AP/GATE Teachers Chatboard

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GT Teacher Teaching GT students and teaching honors are not one and the same thing. GT students think and learn in a very different way than others. Honors classes can reflect talent but they can also reflect effort and placement in a honors class doesn't mean the students are gifted.

Gifted placement shouldn't be considered an 'honor' anymore than p...See MoreTeaching GT students and teaching honors are not one and the same thing. GT students think and learn in a very different way than others. Honors classes can reflect talent but they can also reflect effort and placement in a honors class doesn't mean the students are gifted.

Gifted placement shouldn't be considered an 'honor' anymore than placement in a class for learning disabilities should be considered a 'dishonor'. Gifted placement reflects the different learning style that G/T people have.

If you're teaching reading to GT students, not all of them may be strong readers. Being G/T doesn't necessarily mean the child has strong reading skills. If I were asked to teach this class, I'd want to know more about who they're putting in it. Ideally, I'd want all strong readers so we could gallop through reading together.

GT students can enjoy very different books than other students - GT students like cerebral books with different themes. They like books like The Giver - read that and you'l get some insight into how GT students think and what they like to read.

GT students tend not to like homework - it too often feels like busy work to them. All students including GT students should be reading every night. GT students can chaff with traditional tests - they think very much outside the box and do much better with open-ended assignments. Let them design their own assignments - they can.

Gt parents can be very demanding and very particular - don't assign busy work, do let them continue to believe their children are bright - they are - and be open to input from the children - their parents Love that. Avoid very traditional memorization based tests like the 20 word vocab test - GT kids and their parents hate that - it's rote, it's mundane and does not work well for GT.

Good luck but certainly clarify with your administration what kind of student exactly will be in your honors class. If it's gifted, there's a website that gifted parents frequent called [link removed].

> I've just been assigned to teach 4th Honors Reading/LA next > year. We don't have an actual curriculum, just the state > objectives. It's up to the teachers to create or find > lessons, assignments, quizzes, tests, and homework. In the > past, I've taught fourth and fifth grade, but not honors. > How is teaching honors different? I have no guidance or > materials, whatsoever. What do you wish you'd known when > you began? I'm interested in your ideas about projects, > assignments, lesson planning, parent communication, > administration/organization, good websites, teacher > resource books, etc. Everything! I want to use the summer > break to get a head start on preparing projects, etc., and > I would appreciate any and all suggestions! Thank you in > advance!

Jun 27, 2010

Cat Thanks so much for your response. I appreciate you explaining gifted vs. honors. Thanks so much for your response. I appreciate the info!Cat

On 6/27/10, GT Teacher wrote: > Teaching GT students and teaching honors are not one and the > same thing. GT students think and learn in a very different > way than others. Honors classes ca...See MoreThanks so much for your response. I appreciate you explaining gifted vs. honors. Thanks so much for your response. I appreciate the info!Cat

On 6/27/10, GT Teacher wrote: > Teaching GT students and teaching honors are not one and the > same thing. GT students think and learn in a very different > way than others. Honors classes can reflect talent but they > can also reflect effort and placement in a honors class > doesn't mean the students are gifted. > > Gifted placement shouldn't be considered an 'honor' anymore > than placement in a class for learning disabilities should be > considered a 'dishonor'. Gifted placement reflects the > different learning style that G/T people have. > > If you're teaching reading to GT students, not all of them > may be strong readers. Being G/T doesn't necessarily mean the > child has strong reading skills. If I were asked to teach > this class, I'd want to know more about who they're putting > in it. Ideally, I'd want all strong readers so we could > gallop through reading together. > > GT students can enjoy very different books than other > students - GT students like cerebral books with different > themes. They like books like The Giver - read that and you'l > get some insight into how GT students think and what they > like to read. > > GT students tend not to like homework - it too often feels > like busy work to them. All students including GT students > should be reading every night. GT students can chaff with > traditional tests - they think very much outside the box and > do much better with open-ended assignments. Let them design > their own assignments - they can. > > Gt parents can be very demanding and very particular - don't > assign busy work, do let them continue to believe their > children are bright - they are - and be open to input from > the children - their parents Love that. Avoid very > traditional memorization based tests like the 20 word vocab > test - GT kids and their parents hate that - it's rote, it's > mundane and does not work well for GT. > > Good luck but certainly clarify with your administration what > kind of student exactly will be in your honors class. If it's > gifted, there's a website that gifted parents frequent called > [link removed]!

Jun 28, 2010

Looking for a website

by Amy

Jun 14, 2010

Hi I will be moving to a second grade gifted and talented class next year. I was hoping to find some classroom website that I can look at. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

I am interested in hearing from anyone who sponsors or coaches students for contests such as Math Olympiad and WordMasters Challenge for gifted or high-achieving elementary students. It seems best to consider having an after-school "Challenge Club" or something to prepare students for contests. It's tough to incorporate prep for these kinds of cont...See More

Clubs and Contests

by lv2share

Jun 19, 2010

(7)

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kevin On 6/24/10, lv2share wrote: > Thanks, Kevin. Congrats on your success. Using lunch time for > prep is a great idea. I'm thinking I will do a.m. practices before > school. Did you have to set a limit on the number of students, or > was the interest in participation just right? I'm not sure how > many of our students will want to parti...See More

Jun 28, 2010

oxgarv I'm thinking of starting an after school Scrabble club. Just wondering if anyone else does this. If so, any advice is appreciated. Have you gone to the national competition?

On 6/28/10, kevin wrote: > On 6/24/10, lv2share wrote: >> Thanks, Kevin. Congrats on your success. Using lunch time for >> prep is a great idea. I'm th...See More

Jun 29, 2010

adevanced placement and the gifted

by Richard Doina

Jun 22, 2010

I am interest in finding out which State stipulate that the Advance Placement program is a means of provided services for the gifted.

Patrice Mitchell On 6/22/10, Richard Doina wrote: > I am interest in finding out which State stipulate that the > Advance Placement program is a means of provided services > for the gifted.

Arkansas high school are required to offer AP in each of the four core classes, of course, many offer more. These classes are used to provide service to GT stu...See More

Jul 4, 2010

Best subscription sites and push-in lessons

by Melanie

Jul 8, 2010

Hi. I am going to be doing push in enrichment lessons in all classes K-5. By the time we transition, I probably only have 30 minutes from start to finish for each class. I'm looking for all kinds of good resources. The classrooms do have SMART Boards, so interactive lessons would be fine. I am also interested in high-quality, higher-level thinking,...See More

Sarah Try: www:k-5mathteachingresources.com Subscription is free and it has a lot of open-ended/problem solving activities for K-5. Good luck!

On 7/08/10, Melanie wrote: > Hi. I am going to be doing push in enrichment lessons in > all classes K-5. By the time we transition, I probably only > have 30 minutes from start to finish for each...See More

Jul 8, 2010

What is the best way to reach teachers?

by Kate

Jul 10, 2010

We are a new school for the gifted that just opened in NH. I am wondering what is the best way to reach teachers of gifted students so that they know our school is here? [link removed]

Sara On 7/10/10, Kate wrote: > We are a new school for the gifted that just opened in NH. > I am wondering what is the best way to reach teachers of > gifted students so that they know our school is here? > [link removed]

I'm not sure what you're envisioning. Public school teachers might be willing to suggest your summer programs to...See More

Jul 11, 2010

I will be teaching a 2/3 combination class this year for the second year. I will be taking my 2nd graders to third. This group is very high functioning as will be my incoming 1st graders. I have 2 boys that buzz through everything I put in front of them, these two have their mult. tables memorized. I would like some challenging centers for writing,...See More

Gifted Students

by Deborah Farrell

Jul 19, 2010

deanie I am going to use Multiple Intelligences for a center this year. Some of the ideas came from our state gifted conference.I think I am going to incorporate some of the activities from [link removed].

On 7/19/10, Deborah Farrell wrote: > I will be teaching a 2/3 combination class this year for > the second year. I will be taking my 2nd...See More

Jul 21, 2010

Grifted Enrichment in High School

by Nancye

Jul 24, 2010

I will be teaching an enrichment class this coming year at the high school level. I will meet with 6 students (grades 9-12 mixed) in a pull out setting twice a week for about 1 hour each time. I taught all of them in my k-12 pullout program, but have never worked with high school students before. Does anybody else out there work with high school gi...See More

Nancye I am correcting the above post to read that I taught all of those students in my k-8 pullout program.

Jul 24, 2010

I'm looking for some fresh ideas. What are some of your favorite units you have used with second and third graders?

I have a very small budget, so I can't purchase a lot of materials, but I'm interested in all ideas. I like UbD, and I hope to come up with some things that will be particularly engaging, as well as meaningful.

Thank...See More

Favorite Units for 2-3?

by KK

Jul 27, 2010

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dave I always started the year off with a bird study...for this age group, it was the first time they had really done scientific investigation, etc.. then we did a study of Afric

Aug 1, 2010

interesting topic our district has to "teach to the test"...novel to consider what you would WANT to teach and have an option...I didn't know that existed much anymore in education...happy for you!

On 7/30/10, kk wrote: > Thanks! I'd love to hear any other ideas out there, as well. > > On 7/28/10, Melanie wrote: >> I always ask my kids what ...See More

Aug 1, 2010