02.23.08
Posted in Gifted Education, Random 'Munchings" at 7:52 pm by Angie
I just checked the stats on my website through Google Analytics which I do periodically. One of the keyword search phrases that someone used to find information regarding gifted was, “how to make my child gifted”. Wow! That is one for the books! Just to clear the air on this one - you don’t make your child gifted after they’re born! You can expose them to lots of learning very early which many people do, but research wavers on whether this makes one smarter than their age peers or just stresses out the child.
There’s not much you can do except contribute your X’s and Y’s early on and do your best to nurture your child as they grow and develop. Without going into much detail (and knowingly without exact references), I’ve read/heard somewhere that researchers believe that the gifted brain is just wired differently. It functions more efficiently and it absorbs information at a faster rate. And it will develop if given the opportunity to.
Have you ever spent any time reading about the lives of gifted individuals who lived in the past? You will find that some came from highly affluent homes, some came from very poor settings. Some endured hardships such as child abuse, others were mentored and cared for every step of the way. The book Cradles of Eminence gives excellent examples of individuals from all walks of life. http://www.gt-cybersource.org/Record.aspx?NavID=2_0&rid=12825
I’m far from the expert on this topic but I’m pretty sure you can’t ‘make your child gifted’. Before you wish you could make them gifted, be sure to do your research on the down-sides of being gifted such as perfectionism, out of balance development(asynchronous), being under-challenged, boredom, feeling alone, just to name a few.
…..and that’s all I gotta say ’bout that…..
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02.20.08
Posted in Random 'Munchings" at 4:43 am by Angie
My husband and I are just about to close a chapter to a portion of our life. We’re moving out of our downtown Houston apartment and putting everything in our house in Magnolia. This might sound insignificant to you but to us it means the last of our ties to Hurricane Katrina.
We had ’set up shop’ in the apartment just two weeks after Katrina hit so my husband could work in Houston while I stayed in Mandeville for eight months to finish my teaching contract and my Masters Degree. We traveled back and forth between Mandeville and New Orleans repairing our house and looking for a new one. Stressful times, now that I look back on it.
There are still many out there who were directly affected by Hurricane Katrina waiting to close their chapter. There is still much to do to undo what one large storm did to one large area in Mississippi and Louisiana.
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12.31.07
Posted in Random 'Munchings", Uncategorized, Writing Entries at 6:21 pm by Angie
It’s holiday time and I’ve caught another cold (fourth since Thanksgiving). This really puts a damper on all my plans to be so productive during my holiday break from teaching. Reading and sleeping have been about the only productive thing that I’ve done the past two days. I’m halfway through a huge novel called “The Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follett. Being plopped right smack dab into the early middle ages following the building of a stone cathedral is much better than dealing with a cold!
Just today, I felt good enough to sit down to the computer. I’ve been just cruising around, visiting some favorite blogs, trying out some new blogs. I even visited my own (leaving your own blog alone so long in cyberspace is not good) and I noticed a comment left by Michelle at http://www.michellehix.blogspot.com/. She has a really cool site with a few neat widgets on it. The best one is Shelfari and, of course, with me being a teacher of English, I could not pass on it!
I have to get my son to figure out why the widget won’t load up in my sidebar. It’s probably something very simple but it’s New Year’s Eve and I don’t want to bug him. He’s out with friends getting ready to celebrate the new year. My daughter is out in Jackson Square in New Orleans, my husband went to our friends in SW Houston, my sister is in Times Square and I’m sitting in front my laptop with my box of kleenex. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
Another interesting toy that I’ve had time to play with is Google Reader. Now, I can keep up with the news and actually have something interesting to add to casual conversations without becoming a news-junkie like a few people I know.
Somehow, I feel like the little kid who got all these toys for Christmas but ended up playing in the cardboard box that the new washer came in. These two ‘toys’ were free (actually not quite free. I ((my husband)) paid for the internet connection, the electricity, the kitchen table, the lemonade in the Pizza Hut Fred Flintstone glass we bought when we were going out together 25 years ago….I think you get the picture.)
Anyway, here’s wishing everyone a Happy New Year and lots of new ‘toys’
Angie
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09.29.07
Posted in Fun Stuff at 6:51 pm by Angie
We’ve been preparing for a school play “The Jungle Book” in the Disney version. I decided to dig out the classic by Rudyard Kipling and conduct a literary circles with various selections with the two groups. Interestingly, neither the younger group, nor the older group knew that the Disney version was not the original (except for one or two younger students).
This whole time, I’ve been recalling the cartoon version of “Rikki Tikki Tavi” narrated by Orsen Wells, wondering if I could ever locate it. Instead of doing the dishes this evening, I’m watching the cartoon online at this site. I apologize for the advertisements and such. I hope you enjoy a stroll down memory lane if you remember watching this cartoon as a child. (
Posted Dec 10, 2006
Narrated by Orson Wells, this animated cartoon is an adaptation of a short story titled “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” from The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling.
I hope you enjoy it!
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09.18.07
Posted in Gifted Education, Random 'Munchings" at 6:33 pm by Angie
It’s been a busy 3 weeks. I’ve set up a classroom, read through pages and pages of curriculum and designed a program for students who range between 8-13 years in age. Their abilities range wildly, too. All the differentiation research that I’ve done over the past year will come in handy.
It will be some time before my next weblog entry. I need to rethink the purpose of it. Meanwhile, continue to check out the Gifted Education news and the educational sites that I will continue to add.
Most importantly, keep me posted on activities/programs designed for the gifted child in the Houston and surrounding area. These students are very deserving!
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08.08.07
Posted in Writing Entries at 4:14 pm by Angie
I was reading through one of my favorite magazines, “Discover” and ‘discovered’ a few interesting things about September. My birthday, this year, is the Autumnal Equinox and also a national holiday in Japan. Cool! I share the month with these other fascinating celebrations such as the Beef-A-Rama in Minocqua, WI. Can you envision 1,200 pounds of meat parading down main street? There might be some issues if the beef people get with the chicken people in London, KY where they are celebrating the origin of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). Their proud achievement is cooking 600 chicken quarters at the same time in a huge frying pan. September is such a meat lover’s month with the Roadkill Cook-Off in Marlinton, WV. The list of featured recipes sounded clever and disgusting.
My little holiday sure seems out of place, now that I come to think of it.
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07.31.07
Posted in Random 'Munchings", Writing Entries at 8:04 am by Angie
I’ve been to several blogs lately that have an entry regarding the latest release of the Harry Potter books. The blog entries all read just about the same: “you won’t be hearing from me for a while, I’m reading Harry Potter” or “don’t spoil it for me”. I hate to admit that I joined the ranks. But I am happy to report that not only did I read and finish the book this past week, I did several other things at the same time.
Amber’s home from France now and we’ve been preparing her for her final year at Tulane. We went through the house looking for things she can use in her first apartment and we decided to refinish some old furniture that we had been saving in hopes that one of our kids would need it. She’s the lucky winner! We’ve sanded and painted several pieces and now I have the job of making new cushion covers while she is gone once again (France for 3 weeks). We also went to New Orleans to see her new place and visit with old friends in Mandeville. I did not read in the car, but I did read every minute of free time that I had.
I’ll forever connect Harry Potter and the St. Louis Hotel on the corner of Bienville and Royal now. I finished the book on Sunday morning. Just like everyone else, I feel just a little sad that the story is finished. I find myself thinking about the story and the characters as I go about my everyday activities. And I do have a few questions which may be enough of a motivation to start reading the series again from the first book. If I do, I’ll let you know because you won’t be hearing from me for several days!
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07.24.07
Posted in Gifted Education, Incitement 2007 - Young Writers at 4:15 pm by Angie
I have invited Zen to be a contributing writer to my Incitement 2007 - Young Writers’ Page. Zen is a homeschooled gifted 14 year old that comes to the site through a mailing list designed just for families who are homeschooling in the Houston area. Please take a moment to visit her first posting. I expect that she will be submitting creative writing in the near future.
If you are interested in ‘infusing your creative thoughts into the world’ and you are a young writer, email me at teachagiftedkid@gmail.com about your intentions.
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Posted in Incitement 2007 - Young Writers at 9:03 am by happyzen
Alrighty, I’m Happy Zen, or Zennie. Any friends will, of course, know my real name. Ayway, I’m fourteen, and I live in Texas, which is cool. I don’t, however, plan on living here for the rest of my life. No way. I want to live in Italy….or Spain. Or both, haha.
I LOVE theoretical physics, and I have a proffesor mentoring me. I’m also a big philosophy person, and I really liked a three week class I took on philosophy of the mind. I think I’ll be a neurologist someday, so you can all look for Dr. Happy Zen when you’re older. I would probably go into neurology research though, because if anything else happens to have something to do with sticking a needle in somebody’s brain….forget it.
As far as recreational goes, I have been fencing competitively for about three…almost four years. All around, four and a half to five years. I started in foil and I am now in epee, and I love it. A recent hiatus proved that. Oh I missed it…and my Russian coach of course. So I went back this months before the competitive season really kicks off to get some lessons in which(may I add) are going fantastically. I love to write and draw, but I stick to what I know so if anyone knows a good online place to learn how to draw realistically(animals hopefully) I’d love you forever if you gave me the link.
I love Phantom of the Opera, and I saw Wicked in April, which is so amazingly fantastic and I cried in both. Hahaha, I guess that’s not saying much because it doesn’t take much to make me cry. Oh well.
TTYL,
happyZEN
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07.13.07
Posted in Incitement 2007 - Young Writers at 2:16 pm by Rishabh042296
My HomeBy Rishabh
I see a red brick house with damp green grass. When it is spring where the birds sing on the branches of the trees. When I come closer I feel like I’m going in to the future. When I open the door there is a rush of cold air that hits my face and smells like modern appliances. I see a leather couch ahead and a new polished dining table at my right. I go to my left and open a door to be welcomed by peaceful music. Now I feel I am going into the past with all the simple painting on the walls. I come closer to an instrument, my favorite instrument. I examine like I have never seen it before. I go upstairs to go into the future with video games and DS lites. Where there are laptops, computers, remote controlled vehicles and other things to see. Then, I enter the kitchen being confronted by new and refreshing smells of different kinds of foods. I now feel I’m in the present time. Next I go to the bedroom and I feel cozy and sleepy. Feeling that the bed is pulling me towards itself and telling me to take a nap, a short nap. I thought maybe another time, and I walked out to the backyard where nature welcomed me with lots of things to do, I walked back to the bedroom and looked at the time and fell asleep on the cozy warm bed saying its bed time.
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