AP/GATE Teachers Chatboard

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Anita Gifted students are exceptional learners as well. This is the reason the IDEA should become the the IEEA--Individuals with Exceptionalities Educational Act. Then all students' needs would be met appropriately.

Anita learntoreadnow

On 11/09/11, Ed U Kaytor wrote: > a regular education teacher gets behavior disabled and > lear...See More

Dec 9, 2011

Bill T 6 NC (getting into this a bit late) Ed u Kaytor, I used to be where you are now. To answer your question....it isn't "fair," but neither would the arrangement you suggest be equitable.

All students have needs that must be met, whether they are autistic, regular ed, or a genius. The overall problem is that not enough resources are being devoted to that task, particularly whe...See More

Mar 10, 2012

bright kids in class - help!

by Lisa

Nov 20, 2011

I am new at my school and have come from a school where and A is rare on a report card and a C is doing well. The school I am now at has lots of high achievers - both parents and students. About half of my grade 3 class is very bright - above their grade level. Many of these bright students' parents have already said they don't want their children ...See More

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Sara On 11/20/11, Lisa wrote: > I am new at my school and have come from a school where and > A is rare on a report card and a C is doing well.

That first comment seems unrelated to the rest of your post but I'd be interested to know how the parents at your former school dealt with such a grading philosophy?! - And why was that the polic...See MoreOn 11/20/11, Lisa wrote: > I am new at my school and have come from a school where and > A is rare on a report card and a C is doing well.

That first comment seems unrelated to the rest of your post but I'd be interested to know how the parents at your former school dealt with such a grading philosophy?! - And why was that the policy?

I would like a little guidance! > They all do what they are asked, but few take the learning > further on their own.

Here's what I do. I hand out and send home reading lists. There's a 'hoagies' website for gifted teaching - see if they have reading lists you can cadge. Start a 'reading pot' and ask students every time they finish a book to fill out a form and put it in a box. You add the pages to the reading pot - see how many pages get read during the year. Celebrate when the reading pot hits certain milestones like 10,000 pages of reading. The form should be on the cerebral side - "What was the message of this book to you personally?" Would you recommend this book? How would this book have been better written?"

Tell the class what you're reading - even if it's just a teachers' journal. Listen to a short story on tape every week - listeninglibrary might be a source for that. Maybe every Friday.

Have a 'new word of the week' on the board every Monday. Encourage students to use the new word, slip in into classroom discussion.

All of those are 'deeper'. Give out a list of good websites including math websites that they can access on their own. Study a new country - even if it's just once a month but I'd do it more often. Do the very small countries or do the countries in reverse order of being founded. I think Kosovo is world's newest country and before that East Timor. Tell the story - briefly - of that country. How did it come to be a country just now? Gifted kids love that thought process.

Invite students to learn more on their own and allow them to speak to the class if they want about what they learned. Call it "Extension Learning" and ask "Does anyone have any extension learning they'd like to share?"

Do a "Person of the Week' and choose a person from history whose life provides an example of leadership and discuss whether it was positive leadership - did it improve peoples' lives? Compare them - history is rich with leaders.

Let us know how it goes.

I would like to provide meaningful > extensions to lessons. My principal has already said that I > cannot teach material/concepts from the upper grades (even > though that's what the kids are doing on their own!) and > that I need to go "deeper" not further in teaching them. > I'd appreciate any suggestions you can give me - ideas, > resources, websites, etc. I have some "more abled" books > from the uk, but I'd like to find more. Thanks!

Nov 26, 2011

Anita Check out Teaching Gifted Students in the Regular Classroom, or Teaching Young Gifted Students in the Regular Classroom.

Anita learntoreadnow

On 11/20/11, Lisa wrote: > I am new at my school and have come from a school where and > A is rare on a report card and a C is doing well. The > school I am now at has lots of high ...See More

Dec 9, 2011

A teacher needs help

by Advocate for gifted

Nov 21, 2011

I came across a teacher looking for guidance for bright children on another teacher's board. I suggested she post her concerns here as I find this is one of the better resourses on the net for gifted .

Please do repond to Lisa's post if you have the time.

Thank you

Dear Fellow Teachers,

I am at a loss. I have an exceptional Kindergartner who needs to be challenged in the classroom. He is VERY technologically-minded (he knows about any cell phone or car), and an exceptional reader. However, giving him "extra worksheets" won't help, as he is really distracted and lacks independence. Any ideas to tap i...See More

Gifted Kindergartner

by MC

Nov 28, 2011

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florida teacher On 11/28/11, MC wrote: > Dear Fellow Teachers, > > I am at a loss. I have an exceptional Kindergartner who > needs to be challenged in the classroom. He is VERY > technologically-minded (he knows about any cell phone or > car), and an exceptional reader. However, giving him "extra > worksheets" won't help, as he is really dist...See More

Nov 29, 2011

Sara On 11/28/11, MC wrote: > Dear Fellow Teachers, > > I am at a loss. I have an exceptional Kindergartner who > needs to be challenged in the classroom. He is VERY > technologically-minded (he knows about any cell phone or > car), and an exceptional reader. However, giving him "extra > worksheets" won't help, as he is really distr...See MoreOn 11/28/11, MC wrote: > Dear Fellow Teachers, > > I am at a loss. I have an exceptional Kindergartner who > needs to be challenged in the classroom. He is VERY > technologically-minded (he knows about any cell phone or > car), and an exceptional reader. However, giving him "extra > worksheets" won't help, as he is really distracted and > lacks independence. Any ideas to tap into his strengths and > keep him challenged? > > Thanks! MC

Are you looking for things to enrich him through the year or looking for what to do with him during the day?

If it's during the day, either give his parents a list of good books - that might be particularly intriguing to him - or keep a classroom library for him.

Biographies of inventors might be especially appealing to him. He's just K but he might enjoy a series like The BoxCar Children. And during math, you can give him more advanced worksheets. There are several if not dozens of good math websites to print out math curriculum for him.

Can he draw? Can he design his own cars? Here's a website for car design for children. [link removed]

Can he present his designs to the class? You can't give this child one on one attention (do you have an aide?) but you can direct him. Car technology right now is at a crossroads with the hybrids. Solar cars are next. What does he know about that?

Do you know the Hoagies website for gifted children and their parents and teachers? Check it out.

Here's another - [link removed]

But last I'd say to you what I tell the parents of my own especially gifted students -- "I am happy to do everything I can to keep your child happy at school but I can't do that alone. School is a group process and your child is in a group - it's hard for me to be in two places at the same time.

But if you will explore with him these kind of things at home - things that intrigue him like solar cars - I will be happy to help him share his learning adventures with the class as well as happy for him to tell me all about them. Anything he draws or designs - I'm happy to put up in the room - and it may encourage other children to have their own learning journeys and learning adventures that they will want to share.

Let's work together on this to help John have a good year and a happy year in Kindergarten"

Dec 5, 2011

magazine/newsletter recommendation needed

by JK

Dec 4, 2011

What magazines, newsletter, enews you subscribe? What will you recommend for a newbie?

el ed If you can find any old copies of "Challenge Magazine", get them.

I am retired. Newer teachers will have more recent suggestions.

On 12/04/11, JK wrote: > What magazines, newsletter, enews you subscribe? What will > you recommend for a newbie?

Dec 5, 2011

Do Gifted Checklists Work?

by Chuck B.

Jan 2, 2012

Do gifted checklists work?

B..a former sub The link does not work

On 1/02/12, Chuck B. wrote: > Do gifted checklists work?

Jan 21, 2012

Gifted Websites

by Sonja

Jan 21, 2012

I am in desperate need of Gifted Talented websites. I have elementary GT students one time a week for 30 minutes. The time element is what I am working against. Sonja

Gifted Checklist

by Chuck B.

Jan 21, 2012

Here's the link about gifted checklists and whether they actually work. What do you think about identifying students based on a checklist?

Leah On 1/21/12, Chuck B. wrote: > Here's the link about gifted checklists and whether they > actually work. What do you think about identifying students > based on a checklist?

Don't most school systems require the use of an IQ test to identify gifted children along with other criteria such as high grades?

Mar 21, 2012

New online gifted certification program - MO

by So excited

Mar 19, 2012

I am so excited. I am going to start my gifted certification which is an area of high need in MO. I can do it all online through Missouri Baptist University beginning this summer.

Advice for parent of incoming kindergartener with genius IQ

by Aunt Allie

Apr 1, 2012

Hello,

My nephew will start kinder this fall... he began reading at 3, has an encyclopedia for a brain, he's beyond kindergarten and his parents have not introduced him to the internet yet. He will be in GT. He's ahead of where my youngest was at his age and she is in GT.

Most kids his age know as much about the internet as most ...See More

GT Teacher On 4/01/12, Aunt Allie wrote: > Hello, > > My nephew will start kinder this fall... he began reading > at 3, has an encyclopedia for a brain, he's beyond > kindergarten and his parents have not introduced him to the > internet yet. He will be in GT. He's ahead of where my > youngest was at his age and she is in GT. > > Mo...See MoreOn 4/01/12, Aunt Allie wrote: > Hello, > > My nephew will start kinder this fall... he began reading > at 3, has an encyclopedia for a brain, he's beyond > kindergarten and his parents have not introduced him to the > internet yet. He will be in GT. He's ahead of where my > youngest was at his age and she is in GT. > > Most kids his age know as much about the internet as most > people. They resist my urging them to introduce him to it, > so I thought I would ask for some advice from GT teachers > to see what they suggest. I think that if they knew what > you all were using or suggest, that would really help them. > > He's so beyond Starfall and a lot of the products out > there. > > All ideas appreciated. > Allie

Gifted children such as your nephew are not in danger of losing their giftedness - despite popular belief to the contrary. Think back to the gifted children of the past - like Einstein or Thomas Jefferson or John Stuart Mills or any of them and know they retained their 'giftedness' despite the fact that they did not have parents or an aunt who were interested in helping them realize their potential.

But yet they did realize their potential and without the Internet too. I raised and taught gifted children both before and after the Internet and my post-Internet gifted students were not ultimately more gifted than my pre-Internet gifted students. My post-Internet students were more skilled with the Internet and with computers in general.

That many 5 year olds know a lot about the Internet - I'm not sure what they know unless they're allowed to peruse it at will without any adult supervision. In that case, they certainly will know a lot and a lot sooner than might be healthy for them.

I'm not sure what you have in mind exactly - the many websites for math games etc? Do you see your nephew looking up string theory on Wickipedia? Or reading up on competing theories of the origins of human civilization?

In my experience, most kids -including gifted kids and especially young kids - use the Internet as a source of entertainment. They become quite skilled at finding pictures of funny cats and the old Hamster Dance website and laughing uproariously. As they get a bit older, they become equally skilled at finding other kinds of pictures... They love games and computer-based video games.

But they really don't use the Internet as a source of information or go on any journeys of intellectual exploration. Even gifted children are yet children. The children I know who use the Internet as a place to explore are often exploring the things they otherwise can't access - the dark side of things... the spy sites and the hackers' havens.

So I'd say I'd understand your nephew's parents hesitating to seemingly encourage a young child to open the Pandora's box and mixed bag that is the Internet. They could certainly show him how they do when they download their latest car registration form or buy airline tickets or look up any information they might need but if you're suggesting that he be allowed or encouraged to use the Internet as a source of entertainment, I'd say -whatever happened to playing outside? Or building with blocks or climbing trees?

And rest assured it's only a matter of a little bit of time before some teacher is giving him a list of facts he needs to look up on the Internet and another teacher is showing youtube videos every day in class because that's all modern kids will sit still for.

Apr 4, 2012