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.