#edci 540

[wolffantasyrider]

11/15: Final Panel

I found that the final panel that we experienced as a class was a great way of wrapping up the semester. The professional gifted teachers and the current undergraduates provided a better insight into what gifted education looks like. The county gifted education plan that was discussed looked well put together, but seemed to still have issues in special population areas, such as African American students. One of the undergrads was asked about her experience as an African American student in the gifted program and she found that she would be the only one in her AP classes during high school. However, the county is working on raising their identification in that special population area.

The two professional gifted teachers worked in different grade levels: one was for the elementary levels and the other was middle school and high school. The elementary gifted teacher went through her process of identifying students from kindergarten to three grade, where in third grade they are formally identified with tests and documentation over three years. They are a data and documentation based identification process. The middle school and high school gifted teacher runs the Governors School. The undergrads gave their opinions on the classes and extracurricular activities that they participated in while in the gifted program.

I found the conversations very interesting and insightful. Even though I am not going to be a gifted teacher, I now at least understand the involvement it takes for providing students with what they need to be able to learn and become a lover of learning.

Prompt Two: My biggest three takeaways with regards to gifted education is that: One; students of all learning levels need teachers to understand their level of learning. Recommendations and accommodations need to be made not just for the low students, but with the high students as well. I will not be able to teach a student with a high degree of understanding without some help and they gifted programs is that help, Two; The Habits of Mind is the bread and butter of creative problem solving and differentiation. I would use the Habits of Mind in all of my future lesson plans to provide students with choice in their learning. And Three; special populations such as twice exceptional and African Americans need to be considered more thoroughly when identifying gifted students. Do not just dismiss a student with behavior problems, Asperger’s or Autism, as not being able to think to a higher degree. Do not over look African American youth due to poor socioeconomic status. Include everyone in identification and in learning. There is nothing worse that saying to a student ‘You can’t’. I will make it a mission to say to my students ‘You will’.

[wolffantasyrider]

11/1: Differentiation and Stations

The differentiation stations in the classroom was very informative and even though they were geared toward elementary and middle school aged students, there was plenty of room for the lessons showcased in the stations to be modified for high school level students. My favorite station lesson was the haiku lesson, where the Habits of Mind was utilized for multiple intelligences that Gardner theorizes everyone has. Besides Renzulli, I believe that Gardner’s MI theory should be utilized within the classroom of every teacher. It is a great way to differentiate instruction, which is necessary to meet all students’ needs.

I found that the myth of regular differentiation is just as good as having a gifted education program is unrealistic. Teachers would need a better scope of training in order to differentiate appropriately for gifted students. Teachers can not do the work alone. They are many different kinds of gifted learners and to group them into one singular group is unfair to the students that need different accommodations. Each child is unique. So why can’t each child have the best opportunity to learn through differentiated instruction and the presence of gifted programs.

Prompt One: The MI and Creativity theory from Gardner and Renzulli along with Habit of mind have helped me to realize that students, who are labeled as gifted, are just as deserving of services as average students and that they are ways that I can, as and educator, provide a foundation of loving to learn for all my students. By utilizing Multiple intelligences and providing ways for creative problem solving, many of my future students will have the chance to learn how to deal with the outside world better as well as giving them confidence in their abilities as learners.

[wolffantasyrider]

10/18: Creative Marshmallow Test and Lesson Science Fair

I really enjoyed working with my task force group on the creative problem solving activity (the marshmallow tower). Working as a group with solving a problem in such a creative way reminds me of my creative writing days, especially the early ones. Seeing the different towers also reminded me of the two readings that I found really interesting: A Box? Or A Spaceship? What makes kids creative. & The Creativity Crisis.

Both articles go into one another through the Torrance tests. I did not realize that their was an actual test for creativity and it was widely used as a predictor of giftedness. They also talk about how creativity in the United States’ youth has gone down drastically, which is a major cause for concern. As more and more student become less creative in their problem solving, there is a higher chance of them not learning how to deal with new and complex situations. They would be stumped at the Marshmallow tower test.

I believe that teachers need to provide engaging lessons that provide students the opportunity to be creative, which is what I tried to do in my lesson plan that I presented to the class in our lesson plan science fair style presentation. Providing opportunities for students to differentiate to meet their creative and academic needs, will help students become better problem solvers in the future.

[wolffantasyrider]

9/27: Guest Panel and Contemporary Issues about Gifted Education

The most interesting article that I read was about the need of gifted education programs within school written in Rochester SAGE’s website. They go over the issues of not having a gifted education in the scope of all stakeholders: educators, students, and tax payers. This article provided an overview of how students, who are identified as gifted, feel when not provided services that meets their needs. They become bored easily and most drop out of school or become troublemakers. To educators the presence of gifted programs takes some of the pressure off of their students and lesson planning due to less differentiation. Students, who are not identified, could have boost of confidence and have motivation to be a top achiever. I found that piece of information interesting, because I always thought that having a gifted student in the classroom provides external motivation to average achieving students. However, I understand now how that can be intimidating to students.

The appearance of the guest panel was very informative and helpful in grasping a deeper understanding of current issues within gifted education. It showed that equity in education is still not being achieved due to the lack of gifted education programs within the educational system. Many people believe that gifted education is not needed, but in order to provide every student the strive to learn, there is a need for gifted education programs.

[wolffantasyrider]

9/20 Chapter 24 and Assessment

While taking the Assessment of Knowledge of Gifted Learners, I realized that I didn’t really know a whole lot about gifted education other than stereotypes about gifted students, such as disorganized and writing a lot. I never had any experiences for gifted learners or gifted programs in general. However, I see that gifted education is something that I will have to learn eventually and understand in order to give my students opportunities to rise to their full potential. I believe that the best insight to the gifted learner is though their parents/guardians.

Parents provide critical information that can help with their child’s education. Chapter 24 in Fundamentals of Gifted Education provides a parent’s perspective on their gifted child. One of the most interesting parts of the chapter talks about labeling. There is a battle between whether or not a child should be labeled gifted due to insecurities, jealousy and lack of training for teachers and students. It puts undue pressure on the identified child. Teachers need more training in this area so that all students can feel comfortable in their classroom environment, free from pressure and jealousy.

Questions: I guess it is a school by school basis, but how involved are parents in the process of identification?  Is there a way for students that are identified as gifted but still in regular classes able to cope with other students’ jealousy or resentment?

[wolffantasyrider]

9/13: Jigsaw Activity Reading

While reading for the jigsaw activity, I chose Gardner, a theorist that sees gifted students being gifted in more than just one subject or intelligence. His Multiple Intelligence Theory says that gifted students can be gifted or talented in one or more of nine intelligences: Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Musical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalist, and Existential. Like Gardner, I believe that everyone has some or all of these intelligences, it is just at what level of proficiency they are at that defines gifted or not.

Of particular interest to me was the use of profiles and portfolios. I believe that portfolios show great insight into a student’s scope of learning whether they are identified as gifted or not. It calls to my creative writing nature because the body of work shows progress in writing prose and poetry, why not in education/student learning as well.

Gardner is a major part of my gifted philosophy. People have multiple intelligences and they can be utilized in different ways; however, while learning about the other theorist, I love the emphasis of creativity in the 3-ringed model by Renzulli.