While working on a project, I was doing a little more research and saw this information. Choice is good…the right time, the right amount…the right guidance…
Short and sweet entry…but I couldn’t let this go without sharing!
Verbally Gifted…and the Implications
I never stop learning. Ever. I’m constantly searching for knowledge that feeds my drive to make sense of the world. In the classroom…I always search for something new to add to my practices, ideas, or content knowledge. As a parent, I’m constantly searching for ways to improve for my family. As an artist, my eyes are always keenly aware of the lines, angles, and circles…uh, ok. Not so much. But I do like to stand back and admire art.
In the field of gifted education, I learn something new every single day. With each child, each IEP, each teacher of the gifted, each Google search, each conversation, each parent concern, each obstacle…I learn.
This article gave my brain something to work with, and I thought it might be valuable for others, too. Remember to connect to the information and reflect on your practices and classroom. During reflection is when we start to make sense of it all. Ask yourself, how can what I’m learning in this article affect one thing or student in my class? Make a commitment. One small step at a time. The world is counting on us!
Letter About Socratic Seminar
This morning as I opened my email, this amazing letter appeared in my inbox. This year, one goal I’ve set for myself was to try to offer at least one professional development each month. These are posted on School Station, planned with cluster classrooms in mind, but include strategies that can be used for most students (with different end results). All teachers are welcome! The latest PD was about Socratic questioning.
Here’s a take-a-way:
Last week I decided to attempt the questioning technique for Socratic Seminar. I explained the procedure to the class and they were appropriately taken aback. It was quite cute to watch their faces process the assignment.
We were discussing the Harlem Renaissance and I simply asked them to discuss the main idea with supporting details because I felt inept at creating a decent question for this (Can you tell I felt just as nervous as the kids?).
For the first few minutes, they were climbing all over each other (verbally) and just asking question on top of question on top of question without responding to each others questions. So I paused the seminar and explained a little more about the questioning and how questioning builds knowledge. I explained they needed to attempt to answer each others questions with their questions and then it happened!
One of my students asked a question about why the African American’s were encouraged to move north. Instead of asking another question that wasn’t related to this one, one of my students answered with “Did the African American’s have a better life by moving north?”. This was small but POWERFUL. The students listened and suddenly they started responding with similar thoughts…giving answers to the questions being asked instead of just randomly asking questions. It was so much fun!
We tried it again another day and I could see the growth in just one attempt at this type of learning. It was really amazing to hear their little brains moving in a direction that truly shows critical thinking and critical discussion instead of surface talking.
Thank you for providing Professional Development that can be implemented the very next day in a classroom!
Thank you to this 5th grade teacher at OCE. For two reasons…stepping out of your box even when you’re not sure of the outcome and for the amazing feedback. I get to experience the joys of a classroom through your story! The strategy was to ask students to speak only in questions for 10 minutes. Each question had to guide thoughts that connected to the previous question…a connecting thought or the answer…but had to be a question. In our professional development, we were discussing ways to grow the students’ abilities to ask questions.
If you aren’t aware of the professional development opportunities, please check School Station. The next one is about concept mapping. It’s closed…but I’m sure we can squeeze in a few more! One isn’t posted yet (April 6th). This will be a collaborative effort with Shavon.
Check it out! And thanks for the email!
Self-Regulation.
Self-regulation is one’s ability to monitor his or her actions, behaviors, thoughts, or emotions and ability to adapt them in order to deal with a current situation. Of course, there’s a metacognitive (one of my favorite words) piece to self-regulation. The more a person has ownership of this process, the easier it will be to “wake it up” in appropriate situations.
I think this is something that holds more power than we stop to consider. Setting goals (Individual Education Plans/IEPs or just personal) for self-regulation doesn’t seem that important until you consider the “why” behind them. When you don’t want to do your work, do you have a system in your thinking that sets you into an automatic mode? When you are having trouble grasping a concept, do you pull from organization methods that work for you? When you are feeling the need to pull into your turtle shell because you feel like no one understands you, can you talk yourself out of it until you feel better?
I think self-regulation is so important to help avoid under achievement, raise self-efficacy, combat over-excitabilities or intensities, and to work collaboratively. This list could go on and on. But realizing the importance and helping an individual acquire the skills are two different things! This blog and topic could be pages, and we’d still leave pieces of the idea untouched.
So when you wonder how to help that child that doesn’t seem to be showing signs of gifted characteristics, can’t get along with others, that doesn’t clean or organize the working environment….etc….consider how to help the student develop self-regulation skills. (Also research executive functioning.) And know…those IEP goals that seem “little” are the piece that could determine whether or not the student “makes it.”
A couple of resources. I think they do a better job of explaining!
In learning how to help others develop these skills, it’s amazing what you can teach yourself about your own self-regulation.
Teach to Educate 