May 10, 2007 2:28 PM
So what do you do? You have a school full of overachievers, gifted and talented kids who hardly need the 37.5 minutes of extended time for remedial work and tutoring in order to prep for high-stakes tests.
If you’re lucky enough to work in IS 187 in Brooklyn, you use that time to engage the kids in some truly creative activities, like Spanish cooking, for example, or silk painting, drama, calligraphy, CPR, sculpture and many others. As the story on page 48 explains, administrators and educators at that school have gotten together to give the kids a marvelous menu of sometimes offbeat, always interesting classes that make the kids look forward to coming to school every day.
In the present high-pressure atmosphere of high-stakes tests, it’s hard enough for schools to offer extra classes, classes that help kids develop into well-rounded individuals, that spark kids’ imaginations, enrich their lives and stimulate a desire for learning. It’s even more difficult to have meaningful programs for gifted and talented kids. Yet the staff at IS 187 has managed to do just that.
But this is an achievement that is worthy of emulation in more ways than one. Because without a principal who believes in collaboration, asks educators for their ideas and actually listens to them, such an innovative program could never have taken flight.
Kudos to Principal Justin Berman and to the staff at IS 187. For the sake of all the kids in our school system, we hope your approach is imitated all over.