Function Posters

This week the ASPIRE 5 math class created Function Posters as a culminating event for our number patterns unit.  The task was relatively simple.  Students had to create a real-world word problem that reflected a function.  They also had to include an equation, table, and graph to match the function.  Pictures were added to tie everything together in a creative and attractive manner.  A rubric that was given to the students before they started to work was used to score the posters.

What made this project worth our time?  First, the project required the students to look at functions through multiple perspectives.  When students can express the same information with four different representations, they are showing a conceptual understanding of the topic.  Next, the project was differentiated.  While students were only required to use one-step functions, some have been investigating two-step examples, and were able to demonstrate their learning on the poster.  The input values for the tables and graphs were also left up to the students, and many of them chose large or rational numbers.  In addition, the project allowed the students to make connections between functions and their own lives.  Students chose a variety of topics to represent functions.  From cupcakes and ice cream to Christmas lights and football, the topics were a reminder of how math is a part of their every day lives, and why it is important to study.

Overall, I was very pleased with the quality of the products created by the students.  They demonstrated their knowledge of functions, and it was apparent who was able to apply depth and complexity to the assignment.  I will be sure to hang many of the posters in the hallway, so the next time you are at Glenhope, be sure to check them out!

Primary Sources

This week, the ASPIRE 5 students continued their endeavor of using primary sources to learn about history.  Primary sources are challenging for young students, as they add a great deal of depth and complexity to the curriculum.  First, primary sources allow students to read multiple perspectives about a topic.  To study the French and Indian War, students read a journal account of a British officer, and a letter from George Washington to his mother.  The accounts were viewpoints of the same conflict, and the students were able to identify their similarities and differences.  Second, primary sources require the students to dive into the language of the discipline.  The vocabulary is authentic, and the students are enriched when they research the meaning of words, and how they apply to the text.  The language also gives the author a true voice, and it reveals more about their personality, mindset, and character.  In addition, primary sources allow students to analyze changes over time.  Reading history in someone's own words gives the reader a better understanding of the time period, and the details in the writing provide insight about the differences in our world today.  The students often enjoy analyzing how culture, opinions, and social values have evolved since the time of the reading selection.  From indentured servants and colonial landowners to slaves and Native Americans, our class has been reading primary sources to enhance their history curriculum throughout the year.  It hasn't been easy for them, but they have met the challenge, and have a better appreciation for the historical figures who wrote them, and how their experiences helped shape America into what it is today.

Choiceboards

One of the staples of the ASPIRE 5 class is a choiceboard of tasks or activities.  According to gifted specialist Bertie Kingore, taskboards "provide multiple options to stimulate student interest and choice through learning products with a high likelihood of eliciting content depth and complexity."  The first advantage of choiceboards is how they empower students.  When gifted students feel in control of their learning, they are more likely to produce a product they are interested in, and complete it at a high level.  Second, I believe that the variety of choices allows students to use their talents and strengths when demonstrating their learning.  Students in our class have a variety of interests and abilities.  Some are talented writers, while others like to draw, act, or use technology.  When our choices take advantage of their skills, the students show a higher level of excitement and enthusiasm for the assignment.  In addition, choices are very effective when the students present their work.  The variety of presentations allows the students to learn from multiple perspectives, and about details they may not have considered before.  It is always an enjoyable experience watching the students put their personal touch on a topic for all of us to see.

Typically, I like to offer five to seven tasks each time I create a choiceboard.  Sometimes I offer tiered assignments for differentiated levels of difficulty, but most of the time, the tasks are similar in rigor and complexity.  I believe it is important not to offer the same kind of choices every time so that students will use different strategies to demonstrate learning.  It is obvious at this point in the year that most students have a favorite set of tasks, so I am careful not to repeat them too many times.  Finally, it is important to use rubrics to assess most of the work from a choiceboard.  While the students have not helped design as many rubrics as I had hoped in the beginning of the year, I believe that when students read the criteria before they start a task, they produce more high quality products that truly demonstrate the depth and complexity of their knowledge.

Overall, I believe that choiceboards have been an effective tool in the ASPIRE 5 classroom.  The students enjoy the power to choose, there is usually a wide variety of work samples, and the quality of the products is high.  We will continue to use them on a regular basis across the disciplines, and I am looking forward to watching the students use their unique talents to demonstrate what they are learning throughout the year.

What If?

In science this week, the ASPIRE 5 students made their second "What If?" presentation of the year.  After spending the first part of the week learning about fossil fuel formation, students applied their knowledge to a hypothetical situation.  Students were presented with four hypotheticals, and also had the opportunity to create one of their own.  One example was, "What if coal, oil, and natural gas were boundless?"  Students were required to create a digital product to present to the entire class.

The presentations were very entertaining.  Students created videos, slide shows, Prezis, and more.  This was an effective activity for gifted students in my opinion because it allowed them to synthesize the information and create something new and original.  Their creativity, sense of humor, and critical thinking were all on display.  Our showcase day was one of those special times where everyone enjoyed sharing their work and learning from other with a sense of family and unity.

As I said earlier, this was our second attempt at this activity.  Overall, there was a significant improvement in the quality of the students' work.  The presentations showed evidence of more thoughtful analysis and critical thinking than the first time.  However, I believe we can do even better.  Although we had a discussion about what an effective presentation would look like, I will devise a rubric for the next round.  We use rubrics on a regular basis in the ASPIRE 5 classroom (perhaps a blog entry for another day), and the students are usually successful at meeting the listed criteria.  Next time, we will place a greater emphasis on content and demonstrating a conceptual understanding of the given topic.  However, I was very pleased with what I saw yesterday, and I feel this was a successful assignment worthy of our time and efforts.

So, what if oil really did run out tomorrow?

Let the Games Begin!

This week the ASPIRE 5 students created games in math and science.  In math class, students created three large cubes to help practice writing and solving equations.  On the first cube, they were required to write 6 word problems to represent equations.  On the other two cubes, they wrote the corresponding equations and solutions.  When the cubes were complete, students played the game by rolling them and looking for matches.  Two matches earned 5 points, and three matches earned 10 points.  The first player to 30 points won the game.

The design of the science game was left to the students.  The primary requirement was to create a game that reflected our Changes to Land unit.  Landforms such as sand dunes and processes such as erosion had to be included.  The students designed a wide variety of games.  There were card games, board games, computer games, and games that don't even have a category.  After a day of creating the games, students were able to spend the next day sharing and playing them.  A rubric was used by the students to self-evaluate their own game.

Creating games can be a very effective strategy for gifted students.  It allows them to use their creativity as they design the rules and procedures.  Next, the activity is differentiated, as students can adjust the complexity of the content to meet their needs.  In addition, this activity required them to practice presenting the game with clarity so that other students could play it.  Overall, the ASPIRE 5 class designed a set of very impressive games.  The content showed evidence of higher level thinking, and the rules and procedures were very creative.  On top of it all, they were fun to play, and were part of a positive learning experience.  Make sure you ask your child to tell them about their game this weekend, or even ask them to bring it home.  You will not be disappointed.

Giving Everyone a Voice

This week the ASPIRE 5 class integrated two apps that have similar benefits.  First, the students participated in an online book discussion hosted by Today's Meet.  After a question was posted, students typed their answers of 140 characters or less for everyone to see.  No one could talk, as all answers and ideas had to be posted online.  After eight analysis questions, we had a sixteen page thread of responses and opinions!  

The second app we used this week was Quickvoice.  After students researched a significant colonial figure, they recorded a podcast with the app and emailed it to me.  When all of the podcasts have been submitted, I will upload them to Google Classroom, and the students will have the opportunity to learn about the other figures from their classmates.  

Together, these apps show how our digital classroom allows students to collaborate in order to achieve a collective goal.  They give everyone in the class a voice, even if they have passive personalities.  In addition, these apps provide a window into the future of education.  Instead of snow days, students can collaborate with their teachers with an app such as Today's Meet from the comfort of their own home.  Quickvoice and Youtube could be used to record and share mini-lessons, discussion questions, or interviews, which would allow teachers to flip classrooms and spend more time on analysis and application activities.  

As a digital classroom, we will continue to implement apps that help meet the needs of gifted students.  The goals are to provide opportunities to collaborate in order to solve complex problems, and to differentiate instruction so that students can work at their own pace and ability level.  As a result, they will have the potential to "thrive in an innovative environment" and become better "prepared for the world that awaits them in ten years and beyond." - LEAD 2021 

Symbols and Artifacts

Throughout the year, we have created icons to represent words and concepts.  This activity allows students to use their creativity to form a relationship between two things you wouldn't recognize at first glance.  This week, we took this critical thinking activity one step further in Language Arts.  After reading a story about a dangerous mountain climbing expedition, the students were required to find three artifacts in my room to describe an aspect of what they read, and place them in a "mystery bag."  Each student was given the opportunity to share the items with their table group, and to present their favorite artifact with the entire class.  Some of the examples included white out to represent mistakes made on the mountain, gold glitter because life is precious like jewelry, and dice because the main character took a chance with his life by climbing the mountain.

Quick activities such as this provide gifted students opportunities to show higher order thinking.  It can also help them make the transition to more abstract thinking as they create and analyze metaphorical tasks such as analogies.  Overall, I believe icons and artifacts can be powerful tools in our classroom, as the students have demonstrated their creativity and the ability to form complex relationships between concepts and objects.  If you have the opportunity, I suggest you try this at home with your child.  I am sure you will be as intrigued with the results as I have been.

Socratic Seminar

This week the ASPIRE 5 class participated in their first Socratic Seminar of the year.  On day one, the students read Kaddo's Wall from the Junior Great Books Series.  The story is an African folk tale in which a rich man, Kaddo, does not know what to do with his excess corn.  Against the wishes of the poor citizens, he builds a wall from the corn.  After seasons of drought, Kaddo is forced to eat his own wall, and he eventually begs to borrow seed to plant.  In the end, he is so hungry that he can not help but eat his corn seed, which leads to his death.  Thus, the stage was set for an engaging Socratic Seminar.

The next day, students were divided into pairs.  One student was assigned to Circle 1, while the other was assigned to Circle 2.  An Inquiry Discussion Question was presented for each circle.  Students worked with their partners to form opinions using evidence from the text.  They used post-it notes to record their ideas, and helped each other find passages from the text to support their views.

After the students completed their pre-discussion work, we formed an inner circle and an outer circle.  "Coaches" sat behind their partners in the outer circle, while speakers formed the inner circle.  Norms were presented and edited for the discussion to promote a courteous environment.  When everyone was ready, we began the discussion.  The goal was to keep a conversation going that provided many points of view and insightful opinions about the question.  Rubrics were presented for students to evaluate themselves and their partner.  The highest score on the rubric described students that volunteered, contributed to the discussion at a high level, and provided evidence from the text.  Coaches were allowed to whisper and trade notes with their partners during the discussion.  When Circle 1 was done, they completed the rubric, and reversed roles for the second question.

I was extremely impressed with the results of our first seminar.  The students were polite, engaged, and contributed a wide variety of opinions and views.  The responses showed higher level thinking, and they were supported with evidence from the story.  Students actively coached their partner as the conversation progressed.  There was never a minute of awkward silence, and the conversation flowed like an adult academic discussion.  I did not have to intervene until we were running low on time, and a few students still needed a turn to speak.

Socratic Seminars are excellent tools because they can be used for all content areas.  I am sure the students will find them even more interesting as we address controversial topics they have strong opinions about.  Socratic Seminars provide students with opportunities to collaborate, communicate in front of the entire class, demonstrate high-level thinking, and support opinions with evidence.  I am pleased with our first attempt, and I am looking forward to using it as a regular strategy throughout the year.

Building Hotels for Profit

This week, our math class was able to take the time to combine two of the concepts we have already covered this year: financial literacy and multiplication.  In this NTCM Illuminations activity, students attempted to build the most profitable hotel in the class.  First, the students were presented with the four rules.  They had to use 50 unifix cubes (each cube represented one hotel room), it had to stand freely, each room had to have at least one visible window (vertical face), and everything had to be connected.

From there, students were given two sets of parameters for their designs.  First, the students had to pay for the cost of the hotel by taking into consideration its area and height, and the number of roofs and windows.  Of particular interest was the tax table, which was based on the building's height.  Students were also given prices they would receive from guests for each kind of room.  (Rooms varied by the number of windows, and whether or not it had a roof.)  In the end, students calculated their profit or loss, and compared their bottom line with other groups.

This was a successful activity for several reasons in my opinion.  First, the students were able to see the real-world application of two skills we have learned this year.  Second, the students were able to use creativity, problem solving methods, and collaboration skills on the same product.  There were many insightful conversations about maximizing area, avoiding higher taxes, designing rooms with higher prices, and calculation strategies.  The students met the challenge with excitement, and many of their designs made a significant profit.  (Mr. Boykin's design lost $2,900!)  Overall, it was a good example of the kind of problem solving that our ASPIRE students are capable of, and I am proud of their positive approach to a challenging task.

(Please note that 4th grade telescopers did not participate due to their Cardboard City activity.)

SMART Goals and E-Portfolios

Next week, students will lead conferences with their parents.  I am very excited about what the ASPIRE 5 class has to share.  First, students have been working hard writing their SMART goals for the new year.  SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.  We are writing three different goals for the 2014-2015 school year.  Academic goals will be focused on a specific content area and skill students want to improve.  Career goals will focus on a strategy that could help them in a future career.  It could be specific like equations, or more general such as problem solving or leadership skills.  In addition, a personal goal has been set to help them with life skills such as organization or collaborative learning.

The students are also working hard to prepare their new e-portfolio.  All GCISD students will use e-portfolios in future years.  Many classes across the district are currently piloting the program.  While ASPIRE is not part of the official pilot, we are using them so that students can showcase their digital work.  After uploading their SMART goals, students will customize their webpages with their favorite digital work samples.  The exciting part is how they will be able to reflect on their work as they progress through every grade level.  The e-portfolio will stay with them as long as they are in GCISD, which will give them an opportunity to see their academic growth.  This has the potential to be a very powerful tool, and I can’t wait for the students to unveil their creations next week!  

Jacob's Ladder

We talk a lot about "higher level thinking skills" and how they apply to the gifted classroom, but how do students know when they are using them?  One way is through the Jacobs's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program, which is published by the Center for Gifted Education and the College of William and Mary.  Jacob's Ladder always starts with a short story, poem, or nonfiction reading selection.  Next, the students must complete a series of comprehension steps, or a ladder.  There are four types of ladders employed by the program: consequences and implications, generalizations, theme and concept, and creative synthesis.  Each ladder begins with a question or task at the lower end of Bloom's Taxonomy, and gradually builds to questions or tasks that require higher level thinking.  Each reading selection is accompanied by two ladders.  Sometimes, the students work in groups, and other times they works as individuals.  What I love about the program is how students relate to the physical ladder.  It is easy to understand that the low tasks are not as complex, and that the high ones involve rigor, depth, and complexity.  This concept is easily transferred to the other content areas.  Since they are practicing all levels of thinking skills, they can use their experience to attack problems and activities with the ability to analyze, evaluate, and create.  

This week, the ASPIRE 5 students read a story about the life of Christa McAuliffe.  As the students climbed the task ladders, they made inferences about how the space shuttle program could have been different if Challenger had been successful, and how McAuliffe exemplified bravery.  The students worked together to transform a simple reading selection into intelligent and meaningful conversations and written responses about the consequences and implications of a significant event in our nation's history.  I am very excited about the potential of the Jacob's Ladder program, and I am looking forward to using it with the students throughout the year.

Alternative Energy PBL

This week, the ASPIRE 5 students continued their first science PBL (Project Based Learning) voyage of the year.  Our driving question is, "How can Glenhope Elementary use more alternative energy sources."  We started last week by compiling a list of what they already knew, what they wanted to know, and how they wanted to learn.  From there, the students took a day to research the various types of renewable energy, including solar, wind, hydro-electric, biofuel, and geothermal.  Next, the students drew their vision of Glenhope Elementary with alternative energy structures.  We were going to walk around the school, but rain forced us to rely on satellite images from Google Earth.

The next step required students to shop for alternative energy sources that would supply the school with 200 kilowatt hours.  The next day, students compared their costs to the current traditional energy expenses for a school the size of Glenhope.  They also predicted 25 year costs, and the potential savings of alternative energy sources.

During the past two days, groups have created 3-D models of their Glenhope energy plans using the Sketchup program, which allowed them to add alternative energy structures to images of the school.  Next week, they will explore the barriers that may stand in their way such as city ordinances and hidden costs.  The class will also present their findings to other grades in the ASPIRE academy.  My goal is for all of you to see their products Thursday at Curriculum Night.

PBL is a great strategy for gifted learners.  It allows them to explore a topic in depth, gives them the freedom to choose an area of focus, and confronts them with real-world problems that affect their lives.  PBL also requires students to work collaboratively, and improves their public speaking skills.  Overall, this has been a great introduction to PBL.  In the future, students will have the opportunity to learn from professionals in the field we are studying, and present to members of the community.  For now, I believe the ASPIRE 5 class has gained confidence in this method of learning, and I am excited about their ability to offer amazing solutions to problems facing our school and community.

Financial Literacy

This has been a very exciting week in the ASPIRE math class.  Because of the new math curriculum in Texas, every grade level will be teaching Financial Literacy.  For many math teachers such as myself, this is a dream scenario because few things keep a student's attention like money!  For gifted classrooms, Financial Literacy provides a golden opportunity to integrate rich problem solving activities and high-level discussions.  The highlight of the week had to be our Gator Candy Sales lesson.  After an overview of net and gross income, students were given 4 Gator Bucks and a bag with a particular flavor of candy.  After initial excitement, they learned that they could not keep either of the items.  What a letdown!  However, spirits lifted again when they were told to buy any 4 pieces of candy in the room with their Gator Bucks, and that they were able to keep all of the Gator Bucks that other students gave to them for candy sales.

When everyone was done buying and selling candy, the students moved on to their calculations.  They were excited to learn that each Gator Buck they received represented $250.  After finding their gross income, they had to calculate their sales and income tax, which they used to find their net income.  Many higher-level TEKS were integrated in this lesson, as proportions, percents, and multiplication and subtraction of decimals were all required to solve the problem correctly.  In addition, the students learned lessons about supply and demand when they assessed which groups made the most and least profit from their candy sales.

The students had many opportunities to write and speak about their opinions on Financial Literacy this week.  They shared their views on which method of payment is the best, wrote analogies for financial concepts, discussed why taxes are fair or unfair, and compared taxes to pictures of sharks, cake, presents, and a waterfall.  I enjoyed reading and listening to all of their ideas about money, and I know that you would too.  If you get a chance sometime this weekend, ask your child a few questions about personal finance.  I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

After week two, one of the activities providing the most insight has been picture analysis and reaction.  Pictures are powerful tools in the GT classroom.  There are many strategies that require students to use depth and complexity when thinking about a picture.  First, we have used pictures and short videos as warm-ups. For example, I showed quick videos of a ping pong match and a time lapse of a snowfall to our math class, and asked them how we could make a scatterplot based on what they observed.

A more open ended approach is Birdie Kingore's 3-2-1, which requires students to make three observations, two inferences, and one question about a picture such as a polar bear standing on a small part of an iceberg.  We have also used pictures as writing prompts, symbol drawing exercises, and concept reinforcement.

Without question, ASPIRE 5 has been most impressive when asked to make inferences.  Their ability to relate new concepts and previous learning to a picture allows them to make conjectures based on evidence and apply their imagination and creativity.

In addition, the students bring multiple perspectives and different experiences to the classroom, which allows us to share 19 opinions about a single picture!  The students obviously enjoy communicating their unique ideas and observations with each other, so we will continue to use pictures to stimulate thinking all year long.

What questions can you generate about an intriguing picture?  Give it a try at http://www.101qs.com/ !

Geography Terms Analysis Grid

The first week of school exceeded all of my expectations.  The ASPIRE 5 students were ready to think creatively and critically from day one.  This blog will be used as a platform to highlight an activity from the previous week.  Today I would like to explain how even the most simple task can be transformed into a lesson suitable for GT students.  There are times when we will need to cover basic information.  For example, they have to be familiar with the science lab tools so that our experiments will be safe.  However, that doesn't mean that the lesson should not contain critical thinking.

On Tuesday, the students learned some of the basic geographic vocabulary used for reading a map.  After a brief discussion of the terms, we plugged them into an Analysis Grid developed by Dr. Bertie Kingore, an expert in GT education.  The top columns were labeled with ten of the vocabulary words we reviewed such as the Prime Meridian and the Northern Hemisphere, and a latitude or longitude line of their choice.  The rows on the side were labeled with the seven continents, and a country of their choice.  The next step required the students to think about the relationship between the continents and the geographic terms.  For example, since the Equator passes through South America, they would place a "Y" in the box, but since it does not pass through Antarctica, they would leave it blank.  The beauty of the instrument is how it can often create a dilemma.  Things are not always black and white, and the students have to analyze, collaborate and even research before they can decide on the best answer.  

In the end, the students were able to demonstrate their understanding of the material by applying the skills to their atlas.  The conversations that were generated were high level and allowed students to share their reasoning and analysis.  While this was not a lesson that would capture headlines, I think it is important to show how we are able to increase the rigor of every ASPIRE lesson, and provide challenging and thought provoking opportunities regardless of the content.

                                           Kingore, B. (2008). Teaching Without Nonsense, 2nd ed.

Here We Go!

After a summer of anticipation and preparation, the first day of school is finally here.  The lights are on, and the curtain is about to open.  It is time for the 5th Grade students of the ASPIRE Academy to shine as never before.  Before we get started, I would like to share a few thoughts about the first week of school.  First, the entire ASPIRE Academy will be using the parallel curriculum model this year.  Because it is sequential, Social Studies is the anchor we plan around.  The other subjects will be integrated when they fit naturally.  This gives us the freedom to move through the curriculum in a different order while allowing the students to make important connections across disciplines.

Next, you may have noticed that I have not posted my syllabus yet.  This is intentional, as the students will have input on our classroom management design.  The syllabus will be finalized this week, and I will be sure to post it to my classroom website.

Google will play an important role in the ASPIRE Academy this year.  Students will be able to save assignments to their Google Drive, and turn them in through Google Classroom.  They will also create digital portfolios to highlight their favorite samples, which will allow them to monitor growth throughout the year.  I am anticipating that at least 50 percent of our work will be digital this year, as GCISD continues to provide teachers and students with the latest technology.

I am humbled to be in this position, and I am grateful for the support everyone has shown throughout the summer.  My goal is to challenge my students every day and to give them opportunities to think critically and creatively during every learning experience.  We will hit the ground running tomorrow, so they will know from the very first day it will be different.  I welcome all of your questions and concerns.  My door is always open, and I promise to respond quickly to your emails and phone calls.  Be sure to check back here every week for an in-depth look at one of our lessons.  And so it begins.  Have a great year everyone!

Welcome!

Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year!  It is my pleasure to serve the GCISD community in the ASPIRE Academy at Glenhope Elementary.  The new year promises to be full of unique learning opportunities designed to meet the needs of our highly gifted students.  This blog will highlight some of the experiences the students have each week.  It is sure to be an amazing journey, and we are excited to share it with you on this platform.  As always, thank you for your support of the ASPIRE Academy!