What do your kids do in the classroom when they have finished work well in advance of the others?

[tricot39]

DS is in Y1 and tends to finish his classwork quickly and pesters his teacher for computer time. We have done a deal so that he gets computer/treat time at home if he does his work to take the pressure off her, but any ideas for how to keep him engaged? We are both struggling with it so it would be good to know how others approach this.....

His teacher should, in theory, have more work prepared for children who finish quickly. Is he finishing the work to the best of his ability or just rushing through it?

There is a good chance he is rushing

Dd only finishes maths early but the teacher always has 'challenges' available

All other subjects she is expected to and does extend herself by writing more, explaining more fully etc

There have been different answers for various times once any extension sheets have been done too, including help others, read, go back over and look for mistakes.

Currently DS has been assigned helping another boy in his class. The thing is DS is awful at explaining his thought processes. Sometimes he gets answer a minute or so ahead of me. I tell him no, then I calculate it and find out he's right. Then I ask him how he did it and he gives me an explanation that isn't logical. So, I feel a bit sorry for the other boy who is struggling anyway.

DD gets a challenge extension question when she has finished her work. Then, when she has finished that, she either reads or helps someone who is struggling with the task. She quite enjoys helping the others.

reading normally. sometimes helping others. complains a lot about work being far too easy even when the teacher makes it harder.

DD complains about that, too.

I think it is a shame they never actually seem to find out what the capabilities are of the top children. I mean the others at some point find the work challenging therefore the staff can find out where they are working at but the top children do what they are asked to, then do more than that but noone ever finds out the level they really are capable of.

I worked with a fantastic teacher who prepared more challenging maths just for two chn who were streaks ahead of the rest. Once the class got going she would regularly give these two extra input too so that, along with the extra challenge, they rarely finished early.

Chat with friends, tell them the answers, chat some more, get asked more questions what the answer is, chat some more, read if supposed to be quiet, draw something cute, daydream, mess about if bored.

Mine just reads; I suspect he learns more that way :)

Mine gets sent to play, even though they've asked for more work. I am starting to get more than a little frustrated with it all!

That sounds like really poor differentiation in the classroom. My DD is given more difficult work than others to start with and then always has extension challenges which are seldom simply more questions but instead are investigative maths, in writing, she simply has different targets for what she needs to show in a piece of work. So no question of her simply finishing and twiddling her thumbs...makes me realise how lucky we are with the teachers at the (state) school she attends.

In dd class the more able children are used as peer tutors. The school tells me that children learn a lot from peer tutoring, but I think it's a cop out.

ReallyTired, you're right. Research shows that peer tutoring has no academic benefits at all for the tutors, and only a limited amount for the tutees.

Encouraged to write more/read a story book (rather than non-fiction), do a maths 'puzzle'. Occasionally colouring in and chatting to best friend (more usually listening to best friend and sometimes getting a word in edgeways).

Peer tutoring benefits DD (as tutor) because it teaches her how to be patient with people who aren't as quick as she is and how to distill concepts down to basics. I work in a cerebral esoteric area & we often struggle with how to effectively communicate our technical work and plans to Jo Public (the comms are a requirement of the funding).

Peer tutoring problem has social benefits for the peer tutor, but does not enchance knowledge in a subject. It can be a cop out for not providing proper extension work.

Definitely cop-out, attracts bullies more than buddies, until possibly sixth form. Kids all know where they are in pecking order, and academic is not the prime order, whether they span the full 'ability' spectrum or inhabit the top 10, etc%. DC found it better all round to avoid academic discourse from nursery to KS5. Communication is only effective and valued when relevant. What's relevant to kids is hardly ever not always what adults intend. At sixth form, some really good friendships were made from shared learning journeys.

DC did not turn their backs on learning just because they were seen sometimes as weird different and other times as handy to use helpful in group tasks with a shared end-prize. I think it's essential that they have it drummed in from home know that each person is valued in their own way, and exceptions are mostly because we haven't worked it out yet; self esteem being the first step to mutual respect.

Learning to tolerate boredom in a false setting, and that conformity is required in most places is not, even when it feels like, the end of the world. My other indoctrination mantra is that unsociable behaviour in class is the resort of the deficient. Better to go somewhere else, and after school days there'll be few chances to day-dream and pursue interests in your mind on a daily basis, while presenting a calm, pleasant countenance to the world. Covert day-dreaming is a wonderful pursuit, an indispensable part of the toolkit for boardrooms and other such places.

Yes, that works for some children. Unfortunately DD developed such a preference for her internal world that she stopped listening or doing any work at all, and it has taken more than a year in a different school to undo that lesson. And some children do turn their backs on learning, they all react in different ways to the extent that it's impossible to generalise.

I agree about knowing that everyone is valued, that mutual respect is essential, but not about conformity. My take on that is that some places require conformity and if you want to take part, then you will need to conform. But there are always other places to go, and if conforming is depressing you or forcing you to be untrue to yourself, then it's not worth it.

tenderbuttons it's good that your DD is in a positive place now. I think what most of us realize is that being an outlier, in any sense, is difficult. Especially around 8-11, even up to sixth form, when their attributes can seem more burden than gift.

I agree with you that DCs need to know themselves. Our working principle is that you alone own what you think, and it's simpler to behave in a way that honours your values and is also acceptable. It doesn't make them less passionate, less sensitive, but they are more able to direct their energies and avoid fruitless engagements. If isolated issues add up to an intolerable situation, then leaving is a no-brainer; we and many other friends in similar situations have changed schools. We all got better at choosing, and can laugh at the less good times.

It's a bit chicken and egg - is he rushing through his work because he may get computer time? I personally wouldn't like that option, I would prefer if he'd get extension work and/or learn to revise his own work. DS (now in y3) gets extension with many pieces of work they do at school, and if he finishes early sometimes he gets extra playtime indoors or outdoors, sometimes he might go to the school library, sometimes he goes in the year above, sometimes he will be paired with a child who struggles in his class. He is sometimes sent into y1 to help the younger children with their reading. Sometimes he is left to do a project on his own, of his choice (he usually chooses to design a new car or airplane). All of that is fine with me as long as he gets a say in what he wants to do and it's not all 'work work work'.

I agree about not giving treats to those finished early as it does encourage rushing the work to get to the treats.

What's so wrong with saying to the children that work is the only available activity between these times, then set a reasonable amount of work and make any children who drag their feet over it, do it later (with support if they need it)?

Then if G&T children are finishing early, give them something harder on the same topic to work through (and teachers should ask themselves whether the original work is not too easy for the G&T children if this keeps happening!)

Is this not common sense?

I didn't have much of a clue about what whizzy DD was doing in class in KS1. At that age when she came home she only wanted to talk about social stuff e.g. tell me something "was so much fun!" or that "Molly was mean!".

But she's in Y7 now and one of her recurrent cheerful stories is about life on the maths top-set top-table and how she keeps having to tell one of the others (two boys) to "slow down and write things down properly!". They're roughly equivalent in a bit of a league of their own, but Little Miss Maternal out-performed them in the last serious assessment and I expect that was simply because of her more measured approach.

It's difficult to judge without being there, but children do like their races and it's probably worth trying to keep any rushing in check because although it might work now (all their whizzy answers are good), the habit can start to hinder them further down the line.

Alternatively if it's much more a case of "pipsqueak" work, then when a younger DD finished early she typically did more maths etc. on the computer. Most of the time that was both educational and one of her "fun" things.