Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Session 4- Question 2

What was most insightful to you during the reading of this book? Give pages numbers.

23 comments:

  1. Most insightful part during this reading is on page 204-205. I enjoyed how to book gave examples of " use of Divergent Thinking Models using Figure 9.4." It was an open-ended task and associative thinking patterns that was flexible in addressing real-world problems. I loved how it was teaching them the "skills of creativity to these learners."

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    1. I agree with Sarah that the use of Divergent Thinking Models provide flexibility and open ended tasks for encouraging creativity.

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    2. I agree with Sarah too- I find the Divergent Thinking Models useful. GT students need opportunities to be creative.

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    3. I agree with Sarah. Pages 204-205 talked about the divergent thinking model. I agree to the importance of using real world problems. It does help them to be creative but also great thinkers.

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  2. I found Chapter 9 on curriculum development to be enlightening. I enjoyed reading about the importance of the arts on page 197 for those nonverbal GT types. I also appreciate the sentence on page 198: Low-income students disproportionately need these individuals to teach them informally what they need to know to be successful, thus serving as role models extraordinaire.

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    1. I agree with you Melanie, I really enjoyed this chapter about the Arts on Pages 196-198. I especially enjoyed the part about how it frees the students to express themselves in nonthreatening ways and those that take a special interest in the Arts is central to keeping their dream of a better life alive.

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    2. I agree with Melanie and Sharon. I loved how the pages talked about students being able to express themselves in a nonthreatening way. We need to find way to help them be more successful as role models. I think we are missing that each new year. We need them be great leaders in our school and society. We need to get it started in our classrooms.

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  3. I found the guidelines for practice (pg 149-150) the most beneficial from the book.I like each guideline listed with what can be done and examples in the classroom. I never really stopped to consider all the different guidelines (community supports identification routes,curriculum, family involvement, teacher development, & continuum of program & services)

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    1. I agree with JChoy's comments on June 12th because it's helpful resources that show me what can be done in a real set classroom. Each guideline and and examples in reference to a classroom was very informative and gave me ideas and suggestions for the up-coming school year.

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    2. I agree with jchoy also. There are so many facets to what can be done in the classroom. The guideline chart is very helpful in identifying what you as a teacher can do in different situations.

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    3. I am in agreement with you Jeannette about the guidelines on pages 149-150. They are useful resources that can be used in a real classroom. I am always big on that!

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  4. I found on page 92 Psychological and Social Issues very insightful. Minority students tend to underachieve due to peer pressure. A study showed that minority students shun the other high achieving minority students because their success in school is considered "being White." I read in a CCN editorial that stated "Obama said that it is important for Americans to know their roots and where they come from, but not be held hostage by our cultures from advancing in life." What are the implications for minority gifted students if they are rejected by their own culture?

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    1. Yes, Annie, the implications are so depressing.

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    2. That's the saddest part. Majority of the problems and issues are coming from their own races. They are not being accepted or being made fun of for being smart and excelling in school. They don't want to be seen as different so they act dumb and throw their potential away.

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    3. This was sad! Rejection is horrible and even more so by your own culture! We have to help them see this differently.

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  5. I think the most insightful thing for me was on page 16 where they talked about teacher's expectations. It talked about how students can tell right away the levels of expectations of the teacher whether they are high or low. It also talked about how the child will feed of that expectation and work to the level the teacher is asking for. The level of expectation is so important for all kids not just GT. We have to have a high level of expectation and build the confidence in the kids to know they can do it.

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    1. I thought it interesting that students via the vignettes respected and appreciated teachers teachers who had high expectations. Many of them stated it made them feel special and challenged.

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  6. I enjoyed reading about the "divergent thinking models" on pg. 204-205 in chapter 9. I only taught GT classes when I taught in Maryland, so I know how giving the students choices allows them to be creative and allows them to complete open ended tasks which they really enjoy.

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    1. We implemented an "open-ended" task or "divergent thinking model" in this district about five or six years ago. It could be a little longer. It is called problem-based learning. It uses the K-W-L model as part of its protocol.

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  7. I thought the most insightful part during this reading was Use of Divergent Thinking models on page 204-205. It responds directly to the students learning preferences and their thinking patterns for open-ended task and associative thinking patterns for real world problems. The Metaphor development chart got my attention right away because I know grasping metaphors is not an easy task for these kids. The example template on page 207 , figure 9.5 allows students to approach the task in a systematic manner moving closer to creative applications. I also was very interested in the Creative Problem Solving template on page 207 because it appears to be a great approach to tackle any given problem in a sensible manner.

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  8. The most insightful read was chapter 4, in particular pp 59-60. I found it interesting that how rural school communities were being identified had changed. I actually did some reading outside the book as I knew that this change would affect how these schools were funded. The funding for these schools would possibly decrease because they would now probably get less in property taxes as some, given their distance, were no longer part of the principal municipality. Using population size kept them within the municipality. However, they would probably get more Federal aid. I read to see how this was remedied. Houston had several rural communities at one time. In particular, areas out in Hempstead, Navasota and Conroe. But, now it has none. These places as well as others around Texas have incorporated and are now calling themselves, "Independent Towns, Charter School Districts, Non-Metropolitan Stable, Non-Metropolitan Fast Growing, Other Central City Suburban, etc. They have found ways to get funding or a tax-base for students.

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  9. Chapter 7 was helpful to me. On p 130 how poverty negatively impacts our students on all developmental issues. How difficult it is to spot the gifted child in these areas. I don't want kids being overlooked.

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    1. I agree with Sabrina Lay on August 1 about how poverty negatively impacts our student population across all developmental issues. I always seem to come back to a particular book when I think about this. Have you read
      Ruby Payne's Framework for Understanding Poverty? It is a must read for teachers. I highly recommend it. http://www.amazon.com/Framework-Understanding-Poverty-4th-Edition/dp/1929229488

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