Forms & Information

Parents’ Guide (interactive version)

Parents’ Guide (pdf file)

Background information about the Guides and detailed directions

This version of the Guide enables parents to participate in and understand the process of differentiating curriculum for their daughter or son.  Their participation becomes a necessity rather than a courtesy when:

• it is too early in the year for the teacher to feel comfortable interpreting the student’s behaviour;
• the teacher is unfamiliar with the appearance of the Brilliant Behaviours in the student’s area of strength;
• the teacher is unfamiliar with the cultural manifestations of a student’s Brilliant Behaviours;
• the student is unwilling to self-assess;
• the student is unable to self-assess due to linguistic or cultural differences; or
• the teacher and parent(s) differ in their opinions of the student’s needs.

In these cases the parents’ contributions are invaluable. Their input can be blended with student’s self-assessments or teacher’s observations, or they can be substituted for the teachers input in the ways suggested for the teachers’ form. The mysteries of their daughter’s or son’s potential and the school’s efforts to challenge the child will be reduced if the process is transparent and open.

Parents can use the Guide at home to find ways to select and design powerful home-schooling or out-of-school activities. They need to be aware of all aspects of the observation process.

Directions

1. Print a copy of the Brilliant Behaviours to record the behaviours your child demonstrates.  Use either an individual checklist or a copy of the Guide.
2. Record the information required information about your child and activity or activities you’ll be observing at the top of the form.
3. Observe while she or he is engaged in a challenging activity in an area of strength or interest. Click here to see a description of suitable activities.
4. Put a check to the left of each Behaviour she or he demonstrates frequently, intensely and consistently.
5. If the Guide is completed online, it will complete steps 6 to 9 automatically.   Complete steps 6 to 9 only if the print version is being used.
6. Highlight the row of “X’s” beside any behaviour you checked.
7. Count the number of highlighted X’s in each column. Write the “Total X’s highlighted in each column” in the empty box at the bottom, in the row with that label.
8. Compare the “Number of X’s highlighted” to the “Number of X’s in the column”.
9. Put an “X” beneath the 3, 4 or 5 columns with the greatest proportion of the X’s highlighted.  These are the differentiation strategies (types of differentiation to emphasize for this student when she or he is working in this area of strength or interest.
10. Read the definitions for each of the strategies recommended by the Guide.  Do they seem appropriate for your son or daughter?
    •  If a print version of the Guide is used, the definitions are provided on the back of the form.
    • If the Guide is completed online, the definition of each strategy will appear when the cursor rests on it.

    Share the result with your daughter or son, and teachers who will be able to integrate the recommended differentiation strategies in their plans for her or him.  Those teachers may also be interested in seeing the Guide if they are not aware of it.