04.24.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:26 pm by Angie
Ten days in Paris during April! What a fantastic time to plan a visit. We had so many wonderful experiences and came back with a new appreciation for our culture and French culture. Visit my flickr account to see more pictures and comments about our visit. Email me if you want to know some good places to visit! Also, many thanks to the State of Louisiana for providing Amber with tuition these past three years. Because of their investment, she can translate from French to English and back again with ease. Let’s hope she uses this skill in her future to better the world!
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04.09.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:33 pm by Angie
So my son has suggested that I get my site linked to the best search engine for blogs on the ‘net, Technorati. <a href=”http://technorati.com/claim/ieqn4skein” rel=”me”>Technorati Profile</a>
What’s really cool about that is he has a friend of a friend who just got on at Technorati. The fellow used to live in Baton Rouge and he used to teach elementary school.
Don’t know if this will be a good thing or a bad thing. Well, here goes….
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03.24.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:23 pm by Angie
Do you have a quote for educating the gifted child, teaching the gifted child or parenting the gifted child. Please feel free to send your suggestions to teachagiftedkid@gmail.com.
- “Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.” (Arthur Schopenhauer)
- “Every child deserves an equal opportunity to struggle.” (Mary Landrum)
- “Expecting all children the same age to learn from the same materials is like expecting all children the same age to wear the same size clothing.” (Madeline Hunter)
- “One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar!” (Helen Keller)
- “You can never hold a person down without staying down with him.” (Booker T. Washington)
- “Give me rigor or give me mortis!” (Michael Clay Thompson)
- “Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.” (Leonardo da Vinci)
- “There is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.” (Justice Felix Frankfurter)
- “The pupil who is never required to do what he cannot do, never does what he can do.” (John Stuart Mill)
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02.28.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:02 pm by Angie
Tomorrow afternoon I am committed to my first substitute job in a public school. It’s only for a half a day but I thought it would be a good starting point. I’m actually set up and ready to take on sub jobs for three different public school districts in the area and have been for some time. I just haven’t followed through on it. I have substituted for a private school, though.
I have to think differently. Most teachers wake up every morning and know just exactly what they will do and when they will do it. They are expected to be in their classroom everyday, prepared and ready. I was when I worked full time. I function best this way. Now, I have to be prepared to have an answer when a substitute job call comes, if it comes at all. Take for instance this past Monday. I had two calls to substitute and I wasn’t really prepared to say a definitive ‘yes’ or ‘no’. It took me a moment to think, “Oh yea, I can’t because I’m promised my son time to get his passport and his oil changed on his car.” Now, the schools don’t need to know detail but I have to be prepared with an answer when the call comes. I also have to know what day and date of the week it is!
So, I have to think of a way to be prepared but in a different way - a different mindset. It’s enough to make me want a full time job tomorrow! I am a planner and I nearly always follow through with my plans for the day.
I look back at how much time has elapsed since we moved here and how I am just now really ready for other responsibilities besides the dogs and the house. It’s been 7 months. Sometimes I think I should I feel guilty for not ‘using my degree’ for this long. I also think what I might be like had I gone back to work full time right when we moved in July. My guess is I would be quite stressed. Our family has been through a lot after Hurricane Katrina came through. I think the time away from a full time job was a wise thing to do. I know I will be a better teacher because of the time to adjust and reflect. So, substituting is a way of staying flexible, staying in education and being available for my family. How long will I substitute? Not sure. It might be until the end of the school year or longer. I will just have to see what opportunities come up and how they fit my priorities at the time.
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08.20.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:48 pm by Angie
I recently attended the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented in Austin Texas. There were a few quotes that, to me, were thought provoking or funny. Here they are:
“Show me your passion.” J. Delisle (This was stated during his key note speech regarding what teachers could say to a student rather than “show me your product.” As teachers, we are too often interested in what the children can do, rather than what they are highly interested in. If we give a child the option to do an independent product, we should let it be independent. Let them show us their passion.)
“How can one be proud of a straight “A” report card when the work involved was so little.” J. Delisle (This was a quote from a graduating senior that he read from a book he had written. This student did not have to work hard to get her diploma, she was never challenged in high school. How many of our brightest minds feel the same way, and furthermore, how many of our brightest minds just quit school, take the GED and get off to college a year or semester quicker. As educators and record keepers, we may never know.)
“Set your student’s goals very high - so high it makes you nervous.” M. Thompson (You could tell this man was an excellent teacher who could move kids to that higher level. In this particular breakout session, he was showing us how learning Greek and Latin stems could increase a student’s vocabulary at a tremendous rate. He also had a list of 100 classic words that our youngsters should be exposed to early on. His examples of listing words from a story and asking us what story it was from was thought provoking. His first example was James Barrie’s “Peter Pan”. There are many classic words in the story which we, as educators, are told students aren’t ready for yet but they are. I believe this presenter was ‘right on the mark.’)
“It’s hard to learn nonsense.” M. Thompson (Sometimes what we teach is not presented in a way that makes sense to a gifted learner either because it is information they already know or there is no cohesive, organized manner in its presentation. We have to know our students.)
“We know things that others don’t realize, we are teachers.” M. Thompson (This statement stands on its own.)
“Enrichment is great but it is not sufficient for the gifted appetite.” J. Juntone (Gifted students want real life, important work, they want to know that what they are asked to do has some importance, purpose.)
“It takes an awful lot of study to be stupid.” J. Delisle from a reading from “Star, Bright” a novel. This student had learned to read well before kindergarten. In kindergarten, she was told by the teacher that should could not read or cut with scissors yet. Star decided that to ‘unlearn’ what she had learned was the best way to satisfy the teacher.
“Giftedness is a greater awareness, a greater sensitivity, and a great ability to understand and transform perceptions into intellectual and emotional experiences.” A. Roeper (J. Delisle likes this quote from his ‘grandma’ in regards to defining what gifted means. AnneMarie Roeper is 89 years old, she just published a novel about being gifted and being elderly. She also played a key role in the Roeper Review which now is a respected repository for studies and reports in many fields.
“Being great means tackling every challeng as they come along.” How often do you hear a teenager say this. One gifted student in J. Delisle’s studies wrote this.
“Stop paying interest on a bill you never owed.” J. Delisle (Think about this as it relates to your life….)
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08.17.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:46 pm by Angie
An Update:
Winter 2008
What a learning process! Even with the educational background of working with gifted children, there is always much more to learn. I’m enjoying the challenge but at the same time I’m almost overwhelmed with the curriculum planning to keep up with these ferocious learners and all their aspects and peculiarities. Today, I’m taking the test to become fully certified to teach gifted in TX. Wish me luck!
August 2007
I have found a job! After a year vacation from the field of teaching, I am now the Humanities teacher at Rainard School in West Houston. I had subbed there off and on during the spring of last year. It’s great to be teaching again although the schedule is taking some time to adjust to.
Early 2006
I’m in Texas, actually, back in Texas. We lived here over 13 years ago. At that time, I had babies. Then we moved to Louisiana, just north of New Orleans. I educated my children in St. Tammany Parish and eventually, I became a teacher in the district. I studied over 8 years to earn my teaching degree and masters. I also worked on my gifted certification and taught gifted 4th-6th graders for three years. It was worth every bit of effort and time. Gifted children are mostly a joy to teach.
My children are off to college or working now. They were educated in the gifted program in St. Tammany Parish schools. My son started in 5th grade, my daughter started in 1st grade. In addition to raising two gifted children, I live with a gifted man. If there was a poster child for the creatively gifted in the 1960-70�, he would have been on it. Actually, learning about the creatively gifted has helped me to understand how he functions. I would have to say that I have been exposed to every stage of a gifted individual’s life up to the mid 40’s.
Now, why did I tell you all this? To give you a background for where I am coming from and where I am now. I�m looking for a job to advocate for or teach the gifted child. This year is like a personal sabbatical. I’ll be subbing and visiting a whole bunch of schools in the area. I’ll be looking for a gifted position like the one I had in Louisiana. I can be patient. I can figure out the districts in Houston near me. This weblog will be a journal of that process along with random munchings from my brain. I hope you enjoy.
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