From John Piazza:
There has been a lot of discussion on the list about dealing with 4%ers, but I would like to take the conversation in perhaps a different direction, which may help me in my exceptional and unfortunate situation. Many of my students (and many 4%ers I think) are gifted, technically, clinically, which puts them in a special ed category, requiring accommodations within a mainstream class.
Traditional Latin programs were basically set up to select for these gifted kids, with no one else allowed through.
Aside from the rude entitlement which comes from certain social classes and their children, this perspective is helping me understand why so many of my students simply get mad, act out, or check out, when I try to implement good language teaching practices, which have worked in other schools for me, and work for other teachers. They are gifted (i.e. special needs) kids who cannot handle the relaxed pace, but require a kind of stimulus which does not aid acquisition or help normal kids.
Maybe this is just another way of talking about our 4%er problem, and the last thing I want to do is make excuses for these brats. My question:
Has anyone found consistent success dealing with this population, by viewing the issue from the perspective of accommodations, differentiating for them without giving in to the need for fast paced short term memory stimulus?
John