GTi @ Richard J. Lee Elementary

I am so excited and blessed to be a part of this amazing campus for the 7th year. I have been in education for 14 years. I have taught in both private and charter schools and have served in various roles from a classroom teacher (5th-9th grades) to a Reading Interventionist K-5. For the past 7 years I had the privilege of being Richard J Lee Elementary's GTi Specialist. I have learned so much and cannot wait to continue this journey. With that said I am here for you. I want to support you in the best way I can. I may not know the answers to every question but I will always try my best to find out! I have created this blog so that you are able to learn a little bit about the services offered, be aware of upcoming dates and be somewhat prepared when parents ask you questions. As always please don't hesitate to direct your parent to me should they have any questions about GT services.

What a year this has been! Navigating uncharted waters is never easy but I know that I am at the best school with the best co-workers to make the impossible possible!

GT Services have been offered in a remote setting since March 2020. Last semester we created multidisciplinary choice boards extensions for all grade levels to serve our high achievers and GT learners.

This year the plan is a little more structured. GT Specialists are creating Math Extensions that align with the HLPS for every unit and are also meeting with our identified learners. We are here to support you with ANY of your needs. Some ways that I can help you are, co teaching a lesson, facilitating a break out room, creating extensions, tiering activities, or being a thought partner when planning.

A large part of my role is assessment and screening. Traditionally we screen ALL learners in 3-4 grade levels as we all know things have not been very traditional lately! In the Spring assessment was suspended by the State. TEA has just recently provided minimal guidance on Gifted Assessment. Our District Specialist team meets weekly and we are trying to finalize the details of our assessment and identification plan in accordance with the state's guidelines.

This is what we have so far:

• It is likely that no universal screeners, such as CogAT or NNAT, will be given to any elementary grade levels during this school year.

• Traits, Aptitudes, and Behaviors (TABs) forms completed by educators and alternate data points, which are already being collected and/or can be collected during F2F or virtual classroom experiences with relative ease and equity, are among the measures that will likely be utilized instead.

• Formal communications to parents about this plan will be prepared and distributed by the district. Please do not share this preliminary information with parents as it is still a work in progress and all communication in this matter will be delivered by the district.

• Our Universal Screening Years will still be Kinder, 3rd, and 5th.

Here is the latest from the district of what assessment will look like for each grade level!

Kinder

First-Fourth

Fifth

Services are dependent on a NEED. This means that though a learner maybe identified as Gifted he/she may not be showing a need for extra services beyond what he/she is receiving in the classroom. The differentiation that you provide for this learner maybe just what the learner needs. The reverse is also true if a learner is NOT identified as GT but is showing a need for services please let me know and I will work with you to provide extensions in the classroom.

A learner will qualify for services IF they showing a need across 3 data points (qualitative/quantitative). Simply scoring well on a an Aptitude Test will NOT determine a need for services. The learner will be screened and I work to gather various data points. Previously this consisted of any combination of a teacher questionnaire, SIGS, map scores, an interview with the learner, planned experiences, cogAT scores, work samples, test, and/or work samples.

Since this screening could take up to a few months typically learners do not find out if they qualify until February...yes it is a long process and a COMMITTEE decides on placement.

09/24/2020

Just an update that I have gone into your Math Courses and have added a few more new extensions! Please have a look, publish what you need for your specific learners and let me know how I can support you.

PODCAST:

Here is the link to the podcast option in our Schoology Professional Learning Library:

https://schoology.coppellisd.com/course/1685049624/materials?f=171874767

Click on 6 Hr Update

Read instructions under the red folder, then click it to see the available podcast episodes.

Here are a few episodes I enjoyed:

Episode 12: All the Feels (And Then Some)

Emotional intensity varies from person to person, but among gifted people, it’s often markedly higher, and more of a challenge to understand and control. Critically-acclaimed author and former school psychologist Christine Fonseca joins us with her insight into emotional intensity among gifted people, on episode 12 of Mind Matters.

Episode 24: True Grit - Fostering Tenacity and Resilience

When we don’t provide a challenge for our gifted kids at school and let them fly under the radar, they can develop internal monologues that equate being smart with everything being easy. Emily Mofield and Megan Parker Peters, authors of “Teaching Tenacity, Resilience, and a Drive for Excellence,” on episode 24 of Mind Matters.

Episode 30: Beneath the Surface of Giftedness

There is more to giftedness than just intelligence. Dr. James Delisle joins us on episode 30 to talk about what’s beneath the surface of giftedness, and how parents, counselors, and teachers can dig a little to find out what makes gifted kids tick.

Episode 52: Developing Critical Thinking Skills

When a child asks a question, do you just give them the answer? If so, you’re missing an opportunity to help them develop critical thinking skills. On episode 52 we are joined by Colin Seale, founder of ThinkLaw, an organization committed to helping educators teach critical thinking. We talk about how kids learn the skill, and how teachers can better teach critical thinking.

REGION 10 COURSES:

Here's the way to get to Region 10 update courses:

https://www.myprofessionallearning.com

Login

Click “Online Learning”

Click “Catalog”

Click “Teaching & Learning Practices”

Click “Gifted & Talented”

Click “GT Courses”

Click “Pick 6 Annual Updates”

Look through the options (notice that some are 1 credit hour and others are 3 hours)

Here are some tips that you may find useful when working with your learners GT or not. I will update this section of the smore every other week.

09/13/20: Tip #1: Know Your Learners try utilizing interest inventories. Using a google form may be the most effective and timely way to gather this data, tapping into what their interests are, what makes them happy, sad, what they expect in an educator are all important pieces of information to discover early in the year. Here is one that I created this year.

There has been some debate about using the words interests vs passions. I have linked an article here. The argument is quite compelling and one that I have pondered with for years. I myself don't always know what my passions are so how can I expect a 7-10 year old to know theirs?? I would love to have a discussion on this topic with you!

09/24/20 Tip #2: Utilize Current Events and a creative thinking tool called SCAMPER in your Classroom. When learners know that that what they are learning is relevant to them it becomes more meaningful and increases engagement. Here is a great article that shines some light on how you can use current events in different content areas. The article also highlights a creative thinking technique to solving global issues, although I can see it being used for any content area. I am using it with my learners this year. The acronym is called SCAMPER and can teach learners to be creative problem solvers. I would love to thought partner with you on a lesson using the SCAMPER technique.

There is a major difference between a high achiever and a high ability learner. High achievers put in the time and effort to succeed in school, they may even be your model students. This is not always the case with high-ability students. Their gifts may not translate into academic achievement and their behavior can at times appear noncompliant.

A useful strategy to use with your high ability or gifted learners is to offer the most difficult problems first. Many times these learners do not need to complete 50 math problems when they can answer the 5 most difficult problems to demonstrate mastery. If learner masters the most difficult then have some extensions ready. This allows these learners to work on more challenging content. Your Math Schoology Courses have these Extensions in them ready to be used! Please reach out to me if you need clarification or assistance in leading a small group.

Questioning to Elicit Increased Thinking.

Here are some question stems for each of the 7 KOI (Kingore Observation Categories) Gifted Categories. These question stems maybe useful to you as you are navigating the TABS form and looking for ways to elicit higher order thinking responses in your learners.

Attending TAGT is always one of the highlights of my year. I am able to collaborate with like minded educators and listen to some amazing speakers in gifted education that teach me something new and exciting.

This year I was introduced to a resource called the Q-Matrix.

The Q-Matrix is a wonderful resource to heighten your questioning and move away from just the basic “I wonder” question. The key is to stay away from the yellow questions and focus of the deeper questions which can be formulated if you stay in the pink, blue, or green sections. I have provided an example of how this can look:

An Example of using the Q-Matrix based on the historical picture above might be:

How might the boy in this picture feel about the woman in the picture? (Green Question)

Why is the boy in the picture looking at the lady?(Blue Question)

Why would most of the people in the picture be looking in the same direction? (Green Question)

I wanted to share a resource with you that I think you could use in ELA, or Social Studies. News sources that provide learners with the WHOLE picture is extremely valuable. The site that I would like promote is called All Sides-it provides "balanced news" and presents topics from different viewpoints. Here is an example from the recently debated topic on stimulus checks. It is important for all learners to understand multiple viewpoints and perspectives in order to make informed decisions themselves. Though the content from "All Sides" maybe geared to an older crowd every grade level should have content that takes different perspectives into account!

Differentiating for your gifted learners is manageable and may not require a whole lot of tweaking to your existing lesson plans. Designing tiers is a great way to meet the needs of ALL of your learners. In math it could be as simple as using more challenging numbers, or completing more steps. In ELA the learners could read more challenging text, write in a more sophisticated genre, or use more complex words. I have attached an example of a tiered lesson and some thinking prompts. I would love to plan with you to implement this strategy!

As the end of the year is quickly approaching I wanted to highlight a wonderful resource that I have grown to use daily and LOVE! PEARDECK! This application allows authentic interaction during a lesson between learners and educators and has changed my teaching this year! After clicking here and there on their website I found out just how teacher friendly it is. Peardeck offers tons of lessons, already made that are SUPER engaging for students.....Please check out this link which has 4 Peardeck lessons already created and ready to use. The lessons included are (Creative Kids, Children of Invention, Out of This World Women, and Physical Disabilities Amazing Abilities) Each lesson has an Elementary, Middle School and High School version. If you need any help at all with Peardeck or would like me to co-teach with you I would LOVE to! Let me know what you think!

I have been married for the past 18 years and my husband and I share 4 beautiful children. My oldest is in the 11th grade and goes to a high school in Grand Prairie, her name is Khadija and she is 16, following her is my second daughter Fatima who attends Coppell Middle School West and is in the 8th grade. Next is my son Abdallah who is 12 and he also goes to Coppell Middle West and is in the 7th Grade. Completing our family is my baby girl Asiya who is currently 19 months! She is a medically complex baby, who underwent open heart surgery back in December of 2019. She has one lung and also has congenital heart disease and spent 61 days in the NICU at Cook Children's in Fort Worth. She has come such a long way and has overcome so many hurdles. When we started quarantine back in March she didn't even know how to roll over and in the past 6 months has gone from rolling, to lifting her chest off the floor, to crawling, and most recently WALKING! Among all the therapies that she receives my children are her daily therapists and are always working with her to help her achieve her developmental milestones! I couldn't feel more blessed and have been surrounded by love and support from my RJL Familee since I started this journey!