Gifted Jaguars and Eagles

Every teacher I know is talking about our concerns about cell phone use by teens.   Less smartphone time equals happier teenager, study suggests Study says more screen time has led to drop in self-esteem and life satisfaction.  http://www.startribune.com/less-smartphone-time-equals-happier-teenager-study-suggests/471157883/ Quotes I found interesting: " A precipitous drop in the happiness, self-esteem and life satisfaction of American teens came as their ownership of smartphones rocketed from zero to 73 percent and they devoted an increasing share of their time online.   Coincidence? New research suggests it is not." " They found that between 1991 and 2016, adolescents who spent more time on electronic communication and screens — social media, texting, electronic games, the internet — were less happy, less satisfied with their lives and had lower self-esteem. TV watching, which declined over the nearly two decades they examined, was similarly linked to lower ...

Articles like this motivate me.  We are doing groundbreaking work here at BPS to support creativity through our Nobel programs at VVMS and KHS and through professional development with teachers! We are Born Creative Geniuses and the Education System Dumbs Us Down, According to NASA Scientists 12/1017 https://ideapod.com/born-creative-geniuses-education-system-dumbs-us-according-nasa-scientists/

The SAT: What Parents Need To Know By KC Wright * January 18, 2018 You’ve known this day was coming: Your high schooler is growing up, getting taller and beginning to think about what will happen after the 12th grade. College might seem far away, but it is never too early to begin considering important components of your student’s college application. One important factor in the college admissions process, particularly for those students who are applying to competitive or elite schools and/or applying for scholarships, is the SAT or ACT. How much do you know about these all-important tests? Here are some questions we frequently hear from Noodle Pros parents regarding the SAT. How long is the SAT? The SAT is either 3 hours long, or 3 hours and 50 minutes long; the longer version is for students who elect to take the optional essay component. Students are strongly encouraged to make a decision regarding the essay when they register for the exam, but the College Board notes...

Photo from last year's delegation of JHS and KHS students January 17, 2018 Dear DA students & parents, You have the opportunity to send your student on a summer biology research trip to Costa Rica through Seeds for Change ( http://www.seedsforeducation.org/ ).  The trip will be July 26th - August 4th .  This experience is not a "tourist" trip, as so many high school international trips are. Instead, it is a science trip which provides immense educational and scientific growth. While in Costa Rica, the students design and conduct their own field research project in the rainforest.   Bloomington participated in this program last year for the first time and our students loved it!  I took 16 students last summer and they  loved being able to dive deep into leaf cutter ants and  design their own experiments.  I was so impressed with what they were able to do in only 10 days.  Last year’s students are now using that field experience...

Congrats to the Kennedy Science Olympiad team! https://khs.bloomington.k12.mn.us/node/3132939

I recently read this article and it deals with questions I ask myself every day - What are the values of taking college level classes as high school students?  How many of the most rigorous classes should our students take?  Are we sending a message that their transcript is the only thing that demonstrates what they have learned?   Are Colleges Pushing Students to Do Too Much in High School? https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2018/01/15/counselor-issues-critique-college-admissions-demands-are-pushing-high " The study found a strong correlation between students taking up to five college-level courses in high school and their first-year grade point average. More college-level courses -- up to five -- yielded higher academic performance in college. For students taking six or more college-level courses, gains in first-year GPA were marginal or even negative. The average grades for students who had taken 10 college-level courses in high school were ...

Looking for a good book to read?  I am really enjoying reading Donna Ford's Multicultural Gifted Education .    I love getting to read about both topics but have never gotten to read where the author integrated these two perspectives together.  I think I'm going to need to read this book twice just to absorb all this info.  I highly recommend it to fellow teachers!

I recently had a colleague tell me that her son was identified as gifted and wanted to talk to me about what does that mean?  This is a good, short intro piece.  https://www.fractuslearning.com/2015/11/16/facts-about-gifted-children/