Why would my A B grades DD do so bad in Judaics

amother

Babyblue

Tue, Dec 29 2020, 12:48 pm

If she is having trouble with memorization, it might help to make it more of a game. My first grader tells us that her teachers play games and sing songs to memorize shorashim, prefixes, and suffixes in Hebrew. One game she mentioned was a version of the card game "go fish" and I think another might be a version of dominoes. Your DD is older, so maybe her teachers don't see a need for that in class, but it might help at home.

paperflowers

Tue, Dec 29 2020, 3:07 pm

As students get older, Chumash and Navi are not tested the same way they are taught. In younger grades, there are songs and worksheets with al mi ne'emars and the tests are basically pulled from the worksheets. In older grades, good teachers want to impart important life lessons in class, but the tests are still the same rote, memorization based worksheets, just even more detailed. So a student, especially a bright one with ADHD, might think they understand the material (because they do!) and then fail the test. Students who are don't have ADHD might realize to tailor their studying style to the test, and students who are not as bright might not even think to study in a conceptual way because they are used to studying by rote and it's easier for them, but a bright student with ADHD is just sunk.

I'm not good at memorizing and the main aides teachers use, songs and hints, weren't so helpful for me because I don't have great auditory memory and the silly hints they used lacked any context. But if I understand something I will remember it and if I don't remember it I can figure it out. Unfortunately I didn't figure this out until 12th grade.

Since your daughter is good at spelling and has trouble in math, probably language is not the main issue (but can play into it) but the persistence needed to memorize and understand entire chapters in a foreign language.

So how to help her focus in class and study effectively at home? First, you asked about medication. Since she is already a hard worker it may be what she needs, but first get her a thorough psych eval.

Second, make studying more engaging, perhaps by studying with a friend or a tutor. Depending on her current level of understanding, she might do well with teaching the material to a friend with weaker skills. That will help with making meaning. Another idea, that she should be doing if she isn't already, is to make practice tests for herself to study from. If she is so inclined, she can make up songs which include both the meaning and the al mi ne'emars. If she likes to draw, have her draw things out, and include the shorashim in the drawings.

For dikduk, can you find a Hebrew translation of a book she likes and read it with her? I will say, when I was younger I had a hard time with dikduk, and in some point in high school it clicked and got really easy for me.

One last point, I wouldn't hide her report card from her.