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 Gifted
and Talented Programming at Shenendehowa |
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If you are looking for
information on gifted eduation, differentiated instruction
or acceleration and enrichment, you are in the right place!
"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high
and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."
Michelangelo (1475-1564)
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Meeting the needs of high ability learners in Shenendehowa's Schools
Our Policy 4000 requires an academic program that challenges
"children to perform at their best, allows them to reach their full
individualized potential". The Board of Education encourages and
supports initiatives and program flexibility permitting students to
learn at a rate commensurate with their skills, abilities,
performance and interests. All district instructional planning
efforts are expected to consider such flexibility in developing K-12
standards/outcomes.
High ability students are those students who are performing
significantly beyond their peers and need different or additional
services to reach their potential. This definition covers a talented
musician, athlete or second grade mathematics student. Shenendehowa
has a number of initiatives to meet the needs of our high ability
students:
Shenendehowa's Instructional Program -
Our curriculum is continually being updated to meet and exceed N.Y.S.
standards. We have
designed a curriculum that challenges our students to higher
standards. Additionally, we have added performance tasks, which are
complex demonstrations of learning that are required in each grade
and course.
Critical
Inquiry (grade 6
reading):
The goal of this program is to
provide a challenging and rigorous humanities curriculum for highly
able students in sixth grade, designed to strengthen critical
thinking skills and nurture creative thought using a Socratic
Seminar approach and inquiry model of instruction.
Critical Inquiry Program Shenendehowa Middle School
“Frequently Asked Questions”
Q. How does the
program operate?
A. Our Critical Inquiry teacher works together with 6th grade
teachers to align the program with 6th grade curriculum to identify
themes, concepts and essential questions for a year long study.
Socratic Seminars will take place every week or every two weeks with
students preparing for seminars by engaging in pre-seminar
activities and then completing post-seminar assignments. Students
will determine topics for further study based on themes or concepts
discovered during the first half of the school year. In the second
half of the year, they will research a real world problem in depth
and create a presentation.
Q. What is a
Socratic Seminar?
A. Socrates, a classical Greek philosopher, was a true believer
in the practice of the “dialectic” method of learning. He was
convinced the best way to obtain reliable knowledge was through the
course of conversation in a question/answer format. The program is
based on the Socratic Seminar approach to instruction in order to
cultivate a learning environment that strengthens critical thinking,
deepens understandings and promotes creative, independent thought.
A successful Socratic Seminar is one where participants leave with
more questions than answers.
Q.
How
often will the class meet?
A. The Critical Inquiry teacher will meet with students once
each day for a 40 minute class period. Once a week or every two
weeks, students will participate in the actual seminar curing class
time to discover and explore an “essential” open-ended question
based on a text, a reading, a book or other media form. Classes
will take place in a designated classroom within the middle school
complex.
Q.
How will
communication work?
A. Parents will receive newsletters in hard copy. The teacher
will communicate by email, the website, conferences with parents, by
personal notes or over the telephone.
Q. Will there be homework?
A. Yes. Homework will include pre-seminar and post-seminar
assignments, literature readings, writing and project assignments.
Q.
How will
it be graded?
A. Student performance will be based on the completing of
assignments, projects and seminar participation. Each student will
be graded based on a portfolio of collected assessments and overall
classroom participation.
Q.
Will the
grade be on the Shenendehowa Report Card and be part of the GPA?
A. Yes, grades will be on the Shenendehowa Report card and count
towards the overall GPA. The Critical Inquiry teacher is
responsible for grading students for work completed during the
Reading period if they are participating in this program.
Q.
What is
the selection process?
A. The selection process is being reviewed. We will be using a
multiple criteria approach for next year. Prior experience in the
Q.U.E.S.T. program will be taken into consideration.
Q.
Is this
program considered an Honors Program?
A. No. Students who participate will not receive honors credit.
Q.
Does
this replace a core course?
A. No. An English Language Arts period will exist within the
schedule for the enrolled student. However, this will replace the
Reading period.
Q.U.E.S.T (Question, Understand, Experiment, Share, Think)
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This one day a week, "pull-out" program is
for Gifted and Talented students in fourth and fifth grade. Students
in Q.U.E.S.T. work on thematic units of instruction designed to
supplement and elaborate on the general curriculum. The goal of the
program is to provide students with the opportunity to meet and
exceed challenging learning standards in an interactive and hands-on
classroom environment. All parents in grades 3 and 4 will be
notified annually about this offering and informed on the criteria
needed to qualify for the program.
Early Admission to Kindergarten
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The district has a procedure whereby high ability youngsters who are
at least four years old, may apply to enter school early. Contact
the office of the Assistant
Superintendent for Instruction, Curriculum and Assessment
at 881-0640 for more information. |
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Enrichment
and Acceleration Process
Communication between parent and teacher is the first step to
enriching or accelerating a student's academic program. The district
has established a process to identify students for acceleration.
Identification criteria include the SCAT (School Cognitive Abilities
Test), the TOMAGS (Test of Mathematical Abilities for Gifted
Students), the Gifted Rating Scale, as well as input from the
parent, teacher and principal.
Results of these data points are
returned to the building level committees to determine appropriate
programming.
Students are challenged
academically through a range of honors level and accelerated
programming. Beginning in grade 7, there is an honors level for
English and math as well as acceleration for English and social
studies. In grade 8, students are selected to enroll in English
honors, English 9H, Global 9, accelerated Regents earth science,
math honors, enriched algebra one, accelerated studio art and
technology.
There are many enrichment
opportunities available to students at all levels. There are many
clubs at the secondary level which can be accessed by going to the
middle schools or high school web page, then selecting the link for
"Clubs" in the red box that says "School Links." In addition, there
are many extension activities that are shared with students on daily
announcements and in the guidance offices.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION |
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The Office for Curriculum and
Learning, K-12, 881-0600 for Instructional Program, Early Admission
into Kindergarten, and questions in regard to Policy 4000
Teachers and Principals - Enrichment and Acceleration,
mathematics grouping
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RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS |
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Magazines that Publish
Children's Work
Creative Kids-Creative Kids
magazine is the nation's largest magazine by and for kids. The magazine
bursts with games, stories, and opinions all by and for kids ages 8-14.
In the pages of Creative Kids you will find such fun activities as:
brain teasers, contests, stories, poetry, pen pals, mysteries, and much
more! This interactive magazine also includes activities that stimulate
and encourage the creativity of readers. Kids from all over the world read and contribute to Creative Kids. The
magazine includes exciting examples of the most creative student work to
be found in any publication. Kids express themselves in letters to the
editor, answers to posed questions, and questions of their own.
Stone Soup-The Magazine by Young Writers and Artists (ages 8-13) Stone Soup
is unique among children’s magazines — it’s the only magazine
made up entirely of the creative work of children. Young people
from all over the world contribute their stories, poems, book
reviews, and art work to the magazine. Published six times a
year—January, March, May, July, September, and November.
Contains no advertising.
Skipping Stones-Skipping Stones is a nonprofit children's magazine that contains
stories, articles and photos from all over the world. The
magazine accepts art and original writing in all languages and
from all ages. Non-English writings are accompanied by English
translations to encourage the learning of other languages. Each
issue also contains international pen pals, book reviews, news,
and a guide for parents and teachers. Published bimonthly during
the school year.
Cicada-The Literary Magazine for Teenagers and Young Adults (ages 14
and up) Cicada publishes original short stories, poems, and
first-person essays written and encourages submissions from
their readers. Published six times per year. (Please note: Read
Slam's Rules for Submissions first)
Igniting Creative Energy Challenge: asks the question of
K-12 students throughout the country in a competition designed
to encourage students to learn more about energy and the
environment. Students may express their ideas in the form of
documented science projects, essays, stories, artwork,
photographs, music, video or website projects.
Write a Play: National Playwriting Competition. For students
up to age 18. Your play will be read and evaluated in writing by
a theatre professional. Selected writers will come to New York
for a writers conference to work with some of this country's
most exciting theatre artists.
Fun Math Sites
For Math Practice with facts,
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with whole
numbers, decimals and fractions, try www.aplusmath.com
For fun with Geometry try
http://www.scienceu.com/geometry/
For Cryptarithms - brain teasers
obtained when digits in numerical calculations have been replaced
with letters
www.cut-the-knot.org/cryptarithms/st_crypto.shtml
For Brain Teaser Puzzles, try
www.eduplace.com/math/brain/ by Houghton Mifflin
Publishers
To Take Challenge, try
http://figurethis.org/index.html
Word problems for kids are available at
http://www.stfx.ca/special/mathproblems/welcome.html
If you are interested in creating a magic
square, try this one
http://mathforum.org/alejandre/magic.square/adler/adler.whatsquare.html
How about creating your own tangrams,
try
http://mathforum.org/trscavo/tangrams/construct.html
For math support in the Harcourt Brace
program, try
http://www.hbschool.com/menus/math_advantage.html
Just for Fun
Science activities from Science
Museum of Minnesota
http://www.smm.org/explore/
Hubble Telescope pictures: Take a ride into space with this
wonderful site.
http://www.hubblesite.org
National Geographic
http://www.nationalgeographic.org/kids/
Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts
http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/museumkids.htm?HomePageLink=museumkids_c
smArt kids From the Art Museum of Chicago smArt kids helps you look
at art in new ways. You will look at different art, learn the
language of art and learn about the history of selected artworks.
DIG
If you are into archeology and studying ancient civilizations, try
this site for links.
Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/kids/?src=toolbar
New
York Times New York Times for Students This site will take you
through the New York Times every day.
Animal Planet. Kids who love animals can pick up all kinds of
interesting facts.
http://www.animal.discovery.com
Discovery Channel has a website to explore everything from
dinosaurs to technology
http://kids.discovery.com/
For a kids' reading website on the latest books, series and
authors
http://www.kidsreads.com/
Nova
Online Adventure
Explore Egypt's pyramids on a virtual tour.
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RESOURCES FOR PARENTS |
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Basic Information on Gifted Education
Summer Programs
NAGC
Listing of Summer Camps and Summer Programs, also Enrichment
Programs
http://www.nagc.org/resourcedirectory.aspx
Summer Institute for the Gifted
Residential Program: Three-week summer camp for gifted students in
grades 4-11 at Amherst College, Bryn Mawr College, Caldwell
College Oberlin College, UCLA and Vassar College
http://www.giftedstudy.com
Alfred University
Alfred University Summer Program
Alfred, NY 14802
Contact: Melody McLay, Director of Summer Programs
Telephone: 607-871-2612
Email:
summerpro@alfred.edu
Web Site:
www.alfred.edu/summer
Program Offered: Summer Only
Our beautiful campus, in New
York State's Finger Lakes region, is the perfect place for
learning and living in a collegiate setting. At week-long academic
institutes, students explore astronomy, writing, business or
science & engineering, meet kids from all over the country with
similar interests and have lots of fun.
New York State Summer School of the
Arts: Students can participate in ballet, choral studies, dance,
jazz, media arts, theater, orchestra and visual arts residential
programs after qualifying through auditions. The eight schools are
staffed by internationally acclaimed artists and companies such as
the New York City Ballet and the The Philadelphia Orchestra.
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/nysssa
Johns Hopkins University Center for
Talented Youth Summer Programs: Three -week programs are offered
at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. to students from
grades 7-12.
http://www.cty.jhu.edu/summer/catalogs.html
ID Tech Camp: Hands-On Technology
Fun : Week-long, day and overnight, hands-on technology camp for
ages 8-17 at more than 30 universities nationwide.
http://www.internalDrive.com
Ivy League Day Camp : This summer camp program is designed for
gifted learners interested in the sciences, computers, robotics,
engineering and performance and visual arts. Program includes
swimming and athletic activities.
http://www.ivyleaguekids.com
Long Island University Center for Gifted Youth offers an all-day
program during July for students in grades 2-8. Subjects include
science, mathematics, computers, writing and law.
http://www.cwpost.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/edu/gifted/courses.html
Syracuse University Summer College for High School Students
invites talented high school students to earn six or seven college
credits, test career interest and experience campus life.
http://www.summercollege.syr.edu
Identification
Twice Exceptional Students
Programs and Talent Searches
Publishers
Organizations
List Servs
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ON THIS PAGE |
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OTHER INFO |
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A Nation Deceived 2004 report on
Acceleration Practices
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NAGC and NMSA
Position Paper -"Meeting the Needs of High Ability and High Potential
in the Middle Grades" |
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