From Stacey.Figgins at state.or.us Wed Oct 1 13:28:05 2008 From: Stacey.Figgins at state.or.us (FIGGINS Stacey) Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 13:28:05 -0700 Subject: [Tag-Info] Oregon Talented and Gifted Teacher Update #1 Message-ID: Oregon Talented and Gifted Teacher Update #1 October 1, 2008 Please forward this issue of the update to interested professionals! Teachers may sign up for this or other newsletters at: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=1843. 1. Welcome to the Talented and Gifted Teacher Update! 2. TAG Regional Centers Selected! 3. Legal Reminder of the Month 4. News Article: "Gifted Children: How to Bring Out Their Potential." 5. A How-To Guide for Teaching Math and Science to Gifted Students 6. Gifted Teacher and Administrator of the Year Contest 7. Help a Gifted Student Get to College! 8. Curriculum Compacting 9. Curriculum Compacting-Take Two 10. John Hopkins Talent Search 11. Incorporating Technology-Virtual Field Trips 12. An Interview with Carol Ann Tomlinson about Differentiation 13. Differentiation-The Challenges of Classroom Management 14. Edutopia on iTunes-for free! 15. Science and Social Studies Differentiated Units 16. How to Submit Articles 17. In Every Issue-Internet Resources 1. Welcome to the Talented and Gifted Teacher Update! Welcome to the first issue of the Oregon Talented and Gifted Teacher Update! I would like to start by introducing myself. I am very excited to be the new full-time Education Specialist focusing on Talented and Gifted at the Oregon Department of Education. I am coming straight out of the classroom. For the last eleven years I have taught language arts and social studies in grades 6-12. In Oregon, I have worked in both the Estacada and Parkrose School District. While at Parkrose, I served as the TAG Coordinator for my school. Early in my career I earned a Gifted Education endorsement from the state of Georgia. I have also attended myriad workshops and classes related to differentiation, and in my graduate work focused on critical literacy. Through my own teaching practice I developed skills and strategies that were successful with highly capable students, and I look forward to being able to share those strategies with other teachers. I am thrilled to be a part of the process of providing excellent educational opportunities for talented and gifted students in Oregon. I look forward to meeting all of you and working with you in the future. This newsletter is designed to provide current issues concerning teachers of TAG students, guidance counselors, administrators, and coordinators of TAG programs. Please let your colleagues know that they can subscribe to this and other ODE content area newsletters by visiting: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=1843. 2. TAG Regional Centers Selected! Western Oregon University and Southern Oregon ESD have both been selected as the Regional Planning Centers for 2008-09. The contact person for Western Oregon University is Dr. Ella Taylor and for Southern Oregon ESD is Ms. Teena Staller. Both institutions have exciting and useful staff development opportunities planned. More updates to follow as they solidify their offerings for the year. 3. Legal Reminder of the Month OAR 581-022-1330-1: "Each school district shall have a written plan for programs and services [to talented and gifted students]." In addition to having a written plan, every effort should be made to communicate the plan with all stakeholders. 4. News Article: "Gifted Children: How to Bring Out Their Potential." Written by Christian Fischer and published on the Scientific American website, this article gives a succinct overview of acceleration and enrichment and briefly mentions some of the challenges gifted students may face. Read full article at: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=coaching-the-gifted-child 5. A How-To Guide for Teaching Math and Science to Gifted Students This 56-page booklet created by Jennifer Stepanek at the Northwest Regional Educational Lab provides a comprehensive guide on differentiation strategies for math and science teachers, with a particular emphasis on meeting the needs of gifted students. It has a helpful mixture of educational theories and practical classroom applications. You can download it at: http://www.nwrel.org/msec/just_good/9/ Or click here for information about purchasing this booklet: http://www.nwrel.org/comm/catalog/detail.asp?RID=12413 6. Gifted Teacher and Administrator of the Year Contest Hoagies' Gifted Education webpage is sponsoring a contest to identify the Gifted Teacher/Administrator of the Year. To enter, write a short description of this educator and submit it to the website. Success stories will be published on the website and three winners will be selected in December. There are prizes for the winners. For more information, or to nominate a professional, go to: http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/gifted_teacher_year.htm 7. Help a Gifted Student Get to College! University of Oregon has a special program for high school students who may have more difficulty accessing college. This includes students from low-income families, students whose race or ethnicity is underrepresented in higher education, students who have faced significant obstacles in completing their education, or students who will be the first in their family to attend college. For more information, contact Jennifer Smith at (541) 346-1272 or jensmith at uoregon.edu. You can also visit their website for more information at: http://admissions.uoregon.edu/visit/connections.htm 8. Curriculum Compacting Do you know how to implement curriculum compacting in your classroom when gifted or other students have shown mastery of a concept you plan to teach? If not, Tamara Fisher provides a short description of the basic components of curriculum compacting with easy-to-understand classroom examples at: http://www.teachersourcebook.org/tsb/articles/2008/09/10/01gifted.h02.html 9. Curriculum Compacting-Take Two If the previous article piqued your curiosity and you want even more information about curriculum compacting, the Montgomery School District in Rockville, Maryland, has an excellent power point presentation published on the web that reviews basic components of curriculum compacting. You can find it at: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/enriched/giftedprograms/docs/ppts/compactingfixed.ppt 10. John Hopkins Talent Search The Center for Talented Youth at John Hopkins University will be conducting its annual search for academically and intellectually talented youth. Students in grades 2-8 take above-grade-level standardized tests, and through the results can learn more about their individual learning strengths. Participation in the testing may also allow students to access other services and programs from John Hopkins University. Schools interested in participating can go to their website for more information: http://cty.jhu.edu/ts/tscoordguide.html There will also be an informational meeting about the Center for parents of TAG-identified students or students who have scored in the 95th percentile or higher at Willamette ESD on Tuesday, October 21, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. For more information call the John Hopkins West Coast Office at (310) 754-4100. 11. Incorporating Technology-Virtual Field Trips Renzulli Learning, a research development company of the University of Connecticut that focuses on highly capable students, has a list of web-based virtual field trips that could be incorporated in engaging class activities. Some of the offerings include a tour of the White House, the Sydney Opera House, a virtual tour of the human body and others. Find the full list at: http://www.renzullilearning.com/LearnMaps.aspx?type=Virtual 12. An Interview with Carol Ann Tomlinson about Differentiation Tomlinson is considered to be one of the foremost experts on differentiated instruction. In this interview with Anthony Rebora, she explains briefly how differentiated instruction works and why it is so essential in classroom instruction. Read the full text at: http://www.teachermagazine.org/tsb/articles/2008/09/10/01tomlinson.h02.html 13. Differentiation-The Challenges of Classroom Management Teaching Tolerance has put together a wonderful three-part series on positive classroom management. The third part of the series focuses on differentiation. The site features video taped interviews with teachers explaining their use of differentiation and many ready-to-use handouts. This site would be particularly useful for teachers looking for ideas on how to increase their skills using higher order thinking skills, primary source documents, and literacy strategies. Go to: http://www.tolerance.org/teach/activities/activity.jsp?ar=932 14. Edutopia on iTunes-for free! Edutopia, the George Lucas Educational Foundation, offers a variety of resources for educators including short videos of real life innovational classroom situations focusing on topics such as "Pursuing Passion After School: Chicago's Model Educational-Enrichment Effort," and "Art Works: Integrating Creativity into the Classroom." You can find them at www.edutopia.org. Many of these videos can now also be downloaded for free on iTunes. 15. Science and Social Studies Differentiated Units The Connecticut Department of Education received a Javits grant to create differentiated units in social studies and science. Topics include government, geography, astronomy, ecosystems, and others. These units may prove particularly helpful to teachers new to differentiation because they already have built-in activities that are modified to reach students who are below, at, or above grade level. Although these units are primarily focused on grades K-8, high school teachers may still want to skim through applicable units for possible instructional strategies that could be adapted to a higher level. Check them out at: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2618&q=320852 16. How to Submit Articles If you would like to submit information for this newsletter, please email publication-ready short articles by the end of the month to stacey.figgins at state.or.us. Please include links and contact information but no attachments. 17. In Every Issue-Internet Resources Oregon Department of Education TAG http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/results/?id=76 ERIC - Educational Resources Information Center http://www.eric.ed.gov/ Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted (SENG) http://www.sengifted.org/ Council for Exceptional Children http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home National Association for Gifted Children www.nagc.org Oregon Association for Talented and Gifted www.oatag.org REAL - Resources for Educational Achievement and Leadership http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/ Get Ready Oregon web page: New Oregon Diploma information for the general public http://www.getreadyoregon.org Oregon Diploma web page: Resources and tools for educators http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/results/?id=368 Contact the Education Specialist in TAG Stacey Figgins, stacey.figgins at state.or.us (503) 947-5701 ****Disclaimer--The materials contained in the Oregon Talented and Gifted Teacher Update produced by Oregon Department of Education are drawn from both internal and external sources and inclusion of external materials does not necessarily indicate Oregon Department of Education endorsement.**** ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately and delete the communication and any attachments. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. ********************************************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Stacey.Figgins at state.or.us Wed Oct 22 15:31:50 2008 From: Stacey.Figgins at state.or.us (FIGGINS Stacey) Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:31:50 -0700 Subject: [Tag-Info] Enrichment/ Extension Opportunity for TAG students Message-ID: Kathy Soderstrom, TAG Coordinator at Cascade School District brought this event to my attention. It is happening too soon for me to add to my next newsletter, so I thought I'd sent out a special email. I know that Kathy has successfully implemented a LEGO Robotics team in her district, and the Oregon Robotics Tournament Outreach Program provided a scholarship to them. Participation is not exclusive to TAG students, but many TAG students have benefited from the program. FIRST Day at OMSI - Saturday, October 25th Don't miss the excitement when local school robotics teams throughout the Northwest converge at OMSI Saturday, Oct. 25, for a day of mechanical madness at the FIRST Robotics Showcase. Get an up-close look at these 120-pound monsters, all designed and built by a team of students, and see the robots in action as they maneuver around a race course and complete other incredible stunts. Help LEGO robots find alternative power sources and drive the FIRST Tech Challenge robots as they solve a quandary. This gives Jr.FLL and FLL teams a chance to see the high school programs available to them when they age out. It gives high school students a chance meet FRC and FTC team members. This OMSI event will give students, parents, teachers, donors and mentors the opportunity to learn about FIRST and to get information about joining local teams or starting one of their own. Please invite others who might be interested to the event. Where: Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) When: Saturday, October 25th, 2008: 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Cost: Admission to this event is free. Stacey Figgins Education Specialist, Talented and Gifted Oregon Department of Education Public Services Building 255 Capitol Street NE Salem, Oregon 97310 stacey.figgins at state.or.us 503) 947-5701 ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately and delete the communication and any attachments. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. ********************************************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: