GREAT THINKING THURSDAY
For Klein ISD Educators of Gifted Learners
November 21, 2019
With genuine gratitude...
Please celebrate this last Thursday of the month, knowing that in our eyes, and most especially our hearts, you are some of the greatest leaders we have had the pleasure to support!
Have a glorious Thanksgiving celebration!
The Advanced Academics Team
TRANSFORMING "WHY WE CAN'T" TO "HOW WE CAN"!
GT Guiding Coalition Update
By Rhonda Stowe
Greenwood Forest Elementary
Transform "why we can't" to "how we can"!
This is one of the norms we have for the Gifted and Talented Coalition, and it’s my favorite. I have been a member of this coalition since its inception, and it has been inspirational to watch a group of people embrace this norm. The positive changes that have occurred in the past 2 ½ years are nothing short of amazing. And the task continues!
Learning Together: We spent time discussing twice exceptional GT students and how this group is under-identified. We know these students are in our schools, so we studied the characteristics which might help us find them. This quote touched my heart: “These children are not just square pegs being pounded into a round hole, but prickly, multi-spiked pegs; and every time we knock off one of those spikes to make them more “well-rounded,” we take away what they might become.” We want these incredibly gifted students to be served!
Profile of Exceptional Gifted Teacher:
This group is working on qualifications for what our district considers to be an exceptional gifted teacher. Discussion points included: create an evaluative tool to collect qualitative data, create an application, gather feedback from students, teachers and administrators, develop a rubric for a hiring committee to use, and compile questions for an interview.
Embedding Social-Emotional Curriculum:
Georgia Matthews, Counselor
Klein Forest High School
The Social and Emotional learning aspect is an important piece of every child’s education. The GT Guiding Coalition is taking a look at the different characteristics that make up a gifted child and developing character lessons geared toward these characteristics. These may include but are not limited to:
- What does it mean to be GT?
- Inwardly proud outwardly modest
- I may not always have the answers
- Understanding my emotions
- Communication strategies
We have also looked at how these lessons will be delivered by each campus and at each level. Another important aspect is teaming with parents to ensure that they understand the social and emotional needs of gifted students and how we can work together to help them be successful.
Innovative Gifted Curriculum: Leadership and Creativity:
Kristie Moore, Teacher
Epps Island Elementary
With our GTGC well under way for this school year there are many tasks that are being focused on and developed through our collaborative teams. In our most recent meeting, held November 14th, our GTGC: Curriculum and Instruction team focused on many aspects of what the Characteristics of a Gifted Leader looks like and explore the possibility of identifying students and developing a gifted leadership curriculum. Our team has been brainstorming and researching various professional materials, local universities, school districts and leadership programs to find what will suit our students in Klein ISD that fits our vision of “Every student enters with a Promise and exits with a Purpose”. The goal of our subcommittee is to develop a profile of a Gifted Student Leader to include in our district vision and guiding documents.
In addition to looking into the Characteristics of a Gifted Learner, we also focused our conversation on how to incorporate more creativity into our Refreshed Curriculum Documents. We want to allow for more creative ways our Advanced Academic students can display their understanding of content. We will be looking through grade specific Refresh Curriculum Documents to see what our current standing is and how we can support our learners. If you should have any ideas, lessons or projects that would lend itself to the support of this task, please feel free to reach out to us! We would love to have a district wide collaborative conversation!
Gifted Services Design:
This goal group developed a game plan to support ALL teachers with GT implementation, to reach out to CTE teachers and encourage their input in order to serve the GT population within those courses, and ensure gifted learners are scheduled and placed appropriately according the Texas State Plan for Gifted/Talented learners.
Family and Community Engagement:
Rhonda Stowe, Teacher
Greenwood Forest Elementary
Action steps are creating a feedback form for GT families, looking at compliance issues with the new Texas State Plan for the Gifted, providing effective communication before, during, and after students are identified as gifted, building the capacity of the staff to serve the GT learner through the lens of feedback of the family, and strengthen the Parent Advisory Committee to mirror the community involvement
Advanced Academics Architectural Design Team Update!
This is a collaborative update provided by: Alison Dawe and Amy Spencer. Alison is an AP World History/AP European History Teacher at Klein Forest High School. Amy is a Pre-AP/GT Precalculus, I.B. Mathematical Studies S.L., and I.B. Mathematical Analysis S.L teacher at Klein Oak High School.
Alison Dawe:
One day last spring an invite to a meeting popped up in my inbox…...Advanced Academic Architectural Design Team…...my first thought was “What in the heck is that?”. I recognized a few names I saw on the email list and asked them if they knew what this was. One teacher told me we were going to be rewriting the pre-AP Chemistry curriculum. I told that teacher that I highly doubted I was being invited to rewrite Chemistry curriculum as I had NEVER taken Chemistry (different state, different decade is what I tell my student who wonder how I got so lucky!). I accepted the meeting since I had worked with Kathleen Plott at Klein Forest and I know her dedication to our students and her devotion to advanced academics.
At the initial meeting I found that our team is not just high school teachers of all core subjects but also intermediate and foreign language teachers and learned that our mission is to create standards for advanced academic classes, specifically, PreAP frameworks, across the district.
Amy Spencer:
We are very excited about our progress in developing a framework for advanced academics here in Klein I.S.D. The design team has been hard at work for you since last year, with a promise to design a framework in which to build a Pre-AP curriculum on. This team is comprised of teachers and specialists working together for the good of every student.
Why do we need a framework? The simple answer is data. Our team started by looking at A.P. Test data and current common practices for our district across the disciplines of: Math, English, Science, History, and World Languages. In looking at this data, along with the college readiness exam data and audit results, we realized in order to support every student, a specific framework must be designed. If we have a common vision for what advanced academics looks like, we can then as a district rise to the challenge and give our students the opportunity to grow, learn, and succeed in the advanced academic classroom and beyond.
Alison Dawe:
We spent time analyzing district PSAT, SAT, and AP data which was eye-opening. We all noted that our district – across all feeder patterns – is low in Evidence-based Reading and Writing and Math. This really has become a focus for us in our meetings. How can we create some standards for rigor in teaching in our Pre-AP classes and other Advanced Academics courses to better prepare Klein students for their future courses? With the data analysis and small group work we have found some areas that we feel can be a focus for all schools across the Klein district. In our small group discussions – cross-curricular and within content groups – we have found that there are discrepancies in Pre-AP classes in different schools; and this is helping us focus our tasks for in meetings.
Amy Spencer:
Looking at ourselves through a critical lens is not always an easy thing to do, but after identifying our deficiencies, we began the mammoth undertaking of designing the framework for our advanced academic classes. One of our main tools has been the book, Architects of Deeper Learning, by: Lissa Pijanowski, Ed.D. Our team read this book over the summer and is now in the process of intensive analysis and exploration of the themes and ideas in this book. The principles are aligned with great researchers like Hattie and Bloom resulting in a solid resource that we have found to be very rich.
Alison Dawe:
The book study has proved to be interesting and this month’s meeting provided us with some of the best discussion and understanding of what we are trying to do in our meetings. We looked first at Construction of Knowledge and focused on different aspects of teaching like learning centered versus teacher centered, driving question, gradual release of responsibility, and the instructional toolbox.
Amy Spencer:
The Advanced Academic Architectural Team has much left to do! We look forward to continued collaboration with our colleagues and will keep you up to date!
International Baccalaureate Program Information Night
Parent University Master Class: 8th Grade Families
Hour of Code
Learn Computer Science. Change the World.
Every December, millions of students participate in a global phenomenon known as Hour of Code™ to celebrate Computer Science Education Week. Hour of Code™ has been featured on the homepages of Apple, Disney, Google, and Amazon (to name a few). Former President Obama wrote his first line of code during Hour of Code™ in 2014, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got the Hour of Code™ party started in 2016. Hour of Code™ finds support in more than 300 partners, including The College Board, Disney, Khan Academy, and Google. "The Hour of Code is designed to demystify code and show that computer science is not rocket science—anybody can learn the basics," said Hadi Partovi, founder and CEO of Code.org. "Over 100 million students worldwide have tried an Hour of Code. The demand for relevant 21st-century computer science education crosses all borders and knows no boundaries."
In conjunction with Code.org, #KleinCodes will be hosting Hour of Code™ events at 38 campuses from December 9th-15th. Check with your Coding Club sponsor to see what is in store for your campus and please make plans to join us as Klein joins the largest learning event in history.
If you can’t make it to a campus event, Code.org, a public non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science, offers free activities for all grade levels, no experience required! In Klein, we believe that EVERY 21st-century student should have the opportunity to create and innovate technology. We challenge you: What can your students create in an hour?
“The 'Hour of Code™' is a nationwide initiative by Computer Science Education Week [csedweek.org] and Code.org [code.org] to introduce millions of students to one hour of computer science and computer programming.”
The Ultimate Gift Guide from The Kid Should See This!
OVER 500 SMART GIFT IDEAS FOR ALL AGES!
Source:The Kid Should See This:
https://tksstgiftguide.tumblr.com/
Here are two of the 500 available gifts:
Mind Your Numbers:
⭐️ AWARD-WINNER ⭐️ I love this math game by Hyderabad, India-based educational game company Kitki. Mind Your Numbers is for two players or four with a second box, ages 8+. Combine your 9 numbers and 12 symbols to earn as many points as you can over 9 rounds. The mystery numbers add a layer of luck and planning to gameplay, and some suspense when tallying points. Simple yet strategic, which hooked my kids.
It’s a 2018 Mensa Mind Games Competitor and a Parents’ Choice Recommended Award Winner.
The Art of Curiosity
NEW ⬆️️ Reading through The Art of Curiosity: 50 Visionary Artists, Scientists, Poets, Makers & Dreamers Who Are Changing the Way We See Our World from our friends at San Francisco’s Exploratorium is a wee-bit like what I’d hope a TKSST book might look like: Choc-full of creative people and their stories; beautifully designed with illustrations and engaging info; peppered with activities and ideas.
I love the glimpse into these conversations about and connections to curiosity and creativity. Find it online at The Exploratorium Store or on Amazon. Pair it with The Art of Tinkering.