Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Texting Codes with Kids

The funniest thing happened about two weeks ago in my classroom. I had a student get caught throwing pencils -not the funny part :) up in the air. When my teacher assistant asked him why was he doing such a thing he simply responded, "IDK". My teacher assistant became quite flustered and decided to get me, not knowing what "IDK" meant. She filled me on the incident at hand at told that the problem now was the student's response. Immediately I began thinking that the child defiantly remained silent or made a smart -alleck comment to her. Thats when she blurted out, "He said IDK. Is that some type of new language?" After laughing out loud-LOL, I reassured her that it was a new language and I would handle the situation from there. I then called my little turkey over to my desk. I just looked at the seven year old and said, "IDK, huh?" He looked up at me with his bright almond shaped eyes and said, " I was JK!"

Monday, January 19, 2009

Assignment 1-1

1. I believe that parents can be involved in helping to use characteristics of high ability or talent in identification and programming for gifted and talented students as a stepping stone towards identifying similar traits in their own child(ren). The list can aid parents in trying to make a decision of whether or not to have their children tested for such programs.
2. The most appropriate way for classroom and gifted education teachers to use known and emerging characteristics of high potential students in school would be to use such list at the beginning of the year (prior to testing) to create groups for guided reading, mathematics, writing, and project based research. After adequate testing has been completed I would not suggest that teachers rely solely on such lists.
3. Differentiated curriculum can be used as a tool to advocate for the educational needs gifted learners because it caters to the cognitive, social, and intellectual needs of such children. It ensures rigor and creativity are interwined in carefully planned lessons that charge students to be engaged and excited about learning.
4. It is important to dstinguish between differentiation of curriculum, instruction, and program services because each component is equally important in the educational services for gifted and talented children. One area must not be overserved or underserved. The goal is to provide a balance of the three areas.