Parents Need Information, Too

Several weeks ago our district had a parent information meeting.  After reading through some of their forms, it reminded me of the power of sharing information with parents.   This idea reminded me of this blog that seems to get put aside.  I guess one reason the blog gets put aside is the idea of the “other needs” for our children.  Parent questions and needs are also critical for those of us raising children with advanced potential, and I feel like the blog is a great way to feed information to parents.  Shout out to our amazing parents for reminding me of this!

One question that seemed to pop out at me (with the Holidays around the corner) was, “How do we keep little Suzie (not a real person) engaged at home?”  Parents also noted the need for more help with increasing their child’s perseverance.  The first thing that popped into my mind was ThinkFun Games.  The games from this company offer critical thinking opportunities that are actually fun!  Some games can be played alone.

Check out their website.

Think Fun Games

Another thing that popped into my mind was coding.  One app I really like is LightBot.  I like this because when students “run” the program it becomes a “self-checking” device.  Students have to figure out what they did wrong.  This game also provides students with some basic knowledge about coding.  Check it out.

LightBot

Two other great places to find games…

MindWare

Fat Brain Toys

Providing games, building blocks, science kits, etc., that require imagination, thinking, and/or revisiting the problem give students an opportunity to build critical thinking skills and perseverance that will nurture potential and increase student success in many areas.  And…it’s fun.

If you have a child who likes to opt out of challenge, you may have to play the games with them and not allow your child to quit playing.  Set a timer, have your child attempt for that amount of time, and then let them walk away.  They need to revisit the challenge at a later time.

So look into some of these games to engage your children at home, but also, make them READ a BOOK.  That’s a soapbox for another day.

 

Student Voice/Choice…with Standards

Google 20% or Passion Projects…Genius Hour…whatever you call it…the premise is the same.  Allowing students to research and learn about things they choose.  It’s difficult for teachers to “give-up” instructional time; however, I’m convinced a teacher can accomplish both.  Standards and student choice.

As I was looking at some things preparing for the upcoming school year, I ran into this simple article.  Might not be a new concept to all, but it’s a refresher course with a simple twist.

How can you incorporate student voice and choice?  How can you increase student buy-in?  I think this is a great way to do both without compromising standards.

Looking forward to beginning a new year of learning, teaching, and growing.  Try this option to learn more about your students as you begin the school year.

Standards Aligned Genius Hour

 

 

Types of Gifted Learners

It’s not always easy to identify gifted students.  As a matter of fact, “difficult to identify” gifted students desperately need us to find them.  With the mindset of creating cluster groups (of like peers), it’s important that we learn to look at the different types of gifted learners.  While we might not be 100% in identification, efforts to find all types will help us find more.

Remember that giftedness can be disabling which is evident as we learn more about the types mentioned at the link below.  As educators, we don’t want to leave a stone unturned.  We want ALL students to reach their potential.  The more we understand, the more apathetic we will be.  When we meet students where they are, the students will be much more willing to begin a journey with us.

Here’s a few small tidbits for digesting.

http://www.brainy-child.com/expert/types-of-giftedness.shtml

http://www.ri.net/gifted_talented/character.html

Organizing Your Thinking

As I was looking online for tools/resources for some current projects, I came across this nice little clutter free resource for thinking maps.  I haven’t used the “double bubble” map much, and it intrigued me.  I’ll be looking for a way to use it in the near future.

Remember that mind maps/graphic organizers help organize thinking.  This builds metacognition when we are strategic with the organizers we select.  Often times, high ability learners struggle with organization (not just their desks).  They swim in conceptual thinking and can have trouble organizing all those ideas.  Pairing purpose with organizers will give the high ability learners tools for becoming more of an autonomous learner.  It’s important for study skills, note taking, and articulating thoughts.  What a great reminder of thinking about thinking!

I’ve missed this blog! 🙂

Thinking Maps

Arriving at Summer

Days away from another summer.  Plans and catch-ups.  Beaches and pools.  Sunshine and sunburns.  Smells of sunscreen and watermelon.  Memories of childhood and episodes of restless children.  Are you one of those teachers that will spend some of your summer getting caught up on your professional reading…tweaking what didn’t seem right…or following research on a topic you heard during the year? It’s a GREAT time to rejuvenate the body, soul, and mind…to prepare for another group of kids that will capture your heart next school year.  It’s hard to let go of your “kids” each year, isn’t it?

A friend of mine, 1st grade teacher at OCE, and I always have something we focus on each summer.  One summer, it happened that we were both digging deep into the writing process with mentor text.  It’s fun to set out on a journey and feel the growth from your learning.  I bet if I called her right now, she’d have a focus for the summer.

I’ve had four teachers ask for books to read over the summer as they try to dig deeper into giftedness.  My personal focus this summer will be on vocabulary (roots/stems) and differentiation.  I’m sure I’ll add more to the agenda…but for now…I’m digging into these areas.

What is so cool about life as we now know it is learning is right at your fingertips.  You can become an expert at whatever you choose.  It depends on the amount of time you want to put into learning.  Maybe you don’t want to become an expert, but you want to wrap your head around a concept.  YOU can customize your learning.  But you need a learning objective.  So do you have one? Or two? Or more?

Kristy Mall from Discovery School sent this link to me a little while ago. It’s a really good article.  Perhaps learning more about gifted is on your list.  Here’s some food for thought.  Thanks Kristy Mall!

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/05/13/gifted-education-is-about-the-whole-child.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2-RM

Let’s see if we can get this “community” to grow.  Share the blog with others.  Sign up for alerts.  We are educators, and we need each other.  We’ve got a big job to do, and it’s important!  So let’s become experts in something new!

loVe…What’s loVe Got to Do With It?

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!

Over-empowerment & Underachieving Students

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!

Self-Regulation Article

Self-Regulation Strategies

In learning how to help others develop these skills, it’s amazing what you can teach yourself about your own self-regulation.

Why Are They So Slow?

Have a student that takes forever to finish work?  Struggles with reading comprehension? Can’t seem to remember the little things?  Homework takes more time than it should on a regular basis?

Take a look at this article.  Just a little information to get your mind thinking.  The more we store in our “tool box,” the more likely we are to help all learners.  It’s hard to address concerns if you don’t know where to start.  So…this has some good food for thought.

article

A “Convergence” of Circumstances

National Association for Gifted Convention in Baltimore, Maryland.  With a program book that is 174 pages, sessions for time slots that exceed 30 options, choosing what to attend isn’t an easy task.  Keeping your brain from overload and shutting down is no small task either!  Heather Knox (Hobgood), Christy Robinson (Black Fox), and Cherry Ross (Overall Creek), and I rarely cross paths in this convention center that overlooks the Orioles’ Stadium.  You can only image how many ideas we are collecting to bring back to our system.

Tonight we thought we’d share some of our favorite “a-ha’s” from today.

• Concept maps are an avenue to help us make stronger connections to content we already know, both cross-curricular and among grade levels.
• We all need to keep in mind that the realistic path for gifted students is not usually a straight line.
• Math is about problem solving, and the answer is only a small percentage of what we are trying to achieve.  Teachers focus on what they’ve been taught.
• As teachers, we have to be very careful of our words.  Criticism sounds very loud in the brains of our students, especially for students with exceptionalities.  It can shut them down.
• When we say, “Kids these days can’t think,” they’ve learned to answer our questions.
• As soon as you step up out of college, worksheets don’t show up in your “in box.”  You have to problem solve.
• Sixty to eighty percent of elementary math books are review from year-to-year.  With a focus on problem solving and stronger connections to prior learning, we can make more strides in growth.
• For students that are gifted or ADHD, complex information is comprehended very easily through infographics.
• If we know that the “stand and deliver” method of teaching is not effective, why do we still do it?  What’s best for “me” isn’t always best for “them.”  Student interviews make students feel like the curriculum is about “them” and will reveal the truth about student needs.
• Teachers teach strategies, not skills.  Complex tasks will require strategies.
• The more highly gifted a student is, the more wait time they need to think and compose their thoughts.
• Homework has little to no affect on student achievement.  The homework they have should grow study habits.  The MOST IMPORTANT thing gifted kids need (all grades) is 20 minutes of reading at night and conversation at the dinner table.  Ouch!

A final thought for the night…

At the first session this morning that I attended, one of the speakers shared the story of the ship called “Tenacious” that was part of the Fastnet Race of 1979 in England. One of the worst days in history.  A freak storm that struck 300 vessels came with little or no warning. During the storm, everything mattered.  Life or death decisions.

In education, we are at a time when we aren’t sure what’s coming.  During this storm, everything matters.  From the skippers to the direction of our sails, we must be mindful of every choice we make each day.  As the day in 1979 when Tenacious won even in the face of the disaster, we can be certain, those who are tenacious will be a top finisher in the race.  Persisting in existence.  Perhaps we just need to adjust our sails.

Higher order thinking is for all students.  Not just gifted students.  These strategies work for all students.

How’s your ship sailing?

Two Days As a Student…What Would YOU say?

I love when I get links to amazing articles that stimulate self-reflection.  Recently I got this one…

ARTICLE

One thing that works very well with gifted students (ALL students actually) is teaching them to consider the viewpoint of others.  It’s one thing to TEACH the concept…but what about our belief system…do you believe it with conviction?  Do you LIVE it?  Or just believe this process should be taught?

Think of the benefits of considering the viewpoint of others.  Problem-solving.  Critical thinking.  Compassion.  Patience. Relationship building.  Who couldn’t get better at any of those??  I like to use this document to give students (and teachers or parents) a tool to help create that thinking groove, if you will.  You can see it here.

reasoningevent(1)

This idea is important.  But don’t let the big idea of the article slip by you.  Considering the point of view is a vehicle that delivers you to the important place…the main reason I decided to write today.

Let’s paint a picture that relates to you…long day.  Plans didn’t go right.  Parent email.  Evaluation is tomorrow.  Raining outside.  Oh…it’s a short week.  Students were out on Monday (Why are those weeks always longer?).  You forgot to turn in paper work that was due on Friday.  Your head is killing you.  The headache is probably because you didn’t get to eat lunch which means you are starving.  Good news!  It’s faculty meeting day.  You arrive.  Get an agenda but the first thing out of the principal’s mouth is…the agenda has changed.  We have a few guests coming as well as covering the other 10 items.  Fifteen minutes.  Twenty.  Thirty.  Forty.  On item 3 and 4 guest speakers to go.  OH…DEAR!

Want to scream?  Hard to focus?  Frustrated?  Hate it when people read the PowerPoint to you?  Leave you in your seat for an hour?  Don’t stick to a plan?  Bite off more than you can chew?  Have trouble focusing when you’re tired and hungry…and have a headache?

Wouldn’t it have been nice if the principal re-organized, prioritized, and presented the info in a way that would be easier to absorb?  Frustrating, isn’t it?  What if the principal called you up during your planning with an email that said, “Come see me.  I need your input.  I’d like to consolidate the info for today’s meeting and would like to see what you think.”  Or something similar.  How would you feel?

Why do we forget that our students are people, too?  They need us to hear them and consider their point of view.  Funny thing is…everyone would win if we did this more often.

Don’t get so caught up in the “To Do” list that you lose sight of the purpose and possibilities.  You know how you feel when someone wastes your time, ask you to do busy work or work you don’t see relevant, or how you feel on those impossible days.  Imagine what would happen if you consider the view point of others…and it built…Problem-solving.  Critical thinking.  Compassion.  Patience. Relationships.  Sounds like a really good formula for amazing teacher to me!

What would you write about yourself from your students’ point of view, and what are you going to do about it?