I’ll try to limit myself to just two paragraphs. Not even John Updike paragraphs.
Portfolios can assess three different categories (at least in Clarke County): achievement, creativity, and motivation. I’m stuck on the motivation part. I guess if you’re motivated enough to complete a portfolio that may end up taking eighteen months (sheesh, children have been planned, debated, rejected, accepted, conceived, and born in less time), then you are truly motivated. Wouldn’t motivation be a factor of any portfolio? I guess if you’re not too independent with it, you’re not too motivated. Time bothers me a lot with these portfolios. I spend most of my time designing assignments that are less than a week or two in duration because of the relatively short attention span of most of my students. Whether this is a perceived attention span or reality, I’m not sure. Maybe my kids could handle an assignment that lasts all semester long. With our block schedule, that’d only be four months or so.
I think we as teachers are portfolio creators. When we sit down to design a semester’s worth of work, we try (sometimes) to develop common themes. My tenth grade classes are all about death and failure. The texts we have—Julius Caesar, Things Fall Apart, Lord of the Flies, Antigone, Night (Holocaust)—all concern themselves with the failures of mankind. I joke that there are no happy moments in tenth grade. You’re not a freshman anymore, so you can’t use that excuse. And you’re not a big kid yet. Even the name, sophomore, means wise fool. They can’t win.
I would be (holy crap, third paragraph—don’t count the first one as a paragraph) terrified to grade a portfolio, a true portfolio. Too many variables, too much that could be left open to interpretation. There is also, for me, too much room for the personal feelings of the judge influencing the assessment of the product. Our guest speakers made an offhand comment that if they were confronted with a portfolio that looked like money, looked like it came from Hobby Lobby and dear old Mom and Dad spent their hard earned cashola on the decorations, it would be almost immediately dismissed. But what if? What if the expensive supplies were used in creative ways? What if, too? What if I just don’t understand what the kid was trying to do? What if, again? What if the kid had no clue what he was putting in the portfolio and is just good at making crap up when he’s explaining it. Too many what if’s for me.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
GES-2 Motivation Assessment
It would be funny to say that I was not motivated to do well on the Motivation Assessment. Funny.
I cheat on tests like this. I rarely answer questions truthfully when it comes to motivation, personality, and things like that. I spend a great deal of time analyzing questions trying to figure out what my answer would mean by rating it on the like to dislike, true to false scale usually provided. I am not fooled (or so I think) by the test makers randomizing the types of questions found on the test. The GES¬-2 is a fine test and I have no problem with it other than the fact that it tries to test too much at once. You can use this test to . . . okay, according to a creativelearning.com website, it assesses giftedness in intellectual, creative, specific academic, and/or leadership ability (or in the performing arts). As a test taker, I was all my questions sorted. I don’t want to have to figure out which questions are the creative ones and which are the motivational ones.
I’m confused, though. GES means Gifted Evaluation Scale. Is that the test? or just the scale used to assess the test.
Sheesh. According to the hes-inc.com website, you can purchase the GES-3 for a mere $90. Are we really motivated enough to spend that much money on a kid who might be like me and lie throughout the test to give you the answers he thinks you want? Not me, bucko. I want to spend that money on high-interest materials that will make all kids interested.
We can’t talk about race that much. We can’t talk about gender that much either. There’s a lot of things I won’t say here (whether I believe them or not) about why this person or that person will do better on the GES. Even saying that there are things that I won’t say is problematic.
I am, however, a product of my environment. My father is a workaholic. He remained retired for about four months before he got himself another full-time job. He had worked with the phone company for nearly thirty years. My folks aren’t rich, but they certainly don’t need the money. I grew up with a mother who rode horses and stayed home with the kids (my sister and me). She worked a little, part time jobs, mostly horse-related. I grew up with the understanding that men were supposed to work and women were allowed to work. It’s okay for a woman to have a job, nothing wrong with that, but it’s secondary to the man’s job. I know I’m supposed to be motivated to work, to build, to create just because I am a man. For my twelve years of married life, my job has been the primary money-earner. My wife is not far behind and she does work full-time. I wonder, though, does she work full time because we need the money (which we do, bills to pay) or is it because she wants to work. I’d love to stay home and take care of the house and read books all day long, but that would make me less of a man, wouldn’t it? That would mean I’m not motivated. But just like my father, I plan to stay with the same career for the rest of my life. My wife has had four different career-type jobs in the past 12 years.
Let’s leave race out of this, shall we?
I have to say I am at a loss as to who should administer the GES and why. I don’t see what motivation (specifically) has to do with giftedness. I see that as an independent factor. I can be motivated to build houses but suck at it. I can be completely unmotivated to design new cars and yet be the foremost genius in the field. Yeah, I get it. You have to be motivated on some level to allow someone to be able to see your giftedness. I get that. Yet I still mock.
Scoring. I understand the need for different scales for different ages, even for male/female test-takers. The six-year-old taking charge of doing his homework is highly motivated, but we can’t exactly expect this kid to start a local chapter of Amnesty International. I’m sure there’s some six-year-old out there who’s done it, but it’s rare. Older kids, the teens and late teens, they have to do more to be considered motivated. Makes perfect sense to me.
I dislike, however, the flaw in the system. The judge. Handing these out to various teachers, coaches, parents, friends who are involved in the allegedly gifted kid’s life puts a kink in the system that is, as I see it, unavoidable. You have to trust other people. Even if those other people might have a grudge against the kid. Now we get into statistics and standard deviations and margins for error. I, as a tenth grader, was a perfect child behavior-wise for my first five classes. When I got to sixth period, I was a nut. Can’t quite explain it, but if my sixth block Geometry teacher had filled out any sort of behavior-analysis form on me, it would have contrasted starkly with my other five teachers. It’s a flaw, but unavoidable.
I cheat on tests like this. I rarely answer questions truthfully when it comes to motivation, personality, and things like that. I spend a great deal of time analyzing questions trying to figure out what my answer would mean by rating it on the like to dislike, true to false scale usually provided. I am not fooled (or so I think) by the test makers randomizing the types of questions found on the test. The GES¬-2 is a fine test and I have no problem with it other than the fact that it tries to test too much at once. You can use this test to . . . okay, according to a creativelearning.com website, it assesses giftedness in intellectual, creative, specific academic, and/or leadership ability (or in the performing arts). As a test taker, I was all my questions sorted. I don’t want to have to figure out which questions are the creative ones and which are the motivational ones.
I’m confused, though. GES means Gifted Evaluation Scale. Is that the test? or just the scale used to assess the test.
Sheesh. According to the hes-inc.com website, you can purchase the GES-3 for a mere $90. Are we really motivated enough to spend that much money on a kid who might be like me and lie throughout the test to give you the answers he thinks you want? Not me, bucko. I want to spend that money on high-interest materials that will make all kids interested.
We can’t talk about race that much. We can’t talk about gender that much either. There’s a lot of things I won’t say here (whether I believe them or not) about why this person or that person will do better on the GES. Even saying that there are things that I won’t say is problematic.
I am, however, a product of my environment. My father is a workaholic. He remained retired for about four months before he got himself another full-time job. He had worked with the phone company for nearly thirty years. My folks aren’t rich, but they certainly don’t need the money. I grew up with a mother who rode horses and stayed home with the kids (my sister and me). She worked a little, part time jobs, mostly horse-related. I grew up with the understanding that men were supposed to work and women were allowed to work. It’s okay for a woman to have a job, nothing wrong with that, but it’s secondary to the man’s job. I know I’m supposed to be motivated to work, to build, to create just because I am a man. For my twelve years of married life, my job has been the primary money-earner. My wife is not far behind and she does work full-time. I wonder, though, does she work full time because we need the money (which we do, bills to pay) or is it because she wants to work. I’d love to stay home and take care of the house and read books all day long, but that would make me less of a man, wouldn’t it? That would mean I’m not motivated. But just like my father, I plan to stay with the same career for the rest of my life. My wife has had four different career-type jobs in the past 12 years.
Let’s leave race out of this, shall we?
I have to say I am at a loss as to who should administer the GES and why. I don’t see what motivation (specifically) has to do with giftedness. I see that as an independent factor. I can be motivated to build houses but suck at it. I can be completely unmotivated to design new cars and yet be the foremost genius in the field. Yeah, I get it. You have to be motivated on some level to allow someone to be able to see your giftedness. I get that. Yet I still mock.
Scoring. I understand the need for different scales for different ages, even for male/female test-takers. The six-year-old taking charge of doing his homework is highly motivated, but we can’t exactly expect this kid to start a local chapter of Amnesty International. I’m sure there’s some six-year-old out there who’s done it, but it’s rare. Older kids, the teens and late teens, they have to do more to be considered motivated. Makes perfect sense to me.
I dislike, however, the flaw in the system. The judge. Handing these out to various teachers, coaches, parents, friends who are involved in the allegedly gifted kid’s life puts a kink in the system that is, as I see it, unavoidable. You have to trust other people. Even if those other people might have a grudge against the kid. Now we get into statistics and standard deviations and margins for error. I, as a tenth grader, was a perfect child behavior-wise for my first five classes. When I got to sixth period, I was a nut. Can’t quite explain it, but if my sixth block Geometry teacher had filled out any sort of behavior-analysis form on me, it would have contrasted starkly with my other five teachers. It’s a flaw, but unavoidable.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Class, December the first, 2009
It's guest speaker day, apparently. That's okay. Not like movie day. Movie day is great.
Vicki Krugman is first. I think that's how you spell her name. She's the goto contact for all matters gifted in Clarke County. She has a swanky office at the board office. Sweet.
The first thing that happened, before Vicki appeared on the scene, is some folks handed out some . . . handouts. All four concern portfolio plans.
Srivistava. She's talking. Portfolios. The kid who uses Lilith as an alter-ego/avatar.
Here's my impression of what it means to do well on a portfolio: you have to care enough to keep on talking about your feelings. You also have to not care too much about other people possibly laughing at you. To create a good portfolio
a portfolio needs a good ten to fifteen items or artifacts they're called
you have to be willing to go on and on about the artifacts you have chosen. Your emotions must show through in the works you create. People might laugh at you because you have to, just as in any good metaphor, make an unnatural comparison between the artifact and what it means to you.
portfolios are not used a lot around the state of georgia
Why not? Because they're so difficult and time-consuming to create. Look like a booger to assess too.
it's useless to do a portfolio that is not in one of the student's strength areas
Sure. I'll buy that. Vicki just admitted that the most difficult area of portfolios to assess is the creativity component. Well, not really a component, but I like that word. There are three target areas for portfolios: achievement, creativity, and motivation. Going back to Srivistava's presentation of her student's portfolio, I would have sworn it was on creativity. Looked that way to me. Not true. It was motivation. Go figure.
Know what? This reminds me a lot of what we in the English department go through when we try to select kids for the English honors distinction around graduation. We want kids who are self-motivated, pursue their interests outside the classroom (reading and writing in the case of English).
Rapport. That's a funny word.
How much does environment play into portfolio development and the reality of the creative process. The third guest speaker, no clue who she is, but she seems attached to Vicki, mentioned a kid who would not/could not write a lick in writing class, but at home she was creating magnificent lyrical poetry (songs, I mean). I write different ways after reading different texts. One story I wrote sounded like Kafka. that's because I had just read several Kafka short stories. Read The Trial, too. That makes me cool.
Who is that third lady? She really seems to know what she's talking about. Has a great deal of information.
I'll be right back. I'm going to find a like to put in this blog.
Hoagies' Gifted Education Page offers some information on skipping a grade by using a gifted portfolio. It's an article by a woman named Sandy advocating for her fifth grade child moving directly into seventh grade. I wouldn't do that. Middle schoolers are cruel. That's a horrible age to be different from the people around you. Then again, it would really bite to be an overachieving sixth grader stuck in a sixth grade class.
Woman3 is still wearing her scarf and it's not that cold in here. Maybe she was bitten by a vampire. Stymie. She said stymie. Definition two.
My wife calls me a supersniffer. I blame my mother. She wore too much (and too much for me is any) perfume, Chanel no. 5, on car trips. Made me nauseous. I sit here in this new elementary school and can smell nothing but the New School smell. The carpet's too clean. The walls are too freshly painted. Too few bodies have gone through here. I dread the day I have to drive my own new car. Will I ever get one? Doubt it. I like used. But that's because I don't have enough money to buy a new car.
You know what I've missed through this whole thing? Why? That's what I've missed. If this portfolio takes up to a year and a half to create, why are the kids doing it and what do they get when they finish it that they could not get in other ways?
Outliers. Vicki made reference to outliers. I have a visual memory of the book. The link is to the author's own website concerning his book, Outliers. That title sticks with me.
three types of gifted services within the classroom: collaboration, advanced content, and cluster
Liberty County offers more models than we do. Go them. The pdf file does, however, offer pretty succinct definitions of the different models offered at the three educational levels (elementary, middle, high).
Vicki Krugman is first. I think that's how you spell her name. She's the goto contact for all matters gifted in Clarke County. She has a swanky office at the board office. Sweet.
The first thing that happened, before Vicki appeared on the scene, is some folks handed out some . . . handouts. All four concern portfolio plans.
Srivistava. She's talking. Portfolios. The kid who uses Lilith as an alter-ego/avatar.
Here's my impression of what it means to do well on a portfolio: you have to care enough to keep on talking about your feelings. You also have to not care too much about other people possibly laughing at you. To create a good portfolio
a portfolio needs a good ten to fifteen items or artifacts they're called
you have to be willing to go on and on about the artifacts you have chosen. Your emotions must show through in the works you create. People might laugh at you because you have to, just as in any good metaphor, make an unnatural comparison between the artifact and what it means to you.
portfolios are not used a lot around the state of georgia
Why not? Because they're so difficult and time-consuming to create. Look like a booger to assess too.
it's useless to do a portfolio that is not in one of the student's strength areas
Sure. I'll buy that. Vicki just admitted that the most difficult area of portfolios to assess is the creativity component. Well, not really a component, but I like that word. There are three target areas for portfolios: achievement, creativity, and motivation. Going back to Srivistava's presentation of her student's portfolio, I would have sworn it was on creativity. Looked that way to me. Not true. It was motivation. Go figure.
Know what? This reminds me a lot of what we in the English department go through when we try to select kids for the English honors distinction around graduation. We want kids who are self-motivated, pursue their interests outside the classroom (reading and writing in the case of English).
Rapport. That's a funny word.
How much does environment play into portfolio development and the reality of the creative process. The third guest speaker, no clue who she is, but she seems attached to Vicki, mentioned a kid who would not/could not write a lick in writing class, but at home she was creating magnificent lyrical poetry (songs, I mean). I write different ways after reading different texts. One story I wrote sounded like Kafka. that's because I had just read several Kafka short stories. Read The Trial, too. That makes me cool.
Who is that third lady? She really seems to know what she's talking about. Has a great deal of information.
I'll be right back. I'm going to find a like to put in this blog.
Hoagies' Gifted Education Page offers some information on skipping a grade by using a gifted portfolio. It's an article by a woman named Sandy advocating for her fifth grade child moving directly into seventh grade. I wouldn't do that. Middle schoolers are cruel. That's a horrible age to be different from the people around you. Then again, it would really bite to be an overachieving sixth grader stuck in a sixth grade class.
Woman3 is still wearing her scarf and it's not that cold in here. Maybe she was bitten by a vampire. Stymie. She said stymie. Definition two.
My wife calls me a supersniffer. I blame my mother. She wore too much (and too much for me is any) perfume, Chanel no. 5, on car trips. Made me nauseous. I sit here in this new elementary school and can smell nothing but the New School smell. The carpet's too clean. The walls are too freshly painted. Too few bodies have gone through here. I dread the day I have to drive my own new car. Will I ever get one? Doubt it. I like used. But that's because I don't have enough money to buy a new car.
You know what I've missed through this whole thing? Why? That's what I've missed. If this portfolio takes up to a year and a half to create, why are the kids doing it and what do they get when they finish it that they could not get in other ways?
Outliers. Vicki made reference to outliers. I have a visual memory of the book. The link is to the author's own website concerning his book, Outliers. That title sticks with me.
three types of gifted services within the classroom: collaboration, advanced content, and cluster
Liberty County offers more models than we do. Go them. The pdf file does, however, offer pretty succinct definitions of the different models offered at the three educational levels (elementary, middle, high).
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Response to the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking
Response to the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking
Joshua Sampson
The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking? The Schmorance Schmest of Schmeative Schminking, more like it. I have always been an adept test taker. That’s what I tell my students, anyway. Never quite understood test anxiety or freezing up on tests. Time limits rarely bother me. Of course, I have not been a part of high-stakes testing like my students are today. They have graduation-test and EOCT stress. I just had vocabulary quizzes and final exams. Taking tests, I always knew what I knew and recognized what I did not know. If I didn’t know the answer to question fifteen, I spent no more than ten seconds accepting that fact and moved on to question sixteen. It pains me to see students who are stuck on question one, unable to move on. The TToCT was a little different for me. I found myself rechecking my answers, wondering if they were truly correct, what the instructor/grader would understand as creative. I had a hard time moving on to the next question (or example of drawing) until I felt I was completely finished with the previous one.
As the test started, I was comforted by the understanding that this was not the real test, that I was not going to be judged, and that the environment was not what it really should be. I would prefer a smaller environment, something less communal. Time was a constant factor in the quality of my results. I felt at first that I had too much time, but then as time ran out, I struggled to make sure any potential grader could understand what was going through my mind. Any deficiency I have in my artistic (ability to draw) skills, I tried to bolster with an over-exaggerated written creativeness. I spent more time thinking of the titles that I did on the drawn responses. I even tried to incorporate three drawings into the first problem. Would my grader understand this? Would I be more creative because I tried to shove more information into the limited space rather than work on quality? I understood going in to the test that the completeness of a product was important. The number of details you include do affect your score.
But that is where I see the limitation of the TToCT. Why the time limit? Do I have to be creative in just ten minutes? Does not the creative mind sometimes need time to fully express itself? I ponder this when I ask my own students to develop creative products. Is it fair to tell my students at 10:11 that a poem is due at 11:46 (the timeframe of my second block class)? Can a creative poem be written in just an hour and a half? I can surely write one, several, in fact. If I’m in the mood. This test is a snapshot of creativity and while I believe that creativity can be taught, I believe that it is initially imitation creativity. I can coach my students about the details they need to include in their poems, words they can choose and end up with a 50% student/50% teacher creative poem (actual percentages may vary). Eventually, a student may be able to create magnificent poetry, fantastic paintings, splendid musical overtures. But at first, they are all artificial. “If you add ten toes to your person, it’ll be more complete. What about toenails? Should some of them be painted? Does your person wear rings? What about curls in the hair? Eyebrows?
But ten minutes? Come on! I’m not that creative.
Scoring the TToCT? I have to admit, I was a bit put off by this. Not being qualified is one thing, but I just don’t have the experience I feel I need to judge the results I had before me. I think I know what a creative product looks like, but that is my subjective opinion. It was helpful to have our instructor going through a grocery list of pointless (not pointless, but point-less, without points) responses. I could not help but think, as many of the pointless responses mirrored my own, that it meant I, myself, was not creative. Individual responses were judged, oddly enough to me, not on completion, but on non-completion. I was taken aback by the notion that a closed drawing was worth less than an open drawing. I understand the notion that those who crave order and regularity (perhaps the less creative) want things to have a definite beginning and a definite ending. We close our drawings . . . err, I mean they close their drawings. While the creative among us are open and free with both their thinking and their pen-to-paper work. The lack of clear directions—complete directions may be a better way of saying it—aggravated me while we were grading. I constantly thought, well, if I had known it was better to combine these and not draw that kind of thing, then I would have done much better. But that’s the point, isn’t it? Those who have an innate sense of creativity are not bothered by incomplete directions. They are wild and free and make their own rules. I had a few questions while we were grading. Asked some of them aloud, but relied mostly on the help of my fellow table-mates.
I understand the test is supposed to show how far your mind can go when it is set free. If I give you a first word, “Once” will you be like everyone else and continue with “upon a time” or will you do something unheard of? “Once the soldier realized his legs were not going to work, he had to figure another way out of the ship.”
11/30/09 and 12/01/09
Joshua Sampson
The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking? The Schmorance Schmest of Schmeative Schminking, more like it. I have always been an adept test taker. That’s what I tell my students, anyway. Never quite understood test anxiety or freezing up on tests. Time limits rarely bother me. Of course, I have not been a part of high-stakes testing like my students are today. They have graduation-test and EOCT stress. I just had vocabulary quizzes and final exams. Taking tests, I always knew what I knew and recognized what I did not know. If I didn’t know the answer to question fifteen, I spent no more than ten seconds accepting that fact and moved on to question sixteen. It pains me to see students who are stuck on question one, unable to move on. The TToCT was a little different for me. I found myself rechecking my answers, wondering if they were truly correct, what the instructor/grader would understand as creative. I had a hard time moving on to the next question (or example of drawing) until I felt I was completely finished with the previous one.
As the test started, I was comforted by the understanding that this was not the real test, that I was not going to be judged, and that the environment was not what it really should be. I would prefer a smaller environment, something less communal. Time was a constant factor in the quality of my results. I felt at first that I had too much time, but then as time ran out, I struggled to make sure any potential grader could understand what was going through my mind. Any deficiency I have in my artistic (ability to draw) skills, I tried to bolster with an over-exaggerated written creativeness. I spent more time thinking of the titles that I did on the drawn responses. I even tried to incorporate three drawings into the first problem. Would my grader understand this? Would I be more creative because I tried to shove more information into the limited space rather than work on quality? I understood going in to the test that the completeness of a product was important. The number of details you include do affect your score.
But that is where I see the limitation of the TToCT. Why the time limit? Do I have to be creative in just ten minutes? Does not the creative mind sometimes need time to fully express itself? I ponder this when I ask my own students to develop creative products. Is it fair to tell my students at 10:11 that a poem is due at 11:46 (the timeframe of my second block class)? Can a creative poem be written in just an hour and a half? I can surely write one, several, in fact. If I’m in the mood. This test is a snapshot of creativity and while I believe that creativity can be taught, I believe that it is initially imitation creativity. I can coach my students about the details they need to include in their poems, words they can choose and end up with a 50% student/50% teacher creative poem (actual percentages may vary). Eventually, a student may be able to create magnificent poetry, fantastic paintings, splendid musical overtures. But at first, they are all artificial. “If you add ten toes to your person, it’ll be more complete. What about toenails? Should some of them be painted? Does your person wear rings? What about curls in the hair? Eyebrows?
But ten minutes? Come on! I’m not that creative.
Scoring the TToCT? I have to admit, I was a bit put off by this. Not being qualified is one thing, but I just don’t have the experience I feel I need to judge the results I had before me. I think I know what a creative product looks like, but that is my subjective opinion. It was helpful to have our instructor going through a grocery list of pointless (not pointless, but point-less, without points) responses. I could not help but think, as many of the pointless responses mirrored my own, that it meant I, myself, was not creative. Individual responses were judged, oddly enough to me, not on completion, but on non-completion. I was taken aback by the notion that a closed drawing was worth less than an open drawing. I understand the notion that those who crave order and regularity (perhaps the less creative) want things to have a definite beginning and a definite ending. We close our drawings . . . err, I mean they close their drawings. While the creative among us are open and free with both their thinking and their pen-to-paper work. The lack of clear directions—complete directions may be a better way of saying it—aggravated me while we were grading. I constantly thought, well, if I had known it was better to combine these and not draw that kind of thing, then I would have done much better. But that’s the point, isn’t it? Those who have an innate sense of creativity are not bothered by incomplete directions. They are wild and free and make their own rules. I had a few questions while we were grading. Asked some of them aloud, but relied mostly on the help of my fellow table-mates.
I understand the test is supposed to show how far your mind can go when it is set free. If I give you a first word, “Once” will you be like everyone else and continue with “upon a time” or will you do something unheard of? “Once the soldier realized his legs were not going to work, he had to figure another way out of the ship.”
11/30/09 and 12/01/09
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Philosophy of Giftedness, Part 2
The finger paint I did not want the teacher to put up because it was not as good as the other kids’
The book report I never turned in because the book was below my level, my mother said
The time at recess when I didn’t want to play the game and said I did not understand the rules
The forts I used to build with sheets and furniture at my house
The time I used a baseball bat to make my Tonka truck more authentic and it made my mother think I was angry when I was just trying to make it look cool
The time I fell asleep when I wasn’t sleepy at all
The science fair project turned in and won
The time I made a sculpture and then sabotaged it
The time I laughed at one of my friends when he gave the correct answer and he never talked to me again
The time I smoked, coughed and choked, then smoked again for six years
The library book I never turned in because it was so overdue that I just knew they would yell at me
The poem I submitted to the Scholastic publisher who was looking for student work
The autographed, personally autographed, book by my favorite author when he looked me in the eye and said thanks for coming
The trinket from my grandmother’s funeral, three monkeys who hear, see, and speak no evil
The broken glass from when my sister was arguing with my father and I knew what they were trying to say to each other even though they didn’t have a clue
The idea in my head for the painting I’ll never paint because I don’t know how to paint but that doesn’t stop me anyway
The book I’ll never write because every time I start to write it, all the ideas come crashing down and I lose focus of the end
The job I got working as a delivery boy but the boss kept inviting me to the meetings and now the company I own that makes the products I see in my dreams
The bank account that grows, but never makes me happy
The childhood I missed because I was too busy being dumb and smart at the same time
The book report I never turned in because the book was below my level, my mother said
The time at recess when I didn’t want to play the game and said I did not understand the rules
The forts I used to build with sheets and furniture at my house
The time I used a baseball bat to make my Tonka truck more authentic and it made my mother think I was angry when I was just trying to make it look cool
The time I fell asleep when I wasn’t sleepy at all
The science fair project turned in and won
The time I made a sculpture and then sabotaged it
The time I laughed at one of my friends when he gave the correct answer and he never talked to me again
The time I smoked, coughed and choked, then smoked again for six years
The library book I never turned in because it was so overdue that I just knew they would yell at me
The poem I submitted to the Scholastic publisher who was looking for student work
The autographed, personally autographed, book by my favorite author when he looked me in the eye and said thanks for coming
The trinket from my grandmother’s funeral, three monkeys who hear, see, and speak no evil
The broken glass from when my sister was arguing with my father and I knew what they were trying to say to each other even though they didn’t have a clue
The idea in my head for the painting I’ll never paint because I don’t know how to paint but that doesn’t stop me anyway
The book I’ll never write because every time I start to write it, all the ideas come crashing down and I lose focus of the end
The job I got working as a delivery boy but the boss kept inviting me to the meetings and now the company I own that makes the products I see in my dreams
The bank account that grows, but never makes me happy
The childhood I missed because I was too busy being dumb and smart at the same time
Monday, September 28, 2009
Philosophy of Giftedness, Part 1
“Did I miss anybody? Are there any more papers out there? Last call . . .”
“Ms. Barton?”
“James.”
“Ms. Barton. I don’t think I understood the assignment when you gave it out. Is it okay if I bring it to you tomorrow? I think I get it now.”
“What the fuck, man. Did you not hear the woman go over the essay every day last page two-twenty, where we left off week? I think I dreamt about the essay a few nights this weekend. What the fuck in the context of the story how do you rationalize is wrong with you lately? You used to have your shit toge- gentlemen in the back of the room would allow us to continue ther. It’s like you don’t much care anymore.”
“I know what I’m doing. I understand the assignment just fine, I just don’t get why as the protagonist begins to develop a complex relationship I have to do it.”
“School, Einstein. Ever heard of it? They tell us what to do and we do it. Been that way since I was a kid, your kids will have to deal with the same talking heads talking heads in the back of the room would like to participate, I cordially invite we do, they’ll just be older, if that’s possible.”
“I already wrote the essay so just leave me alone. The thing that interested me the most, Ms. Barton, was how the wife was able to get the money together to See what I mean. The wife had nothing to do with it. She got the money by dumb luck. She didn’t work. That was not interesting.”
“See what you mean, what? What are you talking about?”
“I know this stuff. I know all of it. I read this book because it was on my father’s bookshelf when I was in fifth grade. I know the story back- might be mistaken. There were many other factors wards and forwards. I could write the perfect essay . . .”
“You said you finished it.”
“Shut up. That’s not the point. The point is that I don’t think Ms. Barton would even understand what I write down. No one would.”
“Thanks.”
“No offense. I just don’t see why I have to come here every day. Yeah, yeah. I know. School. You said that.”
“You weren’t like this last year. You know, I think and hope you have a nice day. Quiz over chapter seventeen tomorrow. James, I’ll see you do this on purpose.”
“Hey, who ever accused you of not paying attention? They were liars. By the way, it was Jessica in the story who had a problem with the authorities which all stemmed her inability to accept the fact that her father was abusive. If she had been able to . . .”
“James, I am really looking forward to hearing about your experiences with Ms. Barton next year. I know we got off to a rocky start, but I think that you have proven yourself a great mind. I mean that. I have not had many students come through my classroom who are capable of thinking the way you do. You are capable of addressing multiple facets of a situation with a genuine . . . recognize the disparity between those who are capable and those who just need a little encouragement . . . how you were able to work independently . . . products you were capable of creating that I had not even thought of before. Your level of creative reasoning . . .”
“For the first nine weeks of school, your ‘grade partners’ will be both your study buddies and your group-work teammates. You will collamborate collaborate with each other on a . . . sorry, I did not catch that. James, is it? Nothing, ma’am. The ideals you generate in your small groups will help foster a greater sense of accomplishment here in the classroom. Your grade will also be dependent on the work of your group peers. Please make sure my name, Ms. Barton, is at the top of your group-assessment paper before you turn it in. The rest of the 8th grade teachers are following the same regimented program and I don’t want your work getting mussed up with theirs.”
“Okay. Guys. Here’s the deal. We have to study for the quiz on tomorrow. Not on tomorrow, just tomorrow, you moron. Did any of you guys look up the words?”
“When is the test?”
“Tomorrow I think.”
“Don’t we usually holy shit. The fucking test is tomorrow. It says it on the board. Romeo is a tragic hero. His flaw is his libido. Tybalt is neither sympathetic nor have our quizzes on Thursdays?”
“We have the assembly on Thursday for the game that afternoon.”
“Who are we playing? Is it home or away?”
“Home. We never have assemblies for away games. I’m in the traveling nurse represents a need for nurturing, but a stern band. We usually play the home games, but sometimes I have jazz band at the same time but the fault rests firmly in the hands of and we have to go to that instead. I wish our half-time routine was more like Wakefield’s.”
“What do they do?”
“Need any help over here? You guys okay?”
“Nah, we’re good. Just talking about Romeo and Juliet. That was a sad story, wasn’t it? Who do you think was the tragic hero, Ms. Barton?”
“Hmm, that’s a good question. I bet that question is on the test tomorrow. Hope your group is ready. What do you think, James? Don’t talk to me, don’t ask me, don’t make me speak."
“Not really sure, Ms. Barton. I think it could be either Romeo or Juliet.”
“Hmm. Interesting. Who did you have for English last year?”
“I have a headache, do you mind if I go to the nurse you raving moron, let me the fuck out of your classroom before I do something I might”
“That’s fine, James. Just bring me a note from the nurse.”
“Back again, James? I’m going to have to get in touch with . . .”
“No, Nurse Ratched.”
“Ratner.”
“Yes, sorry. I mean Nurse Ratner Ratched, I’m doing a survey for my English class and want to find out how English has helped you in your career, if it has at all.”
“Sure. I thought you had another one of your headaches. Come in. Sit down.”
“No, I can’t. I’m just trying to set up a time with you. Ms. Barton asked me to go around to some of the staff here and see if they were willing to participate. If you’d just put your name on the pass and what time you’d be able to meet, what about 2:30. That’s at the end of this class period and I could come back. Yes. Thanks. That will work perfectly.”
“Son. Do you have a pass?”
“Yes, sir. I’m on my way to the nurse. Got a pass from her to return at 2:30.”
“What’re you doing out here on the football field?”
“Something about heart-rate measurement. She wanted to hook me up do a defibrillator and see how that affects my asthma.”
“Really? I’ve heard about that. Have a good day.”
“Dumbass. This is too easy.”
“Ms. Barton?”
“James.”
“Ms. Barton. I don’t think I understood the assignment when you gave it out. Is it okay if I bring it to you tomorrow? I think I get it now.”
“What the fuck, man. Did you not hear the woman go over the essay every day last page two-twenty, where we left off week? I think I dreamt about the essay a few nights this weekend. What the fuck in the context of the story how do you rationalize is wrong with you lately? You used to have your shit toge- gentlemen in the back of the room would allow us to continue ther. It’s like you don’t much care anymore.”
“I know what I’m doing. I understand the assignment just fine, I just don’t get why as the protagonist begins to develop a complex relationship I have to do it.”
“School, Einstein. Ever heard of it? They tell us what to do and we do it. Been that way since I was a kid, your kids will have to deal with the same talking heads talking heads in the back of the room would like to participate, I cordially invite we do, they’ll just be older, if that’s possible.”
“I already wrote the essay so just leave me alone. The thing that interested me the most, Ms. Barton, was how the wife was able to get the money together to See what I mean. The wife had nothing to do with it. She got the money by dumb luck. She didn’t work. That was not interesting.”
“See what you mean, what? What are you talking about?”
“I know this stuff. I know all of it. I read this book because it was on my father’s bookshelf when I was in fifth grade. I know the story back- might be mistaken. There were many other factors wards and forwards. I could write the perfect essay . . .”
“You said you finished it.”
“Shut up. That’s not the point. The point is that I don’t think Ms. Barton would even understand what I write down. No one would.”
“Thanks.”
“No offense. I just don’t see why I have to come here every day. Yeah, yeah. I know. School. You said that.”
“You weren’t like this last year. You know, I think and hope you have a nice day. Quiz over chapter seventeen tomorrow. James, I’ll see you do this on purpose.”
“Hey, who ever accused you of not paying attention? They were liars. By the way, it was Jessica in the story who had a problem with the authorities which all stemmed her inability to accept the fact that her father was abusive. If she had been able to . . .”
“James, I am really looking forward to hearing about your experiences with Ms. Barton next year. I know we got off to a rocky start, but I think that you have proven yourself a great mind. I mean that. I have not had many students come through my classroom who are capable of thinking the way you do. You are capable of addressing multiple facets of a situation with a genuine . . . recognize the disparity between those who are capable and those who just need a little encouragement . . . how you were able to work independently . . . products you were capable of creating that I had not even thought of before. Your level of creative reasoning . . .”
“For the first nine weeks of school, your ‘grade partners’ will be both your study buddies and your group-work teammates. You will collamborate collaborate with each other on a . . . sorry, I did not catch that. James, is it? Nothing, ma’am. The ideals you generate in your small groups will help foster a greater sense of accomplishment here in the classroom. Your grade will also be dependent on the work of your group peers. Please make sure my name, Ms. Barton, is at the top of your group-assessment paper before you turn it in. The rest of the 8th grade teachers are following the same regimented program and I don’t want your work getting mussed up with theirs.”
“Okay. Guys. Here’s the deal. We have to study for the quiz on tomorrow. Not on tomorrow, just tomorrow, you moron. Did any of you guys look up the words?”
“When is the test?”
“Tomorrow I think.”
“Don’t we usually holy shit. The fucking test is tomorrow. It says it on the board. Romeo is a tragic hero. His flaw is his libido. Tybalt is neither sympathetic nor have our quizzes on Thursdays?”
“We have the assembly on Thursday for the game that afternoon.”
“Who are we playing? Is it home or away?”
“Home. We never have assemblies for away games. I’m in the traveling nurse represents a need for nurturing, but a stern band. We usually play the home games, but sometimes I have jazz band at the same time but the fault rests firmly in the hands of and we have to go to that instead. I wish our half-time routine was more like Wakefield’s.”
“What do they do?”
“Need any help over here? You guys okay?”
“Nah, we’re good. Just talking about Romeo and Juliet. That was a sad story, wasn’t it? Who do you think was the tragic hero, Ms. Barton?”
“Hmm, that’s a good question. I bet that question is on the test tomorrow. Hope your group is ready. What do you think, James? Don’t talk to me, don’t ask me, don’t make me speak."
“Not really sure, Ms. Barton. I think it could be either Romeo or Juliet.”
“Hmm. Interesting. Who did you have for English last year?”
“I have a headache, do you mind if I go to the nurse you raving moron, let me the fuck out of your classroom before I do something I might”
“That’s fine, James. Just bring me a note from the nurse.”
“Back again, James? I’m going to have to get in touch with . . .”
“No, Nurse Ratched.”
“Ratner.”
“Yes, sorry. I mean Nurse Ratner Ratched, I’m doing a survey for my English class and want to find out how English has helped you in your career, if it has at all.”
“Sure. I thought you had another one of your headaches. Come in. Sit down.”
“No, I can’t. I’m just trying to set up a time with you. Ms. Barton asked me to go around to some of the staff here and see if they were willing to participate. If you’d just put your name on the pass and what time you’d be able to meet, what about 2:30. That’s at the end of this class period and I could come back. Yes. Thanks. That will work perfectly.”
“Son. Do you have a pass?”
“Yes, sir. I’m on my way to the nurse. Got a pass from her to return at 2:30.”
“What’re you doing out here on the football field?”
“Something about heart-rate measurement. She wanted to hook me up do a defibrillator and see how that affects my asthma.”
“Really? I’ve heard about that. Have a good day.”
“Dumbass. This is too easy.”
Monday, September 21, 2009
Davis Rimm Chapters 9-10 pages 208-242
I already read them. Promise.
The two homework chapters stand out to me in that they are filled with Useful Content. You ever read anything by Stephen King? That little bit of personification is Kingian. How long will it be before that becomes a word? Is it already?
I'd first like to tie these chapters back to an idea or discussion one of my teachers posed last class. It's the idea, and you'll have to work with me on this one, that once we become sufficiently advanced in any aspect of life, the advances become commonplace. I believe the example Dr. Connell used was with athletic shoes. Every fancy shoe we have today, available for purchase in your average came about because at one time, a gifted athlete needed an edge. Advances in prosthetic legs come from one- and no-legged athletes.
So here's my connection. And there are two parts. One involves golf. When an industry becomes sufficiently advance in addressing its gifted population (the gifted athletes, the advanced drivers, etc), the advances become mundane and commonplace. Everyone receives the benefit of NASCAR's advances. Everyone drives a better car because they want to go one mile-per-hour faster. The shoes on my feet right now are the result of research done, not with a lowly teacher in mind, but with a long-distance runner, a sprinter, a raquetball player, and a casual jogger in mind. Thoughts of me were so distant, they didn't even cross the mind of the custodian who cleaned the building next door to the building where the research took place.
Follow that one.
And the second example. I like golf. I'm not great, but I'm just above a hacker, a duffer. Recently--and since I play golf only once or twice a year when I'm lucky, recently boils down to sometime in the past two years--I have started to move away from technologically-advanced, bubble-shafted, custon-fitted fancy clubs and now use wooden woods. That's how they started. I have found no great difference in my game (remember I admitted that I am no professional player) when I borrow one of my father's latest and greatest innovations. My irons are also decades out of date.
The point? Phase one: we recognize the need for acceleration of our advanced learners, the gifted segment of the population. Phase two: we develop materials and methodologies to assist in the advancement of our gifted population. Phase three: the advancements for the gifted become so commonplace and so generally accepted that the average man, woman, and child reap the benefits of the higher order thinking--everyone gets to use the fancy toys that were once reserved for the top 1% of the population. Phase four: we reject the advancements and return to the nostalgic methodologies. Directors produce black and white movies. Authors don't publish their books digitally. Painters use actual paintbrushes and slabs of wood or end up painting on cave walls like they did in the old days. Okay, maybe that last one is a stretch, but you get the point. Hell, people refuse to let go of records. No matter how advanced CD and MP3 technologies are today, there are still current, popular, and intelligent artists releasing albums on analog records. At least no one is calling for a return to cassette tapes (but you can still find 8-tracks at any flea market around the country). Phase five is the same as phase one.
It is possible to skip phase four altogether. An alternate version of phase four is a return to phase one. Further advancement of the gifted mind to excel beyond the artifically created equality.
The two homework chapters stand out to me in that they are filled with Useful Content. You ever read anything by Stephen King? That little bit of personification is Kingian. How long will it be before that becomes a word? Is it already?
I'd first like to tie these chapters back to an idea or discussion one of my teachers posed last class. It's the idea, and you'll have to work with me on this one, that once we become sufficiently advanced in any aspect of life, the advances become commonplace. I believe the example Dr. Connell used was with athletic shoes. Every fancy shoe we have today, available for purchase in your average came about because at one time, a gifted athlete needed an edge. Advances in prosthetic legs come from one- and no-legged athletes.
So here's my connection. And there are two parts. One involves golf. When an industry becomes sufficiently advance in addressing its gifted population (the gifted athletes, the advanced drivers, etc), the advances become mundane and commonplace. Everyone receives the benefit of NASCAR's advances. Everyone drives a better car because they want to go one mile-per-hour faster. The shoes on my feet right now are the result of research done, not with a lowly teacher in mind, but with a long-distance runner, a sprinter, a raquetball player, and a casual jogger in mind. Thoughts of me were so distant, they didn't even cross the mind of the custodian who cleaned the building next door to the building where the research took place.
Follow that one.
And the second example. I like golf. I'm not great, but I'm just above a hacker, a duffer. Recently--and since I play golf only once or twice a year when I'm lucky, recently boils down to sometime in the past two years--I have started to move away from technologically-advanced, bubble-shafted, custon-fitted fancy clubs and now use wooden woods. That's how they started. I have found no great difference in my game (remember I admitted that I am no professional player) when I borrow one of my father's latest and greatest innovations. My irons are also decades out of date.
The point? Phase one: we recognize the need for acceleration of our advanced learners, the gifted segment of the population. Phase two: we develop materials and methodologies to assist in the advancement of our gifted population. Phase three: the advancements for the gifted become so commonplace and so generally accepted that the average man, woman, and child reap the benefits of the higher order thinking--everyone gets to use the fancy toys that were once reserved for the top 1% of the population. Phase four: we reject the advancements and return to the nostalgic methodologies. Directors produce black and white movies. Authors don't publish their books digitally. Painters use actual paintbrushes and slabs of wood or end up painting on cave walls like they did in the old days. Okay, maybe that last one is a stretch, but you get the point. Hell, people refuse to let go of records. No matter how advanced CD and MP3 technologies are today, there are still current, popular, and intelligent artists releasing albums on analog records. At least no one is calling for a return to cassette tapes (but you can still find 8-tracks at any flea market around the country). Phase five is the same as phase one.
It is possible to skip phase four altogether. An alternate version of phase four is a return to phase one. Further advancement of the gifted mind to excel beyond the artifically created equality.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Sally C Krisel Class on 9/15/09
Tonight our guest speaker is Sally Krisel. She's an important name in gifted education around the general Northeast Georgia area. Her focus is to be on what qualifies individuals as gifted in the state of Georgia.
Below is the link to the Georgia DOE website gifted section. Information about the GaDOE Resource Manual for Gifted Education can be found in one of the links to the right of the page.
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_iap_gifted.aspx
Brief history of Gifted Education.
Apparently, Georgia was the first state to mandate gifted services in its schools. We beat Pennsylvania by just a short amount of time when it came to signing the bill into law. This was around 1958, around the time of Sputnik. Nothing like a few crafty Russians and a Cold War to make Americans stand up and shout "Hey, we're smart too."
My questions is why is Georgia (and most other southern states) uneducated [state] in the world of education. We are so rarely heralded as the-state-that-has-great-students-and-challenging-curriculum (curriculi?). We're just Georgia. A state full of . . .
Flash forward to 1988. Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act created the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRGC/T) at three different sites: UConn, UVA, and UGA. Woo-hoo. Georgia leading the way (triumvirate) again!
Sally is a happy person. I think as a student, I'd be inclined to listen to her. Good crowd interaction. She's taught a lot. As a teacher (acting like a student for this gifted certification), I am more likely to listen to her. She may currently be one of them (administrators, etc), but she was once one of us. She knows what I've been through and does not live in some idealized world where all people are geniuses and want to learn happy-pretty stories about happy-pretty people.
Back to the history. Almost like a preacher, but one who is happy about the gospel, not shoving it down your throat.
Back to the history. People rejected changing the criterion for gifted eligibility from a single indicator to multiple indicators. Why would people reject that? We hate change. We hate anything that points out the flaws of our previous ways of thinking. We were wrong before . . .
Oo oo. I just made a comment. I called gifted kids a little bit outside of the regular classroom students. I like my comment. They exist in a parallel world. I figure I have to participate from time to time because I'm writing this as she speaks. Might think I'm not paying attention.
Back to the history. In 1994, GACG leaders suckered some legislator into introducing a bill that required multiple criteria. I just looked up criterium. Turns out it's not a word. Criteria is plural and criterion is singular. Who knew?
Sally involves the crowd. Good for her. Gives real examples. Talking about the local basketball coach. Like a good comedian who asks for information from the crowd and immediately turns that info into jokes.
1994-5. DOE Task Force. Old guard was not invited. Maxine Easom was, though. Good for her.
July-November 1995. Although Sally just told us we don't need to take notes on this, I am anyway. This is my blog. I'm so excited. More about multiple criteria. Why can't something like this be simple?
We live in Georgia. Football is king. While the discussion was going in in legal venues, Sally says that the idea of "no pass, no play" brought more speakers to the podium than any other issue. What would Georgia be without football? What would the educational system be without organized sports like football? This is the reason that some people stay in school, for the chance to excel physically.
I'm missing something here. In 1958, we seemed like initiators, leaders, instigators in gifted education. Now in 1997, we look like fools arguing over piddly details and who qualifies and who doesn't.
Important words: wrestle, compel, procedures,
From our reading to prepare for this guest lecture: mental ability, achievement, creativity, and motivation. The four criteria by which (upon which?) (she called them data categories) gifted students may qualify. Reject composite IQ scores.
Important words: authentic assessment. Sounds commonplace today, but in 1995, that was novel. Change. Dangerous.
Important words: contaminated. Do regular ed students contaminate gifted students? What about gifted kids contaminating the regular kids?
Sally works the stage-left side of the room. Making us look right. Is this in purpose? What's wrong with the other side of the room? Maybe she's right-handed. She manipulates the powerpoint presentation (buttons on the computer) with her right hand.
Why do kids have to be in the 99th percentile for grades K-2 and only the 96th percentile for grades 3-12? How many 12th graders qualify for gifted services for the first time?
Composite scores are bad. Why don't you just trust me?
Important words: Dichotomy. I have become further and further enamored with with word. It pops up in both the ninth and tenth grade vocabulary root word lists with the stem di meaning two and tomy meaning cut. An division into two mutually exclusive groups. I guide my kids into discussion of unfair divisions of gender, race, and age. But we, we teachers, are finding ourselves forced into educational dichotomies. Here, in this gifted class, we are asked to speak out, to argue, to demand services for our gifted students. But in our school system (and I do not necessarily mean my own school system, but in a more national sense) we are driven like lathered horses in a quarter-mile race to improve graduation rates, improve scores on course and graduation tests. I do not feel comfortable raising my head up high enough to have it cut down by the powers that be. I like my job too much.
But I'm probably a little paranoid. Without tenure, we teachers have to be more cautious than ever before. We are no longer encouraged to take chances. Those gifted teachers, of which I sometimes consider myself, are no longer free.
Back to the class. Three categories of administrative delivery models. Damnit. She moved the slide. It was something like direct services, indirect services, and something else. Seemed important.
Important words: acceleration. Let the little genius shine.
Important words: shake things up.
Important concept: no longer identify gifted students, rather identify advanced learning needs.
"Go into a classroom and provide a lesson that is very engaging and high-interest. See who responds as a gifted student should."
But wouldn't most kids respond at a higher level with a high-energy/interest engaging activity? What about the kids who think that one is boring but would have done well if the assignment had been about turtles instead of cheetahs?
What I don't like about all of this, but recognize the necessity of, is the idea that there are myriad methods to identify giftedness. If we come up with enough tests, then everyone will be gifted, but in their own special way. I excelled at sleeping late when I was younger. Where is my award? My recognition? I now excel at waking up ten minutes before my alarm goes off. My certificate? In the mail? But I recognize that we must have a variety of ways to assess giftedness. But when does it stop?
Future of education. Create niches.
Okay. Listen. Competition amongst teachers to entice students into your classroom. Think spiders with educational webs. Fun. But we can't do that. In my department, there are two elective courses. Journalism (school magazine) and journalism (yearbook). Where are the creative writing courses? Where are the specific genre literature courses? We can't have them because we are too busy just trying to get students to pass the four core classes, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade English. There's no time to relax and enjoy yourself. Even in the courses we teach there is so little room for creativity. Benchmark tests, end-of-course tests, aligned assessments for RTI instruction. When can my students be creative? When can I be creative? We find a way.
Below is the link to the Georgia DOE website gifted section. Information about the GaDOE Resource Manual for Gifted Education can be found in one of the links to the right of the page.
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_iap_gifted.aspx
Brief history of Gifted Education.
Apparently, Georgia was the first state to mandate gifted services in its schools. We beat Pennsylvania by just a short amount of time when it came to signing the bill into law. This was around 1958, around the time of Sputnik. Nothing like a few crafty Russians and a Cold War to make Americans stand up and shout "Hey, we're smart too."
My questions is why is Georgia (and most other southern states) uneducated [state] in the world of education. We are so rarely heralded as the-state-that-has-great-students-and-challenging-curriculum (curriculi?). We're just Georgia. A state full of . . .
Flash forward to 1988. Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act created the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRGC/T) at three different sites: UConn, UVA, and UGA. Woo-hoo. Georgia leading the way (triumvirate) again!
Sally is a happy person. I think as a student, I'd be inclined to listen to her. Good crowd interaction. She's taught a lot. As a teacher (acting like a student for this gifted certification), I am more likely to listen to her. She may currently be one of them (administrators, etc), but she was once one of us. She knows what I've been through and does not live in some idealized world where all people are geniuses and want to learn happy-pretty stories about happy-pretty people.
Back to the history. Almost like a preacher, but one who is happy about the gospel, not shoving it down your throat.
Back to the history. People rejected changing the criterion for gifted eligibility from a single indicator to multiple indicators. Why would people reject that? We hate change. We hate anything that points out the flaws of our previous ways of thinking. We were wrong before . . .
Oo oo. I just made a comment. I called gifted kids a little bit outside of the regular classroom students. I like my comment. They exist in a parallel world. I figure I have to participate from time to time because I'm writing this as she speaks. Might think I'm not paying attention.
Back to the history. In 1994, GACG leaders suckered some legislator into introducing a bill that required multiple criteria. I just looked up criterium. Turns out it's not a word. Criteria is plural and criterion is singular. Who knew?
Sally involves the crowd. Good for her. Gives real examples. Talking about the local basketball coach. Like a good comedian who asks for information from the crowd and immediately turns that info into jokes.
1994-5. DOE Task Force. Old guard was not invited. Maxine Easom was, though. Good for her.
July-November 1995. Although Sally just told us we don't need to take notes on this, I am anyway. This is my blog. I'm so excited. More about multiple criteria. Why can't something like this be simple?
We live in Georgia. Football is king. While the discussion was going in in legal venues, Sally says that the idea of "no pass, no play" brought more speakers to the podium than any other issue. What would Georgia be without football? What would the educational system be without organized sports like football? This is the reason that some people stay in school, for the chance to excel physically.
I'm missing something here. In 1958, we seemed like initiators, leaders, instigators in gifted education. Now in 1997, we look like fools arguing over piddly details and who qualifies and who doesn't.
Important words: wrestle, compel, procedures,
From our reading to prepare for this guest lecture: mental ability, achievement, creativity, and motivation. The four criteria by which (upon which?) (she called them data categories) gifted students may qualify. Reject composite IQ scores.
Important words: authentic assessment. Sounds commonplace today, but in 1995, that was novel. Change. Dangerous.
Important words: contaminated. Do regular ed students contaminate gifted students? What about gifted kids contaminating the regular kids?
Sally works the stage-left side of the room. Making us look right. Is this in purpose? What's wrong with the other side of the room? Maybe she's right-handed. She manipulates the powerpoint presentation (buttons on the computer) with her right hand.
Why do kids have to be in the 99th percentile for grades K-2 and only the 96th percentile for grades 3-12? How many 12th graders qualify for gifted services for the first time?
Composite scores are bad. Why don't you just trust me?
Important words: Dichotomy. I have become further and further enamored with with word. It pops up in both the ninth and tenth grade vocabulary root word lists with the stem di meaning two and tomy meaning cut. An division into two mutually exclusive groups. I guide my kids into discussion of unfair divisions of gender, race, and age. But we, we teachers, are finding ourselves forced into educational dichotomies. Here, in this gifted class, we are asked to speak out, to argue, to demand services for our gifted students. But in our school system (and I do not necessarily mean my own school system, but in a more national sense) we are driven like lathered horses in a quarter-mile race to improve graduation rates, improve scores on course and graduation tests. I do not feel comfortable raising my head up high enough to have it cut down by the powers that be. I like my job too much.
But I'm probably a little paranoid. Without tenure, we teachers have to be more cautious than ever before. We are no longer encouraged to take chances. Those gifted teachers, of which I sometimes consider myself, are no longer free.
Back to the class. Three categories of administrative delivery models. Damnit. She moved the slide. It was something like direct services, indirect services, and something else. Seemed important.
Important words: acceleration. Let the little genius shine.
Important words: shake things up.
Important concept: no longer identify gifted students, rather identify advanced learning needs.
"Go into a classroom and provide a lesson that is very engaging and high-interest. See who responds as a gifted student should."
But wouldn't most kids respond at a higher level with a high-energy/interest engaging activity? What about the kids who think that one is boring but would have done well if the assignment had been about turtles instead of cheetahs?
What I don't like about all of this, but recognize the necessity of, is the idea that there are myriad methods to identify giftedness. If we come up with enough tests, then everyone will be gifted, but in their own special way. I excelled at sleeping late when I was younger. Where is my award? My recognition? I now excel at waking up ten minutes before my alarm goes off. My certificate? In the mail? But I recognize that we must have a variety of ways to assess giftedness. But when does it stop?
Future of education. Create niches.
Okay. Listen. Competition amongst teachers to entice students into your classroom. Think spiders with educational webs. Fun. But we can't do that. In my department, there are two elective courses. Journalism (school magazine) and journalism (yearbook). Where are the creative writing courses? Where are the specific genre literature courses? We can't have them because we are too busy just trying to get students to pass the four core classes, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade English. There's no time to relax and enjoy yourself. Even in the courses we teach there is so little room for creativity. Benchmark tests, end-of-course tests, aligned assessments for RTI instruction. When can my students be creative? When can I be creative? We find a way.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Journal 1--Foolish Gifted Musings
Journal 1
I was gifted once and didn't even know it. One day a week in elementary school we, the other gifts and I, got on a bus and left regular school to explore our gifts at a different school. I didn't really get it. We made family trees, learned to meditate (one time we breathed into our bellies instead of our chests), and probably did many more things I was too young to remember. In fact, I was to young to remember how old I was. Probably six or seven.
So I suppose gifted students are just like me sometimes. Smart, creative, adaptable. Except the ones who aren't. The reluctant, obstinate blocks and stones.
I believe anyone can be gifted if the right person looks closely enough. Johnny can't read? It's because he's gifted in math. Suzy can't write? It's because she's gifted in artistic communication. Give him some numbers and her a paintbrush and viola! Genius.
That's cynical.
We should meet them at the door and shake hands. I guess I just need a reason to care about a gifted kid who can take care of his needs and will be fine in life working for some corporation . . . there I go being cynical again.
I've got kids who just plain struggle. How do I raise them up to passing? How do I find a way to make them successful?
Or are those the gifted ones?
I was gifted once and didn't even know it. One day a week in elementary school we, the other gifts and I, got on a bus and left regular school to explore our gifts at a different school. I didn't really get it. We made family trees, learned to meditate (one time we breathed into our bellies instead of our chests), and probably did many more things I was too young to remember. In fact, I was to young to remember how old I was. Probably six or seven.
So I suppose gifted students are just like me sometimes. Smart, creative, adaptable. Except the ones who aren't. The reluctant, obstinate blocks and stones.
I believe anyone can be gifted if the right person looks closely enough. Johnny can't read? It's because he's gifted in math. Suzy can't write? It's because she's gifted in artistic communication. Give him some numbers and her a paintbrush and viola! Genius.
That's cynical.
We should meet them at the door and shake hands. I guess I just need a reason to care about a gifted kid who can take care of his needs and will be fine in life working for some corporation . . . there I go being cynical again.
I've got kids who just plain struggle. How do I raise them up to passing? How do I find a way to make them successful?
Or are those the gifted ones?
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