Gifted and Talented
Spring 2017 Success Skills, Room 203
Katrina McLane
Gifted and Talented Teacher and Program Coordinator
Offc: 719-358-4365 Visit our program online
Happy New Year! I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with you all. This is the first time a class of this kind has been offered at FMS, so I wanted to let you know how I intend to begin.
Our regional Gifted and Talented theme this year is “Passion, Play, and Purpose”. As such, we have outlined flexible themes for each weekday to help us address students as whole persons who need to develop not just their intellectual qualities, but also their emotional quotient and a body of experiences.
I need your help. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I want students to cultivate “beginner’s mind” – that mindset that we must adopt when we are learning something totally new. It can be very uncomfortable for gifted children, and we must diligently seek out such experiences with them. Here’s where you come in; I want to know about your hidden talents! Can you knit? Can you tap dance? Can you code? (This is also an opportunity for us adults to remind our pre-teens and teens that we’re not totally useless!) Please email me and let me know what you’re willing to share with students. I can flex days!
Some weeks we all (or maybe just a few kids) may have an activity bleed over into the next day, and that’s just fine. We’re here to chase those things that make living a rich life possible.
Please stay in touch, and let me know if you have any comments. Email is the best way to contact me.
Sincerely yours,
Mrs. McLane
Make-It Mondays
We will start the week with creative thinking encounters. Each Monday, expect engineering design challenges, activities from Destination Imagination, or other imaginative undertakings to stretch the mind.
Try-It Tuesdays
Our Tuesdays will be devoted to opportunities for children to engage in a formalized Independent Study. We will devote time to inquiry and organizational skills, plus explore ways to give back to our school and local community.
Weigh-It Wednesdays
Giftedness comes with its own social and emotional concerns. On Wednesdays, students will weigh the ups and downs of their talents through direct instruction in self-efficacy skills and a book study with Socratic Seminar-style discussions.
Thorough Thursdays
Thursdays will be devoted to ALP goal progress check-ins and other choice activities that don’t necessarily fall into Tuesday’s more formalized format. Students will be encouraged to read and pursue skills that make for well-rounded people and citizens. Students with gifts and talents are often afraid of failure, and Thursdays will be also be a time for new and puzzling experiences to encourage growth.
Friday Funday
Human children learn through play, and this doesn’t stop when children reach the middle grades. Strategy games, divergent thinking, three-dimensional, and other board, card, and table games will be taught and available for student exploration. Arts and crafts also have value, and we will make time for these too.
Grading
Currently, I do not intend to assign homework. Late work will receive half credit and is due the following day. Grades will be updated each Friday.
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