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Organizational Skills

11/8/2013

 
Each year during conference time, parents often ask how they can help their child develop organizational skills. Not all gifted students struggle with organization, but many do. Are you all too familiar with your son or daughter’s organizational struggles at home? It may take some time and patience to unravel the problem and address it. The best way to find workable ideas on organization is by comparison. Here are some ideas to try:

  • Sit down with your child and scan some of the study guides and strategies listed in the following resources to see if he or she thinks any are worthy of a try.
  • Then set up an informal "scientific study" where your child selects one to implement for a few days (or a week, if older). 
  • Keep a chart to rate the different options based on the success, ease of putting into effect, satisfaction, general enjoyment (or whatever other variables the two of you might dream up).
  • This could also be a good opportunity for you to simultaneously try a few new strategies and also keep a public record of your ratings. Just think of the interesting discussions that could emerge.
Your child will find that there are many solution strategies. In fact, the more ideas and strategies one has in their organization "toolbox," the more successful he or she will be in handling different types of challenges. The underlying concept behind this type of real-world experimentation is the use of a child's natural curiosity to encourage self-motivation. Children who learn by searching for answers and ultimately deciding on a workable solution will be more likely to keep trying when faced with a new challenge.  If you find success using any of these strategies or have an “aha!” moment, I’d love to hear about it!

More Information
  • Family Education has some ideas on Time Management for Gifted Kids as well as some suggested reading on Time and Perfectionism.
  • Davidson Gifted has a large list of ideas that parents can do to help their children get organized. This is written with Twice Exceptional (2e) children in mind that work well for any student.
  • Prufrock Press shared their ideas for Organizational Skills and Gifted Students.
  • The University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota has an extensive list of study guides.
  • Virginia Tech has a website designed for older students (but modifiable for younger children), where you'll find lots of ideas to try, including a self-quiz on "Where does time go?". 
  • The Rhode Island Advisory Committee on Gifted and Talented Education has compiled a list of interesting Web sites that include a number of homework helpers.

Gifted Research

10/11/2013

 
From time to time, I come across articles and research that really dig deep into the complexities of the gifted mind.  I found a couple today that I wanted to share with you all.

Introversion: The Often Forgotten Factor Impacting the Gifted
“Such is the situation of the introvert, a minority in the regular population but a majority in the gifted population.”

Finding True Peers
“Developing and maintaining friendships is an important aspect of any child’s development. However, for many gifted kids this can be a struggle. Using the term “true peers,” the first of the friendship articles discusses the struggle gifted kids may have in forming and maintaining friendships. For gifted children, true peers are probably not the same chronological age as gifted children; gifted children often seek friendships with older children.”

Have thoughts or insight of your own you’d like to share? Feel free to let me know!

Welcome back!

9/6/2013

 
I hope you all had a fun and relaxing summer! If you’re returning for another year in Special Interest, I’m glad you’re back! If you’re just starting out, welcome!

Now that we have the first week of school under our belts, hopefully everyone is starting to get back into a routine.  During Cycle 1, I have been meeting with the students for just a few minutes to get back in the swing of things and to get to know a few new faces.

For the first few weeks, we will be working on setting our own routines, reexamining our Multiple Intelligences, and warming our brains up to set the course for the new year. The first round of fall workshops will start Cycle 6.  Look for the workshop menu to be posted during Cycle 4.

For some of you, Back to School Night/Parents’ Night is coming up very soon. This year, most of those nights are spread out across the month of September. Rather than spend just a few minutes in each building, I  have been asked to spend a full evening at Pfaff Elementary and Richland Elementary schools.  They are open to ALL parents who would like to stop by, regardless of their home school.  I won’t be making a formal presentation, but if you’d like to stop in before or after the classroom presentations, please do!

Richland Elementary Parents’ Night
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Conference Room

Pfaff Elementary Parents’ Night
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Room 208

If those dates and/or location don’t work for you, please let me know.  I can also some time available at the other four schools before or after school in order to fit your schedule.

Also, from time to time this year, I’d like to send out some resources I come across from time to time to help you as the parent of a gifted student. Today I came across a neat blog post: http://www.giftedguru.com/7-essential-tools-for-parents-of-gt-kids/

Each of the 7 “tools” could be helpful, but I think quite a few of you can relate in particular to #2!

I hope you find it useful.  If you have an idea for a future email, are looking for help in a particular area, or just have a question about gifted education where you think other parents might also benefit from an answer, send it my way!

Here’s to a great year!

School Closings

10/29/2012

 
When school is closed because of inclement weather, SI is pushed back accordingly.  This week, Richland was scheduled to have SI on Monday. Therefore, when school resumes, Richland will be scheduled to have SI.  We don't cancel SI when school is cancelled! :-)

I will post a new adjusted calendar as soon as I know when we will be back in school.  Stay safe!

SI Updates

9/28/2012

 
We’re off and running in SI!  Now that most of you have had an opportunity to attend your Parents’ Nights, I wanted to take a minute to update you on a few things. Some of the information will be new to you, even if you stopped in to see me at Parents’ Night.

Parents’ Nights:
First, thank you to those of you who took the time to visit me at QE or Trumbauersville. I really appreciate it!  For those of you who had wanted to stop in at Parents’ Night but didn’t have a chance to, please let me know.  I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.  I also shared the following helpful resources on those nights:

  • Two articles on helping your advanced learner to be successful – (Developing_your_childs_habits) (What's a Parent to Ask?)
  • The Gifted Kids’ Survival Guide - A book written for children under 10 who have been identified as being gifted. (Great gift idea!)
  • Digital Resources
    Hoagies’ Gifted – (They have a very useful Facebook page as well!)
    Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education (PAGE)
    Unwrapping the Gifted – a terrific blog for parents, teachers, and advocates of gifted education
    Twitter – If you are a Twitter user, you’ll find dozens of gifted-centric educators and organizations to help you (try @TheGiftedTechie – that’s me!)

I also attached a little bit of “homework” for you. I’d like to collect a bunch of “anecdotes” from you all to share with the students. I’m looking for moments from when the students were younger when they might have said or done something that might have taken you by surprise.  I’m hoping that by sharing these each week, we’ll start to have the students recognize in themselves what you as parents have noticed all along.

I didn’t want to overwhelm you with too many resources too quickly, so if you are looking for help, support, or are just looking for more information in a particular area, please let me know!

In other news:
We are currently wrapping up Cycle 3.  After briefly meeting the students during Cycle 1, we spent Cycle 2 going through typical “first day” procedures, meeting some new faces, and starting the year rolling.  During Cycle 3, we began to talk about Multiple Intelligences.  This year, we are going to focus on identifying our types of “smarts” and use those to guide our work throughout the year. Ask your son or daughter what their surveys said about them!

Here’s the plan for upcoming cycle dates:
  • Cycle 4 – Multiple Intelligences (continued). Fall workshop menus go home
  • Cycle 5 – Workshop menus due, topics TBD
  • Cycle 6 – Fall workshops begin

Now that we have begun to develop our routine, please be on the lookout for the students’ folders. If you’re used to seeing the feedback charts come home, you’ll notice that the new “reflection charts” are quite a bit different.  Ultimately, I’m looking for more student reflection as to how SI connects to their learning overall.  You’ll notice that these are NOT due every week, though we will be journalling in them each week in class.

Finally, take a minute to reacquaint yourself with the SI homepage and Edmodo.  Once students start to receive homework (they haven’t had any yet!), I will remind them of the importance of staying in the habit of checking in our website for homework.  Also, I’ll remind them to make sure they stay in touch with me via Edmodo on the days we don’t meet.  Other than checking Edmodo to stay informed, there is no “work requirement” attached to it. However, if students do have a question, the quickest place to get an answer is to ask me on Edmodo rather than wait a few days until our next meeting time.

Note: While I am asking all Gr. 3-5 students to take on this responsibility, I will leave it up to the discretion of the first and second grade students’ parents to decide if this would work for your son or daughter.  Younger students will still use and have access to Edmodo in class, but checking in at home is up to you to.

This brings me to my last topic…

Responsibility
You may hear me speak this year about self-responsibility, challenging oneself, and becoming a self-advocate.  These are skills that are critically important for gifted learners.  Being “bored” in class should be a signal to a student that they need to communicate their needs to their parents and teachers. If they are not being challenged, they will need to use their voice and work with their teachers to find a way to challenge themselves and continue to grow.

These skills take time to develop. In SI, students who may not be used to being challenged academically may suddenly find themselves being challenged to reflect and learn from mistakes. This is completely ok! SI is a place where taking risks and making mistakes are not only ok, but encouraged and expected! As Thomas Edison once said:

“I’ve never made a mistake. I’ve only learned from experience.”

Thank you for reading!

Archiving Your Weebly Site

5/15/2012

 
I recently made a short instructional video to show students how to archive their Weebly sites.  Currently, students have the ability to make 10 different websites with their Weebly accounts.  If you would like to save a copy to your computer locally for safekeeping, check out the instructions.  It's really easy to do!

Information on Giftedness in Children

4/27/2012

 
I recently came across a resource that is incredibly informative, especially for parents and teachers of gifted children.  There is quite a bit of information on gifted students who have been identified with other exceptionalities as well.  You'll find a wide selection of factsheets that cover many of the issues likely to face a parent or teacher with a gifted child.

How do I find the right books for my child?

10/28/2011

 
One of the most common questions I receive from parents is how to find age-appropriate reading material that will also challenge their son or daughter's reading abilities.  Often, it can be difficult to find quality, enriching literature that also avoids questionable content.  I've been doing some research lately to provide parents with the resources they need.  Take a look under Parents' Parkway to find some useful resources in picking books for your advanced reader at home.

In other news:
     •  The November schedule has been posted.  Be sure to print one out to keep in a safe place at home.
     •  Edmodo parent sign-up: Have you been thinking about joining Edmodo?  Parents are encouraged (but not required) to join.  If you lost your signup code or the tutorial packet, please let me know!
     •  Conference reminder: Conferences are filling up fast!  If you'd like to check in during the times I will be at each building, please let me know.  I will sit in on conferences when I can.  I love sharing (and hearing) good news!

Finally, it may help to give your son or daughter the following gentle reminders:
     •  Homework: The homework page is available for students to check for what is due by the next class meeting.
     •  Questions on homework? Stay in touch with Edmodo!  Not only is it a great place to share ideas, it is also a quick way to get help from me and even from other classmates in your workshop.  Just be sure to check in early enough to give your friends and teacher enough time to respond before it is due!
     •  Feedback charts: They should not be handed to the classroom teacher the day you have SI.  Please try to remember to show it to your teacher at least a day or two before SI so that they have time to review it and add their own notes.  Moms and Dads should get to see it too!

Everyone is doing a great job with these routines, but even the best of us sometimes need a reminder or two along the way. Thanks for your help!

Website Update

9/28/2011

 
Our SI homepage looks quite a bit different!  Hopefully, you’ll find that the site is better organized and easier to navigate.  This is one of the biggest advantages to moving away from Google Sites to Weebly.  It also handles graphics and multimedia much easier as well.  When you have a few minutes please take some time to explore.  Here are some of enhancements I’ve made:

Contacting me – you can submit a question or suggestion directly from the website via the contact form.

Announcements and Homework pages – These pages are now set up like a blog.  Homework will still be listed each week, but now students can comment on a homework post with questions. The comments will go live after I approve them.  If you are familiar with using RSS readers, you also have the ability to subscribe to updates as they are posted.  Assignments can be uploaded to me directly from the homework pages as well!

Workshops – Workshop descriptions will be listed here as they were on the old site, but students can now submit their choices directly through the website.

Student Speedway – This is the #1 go-to resource for students.  ALL resources (Edmodo, homework, research, links, etc.) can be found by starting here first.

Educator Alley – Primarily for teachers, I will be adding to this section to help support teachers with gifted students in their classrooms.

Parent Parkway – What would YOU like to see?  I’ve added some of my favorite blogs to support parents like you, but I’d like to make this section your go-to place for information on how to challenge and support your student(s) at home.

The website is constantly growing and changing.  Have a suggestion or comment?  Please send me an email or try the new contact form on the SI website!

Thanks for reading!

Edmodo

9/28/2011

 
Have you signed up to join your son or daughter on Edmodo yet?  If you misplaced the parent “manual” and signup code that I sent home or passed out at Open House night, please let me know and I’ll get you the code to sign up.

This cycle, I’m teaching students how Edmodo can help organize their busy lives.  Edmodo offers many resources to help them.  Here’s what’s new:

Calendar – Students now have the ability to add their own reminders and important dates to their calendar.  As the date approaches, they will be reminded via their yellow notification box in the top-right corner.

Badges – Students can earn “badges” for exemplary work on Edmodo. They show up on the students’ profile pages for things like proofreading posts, digital citizenship, contributing to discussions, sharing research and projects, and many, many more.  They can even earn a badge for having you sign up with Edmodo as well!

Assignments/Gradebook – I will be asking students to send assignments to me through Edmodo.  Grades will be given which you are then able to see if you have signed up for Edmodo.  If they forget to submit an assignment, you’ll be able to see that as well.

Library and “Backpack” – Unless your son or daughter has their own USB memory stick, transferring computer work from home to school is extremely difficult.  I’ll be encouraging students to use their Edmodo “backpacks” to store and access their files privately and securely within their Edmodo accounts.

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    Adam Smith is the Gifted Support Specialist for the Quakertown Community School District.

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