The Challenge

Last year I had a complaint from a parent about the lack of difficulty in my math instruction. She and her husband might explain that they were not complaining, but merely concerned with the progress of their son's math abilities/skills/knowledge.

I am here to report that they were indeed complaining.

Their son had been enrolled in the "Spectrum" program here in the lovely Emerald City (Seattle, not Oz, though it can feel that way sometimes).  Spectrum is a program of the Seattle Public Schools that selects top performing students for services and programs that will foster their learning style/abilities/intellectual curiosity.  It is not quite the Gifted and Talented program of my childhood, but a way to acknowledge that a child has scored well on standardized tests.

Or, this is what I understand from various teachers who have taught in public schools in Seattle.

It is interesting to note that students in public school settings score slightly lower than those in most Catholic Schools, and the school I am at is no exception.  Students at my school have a better chance of being loved and nurtured from an early age and studies have shown that this environment is beneficial to a child's school performance.  That is not to say that public school students are all neglected or even that students at my school are not neglected -- every school has its bright spots as well as a murky underbelly.   It is just that the population of children in my school fit into the "overly cared for" category.

So when the parents mentioned above decided to enroll their child at this Catholic school for sixth grade, they expected the Spectrum program, and perhaps the Spectrum treatment and cache, to follow them.  They were pleased that their child was in my classroom, but not pleased that he was studying sixth grade math.  Apparently, his fifth grade teacher had given him sixth grade lessons the year previous.

{Just a quick aside here -- I teach math classes that pull students from the top percentiles of each grade.  So I teach, supposedly, high performing fifth, sixth, and seventh grade students. Some students definitely benefit from the class, others struggle to keep at the pace of instruction. This is one difficulties of using data based grouping -- not all high performing students are good students.}

The problem was, while he is a quick learner, his skills were not totally in place.  I had to use a series of tests and data to show that he was accurately placed and the instruction in my classroom would benefit him.

They were still not pleased.  I had already thought through this worst-case-scenario.  I offered to provide projects that would be extensions of the instruction in class and I refused to just offer it to this one student.  I felt that it would be worse to provide extension for one or a few students since so many already wielded their status for being in my class over the other students in their grade.  The extra projects finally pleased these parents. 

I would like to write that their son did an amazing job on every extension I provided him with, that the parents were effusive in their thanks and compliments for the extra work I was doing, and that he scored in the top most percentiles so that I would have to seriously consider advising them to find a private math tutor for next year to meet his needs.

But this would be falsehood.

The projects he turned in were mediocre and his scores were good, but not exceptional.  After our meeting in October of last year, I received an email of "thanks" but nothing beyond that for all of the extra time and effort I put into these extensions.  Upon reflection, I think the parents felt entitled to this sort of work, which is not in my job description, and therefore felt no extra thank you or compensation was in order.

I am constantly taught in my Orthodox faith that humility is the highest virtue.  Humility is the thing that provides one with love of God rather than love of self.  It is that detachment from the world that we need in order to unite ourselves with God -- that we care not for the world's praise or wealth, but for only what blessings our Heavenly Father bestows upon us.  

If this experience with these overly-caring parents taught me nothing else, it taught me humility.  Not so much because my work went unacknowledged, nor the humiliation they must have felt seeing their son's scores in the "good, but not exceptional" category, but that their son, who one might expect to be a cocky and rude little fellow, was one of the most kind and attentive students I taught last year.  He was apologetic when he made mistakes, he was helpful to those who struggled around him, and was effusive in participation and curiosity.  It is amazing to me that such a young man could be the product of such pushy parents.

And next year, I think I get to relive the experience again for two reasons: 1) they have another son enrolling in sixth grade, and 2) I received an email from another parent whose son will enroll in seventh grade next year.

The new parent, a mom, is some big wig educational mucky muck PhD down in Tacoma -- so she could make my life not so fun.  I am especially worried because her email was very much to the same tune I heard last year: "my child is very gifted". {The tune is like the Queen of the Night Aria -- pretty, but with"kick your butt" intentions.}

More humility is coming my way.  Can I handle it?  I will try.  If I said this to my husband, he would quote the great Master Yoda to me: "Do or do not, there is no try".  Well, I take exception and reply that "Everyone is always giving their best".

And often I get the reply back "What if their best isn't good enough?"

Well, "You must help them to do better".

So, I will have to pray (and ask prayers of those of you reading this) that I can do better, because this mother who emailed me back in May, wrote the dread word.  The word I have avoided using this whole post, but I used in the title.

"I want my son challenged."

Really?  Challenged.  Such a funny little word.  When a students struggles to be successful in school, we say he or she is "challenged" by *insert skill*.  When a student shows exceptional skills, we say he or she needs additional "challenge" in *insert subject*.  Math tends to be the subject that parents really want their student to succeed in  and not be challenged by it.

For  some parents math becomes the measuring stick for how smart their child is. I was watching a DVD presentation of Dr. Mel Levine on "Thinking with Numbers" (founder of the All Kinds of Minds institute -- he was on Oprah and our school is becoming an All Kinds of Minds school).  It was surprising -- no, it really wasn't surprising.  Is there a word for totally-and-completely-predictable?  If not, someone needs to invent one, because it was totally-and-completely-predictable that of the 12 disc DVD set in my Principal's office, the only one not opened, the only one with the shrink wrap still on, was the "Thinking with Numbers" disc.  Dr. Levine said in the presentation that a student will feel success or failure in school directly proportional to how they feel they are doing in math.  His words very well described what I have always thought.  Math seems so foreign, so distant from anything real (though it describes most of reality), that students view it as that subject that only the wise and  intelligent can understand.  And these students grow up, have children, and perpetuate this attitude.

I am neither wise nor intelligent.  I like to think myself clever, but not exceptional.  And I teach math without knowing all of my times tables.  It is therefore possible for anyone to teach math because I do it everyday.  Teaching math well...that is another story.

My question is: How do you challenge someone?  I jokingly said that parents who want their students challenged should try hiding their child's shoes in the morning or some other prank-like action that would give their child a true challenge.  But some how I don't think that is what these parents have in mind.

My shoe hiding epiphany came from all the reality shows that have different "challenges".  I watch only two reality shows and I view them more like a high stakes Spelling Bee (you know I am a fan) or a Game Show.  Both shows provide excellent analogies for understanding the difference between teaching in the lower levels of education (K - 9) and upper levels (10th and higher).  The two reality shows I watch are America's Next Top Model and Project Runway.

I very recently started watching Project Runway -- it is very fun. These folks are trained in clothing design: they come knowing how to draw an idea, piece it with suitable fabrics, and sew it together. Their challenges range from designing a concept piece (like "envy" in season 1) or designing a prom dress for a client.  My favorite challenge so far was in the last season had to design a wrestling out fit for women in the WWF -- or whatever -- and they had to shop at Spandex House in NYC.  

Project Runway is very much like the upper levels of education -- students go to high school and college knowing how to learn or at least cope with the challenges school can provide. Like Project Runway students in upper levels are expected to work independently with little advice or help and then their work is critiqued and given the "in" or the "out". Almost every designer leaves knowing a little more about themselves, just like in high school when you think you know what you want to do for the rest of your life.  However, some students do opt for the "Auf Wiedersehen" before they even finish all of the challenges.  

{Note:  I am a Mexican -- I only sing in German and occasionally enjoy Bavarian folk music.  I cannot pronounce German and it took me awhile to figure out how to say this much less spell it.  I would have spelled it "auf vetesang".}

Sometimes I wish I could teach the upper levels of school and not have the responsibility to teach students the skills they will need for life.  I wish I could just sit on a directors chair and issue assignments, quickly critique them, and then hope the students will do better on the next one.  But alas, that is not how my life has worked thus far.

No, I teach in a more America's Next Top Model environment. Some girls on the show have never modeled in their life nor thought about modeling; others have some experience or this is their dream. Same with lower school: some students in come with no experience of school nor even thought about school before they walked into the doors for kindergarten. Others had been in pre-school since age three and for some it has always been a dream to go to school (it was for me -- yes I am a nerd).  Students come to you knowing how to talk, but they leave with skills to go and receive more education. The girls on the show often say what a "great opportunity" it was and how much they "learned" from the experience, but a few will say they continue to work towards the goal of being a model.

And much like lower school, on America's Next Top Model, the challenge is usually proceeded by instruction on how to complete the challenge -- whether it be posing in a fish net over a waterway in Thailand or posing in a skydiving chute to look as if  they were reaching for a bottle of makeup.  Likewise, before I can challenge my students I must instruct them on how to tackle or approach the content first.  

But here is my problem with challenges:  on each of these shows, the challenge ELIMINATES one of the designers or models each week.  There can only be ONE top model or ONE winner of the designer's dream of a lifetime.

If I merely look to reality shows as the definition of "challenge", is it then fair to say that teachers should "challenge" students?   Or even if I didn't look at reality shows for a definition, shouldn't teachers say we "teach-students-at-an-appropriate-skill-level-such-that-their-love-of-the-subject-grows-and-intellectual-curiosity-sparked-for-a-lifetime-of-learning-because-all-of-life-is-a-problem-waiting-to-be-solved"?

And if there is a verb for this, will someone please let me know ASAP, because I told this mother to send her son's test scores and transcripts and gave her no indication that her son would be challenged. 

And if this word/verb is in German and twenty syllables long, it would be good for me to get a head start on pronouncing and spelling it so I can repeat it OVER and OVER again as I try to convince the overly-caring parents that their children need to first be able to solve problems at their own level before throwing a banana-peel-like challenge their way that might make them feel terrible about their school performance because they are not doing as well as their parents would like them to in math. Try to remember that math, whether we like it or not, becomes the measuring stick for school success for both parents and students.

I also need this word/verb right away because there is no way I am grading tons of project next year.  I don't want to be the teacher who eliminates students -- each student should feel successful, each students should be successful, and not just ONE student should feel like they are on top.  

My challenge is, I suppose, to convince parents that their student will feel more successful and more "on top" if their student is appropriately placed without at need for challenge -- that math should not be challenge laden but accessible.