IAG
The Indiana Association for Gifted Children was in December and a few of our colleagues attended. Some celebrities in gifted education presented and the keynote was Colin Seale. He is a gifted student, math teacher, and attorney with an interest in equity in education. Here are some takeaways from his keynote from our colleague:
*Math has now become a reading test. We are requiring students, especially students who are English Learners to read the majority of their math test for a grade.
*Most teachers overestimate how much “basics” they have to teach, wasting time they could be using on challenging students.
*Do our kids have the psychological safety to be brilliant? They are worried about impressing everyone, including teachers.
*Providing each student with high quality tier 1 instructions IS equity.
*Stop meeting kids where they are, this causes low expectations.
Good quotes:
🔨Don’t be a gatekeeper when you can be an access creator (opportunity creator)
🚶🏻♂️Not restorative practices-rehumanizing practices
I have a few copies of Colin Seale's book Thinking Like a Lawyer, email Kim if you would like a copy!
Any Questions?
How many of you have a student who already knows everything? I know when the example CKLA page below appeared recently in a lesson, I immediately had a learner with high abilities yell out “I don’t have any questions! I already know all this stuff!”
According to Ian Bryd of Byrdseed TV, “learning begins when we wonder; when we realize that we’re missing something.” Periodically in our CKLA lessons, students are asked to write a question before, during or after a lesson. We can use our Depth and Complexity icons to drive our students thinking/questioning to a deeper level. If your students are familiar with the icons, simply adding a visual cue may be just what they need to drive their thinking outside the box. While we are wanting the students to initiate the questioning, here are some example questions supported by icons:
Details: Which detail in this chapter is most important?
Patterns: What patterns are obvious? Which patterns are present, but harder to see?
Multiple Perspectives: How might the story change if it were told from a different character's point of view? Which character would you choose and why?
Rules: How do these rules apply to this topic?
Want to read more on this topic from the expert? Click here! https://www.byrdseed.com/depth-and-complexity-unanswered-questions/
HA Screening Update
We are administering the CogAT to kindergarten students this month. All of the CogAT profile reports will be shared electronically with building administrators and printed for student files. Each student profile has an Ability Profile in the lower left hand corner if they took all subtests. You can go to www.cogat.com to use the Ability Profile to get a view of the student's strengths, challenges, and strategies to support.
7 National Honorable Mentions (top 50% of all participating students)
31,263 students participated from 576 schools.
