Gifted Jaguars and Eagles

American Mathematics Competition Are you interested in competing in the American Mathematics Competition in February?   We are looking for talented mathematicians to compete.   This is a national math competition and it is a way to show colleges your math talents! If you are interested please email the Math Team coach, Dr. Liam Rafferty at Liam.Rafferty@normandale.edu by Wednesday, January 3 rd so that we can register you.   The competition days are 2/7 & 2/14. For more info about the AMC exams, including practice problems, go to https://www.maa.org/math-competitions/amc-1012

Gifted Challenges by Gail Post, PhD * June 23, 2017 https://giftedchallenges.blogspot.com/2017/06/five-reasons-to-consider-elite-college.html With so much recent criticism and outright condemnation of highly competitive colleges, you might wonder why anyone would bother to apply. After all, with acceptance rates lower than 10%, and a  brutal admissions process , why subject your child to the stress...and likely  rejection ? Media  commentary  aptly warns about the highly competitive  admissions standards , discourages students from placing so much value on any one school, and reminds us that  a good education can be found just about anywhere.  Elite colleges are sometimes the  target of harsh criticism , though. Sometimes it seems that journalists highlight every possible drawback to  reassure the rest of us  that we're okay despite never having attended  one o...

November 29, 2017 Elissa F. Brown Gifted students who are served in general education classrooms frequently finish their work sooner than other students. This can happen in one subject area, such as mathematics, or in all subject areas. Due to their rapidity of thought (VanTassel-Baska & Brown, 2007), they typically finish assignments before other children. Then they may act out because they are bored. What is really going on is a mismatch between the academic needs of the student and the pace and depth of the curricula and instructional program. Following are suggestions for how to best serve these students -- and what not to do. Don't. . . 1. Use these students, whether formally identified as gifted or not, as teacher assistants. Using gifted students as tutors or teacher assistants for other students in the classroom is inappropriate and unethical, and it does not provide for their social-emotional or academic needs. When an appropriately differentiat...

For our 9th graders they are finishing their first week of high school finals and then in 2 weeks they will wrap up their first college semester!  I have been looking for articles to help them improve their metacognition and study skills and found this one: https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/11/22/a-better-way-to-study-through-self-testing-and-distributed-practice/

Metacognition is the #1 thing I work on with the DAHS students.  What I have learned from four years of working with Dimensions Academy is that gifted students struggle with studying and figuring out whether they have mastered material before the test. Our program is one of the first times these students have had to study.  This article has some great study strategies but it is not just for gifted learners.  These strategies work for all kids to improve their studying. https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-metacognition-boosts-learning?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

This is an interesting article and it really resonated with me.  I think teaching social emotional skills is something we aren't trained as teachers to do but that is critical to do.   A 19-Year Study Reveals Kindergarten Students With These 2 Skills Are Twice as Likely to Obtain a College Degree (And They Have Nothing to Do With Reading) "Then researchers followed up with the kids once they became young adults to see what happened to them. They discovered that the kids with the highest social and emotional competency scores in kindergarten fared better overall. For every one-point increase in children's social competency scores in kindergarten, they were twice as likely to obtain college degrees. They were also more likely to have full-time jobs by age 25. But the kids who had trouble cooperating, listening, and resolving conflict were less likely to finish high school--let alone college. They were more likely to have legal problems and substance abuse issu...

Parents, guardians and students who are interested in the Nobel Program at Kennedy High School are invited to attend the information session at KHS on Tuesday, January 9th, 2018 @ 7pm in the Kennedy Media Center (9701 Nicollet Ave in Bloomington). This is the slideshow   I'll be using to present.  If you have questions please email me at maby@isd271.org.  

Gifted programs show significant increase in reading, math scores https://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/node/3132708 Published on November 15, 2017 Reading and math scores among students in Bloomington Public Schools’ gifted programs showed significant growth on the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) tests over a two-year period. The overall percentage of gifted students who hit reading national growth targets increased from 57.1 percent in 2014-15 to 74.9 percent in 2016-17. Math scores increased from 57.7 percent to 72.1 percent over the same time period. The MAP test sets national growth norms by measuring year-over-year growth compared to the average growth of students in the nation that have the same prior year score. Bloomington gifted students have significantly more than 50 percent of students scoring above national growth norm. Another MAP test measure is Percentage of Expected Growth (PEG). During the 2016-17 school year, gifted students achieved 151 percent...

I recently read Quiet Power:  The Secret Strengths of Introverts by Susan Cain .  For those of you who know me you know I am not an introvert.  :). However I am married to a gifted introvert and I have a lot of gifted introverts in DAHS so I wanted to read this book because it came highly recommended and because I wanted to understand people different from me. The book is engaging and easy to read.  It does a great job of helping perfectionist introverts with strategies for being able to participate in class discussions and in school.  I think the chapters on "Quiet in the Classroom", "Group Projects, the Introverted Way", "Quiet Leaders", "Quiet Creativity" and "Quiet in the Spotlight" are especially helpful for high school students who are struggling academically because of their fear of speaking or failure and for parents who are trying to figure out how to support their students. I recommend the book for both teens and parents. ...

Upcoming meetings: 8th Grade Registration Information presented to students at OGMS -   Jan. 5 at 12:52 pm- 2:37 pm. I'll be presenting on the Ap/Honors offerings and the appeals process.  AP/Honors Registration Parent Meeting for incoming students at Jefferson  -  Jan. 11 at 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. AP/ Honors Registration Parent Meeting for current students at Jefferson -  Jan. 18 at 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Dimensions Academy STEM High School Info Meetings: All meetings are held from 6:30-7:30 pm in room the Partnership Center at Normandale Community College in P0808A and will be held on  Jan 8, Jan 16, Jan 25, and Jan 29th. Nobel Program Meeting for Current 8th Graders and their Parents at Kennedy High School on  Tuesday, January 9th at 7:00 pm in the Auditorium.

I am excited to be presenting at the MCGT conference this weekend.  I'll be using this slideshow and this handout for parents.  My workshop is titled "Differentiation in the High School AP and Regular Classroom".  The conference is at Robbinsdale Middle School.

I really enjoyed the Kennedy Honors breakfast on Thursday, October 26th.  Great job to the Eagles who are AP Scholars and National Merit Scholars!

There is an information meeting for students interested in graduating with an Honors Diploma during the second half of advisory on Wednesday, November 15th in the front of the auditorium.   Applications will also be available in the Career Center for students who cannot come to the meeting.  For more information on the Jefferson Honors Diploma check out this  video  or read the  Honors Diploma flyer  . Email Meredith Aby-Keirstead at  maby@isd271.org  for more information.    

The Nobel High School Program is an honors humanities program designed to nurture and develop the creativity of high school students at John F. Kennedy High School. Students identified as creatively gifted are grouped together for key humanities classes taught by teachers trained to work with creativity gifted students. Focusing on critical thinking and creativity, students engage in a rich curriculum connecting literature, social sciences, philosophy and the arts.  ​ This year is the second year of the Nobel program at Kennedy. We are excited to announce that this summer four more Kennedy teachers were trained to work with Nobel students. This fall additional Kennedy teachers will receive training. ​ Students are identified for Nobel by their scores on the Torrance Test of Creativity and MAP reading test. Nobel students from the Valley View Middle School Nobel program are automatically placed in Nobel at Kennedy. The Nobel program is also open to any o...

Jefferson: Science Olympiad - Intro meeting will be after school on November 9th.  Practices and meetings are held in C127. FFI:  Talk to Mr. Cory Carufel (ccarufel@isd271.org) Robotics -  Intro meeting has occured but you can still join See Mr. Don Verdegan in A Wing (dverdegan@isd271.org)  Math Team FFI  Dr. Liam Rafferty (Liam.Rafferty@normandale.edu)  Dr. Rafferty teaches Calc I for DAHS at Normandale Community College. The Jefferson Math League Team meets on Mondays and Wednesdays after school in room C103 for around 45 minutes except for the Mondays when we have meets. This is  2:45-3:30  on Mondays and  2:15-3:00  on Wednesdays. The team started this week, the practices are open to anyone who would like to come, and it isn't necessary to come to all practices to participate. About half the team is in a Fall sport or marching band, and doesn't start coming until November. Kennedy: Science Olympiad  ...

Good luck on the PSAT today!! 

If so, please let them know we'll be holding informational meetings for  Dimensions Academy High School  from 6:30-7:30 pm at Normandale Community College in the Partnership Center in room P0803A on  Monday, January 8th Tuesday, January 16th Thursday, January 25th Monday, January 29th The online application is due on Friday, February 2nd. We use the ACT for placement and we'll be administering it for 8th graders at Kennedy High School on February 27th.   For more information go to  https://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/DA-High-School ​For more information you can also contact Meredith Aby-Keirstead at 952-806-7811 or at maby@isd271.org. 

This article does a great job of digesting the data surrounding the importance of gifted ed in an easy to read piece. http://www.upworthy.com/a-study-has-been-following-gifted-kids-for-45-years-heres-what-weve-learned?c=upw1

I strongly encourage students to go to sessions in the Career Centers at JHS and KHS to learn about colleges.  I also strongly encourage you to visit colleges that look interesting to you in person.  Here is an upcoming event to learn about Yale that is happening in St. Paul if you're interested: The Yale Undergraduate Admissions Office Debra Johns, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions, will discuss academic programs, residential colleges and campus life, admissions, and financial aid. Sunday, October 15, 2017 at 4 PM St. Paul Academy and Summit School 1712 Randolph Avenue St. Paul, Minnesota The session will be in the Huss Center for the Performing Arts Event Registration All students are welcome to attend.

This week in DAHS with the 9th graders we played Family Feud and one of the questions was what helps students be successful in college.  I thought these articles had helpful tidbits! http://collegecareerlife.net/ tips-first-semester-college/ http://collegecareerlife.net/ characteristics-of-successful- college-students/ https://www.theodysseyonline. com/7-traits-being-successful- college-student

Also have you registered for the PSAT on October 11th?  Please do so! Two recent articles for juniors and their parents: http://www.businessinsider.com/getting-into-college-tips-for-parents-of-juniors-2017-9 https://www.teenlife.com/blogs/share-college-do-list-your-high-school-junior

The advice in this article isn't new - it's actually what I hear the most often.  I am posting this recent article so it will be at the top of the blog for this fall when folks are thinking about their applications. https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-admissions-playbook/articles/2017-09-12/learn-how-to-differentiate-your-college-application?int=95a608