Resources for Home and School for Our Gifted Students
This TedX Video is a talk by gifted student Emilie Wapnick. In her talk she discusses having strong passions for many interests, and coins this as being a multipotentialite. This is a fun video to watch while thinking about our gifted students and their passions.
GATE Teacher Spotlight
We asked two of our fourth grade GATE cluster teachers why they love teaching GATE students and to share a favorite strategy or resource. Below are their responses!
Heather Chastain
“I love teaching GATE students because you never know just where the conversations will take you. Their deep need to understand connections and how things relate enable deeper learning for themselves and their peers. (And it keeps me on my toes!)”
“My latest favorite strategy is daily compacting! I teach a concept for 5-10 minutes and ask, “Do you think you’ve got it?” They complete the five toughest problems of the daily assignment. Those who miss no more than one problem are done with the lesson for the day and are then free to work on their goal action plans. This is a great strategy for not only GATE students, but my quick learners who don’t need me to keep talking for another 20 minutes.”
Kim Hewitt
“I absolutely love teaching GATE students for multiple reasons. I love how they are able to describe and justify math problems in such unique and fascinating ways. I love how they are quick to see the depth and complexity icon “across the disciplines” and are constantly wanting to share their knowledge and connections. I also love how quirky they are. Some GATE students have a challenging time relating to others and making friends. I thoroughly enjoy bringing these students out of their comfort zones and helping them establish close friends and also having a positive experience doing group or partner work.”
“Through the use of Depth and Complexity icons these students are really able to go in depth with novel, history, and science units. I also have started playing with genius hour this year and my GATE students are really enjoying the power of choice. They are creating and developing really powerful research projects using slides, docs, and sheets and are learning things I don’t even know…yet.”
Wednesday GATE Sessions – January
Projects are wrapping up this month on January 13th! Students will be launching new projects on February 3rd.
2nd & 3rd Grade GATE Students: “Saving Water One Drop at a Time”
Our 2nd and 3rd grade students will be finishing their brochures and multimedia presentations, practicing their presentations, and presenting their presentation to their peers.
4th Grade GATE Students: “Alternate Energy Fantasy Cars”
Our 4th grade students will build and test their cars using their chosen form of alternative energy. They will share their work with their peers and participate in a group discussion on what worked and what could be improved.
5th & 6th GATE Students: “(S.O.S) Students Out & Stranded”
Our 5th and 6th grade students will be completing their survival videos and presenting them to their peers for feedback.
7th & 8th Grade GATE Students: “It’s Simply a Balancing Act”
Our 7th and 8th grade students will be completing their Rube Goldberg projects and presenting them to their peers for feedback.