwanted attention from the other people in Starbucks for all the groaning and smirking. Sorry about that. You are probably even yelling at your screen “
Ok. Whatever! We get it! Get over it. Who cares?” But like I said earlier, I'm writing this for the kids to look back on later, something that I want them to know that we are very proud of them for, because (any natural abilities aside) we know that a lot of this comes from how they work hard every day at school and home. I don’t want to tell them exactly how well they did (just that they are doing well) to keep them grounded. I don't want them to compare themselves with each other or brag about it to their friends, or think that by having these high scores makes them better than others, or that they can skate by in school because it comes easy to them, or that they don't have to try their best even when half-assing it would probably serve them just fine. I want them to be well-rounded kids, instilling in them that school is fun, that trying your best is what’s important, and that learning is something to always work on.
And it’s not really about what grade level they seem to be functioning at with these tests, but more about the fact that they given where they are, what the hell do we do with them? Their teacher recognizes that they could benefit from some additional guidance and already has them pulled out for advanced reading with a paraprofessional. Damon texted me a list recently of the spelling words for their regular class (all, call, fall, wall, ball, tall, on, not, so, of) vs what the reading group was working on (stuck, funny, lucky, branch, fluffy, humble, hugged, running, pumpkin, umbrella). Awesome, right? (Sadly, there is no advanced math group, so they are stuck with adding/subtracting single digit numbers even though at home they can carry/borrow numbers, and do multiplication and division in their head). The kids’ teacher has set some higher goals for them (Kestian to reach 227 Reading and 217 Math; Adelaide to reach 208 Reading and 214 Math) by Spring, which we think is reasonable (always strive to improve!). Both we and the teacher submitted paperwork to the Gifted and Talented Office for the Primary Talent Pool, and they start that this Friday. We hope that they will be getting more opportunities with the program.
[
Damon mentioned to the kids that they will be pulled out a few times a week for some "extra learning." When Adelaide kept asking what he meant, he said it was something called "Primary Talent Pool with Ms. B." Adelaide's response: "Oh, PTP. Yeah, I know what that is. Cool." WTF?]
All right. Enough of my blathering! We know we have quite a few education-based readers on this blog (at least 2 out of the 4 people who read it, I'm sure), so feel free to give input of insight into education with anything mentioned above.
[Note: this is entirely Laura-written as this isn't something Damon would ever write -DMO]
