Monday, June 30, 2014

Summer 2014 Session 3 - Question 2

As an educator, share the "golden nuggets" you gleamed from chapter 9? Why do you think this bit of information will assist you with gifted students?

54 comments:

  1. the "golden nuggets" I gleamed from chapter 9 was the behavior journal on page 120. If all teachers are logging behavior seen in their class and this is shared at a parent conference it would be a great asset to everyone. If the same behavior is being seen by all teachers than this lets the parents know that is not a problem with just one class or teacher..I will definitely give this a try this year..

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    1. In response to Helen Roberts, July 1st, I too like the behavioral journal on page 120. It is helpful to be able to recall situations, or behaviors thoroughly by looking at documentation. You can track progression depending on some of the strategies that have been taught. Have they progressed? Is it working?

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    2. In response to Helen Roberts, this wasn't my original golden nugget, but I think this is one of the best takeaways from this book!

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    3. In response to Helen Roberts on July 1...I love the idea and I think it would shock parents. You would have incredible documentation that couldn't be disputed. My only concern is the time it takes to log one more thing. If the behavior does get logged, I do believe that eventually you will see less and less of that behavior. It would definitely be interesting to see the data on your log and the outcome.

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    4. I like what Helen had to say...I had a student last y ear that was very tough....I am so thankful for all my documentation. I loved looking at different ways to journal and keep notes in this section.

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  2. The Golden Nugget I got out of chapter 9 was the fact that it does "take a village" to help with GT kids sometimes. I forget it cannot only be me as the classroom teacher to help GT children. Parents, administration, friends, and even mental health professionals need to be involved. Page 101 make this very clear. It reduces frustration levels and building a plan to get through difficult times.

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    1. My golden nugget from chapter 9 was that it truly does "take a village" to help with our G/T kiddo's. On page 101 it says that " Educators, mental health professionals, friends, and family all can serve a role in helping". Parenting and teaching can be exhausting jobs. Often times it is easy to become frustrated. I also love the behavioral journal. Helping keep track of certain situations, reactions, etc. is overwhelming on a day to day basis, but by using this journal, you have a great record to share with parents and other people that are involved along the way;.

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    2. Ann Mitchell, it does "take a village" on so many levels. That village needs to consist of all educators/teachers involved in the child's life. NOT just the classroom teacher.

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    3. So agree with you on this! Many times the child will respond differently to someone else in the village! It is very helpful to have lots of interested parties!

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    4. In response to Ann Mitchell 7/24 I agree because I also feel like since I'm the one alone in the room all everything falls on my shoulders. I'm going to focus on soliciting parent and administration input.

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  3. The "Golden Nugget" of information I realized after reading chapter 9 was how many people are available to support a the gifted students and his/her parents. It takes really does "take a village" to come together and collaborate on a plan for each individual student. In the case study of Andrew, Fonseca said "...a team of people coming together with a common goal of helping a child --it is magic when it works well." Teachers don't have all the answers. I really like the idea of everyone working together for the benefit of the student.
    Mutual high regard and professionalism" is discussed on pg 113 is crucial for developing a plan to the child at home and school.

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  4. The golden nugget I found is on page 114 from Chapter 9 is about establishing what goals are for the child. This is helpful to me in working with gifted students because It helps to clarify where we need to go as well the " consistency in terms of expectations and consequences for the student." This also address the " effectiveness of the interventions" that will allow me to change or modify what's in place and continue to support theta gifted student.

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    1. In response to Sarah Chu (July 2,2014), clear expectations and consequences that are consistent so important. When everyone is on the same page it is so much easy--no miscommunication problems. This will ultimately help the gifted child succeed.

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    2. In response to Sarah Chu, July 2nd, establishing goals is very important for a GT student. The last thing you want to be doing with a GT student who has intensified emotions is not having expectations at the end of the year. There could be a number of goals but working on them one at a time would be beneficial. We would not want to overwhelm them.

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    3. I think this applies to all students, not just the GT kids. I really love this book for the fact that it is great information for all students. Those teaching GT kids need to understand their emotional intensities, but we need to know this of all children.

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    4. I totally agree with Mrs. Demeris. One of the things I like about this book is that so many things apply to both gifted and otherwise exceptional children like my ADHD son, or a dyslexic child, etc. Really, it is a great guide for parents and teachers as a whole--for all children--not just GT. These are "nuggets" we can take back to our classrooms to help us deal with all students.

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    5. I agree with Mrs. Demeris. We not only need to know and understand GT students but all of the children in our class. If we can manage this then we all learn fro one another. I think we all set. goals for all of our children and at the end of the school year we can see how we have reached our goals.

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  5. The golden nugget of this chapter for me is how important it is for schools and parents to collaborate. After identifying strengths and weaknesses, put a plan into place. The thing that stuck out most to me: follow up timelines should be established at this meeting. So often we get the ball rolling, yet progress is limited because we don't meet back again to see what worked/what didn't work.

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    1. In response to Mrs.Timmreck's Kindergarten Class on July 6, you had mentioned that it is important for schools and parents to collaborate. What is one way your school collaborates with GT parents?

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    2. I totally agree with the follow up piece. For some kids, this needs to be tweaked several times. Without follow up, we have no way to know what is and is not working.

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  6. The golden nugget I will take from Chapter 9 is that it does take all our staff working together for the benefit of g/t students, Yes, it takes parents, teachers, and support staff to discuss what is best for the student but we also need to include the wonderful Bendwood staff. There have been many times I have asked SPIRAL teachers to attend conferences on g/t students. Their professionalism and expertise have been instrumental in doing what is right for students. The AAS staff has also been supportive in finding information and answers for both g/t students and parents. When there is a concern with a g/t student, it's also best to address the concern right away. I think we tend sometimes to sit and wait when a g/t student struggles because there are often other struggling students who we feel need our attention more. As Fonseca suggests throughout this book, we cannot assume a g/t student will not have academic difficulties. Collaborating to address the situation is the best way to assist the g/t student.

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    1. I agree with Judy B-Song regarding the many areas of support available to us when working with gifted students and parents of gifted students in Spring Branch. And collaboration is crucial; taking time to create a plan ( beginning on page 113)that works across classes and settings and everyone being on the same page is going to benefit any student with special needs and will contribute to their success.

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    2. Agreed- it takes a village to support ANY student, and certainly a GT kid.

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  7. In respnse to Sarah ChuJuly 2, 2014 at 4:07 PM, establishing clear goals and expectations is essential to the success of the g/t student. If parents, teachers, and students are on the same page as to what is expected, the students will likely be more successful..this also puts a great support system in place for the student when all people involved are on the same page in regards to goals, expectations, etc.

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  8. I agree with Judy B-song - it does take all to benefit the GT students.SBISD is very lucky to have the support staff for the GT students and especially Bendwood. The teachers and staff at Bendwood are very energized and are eager to work with the children and extended staff. Also our district provides a support group for the GT students/parents which is HUGE. As long as everyone works together our GT students will succeed.

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  9. Honestly, I found chapter 9 the least engaging chapter in this book. I appreciate that it does take a village, and I am grateful for all those in our district who are available to show support. I probably will not, however, access this help unless I have a student who is not progressing appropriately on my watch. P. 106, Tip 7: Starting a Parent Group - we do this at our school through our Love & Logic teaching. I like the idea of starting a GT parent group, but I feel it might be more appropriate if it was offered through the GT campuses. P. 108, Tip 9: Keeping A Behavior Journal - our principal requires us to do an academic journal for all students as we document what we do to reach individual needs. I can see this being added as a facet of that documentation. I do agree with Helen Brasher that we all need to work together for the success of our GT students, but I don't think these tips are realistic for the typical GT students.

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  10. On page 113, I found a "golden nugget" that gleams to me. To help me to help with GT students, I need to form a partnership with the parents. In chapter 9, it says that "mutual appreciation is the cornerstone to successful collaboration with the school." This is expected with parents as well as teachers. I believe teachers should use the parents as resources. Ask them questions on how to best meet the individual needs of their kids. Parents appreciate feeling like they are part of the education of their child.

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    1. I liked this part as well. As a parent and I teacher I can vouch. Before I make communications regarding a student or my child, I try to put myself in the other shoes first.

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    2. This is excellent advice. I like that you mentioned to put yourself in other's shoes first regarding communication with parents.

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    3. In response to A Mitch I agree that the school/parent connection is vital to do what is best for the GT child. Teamwork and communication are so necessary.

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  11. On page 114 Creating a plan...I feel that my school does an excelent job at creating plans to help our struggling kiddos. We document, discuss and make academic changes on a daily basis to ensure that our kiddos are growing as learners.
    However, I am not so sure that we do this for our GT kiddos when they are struggling due to something other issue. Don't get me wrong we are constantly evaluating all of our kiddos but sometimes I think the GT kiddos aren't on our concerned list and then when something happens that makes us stop and think ...we are all shocked. In Kindergarten our kiddos don't get identified til very late in our school year but very early on those kiddos begin to stick out. I would like to find a way to create a plan for those kiddos as well as a school. Maybe having a team of teachers that could get together and brainstorm ways to benefit the kiddo that is struggling with something OTHER than academics could be beneficial to all.

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  12. In response to Mrs. Rincon: I couldn't agree more that we should find a usable way to create a plan for our GT students in school. We track so beautifully our kids with learning issues or those at risk of failing STAAR. We should consider tracking our GT kids from year to year to individualize their learning journey as well.

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    1. I'd think that since GT is protected by IDEA we would have to do just that for our students. Sadly, we don't. It seems that we focus all of our energies on our at risk students, which I completely understand, but are our GT students missing out?

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  13. The biggest (and most convenient) takeaway I got from this chapter was using blogs and social networking to connect with others and get ideas. I think it is extremely convenient for both teachers and parents to network with others on their own time.

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  14. It is fantastic when we all come together and the child's best interest is at heart. Often times though, we encounter a teacher who cannot break their cycle to meet a child's needs because "this is how I do it" comes to play. On page 110, the key words are flexibility and a willingness to find creative solutions. If we are all working together, the child benefits.

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  15. Page 120 was my golden nugget. I liked the idea of keeping a behavior journal to share with parents. I believe that, with this journal, the teacher / parent collaboration would be able to create a solid plan for the student to be successful. Further, it would allow the teacher to pinpoint patterns in behaviors.

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    1. I agree with your idea Anne, that pinpointing patterns in behaviors is another benefit to this strategy. It's amazing what I've been able to uncover if I document different behavioral events and look back on them all at once before meeting with the student, his parent, and/or an administrator. It's not a "gotcha" technique, but rather a chance for all involved parties to reach the goal of student success.

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  16. I did not highlight any part of this chapter. I liked it but nothing really struck me. Overall, I did appreciate the tips for parent and teacher communication. As a parent and a teacher I can see both sides and it was interesting to read the tips for both.

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  17. For me, the golden nugget is collaboration between parents and school for the kid. Kids need to know that they are supported and cared for by all parties, and that parents ultimately know what's best for them. The key is collaboration between those two parties, though.

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  18. My gold nugget was the behavior journal. Yes, it takes time to keep well written notes on children's behavior. Set forth small goals for the year and build on those goals throughout a few years. Once you develop a style you like for keeping the notes, the journal won't seem like such a chore. Once you have notes on particular behaviors and seeing the trigger points, you will be able to make better decisions for that child in hopes of alleviating that behavior altogether.

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  19. My golden nugget was on page 113 "Parenting is an exhausting job... and parenting gifted children carries a level of frustration that is seldom understood." This is so my life! Especially in the summer! My sweet gifted child drives me to the very edge some days. Its then that I am grateful for a very big village!

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    1. JB I totally agree. It has certainly helped me as a teacher to try to remember how the parents feel sometimes...GT kids are so engaging, fun, and curious--but they can be exhausting, frustrating, and drive us crazy at the same time. Empathy on both sides helps with communication back and forth. As a teacher, I may have their child for an hour--they have their child ALL the time!

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  20. My golden nugget came from Tip Sheet 9 on page 108. How to Keep a Behavior Journal. I always go into the year logging behaviors so well, and then when they tend to be repetitive I tend to not log all of the behaviors. This will really help me stay consistent in working with emotionally intense gifted students. I like the suggestion to write what happened IMMEDIATELY before and IMMEDIATELY after the behavior, also to note any changes in strategies used with the behavior. Keeping up with different meds and dosages will be helpful too, as long as the parents keep me in the loop!

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  21. The golden nugget I gleamed from Chapter 7 was that it is important to create an emotional language with my class. It can be a term or two but something that is clearly understood by all so that the students feel safe emotionally and have a course of action to help them become more self- aware. This is very important for the gifted students who usually have a higher learning curve with emotional/social issues and whose emotions can come across as more intense.

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  22. The nugget for me in chapter 9 was on pg 147 (eBook) where it discusses creating a plan to assist students who are struggling behaviorally and not as much academically. I am so used to receiving BIPs for students who are also struggling academically the behaviors that receiving one for a g/t student is surprising to me. I have to take make sure that I am observant to behaviors and initiative the contact with school personnel as well as the parents.

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  23. The biggest golden nugget for me lay in the notion that successful students are the result of successful partnerships between parents, students, teachers, administrators, and other professionals who are there to benefit the student (51%). As the parent of a special needs child, this partnership of mutual respect (especially for one another's expertise) is imperative for my child's success. As an educator, it is often easy to loose sight of this with so many students to support, so this part of the chapter helped remind me.

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  24. One of my favorite sayings as a parent is that "it takes a village," and my support group of teachers, other parents, and school administrators are essential parts of my parenting "village." I think I still tend to see things from a stay at home mom perspective sometimes, though (I stayed home for 12 years and last year was my first year back to teaching). My 'nugget" I will take from this chapter is to not only reach out to other teachers, which I feel that I am good about doing, but administrators and other specialized personnel at my school for help and advice. Also, I feel that my communication with parents is pretty good, but the "follow up" conversations don't always happen like they should. I will take that with me into this school year as well.

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