"Myth" Articles from Gifted Child Quarterly

Sage Publications, publisher of the Gifted Child Quarterly journal, has made several articles from their October 2009 issue available as PDF downloads.  The articles attempt to "de-mythologize gifted education," and are written by the preeminent experts in the field: Sally Reis, Joseph Renzulli, Carolyn Callanhan, Sandra Kaplan, Donald Treffinger, Carol Ann Tomlinson, and others.

These articles will support your individual professional development, and may assist you in your endorsement classes.  They are available for download directly from Sage Publications (where you can generate citation information), as well as from the "Myth Articles" folder in the Documents list on the UEN site.

Reminder - October Lesson Reflection

A repeat of the structure/content of your October lesson reflection appears below.  Remember, the goal was to have these finished by October 30 (including meeting with your coach and sharing your artifact/video).  If you're not going to make this date, try to wrap up the October activity ASAP, as we have a new activity for November!

For your first required lesson reflection of the ’09-’10 Program Year, we would like to connect YOUR goals to what you are doing in the classroom.  A lesson reflection sheet was attached to the email that was sent out on 10/12/09 which asks you to try to make that connection. The lesson Reflection Sheet is available in both MS Word and Mac Pages formats, and can also be downloaded HERE from Confluence.

For this reflection you might choose to implement a strategy, or you might describe an action or series of actions you need to take in order to move toward your goal. Please either take a video of your lesson/strategy implementation, or include a copy of an artifact (such as a choice menu, an independent learning contract, etc.) that shows what you did to move forward toward your goal.

You will send your Lesson Reflection sheet to your coach, along with any artifacts. If you take video,  CLICK HERE to learn how to share the video with your coach (you can just share a key portion).  Please complete this Lesson Reflection activity as close to Friday, 10/30 as possible – we’ll have a new focus for the weeks prior to Thanksgiving. Again, send it to your coach (not me), and save a copy for yourself (I’ll be collecting these in December).

Below are few other HASIP resources that might help you with this reflection activity – these are all available through Confluence.  You MUST be on your MacBook with the “tunnel open”) that is, connected to the VPN) for the links to work.  You’ll be asked to log in to Confluence, and then will be taken to the specific resource (this applies to the links above as well).

Interest Surveys

 Curriculum Compacting

Characteristics of high-ability/gifted learners

As always, if there is any way we can support you, please don’t hesitate to let us know!

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October Lesson Reflections

It’s time to think about Lesson Reflections and Professional Development!  I have really enjoyed reading your goals, and believe that what you have written gives us a lot to think about and work with in the next few months.

The trends that stand out in the goal sheets are:

• Accountability – holding high-ability students accountable for the quality of their work/participation.
• Collaboration – working with colleagues to address the needs of high-ability students when there are so many other things we need to collaborate about as well, and time isn’t provided for “gifted collaboration.”
• Differentiation – making the necessary adjustments to meet our high-ability students’ needs; providing challenging, high-quality experiences to targeted students.
• Engagement/ Motivation – how “hook” and motivate high-ability students (often connected to accountability).
• Identification – who are the “high-ability” students in our classrooms?
• Language Arts – developing high-level curriculum and learning goals; integration with content areas.
• Strategy Implementation – curriculum compacting was mentioned several times, along with choice menus, tiered assignments, and higher-order questioning.

For your first required lesson reflection of the ’09-’10 Program Year, we would like to connect YOUR goals to what you are doing in the classroom.  A lesson reflection sheet was attached to the email that was sent out on 10/12/09 which asks you to try to make that connection. The lesson Reflection Sheet is available in both MS Word and Mac Pages formats, and can also be downloaded HERE from Confluence.

For this reflection you might choose to implement a strategy, or you might describe an action or series of actions you need to take in order to move toward your goal. Please either take a video of your lesson/strategy implementation, or include a copy of an artifact (such as a choice menu, an independent learning contract, etc.) that shows what you did to move forward toward your goal.

You will send your Lesson Reflection sheet to your coach, along with any artifacts. If you take video,  CLICK HERE to learn how to share the video with your coach (you can just share a key portion).  Please complete this Lesson Reflection activity as close to Friday, 10/30 as possible – we’ll have a new focus for the weeks prior to Thanksgiving. Again, send it to your coach (not me), and save a copy for yourself (I’ll be collecting these in December).

Below are few other HASIP resources that might help you with this reflection activity – these are all available through Confluence.  You MUST be on your MacBook with the “tunnel open”) that is, connected to the VPN) for the links to work.  You’ll be asked to log in to Confluence, and then will be taken to the specific resource (this applies to the links above as well).

Interest Surveys

 Curriculum Compacting

Characteristics of high-ability/gifted learners

As always, if there is any way we can support you, please don’t hesitate to let us know!

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GOAL SETTING - September Professional Development

SEPTEMBER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOCUS:

As part of the High-Ability Program, it is our goal to align endorsement coursework, professional development, and classroom practice. This applies to ALL our participants, whether enrolled in the online class or not. We want to create a rich, cohesive experience that supports the work you do daily with your high-ability learners. The first step in this process is to determine where you're at, and where you want to go. So, our first significant professional activity of the year is for all participants to complete a goal-setting worksheet.

For September, instead of lesson reflections, participants and coaches will meet (in person, on the phone, or via iChat, whichever suits your situation) to discuss and create a "HASIP Collaborative Goal-Setting Worksheet" to cover the months of October - December 2009 (we'll do this again in January 2010 for the second part of the year).

Think SMART about your goals - SMART goals are:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

Be comfortable with your goal(s), and make the document a tool to help guide your classroom practice for the next few months. Talk with your coach about where you're at in terms of knowledge and strategy implementation, and design your goal(s) to meet your own needs - everyone's will be different!

The form is attached to the email update on 9/21, and is also available on Confluence. It is a type-on PDF. The TEACHER should have the worksheet open on his/her computer during the coaching conversation, and should be the one to fill in the form. Once the teacher and coach are satisfied with the contents, the teacher then emails a copy to BOTH his/her coach and to ME (make sure to save a copy on your own computer!). It's important to do this, as this document will be one of your "checklist items" at the end of the year to qualify for your stipend.

If you have any questions about the goal-setting worksheet, please let me know. Worksheets should be emailed to me by Friday, October 2. Remember, you are NOT expected to do a lesson reflection form this month! We'll have a new professional development focus in October, and lesson reflections will be aligned to both your personal goals and a strategy/content theme.

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