A great part of my job is reading applications, and creating and emailing personal invitations to the programs. This year, our team working in gifted education decided to have two deadlines for programs, instead of having them staggered throughout the year. We are hoping to make it less onerous for the teachers who have to fill out application after application on behalf of students.
So, what I received in late October, were hundreds of applications for programs. I have been working on sorting through them, and letting schools know whether or not students have been accepted. I have done that for the following programs: Images of Greatness which I am teaching right now, and the next two programs: Debating 7 and Debating 6.
Later this week, I am working on getting out the invitations for "Creative Think Tank", and next week, "Notable Novels". Finally, in December, I will be sending out invitations for "Mind Your Math" and "Engineering".
So, if you are a teacher at a school and you haven't heard back from me, keep in mind that I haven't figured out all of the class placements yet. However, if you submitted an application for Debating and Images of Greatness, and you haven't heard, then your student(s) didn't get in.
New this year: due to the time constraints, I won't be able to send out individual waitlist letters. So if you haven't heard by the time the program rolls around, then your student(s) did not get in.
Instead, I am going to send out summary letters to each school at the end of the year, listing who received a program and who did not. This will show you how we serviced students from your school, and you will be able to use it in the following year to figure out who to recommend for programs.
I hope this helps...if you need more clarification, you can call or email me. Thanks again, teachers, for your timely response to deadlines!
Working with a new group of Grade 6 and 7 students on Images of Greatness; we are looking at leadership, eminence, and studying some interesting people and the contributions they have made to society. We are learning from the masters, and applying these lessons to our own understanding of leadership.
The students are involved in research and are putting their ideas together. It is amazing how comfortable they are researching on line and brining in portable devices such as iphones and iPads and laptops to do their research.
We've had lots of class discussion on how to do effective research on-line. Although not new to this area, what is new is how I frame it for students. I have been using Internet Literacy in the Classroom
This resource has been helpful in identifying better ways to use google, and how to check websites for accuracy, and how to verify evidence. As well, this resource shows how to cite websites.
I am sure there are many other resources out there, and if you know of any, plese let me know! Happy researching, everyone!
Recently, I worked with a wonderful colleague teaching a program called "The Amazing Brain". In this program, we brought 19 students together to learn about the brain, and how we think. Our goal was to have the students learn about their thinking, how their brain works, and to help write their own Individual Education Plans. We asked ourselves the following guiding questions in our planning: - How can we make students more autonomous and responsible for their own learning?
- How can we empower them to direct their own learning?
One of our activities was to get them to think about what their own thinking would look like. My colleague asked this question of the students, and then has them draw, diagram, and collage what this looks like. This is a wonderful process to engage in, and gets the students to think about their thinking - a great way to engage in metacognitive processes. We should all think about how we think and what that would look like.
So I asked my 11 year old son, "What does your thinking look like?""My mind is separated into different sections. It is a city in my mind, with different ideas. Two cities, actually: one is my school and my Need City, for learning, and then there is my Enjoy city, the buildings there are about what I like to do in my spare time. Reading, which I like to do is in my Needs City, although I use it for enjoyment as well.
What does it look like?
"A city; a neon city, not like New York, but tall buildings made of light and different colours. The colours are compatible; red and green are together; like the colour wheel, complementing each other".
What does your thinking look like? I think this is such a great way to engage learners and to get them to conceptualize how they think. Is your thinking like a city, or a highway? Does it involve colour or is it black and white? It is organized or compartmentalized? The wonderful thing is that there is no right answer, but only insight into how we conceptualize our thinking worlds.
I am working with a group of grade five students and we are engaged in a book club. We meet once per week for 45 minutes, and we discuss novels. I assign a book, they read up to a certain chapter, and we discuss.
I came to the process with clear guidelines, but what I am enjoying most is having these seven students talk about each book. They discuss whether or not they like the characters, what they found moving, or disturbing, or enjoyable. I lead the conversation with questions, and I keep them on track, but they love to share their opinions and ideas.I assigned them the Garbage King by Elizabeth Laird, first, because it is such a great novel to talk about human rights and how kids may live in a different part of the world. Even though the novel has its dark parts, it also has a good ending, which the students really like. The main character is essentially sold into slavery, and escapes to live on the streets in Ethiopia. A really fantastic story.The next book I assigned was The Giver by Lois Lowry: a classic novel about a world that is very different from ours as well; a completely controlled society. This group did not like the novel. I thought that they would enjoy how different it was from "The Garbage King", but they expressed to me that they didn't like the ending...it was vague and open ended and it was up to the reader to interpret what happens to the main character.
The next book we are reading is "Out of My Mind" by Sharon Drapper; a favourite book of mine. I think the group is eager to read this, and I am looking forward to their ideas and what they felt about the book. Finally, I am ending with an entertaining book, with a great story, "Holes" by Louis Sachar. I think they will like the story and how it has a happy ending!
Once we read all four books (before Christmas), I will work with the students on completing a project based on the books. We are deciding this collaboratively. I am having a wonderful time reading, sharing, and inspiring these fantastic readers.
After a long break from blogging, I am back to it. It has been a really busy month and I just haven't been able to get to my computer, or find the necessary down time to focus.
Our VSB gifted programs are underway, and the next month will be busy with two programs: "Images of Greatness" and "The Great Debate".
Thank you for all of the schools who sent in their referrals for term one. To stream-line the process, we have two due dates this year for programs: Oct. 26th and Jan. 23rd. Over the last two weeks, I have been trying to place students in programs, send out invitations, and do all the paperwork involved in having students attend our programs. We are working on a way to stream-line this process. It seems like such an ancient process to have teachers fill out paper documents and then mail them to us; I hope that we can get this process on line and be paper-less in the future...I really want this to happen.
Finally, I have just sent out the invitations to "Images of Greatness". I am looking forward to working with students next week and I encourage them to start thinking about leadership and people who have made contributions to our society.
Students, see you next week!!!
We have had a busy month back to school. What a beautiful month it has been, not only in terms of weather in Vancouver, but in terms of the fantastic start to the school year! As well as giving workshops for Resource Teachers, we have finalized our programs, and there is one in particular that I would like to share.
In October, we are offering a special program for Grade 6/7 students who have an IEP. Students will learn about the brain anatomy, cognition, memory, and meta-cognitive strategies to help understand themselves as learners. Students will work on developing criteria and learning objectives for their own IEP, and will be able to contribute to the IEP writing process. The goal is for these middle school age learners to become more powerful in their learning, and to be advocates for themselves. We want students to think: how do I learn best? What are my strengths? How can I work through my challenges?
Student need to have a "P" (gifted) or a "PQ" (gifted and learning disabled) designation to be eligible for this program.
Applications are through the school level; meaning that the schools fill out the application on behalf of the students. If you need more information about this program, please contact me and I will let you know the process.
I am offering some new programs this year. Here is a run down of the 14 programs:
1. Sept. 19, 20, 25, 26/ 2012: Write On Gr. 6/7: students were selected from the wait-list the previous year.
2. Oct. 16, 17, 23, 24/ 2012: Amazing Brain Gr. 6/7: for students with IEP's and a Gifted "P" designation.
3. Nov. 13, 14, 20, 21/ 2012: Images of Greatness Gr. 6/7: for students wanting to choose an eminent person to study; for those interested in leadership.
4. Nov. 27, 28, Dec. 4, 5/ 2012: The Great Debate Gr. 6/7: a program for the articulate and thoughtful student who wants to refine and build upon their debating skills in a team format.
5. Dec. 10, 11, 12, 13/2012: Creative Think Tank Gr. 3: a program for students who like to think and have lots of ideas; here they will develop, refine, and learn new thinking strategies and skills.
6. Jan. 9, Feb. 25, April 17, May 29/2012: Notable Novels Gr. 5: a book club designed for the avid reader who needs to be extended and encouraged with their tremendous reading potential.
7. Jan. 15, 16, 22, 23/ 2013: Mind Your Math Gr. 4/5: for budding mathematicians who are interested in problem solving and in learning about famous mathematicians and their theories.
8. Feb. 12, 13, 19, 20/2013: Engineering Gr. 5/6: Students will learn about design, engineering principles, and create structures, and build bridges.
9. March 5,6 12, 13/ 2013: The Write Stuff Gr. 4/5: this is a writing program designed for the avid and passionate writer who needs to extend and learn about narrative writing techniques in a focused format.
10. April 8, 9, 15, 15/ 2013: Engineering Gr. 3/4: a program for the younger engineer who enjoys building and designing and wants to learn the principles behind structures such as force and tension.
11. April 22, 23, 29, 30/ 2013: Animalia Gr. 3/4: a program for the budding zoologist who wants to apply his or her knowledge about animals and biology to creating their own biome and uniquely adapted creature.
12. May 6, 7, 8/ 2013: Design Your Own Universe Gr. 2: students who are creative and enjoy thinking about their own civilizations and designing their own worlds.
13. May 13, 14, 15/ 2013: Gizmos and Gadgets Gr. 2: for the young scientist who enjoys building, learning about famous scientists, and creating their own contraptions.
14. May 27, 28/ 2013: Fairy Tale Adventures Gr. 1: a program for the writers and artists who enjoy creating stories and sharing them with others.
