Gifted and Talented
Chisholm Trail Middle School
CTMS GT Stats
Number of students currently receiving GT services on our campus:
6th - 42
7th - 33
8th - 28
What is Gifted and Talented?
- exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative or artistic area;
- possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or
- excels in a specific academic field."
- Texas Education Code
Spring GT Testing Information
Spring testing is for transfer students and teacher nominations. Teachers should carefully consider if a student is a high achiever or if the student might be gifted. See the image below for more information. If you are interested in referring a students for testing, please click the link and complete the form.
Click the picture above to take a closer at the identification and assessment process we follow in NISD.
Easy Ways to Increase Complexity
Written By: Ian Byrd
Add Strange Restrictions
These restrictions parallel what you see in shows like Top Chef, Project Runway, or Chopped. Take a group of experts and give them unexpected limits. The results are often incredible feats of creativity.
- Tiny Time limits. Take a task that has become simple, give a time limit, and complexity increases. On the other hand, give more time to reduce complexity.
- Very Short Lengths. 140 characters, or 10 words, or three sentences, etc. Interestingly, this can both increase and decrease complexity: advanced students must cram their ideas into a small space, while struggling students have less content to produce.
- Reduce Resources. Sometimes a strange set of tools produces an interesting result. This could mean limiting research materials, writing tools, electronics, writing surfaces, size of paper, type of paper, etc. Once, my 6th graders had to write an essay on kindergarten paper. You can bet this changed their approach to writing.
Note: In all of these cases, let your class know your expectations change because of these restrictions. If the time limit is five minutes, you don’t expect the same results as if students had a week. If they’re limited to writing on a notecard, the expectation is not the same as if they had a computer to type on. The point is for students to see what they can do with the restriction.
Complicate The Content
From the tools of Depth and Complexity:
- Dig into the ethical issues of an idea. The pros and cons. What’s good and what’s bad? A previously dry topic might come to life with ambiguity and conflict.
- Explore multiple perspectives: what would _ think about this? It gets even more interesting if this new perspective is a bit of a surprise. What would George Washington think of Ancient China? How would Juliet, from Romeo and Juliet judge Hermione Granger?
- Change over time: What was this idea like in the past? How will it be in the future? How have people’s views towards it changed?
Examples of these tools in action:
- Alexander The Great writes a tweet critiquing or praising Napoleon’s leadership.
- Compare and contrast a success or a problem in the U.S., looking at 1776 versus 1812. Write your response as a haiku.
- Create a scripted conversation between The Boy in The Giving Tree and Brian from Hatchet. One character must give the other advice about their main problem. You have ten minutes. GO!
Always Remember...
Resources for Teachers
Stay Connected
Ms. Brandy Brown
GT Specialist
CTMS
Email: bbrown@nisdtx.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/nisdtx.org/brandy-brown/
Location: CTMS
Phone: 817-215-0600
Twitter: @MrsBrownCTMS