I am excited to announce that I am going back to the classroom as a Grade 4/5 Teacher! I will be working Tuesday-Friday in a school close to home. I don't think that I could be more happy to finally be working with students again. I have changed the URL of this blog from "teaching gifted.blogspot.com" to "teachingbrightlights.blogspot.com. I didn't want to abandon the blog, but move it in a new direction, towards a focus on all learners, not just the gifted. I have struggled with the current apathy in gifted education. In the 1990's, when I began my teaching career, there were so many gifted programs, and support, and over the course of the last 25 years, I have seen a gradual decline in servicing gifted students, apathy with the term "gifted", and a general attitude that what is "good for the gifted is good for all students". The longer I stayed in gifted, the more if felt like a dinosaur...not relevant. Our ways of thinking about learning, about talent, about neuro-plasticity and the brain have changed our views on how we construct learning. Students are not longer "gifted" or "not". Our views on human development are so much broader (not that I don't support gifted - my passion will always be with the advanced learner)! In my last job as the mentor teacher in gifted, I felt even more removed from what was happening at the school level. I felt that unless I jumped ship, and returned to the classroom, I would never be able to go back and I would be too far removed from integrating technology in education, to working with 21st century learning skills. However, the irony is that the skills I have developed in working with gifted students over the course of the last 24 years is relevant to 21st century learning and the new BC Education Plan- a huge part of the document is taken from what we in gifted education have been doing for the last 50 years in education: inquiry based learning, self-direction, using higher level thinking skills and critical thinking, and finally, using creativity to direct our instruction. I feel so excited to be teaching the way I have always been teaching and to inspire children! So, I will continue using this blog as a platform for teachers, parents, and students to get ideas and inspiration, and to show my trials and tribulations as I move forward with 21st Century Learning. Welcome Back!
As we head back to school in a few days, I have had to think about the direction this blog, and ultimately, the direction I am taking in my career. In the fall, I left the Challenge Centre position I had held for 8 years, taking on a new role with the Vancouver School Board, as the District Mentor Teacher for Gifted Education. Although this job has been a wonderful learning opportunity for myself, I have missed teaching students. I have missed being in the classroom, and I have missed creating lesson plans, interacting with students, and being part of a school setting. So, I have decided to return to the classroom to be a teacher. I don't know where, what grade, or how I will be using my skills, however, I am so excited to actually have a class full of learners and to have a journey to embark upon. Although I have amassed a lifetime of knowledge and understanding about gifted students, I am honoured to now share this expertise with all learners. Even though I don't yet know where I will be, I am beginning to think of interesting ways to engage learners, organize my room, and be creative with students. So, I will continue to update this blog with what is going on with gifted learners until June. Although I do not know what the future will bring, I will keep you posted.
After a long break, I am returning, in a very new role with the Vancouver School Board. I am now the Mentor Teacher for Gifted. This is a new exciting role, and I am thrilled to be a part of team working with our gifted/advanced learners. Although I began the role in October of 2014, I have personally and professionally had little time to work on the development of this blog. After a long break, I am ready to return with a passion, not only for my work, but for sharing information with others.
Here is our latest newsletter sent out to schools, informing teachers and parents of our programs.
A great video about our ability to learn put forth by the Khan Academy
If you haven't been to the site of Khan Academy, you should! It is a great place to view videos about science and math topics. I use it to help my 12 year old review math concepts that he may have forgot or how to learn new concepts that aren't well explained in math text books. Job Action Update and the Challenge Centre: soon we will have our programs posted for the school year, and we will be sending out letters to schools informing them of class placements in our district programs. This will occur once we are back in school. Please understand that we will require some time to get the information out to schools, and your patience is appreciated. Enjoy the final days of our glorious summer!
The summer has been beautiful in Vancouver, and I hope that everyone has been enjoying the break. Three weeks until the school year begins ( I hope that we will be returning on schedule) and I am posting our tentative challenge centre programming for the 2014-15 school year:
In June, we began the process of casting students for programs, based on school need and a good fit between student strengths and programming options. Due to job action, we could not send out the information to schools, so hopefully we will be able to do this at the beginning of the school year. Therefore, we are hoping that schools will get the information about programming in the first few weeks of school. Fingers crossed we will be back!
