Discussion Board Assignment Reflection

Browsing the discussion boards on Teachers.net this semester proved to be an interesting experience and yielded some unexpected revelations. Posts from teachers, gifted coordinators, special education educators, and parents all show different perspectives and concerns in the field of gifted education and it was interesting to consider the points of view in the questions and responses to the threads. The assignment as a whole was a valuable exploration of concerns and topics in gifted education and completing the weekly reading provided me with new ideas, insights, and questions to investigate.

As I look back to the threads I read and responded to, I think the most important insight gained from this experience was the sense of I was not alone in my feelings when it comes to gifted education. As a new teacher, before taking this course I was using my best judgment and available resources to try and provide for my gifted students. Without undergrad courses, district training, and a gifted coordinator that is shared between many schools, I was in a position of not really knowing what strategies to use to benefit my students. By reading the weekly posts I realized that this was not a personal deficiency, nor was my school district the only one who did not provide, in my mind, adequate gifted education training. Classroom teachers and educators, both new and experienced, ask for advice and complain about not having available resources. After realizing this, my confidence was boosted and I didn’t feel that I was alone in this search for valuable strategies.

This experience has also opened my eyes to just how many parents and teachers really do not have any knowledge about gifted students and many times do not understand the characteristics that are often found in gifted children. This obvious lack of education made me think about my own district and how communication with parents is handled when it comes to the gifted program. Do parents know why their child was selected? Or why they were not selected for the program? Do parents understand the evaluation tools used to choose students for the gifted program? Do teachers? Do parents understand that if you are gifted, you are not necessarily gifted in all areas? These major questions seemed to be the topics of many posts throughout the weeks. How can we find an effective way to point parents in the right direction when it comes to identifying their gifted children and insuring they are provided with the proper services? How can we provide training to teachers to provide them with the appropriate and constructive strategies to help them teach their gifted students? Obviously the subject of funding is an issue but school districts need to find a way to effectively communicate this information.

The discussion boards also provided me with an avenue to browse projects done by other teachers of gifted students. Ideas, writing prompts, games, and projects are shared on the discussion board and even if you do not take an idea or project as a whole, something simple can spark your imagination and turn into something wonderful. I truly enjoy sharing with other teachers and plan on continuing to check the discussion boards in the future for new and exciting ideas.

The world isn’t flat but it is a lot smaller than we think! By having digital meeting places to collaborate with teachers and parents across the country, we as educators are gaining new insight and raising questions that need to be addressed. Communicating with parents, teachers, and educators on a digital meeting place does not just benefit teachers with new ideas and parents with answers, but it ultimately takes small steps in making school a better place for gifted students. I definitely would recommend this activity to other university students and coworkers and know that if more teachers collaborated and communicated on these type of websites we would definitely be positively impacting the future of gifted education.

Online Community Reflection

Very interesting post on the Teachers.net gifted/talented chatboard...

Someone posted a thread noting the inactivity of the discussion board lately. I myself, was wondering why there were few posts in past weeks. The thread was answered by a teacher who responded that she stopped posting due to "negative nellies" - teachers who are negative about children and their professions. The second reason she gave was because... "Too many parent were using this as place to either complain about why their child didn't make it into the gifted program or how their gifted program didn't do enough for their child. While I sympathize with their situations, this is a TEACHERS board."

Yes the board is on a website called teachers.net but it does not require a special log in and anyone can view or respond to posts. Aren't parents a vital part of the education equation? When communication lines are cut either at schools, in classrooms, or even on this discussion board, children suffer the consequences. I do understand that many parents are upset when their child isn't accepted into a gifted program but I think that these feelings are due to the parents not being educated about the subject. Sometimes I think parents feel that if their child isn't gifted, they aren't smart, which is obviously not the case. I think that teacher discussion boards are a great way for parents to get feedback and advice from professionals without worrying about the educational or social repercussions for their children. Uninformed or not, I applaud the parents who are reaching out and trying to gather more information to benefit their child, gifted or not gifted.

Online Community Reflection

The posting I read last week had to do with a teacher asking for advice about a new gifted program at the school. Instead of a pull-out program, the school was contemplating a program where there would be a push-in program for language arts and math. The people who posted in response to this posting were concerned about issues such as the needs of musically and artistically gifted being ignored, twice exceptional students not being challenged properly, and other students being left out. I think that schools need to realize that "one size doesn't fit all" when it comes to gifted students. Many students are high acheivers and are not truly gifted. We also have discussed in class that a student labeled "gifted" because of test scores may be identified in one district but not another. I think that many gifted programs focus on math and english because those are the subjects that are tested by state achievement tests. Often students who are emotionally, musically, or artisitcally gifted are not having their needs met.

Online Community Reflection

This week on Teachers.net I read a post from a teacher who is at a school where the junior high / high school gifted program is in jeopardy of being cut. At this school, gifted classes are an elective and gifted students are forced to choose between attending a class with their gifted peers or being involved in activities such as band or drama. I guess because I teach at the elementary level, I really never thought about this. Thinking back to my own experience, after 8th grade there were no "gifted classes" I was pulled out for at the high school. I suppose someone could argue that A.P. and Honors classes are differentiated but I believe that gifted students should be able to attend a class that challenges their critical thinking skills and helps them develop socially. I think that it is a shame that the gifted program at this teacher's school is being threatened. This corresponds with the myth that gifted students don't really need extra attention. It is truly the opposite!

Every Teacher Should View This Video!

Multiple Intelligences Tests

This is a great tool for kids to use to measure their multiple intelligences!
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/questions/choose_lang.cfm

Working more on my portfolio

I have been working more on my portfolio, creating a differentiated technology unit on the "History of Chocolate" and creating a differentiating matrix for an upcoming science unit. I have found many of the forms and organizational tools in the textbooks to be very useful and have adapted a few for my own use. I also finished my annoatated bibliography, and added it to my portfolio.

Week Seven - Online Community Post

This week in the Gifted And Talented Education discussion board, there was a post from a concerned mother whose 3rd grade son is going through an evaluation process at his school. The mother was told that her son is extrememly high in emotional intelligence and the school psychologist commented that she "has never seen anything like it inside a child". The boy also tested high average in language and verbal IQ, but his spacial intelligence was average, but his auitory memory skills show some weakness. The school is still going through the data but is very concerened about this findings and was asking for advice to what these findings indicate. The mother seems to have no background knowledge on the subject and the school seems not to have given her any information to what the tests results mean. As a teacher, I really do not think that this is the way to go about evaluating the student. I am not sure why the keep parents in the dark for what the school is actually looking for. Are they afraid if they mention the word "gifted" than if the test results do not show that the student is than the parent will throw a fit? Is it easier to test first and explain later? Obviously this mother is concerned and must not have gotten the information she needed from the school (otherwise, why would she be posting on a discussion board). The mother herself has not researched the topic and even if her child is found to be gifted, does not know his rights at school.

So what is the solution to this mother's predicament? EDUCATION! Yes, the school should offer her more information during the evaluation process but by visiting a few gifted websites (NAGC, Hoagies' Gifted) or researching at the library, the mother could easily find some information that would explain to her the asynchrony found in gifted students and she would reailze that her child does not need to be gifted "across the board". Schools and parents have to work together, be educated on the characteristics of gifted, and must cooperate for the best interest of the child.

Week Six - Online Community Reflection

This week I went back to the GATE discussion board on teachers.net and read an interesting post from a teacher titled, "How Can I Help This Student"? The post was from a gifted teacher who had a challenging child in her classroom. She described the child as "immature", "hyper", with frequent outbursts, and constantly off-task. She also went on to say that he was a creative thinker but she did not think he "understood himself." I thought this was a great example of the asynchrony that is often found in gifted students. I don't believe that many teachers even realize that this exists is gifted students.

Multiple Intelligences for Kids

Want a cool way to teach kids about multiple intelligences and different ways that people can be smart? Check out this website. Each alien represents a different intelligence. Which alien are you like? This website is a great way to teach kids that they can be smart in different ways!


http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/techknowpark/LoopCoaster/eSmartz2.html

Amazing Video

I love this video! What an inspriation to anyone who works with children.

The Story of the Zax

I found this video while researching for my annotated bibliography project. The video is an old Dr. Seuss video titled "The Zax" and its underlying message relates to resistance to change. After watching the video, I thought about how the video relates to differentiation - the newest buzzword in education and the direction where education is going. Some teachers are very resistant to this new type of teaching and I think "The Zax" offers a humorous, yet eye opening reality that if you refuse to change, the world will still change around you.

2/18 Class Reflection

At our last class, we watched a video on differentiation. This video was the best video I have viewed on the topic. My school district has an account with a professional development website called "PD360". The website offers videos on a variety of topics and is vey useful for finding inforamtion and strategies. One downside to PD360 is that the videos often feature classrooms that are much different than the classrooms in our school. I remember one specific video about differentiation that showed a classroom with only about 15 students in it and the classroom was HUGE! I have 25 students in my classroom and not much space so it was a little frustrating watching the video showing how much success this teacher had in diffenentiating. With only 15 students and that size classroom, differentiating and centers would be no problem! This is why I really enjoyed the video shown at class. The video featured an English classroom with a "normal" amount of students and restricted space.

Online Community Reflection

This week I went back to looking at the posts in the Gifted and Talented Education discussion boards on Teachers.net. I read some recent posts from teachers trying to find ideas and materials for their gifted students. I love the idea of exchanging ideas but think it is unfortunate that many teachers, including myself, lack the "budget" to provide differentiation for gifted students in the classroom. I have found something that works for me in my building - I ask other teachers to borrow things. For example, on Thursday for Valentine's Day, I taught a lesson on the human heart (I cannot justify watching movies and playing games for an entire day - I have to do something educational!). I asked around and ended up borrowing a model of the human heart from a 6th grade teacher and some stethoscopes from a 5th grade teacher. After the lesson my gifted students wanted to examine the heart model and found some challenging books in my classroom library about the human body. They worked in a small group at creating a model of the heart on paper and shared their work with the class.

I enjoy browsing the discussion board because I have found a few great ideas from reading posts. It also makes me feel better that teachers all over the country have similar struggles in their classrooms.

Differentiated Portfolio Assessment

I started working on another piece of my portfolio last weekend - a differentiated, muliple-intelligence, portfolio assessment. I wanted to create something that I could actually use in the next few weeks so I could reflect on the experience before the end of my class. I chose to create a portfolio assessment for the current science chapter. The topic of the chapter is "Earth Science" - volcanoes, erosion, types of rocks, soil, etc.

I took a look at the state standards for science and created activties that both proved that the student had mastered the concepts but at the same time could be presented in a variety of ways.

Online Learning Environment for Gifted Students

After attending the NICE (Northern Illinois Computer Educators) conference yesterday, I am full of new ideas to use in my classroom! Today, I created an "online learning environment" for my gifted students. It is connected to our classroom wiki. This virtual space is a place for me to post challenging tasks, open ended questions, and for my gifted students to collaborate with each other. My students are very interested in technology and I am excited to see how they react when introduced to the environment. They are "authors" of the space and can post their own comments, answers, and questions.

Week Three - Discussion Board Reflection

There wasn't much activity on the discussion board I have been following (GATE), so I decided to check out another one on Teachers.net. I started reading posts from the "NCLB" discussion board and found that there were many posts regarding NCLB and gifted students. One particular post was from a parent who obviously researched the legislation and realized that her gifted student was being "left behind" at their school. Another post I read was written by a teacher who was concerned that the curriculum had been "dumbed down" and that gifted students in their school were not being challenged. Many parents commenting on this topic state that they have to find extracurricular activities and other resources on their own to challenge their children. I applaud these parents for being involved, informed, and upset about how their children are being "left behind".

http://teachers.net/mentors/NCLB/

Classroom Grouping

After reading the chapter in Susan Winebrenner's "Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom", many questions that I had about classroom grouping were answered. The text made me think of my own classroom and how my students are grouped. At the beginning of the year, I had my gifted students broken up into seperate groups. I, like many other teachers, had learned about cooperative grouping and thought the best spot for these children were as the "leaders" of the group. It didn't take long to realize that this placement was not in the best interest of my gifted students. Some prefer to work alone, others took over the group, and others could not handle being in a group where the others students did not have the same knowledge of the subject as their own. About a month ago, I put my 5 gifted students into their own group. There are a total of 5 groups in my classroom and the other 4 are made out of cooperative learning groups. I find having my gifted students in the same group makes it easier to organize differentiated instruction, makes it possible for these students to be working on different assignments, and allows them to work with other students that are similar to themselves. I have seen a decrease in behavior problems and off task behaviors from these students. After reading the Winebrenner text this week I felt cofident about my previous decision about where to seat my gifted students. They work well as a group and have the option of working alone if they choose. The students do move around the room and work with different students during the day, when appropriate. I think that this chapter should be read by all classroom teachers - I'm sure many have been taught about cooperative learning groups and do not realize that this can be detrimental to gifted students.

GATE Discussion Board Reflection

http://teachers.net/mentors/GATE/

On the discussion board this week I read posts related to "Resistant Teachers/Administrators". The person who posted the initial thread was assigned to a school district as the gifted coordinator. Not wanting to have a "pull out" program, the coordinator wanted to go into classrooms and offer assistance with differentiation. They are experiencing resistant, negative attitudes, and in my opinion, very unprofessional behavior. This educator seemed frustrated, low on resources, and desperate.

I also read some of the suggestions other educators had for this coordinator. Some suggested sending gifted students during math to the next grade level for more challenging curriculum. Others suggested the coordinator focus all their efforts on one school at a time instead of trying to spread themselves out throughout an entire district.

I could totally relate to this coordinator. As a new educator, I think my biggest challenge is dealing with negativity at school. Changing technology, grading procedures, differentiation in the classroom, RTI initiatives...there is a lot changing in education right now and I think because I am new to the profession and don't "know how things were...", I have an easier time adapting. Many teachers do not have an easy time adapting and incorporating these new teaching methods into their classrooms.

I think it is unfortunate that teachers in this coordinator's district are not taking advantage of a person who wants to come in and help differentiate instruction for gifted students. We have a pull-out program at our school. The students love going to their weekly "enrichment" but having someone who would come into the classroom to help with curriculum topics sounds like a great idea. I am going to keep watching this post to see if the coordinator found a resolution to their problem.

2nd Week Class Reflection

The first thing I have to comment about regarding the 2nd class is the video "How It Feels to Have a Stroke". The video was amazing to listen to and I was so impressed at Dr. Taylor's expertise in her scientific area, but more importantly, her talent as a story teller. Although we are not studying brain illnesses, we are learning about students and children with very different ways of thinking. Finding out how the brain works and the role of the two hemispheres really opens your eyes to how important differentiation is in the classroom for all children. I included a link to the video below. If anyone is studying education, gifted education, or just wants to view an amazing video, definitely watch it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU

The second thing I have been thinking about the characteristics of gifted students. We discussed the list of characteristics yesterday in class and looked at two different lists. At school today, I spoke with the gifted director and shared the lists with her. It was great talking to a professional at school about the characteristics and listen to her opinion. She gave me a copy of the "report card" she fills out for the gifted students twice a year, evaluating their criticial thinking, social, and other skills.

I have also been working more on my final project - I have found so many websites with interesting and insightful information. I have decided to compile my portfolio as a digital file and have been making a list of things I want to create and include.

Week One Readings

I finished my readings for this week and especially liked the Kingore text. The "Elements of Differentiation" from Kingore was especially useful at focusing on the specific components of differentiation. I also really liked the discussion about the value of portfolios in gifted education - or just education in general. I am looking forward to reading more about and discussing portfolios in class and in my readings. Chapter 4 in Kingore was also very interesting as I learned the difference among "High Achievers", "Gifted Learners", and "Creative Thinkers". I enjoyed the Tolimson reading, especially the "portraits" of classrooms. I am excited to critique and change my own teaching style and practices to better provide for gifted students in my classroom.

I also started working on my major project this weekend and found a lot of websites to read and explore. I spent a long time going through the websites and found ones I really enjoyed 'surfing'. I also began thinking about items I can include in my portfolio.

Teachers.Net GATE Chatboard

Today was the first day of checking out the chatboard at Teachers.Net - http://teachers.net/mentors/GATE/

As I was browsing through some of the postings, I found a posting that was producing some interesting diologue. The 1/11/09 posting from "confused" titled "Have Any of You Run Into This?" brought up some interesting topics. The first thing I noticed was the all to familiar confusion of a new teacher who is being told what she has to do without guidance of how to implement it. Being a new teacher, I am often overwhelmed with the never ending list of tasks that thrown my way during the school year. This specific posting was about a teacher who taught gifted junior high students who were pulled out of their core reading class to attend a gifted class. In fear of the students not performing well on state tests, the administration told the teacher she must add reading, comprehension, and vocabulary into her lessons, in order to prepare her students for state tests. The teacher seemed very confused and frustrated, and from what I read, had no materials given to her to help her with this task.

Bringing this topic into a regular classroom, I have witnessed and experienced the lack of materials and resources for gifted children in a school. This posting reall brought to light the fact that gifted students are not always viewed as "special education students" and teachers and administrators often do not worry about their "education plan" because they test well. Classroom lessons and school programs (at least in my district) are focused on students with learning disabilities, reading difficulties, and other things of that nature. There are many staff members, special programs, special classes, and accomodations done in the classroom to ensure this population's "success". For gifted students, however, there is a once-a-week, 40 minute class, and no support for teachers differentating instruction (or attempting to) for these students in the regular classroom.

First Night of Class Reflection

Last night was the first night of class at Northeastern.  Despite having to walk in the bitter cold, the first night of class was interesting and I am excited to embark on my journey of learning how to differentiate my classroom for gifted students.  I am intrigued by the assignments for this class and have started to think about what I can make and collect for my portfolio and who I will interview at school.  I am planning on asking some veteran teachers if I can observe in their classrooms.  This is my 2nd year teaching and although being a brand new teacher has its perks, (enthusiasm, energy, new ideas, integrating technology), I know I lack the expertise of seasoned professionals.  I think that observing teachers at my school this year is a wonderful opportunity, even more important because 5 will be retiring at the end of the school year.