Gifted Jaguars and Eagles

We had a great tour to Macalester today. I hope you'll ask your student about what they learned and to start discussing as a family what your student is looking for in a college: -big versus small school -urban versus rural -close to home versus far -public versus private Next year as juniors we recommend that students start thinking about colleges and start investigating so that they can get their applications in the fall of their senior year.

I wanted to take this time to tell you that I have stepped down as the high school gifted and talented coordinator for next fall. I have worked with the GT dept since 2012 and I have loved growing as a teacher by working with this departement, GT students and their families. I am really excited that I was a part of expanding our program to both high schools and to junior year. This pandemic has been hard on all of us and I have decided to return to the classroom full time next year. I will continue to teach the DA 9 and 10 social studies classes at Kennedy. Your students will be in great hands! Lisa Kiner, who is a DA teacher at OGMS, will be our new high school GT coordinator. She has a lot of experience as a teacher and as a parent which will help her serve our students well! Please welcome Lisa in the fall into this new role. I will just be an email away so please always feel like you can reach out! I hope your school year is wrapping up well and that you'll have a...

ON May 23rd 41 Dimensions Academy 9th graders (from both the STEM and Humanities programs) went on a campus visit and tour to the University of MN Twin Cities. Students had the opportunity to ask questions and to start thinking about what they want in a college and in what colleges are looking for in applicants. I will take the sophomores to Macalester in June. We have historically done campus visits but because of COVID this was our first one in a long time!

In May I'll be taking DA students to the U of M and to Macalester. One of my goals is to help them think about what types of questions to ask on a tour. I thought this article was helpful: https://grownandflown.com/14-best-questions-to-ask-on-campus-tours/?utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2nnhj6RsZ34zZU-Cq2RtSY9iKUpIO2wweCl4-4pOhpku7Q_mkh5Yh3iq8

A lot of juniors are thinking about upcoming college visits and seniors are in the process of deciding their plans for next year. I found think article very interesting: https://grownandflown.com/what-students-should-look-for-choosing-college/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR3V-uf1Kgqn-hQhg04yhUISlxyoILpIPBSfgIKQvK7uYjF31vwzij1zJlM

I am taking the DA 10th graders to Macalester College for a campus tour and visit on June 3rd .  I will give out the permission slips this week.  The GT dept asks for $7 to cover transportation but no one will be required to pay.  But I DO need the permission slip signed by a parent or guardian.  Students will need to bring money for lunch or their own lunch because we will also have lunch on campus.  My expectation is that students will miss periods 1-4 that day.  Thanks.  Meredith

DA 9 Humanities On March 17th students in AP Comparative Politics did a conflict in Ukraine role play. As a part of the course we are covering Russian, Chinese, and British politics. In the role play they discussed the current conflict in Ukraine from the perspectives of Sergey Lavrov (Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation), Sergiy Kyslytsya (Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador), Anthony Blinken (US Secretary of State), Jens Stoltenberg (NATO Secretary General), Wang Yi (Chinese Foreign Minister), and António Guterres (UN Secretary-General). It was an interactive and engaging way for students to see how the different points of view on the conflict make it challenging to resolve.

Our DA 10th graders in DA History (AP World and AP European history) had a great meeting with Tsione Wolde-Michael on Zoom on 2/17. She talked with our cohort about her work as a professional historian. She was a part of building the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture from the ground up and talked about how they collected artifacts and oral histories to build exhibits for this important museum. She is now at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History where she is the director and curator of the Center for Restorative History. Her slideshow is here if you want to see what was talked about with your student. I hope you'll ask your student about what they learned about being a professional historian. ;)

Congratulations to Bloomington's National Merit Finalists. We are particularly proud that they are all DA students! Kennedy: Isaac Stein Jefferson: Alex Kiner Jamie Melville Joseph Shetaye

Registration is open for the Supporting Gifted Children During Stress event on March 5th in Bloomington. We are excited to announce that the Bloomington Chapter will cover the registration fees for MCGT Bloomington Chapter Members (and Bloomington staff) to attend the Parent and Children Programs for FREE. Join MCGT online now and choose Bloomington as your chapter. Then, contact info@mct.net or bloomington@mcgt.net to receive an email with the code and instructions to register for FREE. Supporting Gifted Children During Stress Co-Sponsored by Bloomington Public Schools, Bloomington Chapter of the Minnesota Council for Gifted and Talented, Minnesota Council for Gifted and Talented March 5, 2022, 9-11am with Teresa Argo Boatman, Ph.D Virtual and In-Person Parent Presentation Gifted children and their parents have been experiencing the rise of stress and anxiety during the COVID 19 pandemic. Expand your knowledge of anxiety and gifted children, strategies to help, and how to ...

Dear DA 10th graders and parents/guardians, Our current DA sophomores will have access to a 3rd year of DA which is a new feature of our program.  We designed this because of parent and student feedback that PSEO and current BPS courses were not meeting the academic and social emotional needs of our gifted students.   I have had some parents ask about the difference between DA and PSEO so I'm sharing this slideshow with you.  I am also willing to answer questions if that's not helpful enough.   Our hope is that your student will choose to continue in the DA program but we also understand that we cannot possibly design a program that is a perfect fit for all our high ability students.   If you are planning on sending your student PSEO next year BPS will still make you register this month as if you aren't because that decision will happen later but the college.  However, for our purposes the GT dept would like to know how many students will not be continuing so I can try to ...

February 7, 2022 Dear Parents/guardians and advanced 8th grade learners, Thank you for applying to Dimensions Academy High School! On Monday, February 21st the Gifted and Talented Department will conduct PreACT testing for Dimensions Academy High School applicants at Kennedy High School. We will use your student’s PreACT score as one of our data points in our selection process for DAHS. Additionally, the test results will be helpful to your family in selecting courses for your student as they go to KHS and JHS. Lastly, research shows that practice taking high-stakes tests helps students go into their junior year more prepared for tests like the ACT and the SAT, which results in higher scores. The PreACT will be given on paper and include multiple choice tests in English, math, reading, and science. Please drop off your student at Kennedy High School, 9701 Nicollet Ave in Bloomington, by 8am and pick them up around noon. We will be in the cafeteria starting at 7:30 am. Stude...

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/06/1061925009/creative-rut-burnout-getting-out

On February 17th I'm hosting a career conversation with Tsione Wolde-Michael about her work as a professional historian. Tsione is a curator of African American Social Justice History at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, where she also serves as director for the Center for Restorative History. Her work focuses on redress and restorative justice in museums through innovative approaches to community engagement, collections management, cultural heritage, and exhibitions. Her international work in Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa, and the United Kingdom has focused on collaborating with local art and public history institutions to reinterpret colonial collections. She holds a bachelor's degree in Women and Gender Studies from Macalester College and her MA in History from Harvard University.

In my department we have frequent conversations about how to attract a more representative population to our gifted programs and how to retain them afterwards. This article gives us more food for thought. https://www.the74million.org/article/an-educators-view-getting-more-diverse-kids-into-gifted-talented-programs-is-only-half-the-story-schools-must-help-them-stay-and-succeed/

Today we had Bloomington graduates speak to our DA STEM students via Zoom: Jordan Thomson Washington University, St. Louis Kennedy grad - class of 2020 electric engineering & computer science major Jillayne Clarke Johns Hopkins University Jefferson grad - class of 2020 applied math & computer science major with a minor in linguistics They spoke to our students about: · what types of activities they were involved with in high school · what they were looking for in a college & why they chose the one they are at · whether they like the college they go to & why · what they are majoring in & if they've changed majors · what advice you have have for these DA students This panel is a part of a college planning series I do with students. The day before we talked through the roadmap to highly selective colleges and we discussed an article titled "9 ways to show college admissions you're a winner" to get them thinking about what they'd want ...

Today in AP Physics we had a great conversation with about STEM careers and her path in Physics. Dr. Peterson is a former student of mine and graduated from Jefferson in 2005.  She is a science policy reporter for the American Institute of Physics. Previously, she was a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Department of Energy’s Office of High Energy Physics, where she worked on science writing and advocacy projects. She holds a Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an A.B. in physics and mathematics from Harvard University. She lives near Washington, DC.  Here is the slideshow she used.  I encourage you to ask your student about class today!   11/19/2021

Congratulations to Snezhanna Medvedovski and Elias Caspari for being named Bloomington Jefferson High School's 2021-2022 ExCEL nominees! They are both DAHS graduates! One female and one male student from Bloomington Jefferson High School can be nominated for this award yearly. Criteria for the ExCEL Award includes: JR in high school, participation in Minnesota State High School League sponsored fine arts and/or athletic activities, demonstration of leadership qualities, volunteerism and academic excellence. Snezhanna Medvedovski participates in gymnastics (captain), track and orchestra at Jefferson. She is also on the “A” honor roll, a member of Pathfinders, student council, and NHS. Snezhanna also spends a great deal of time volunteering at her church. Elias Caspari participates in soccer, show choir, and theater at Jefferson. He is on the “A” honor roll and spends time volunteering at both his church and community theater. We are proud to have both represent Jeffers...

Dear DA 10 STEM cohort and their parents, Mr. Kersten is going to have surgery next week so I will be subbing in for him for period 2 from Nov 18-23. One day I will administer a test for him. However, the other days I am organizing some speakers for our students. On 11/19 we will Zoom in Andrea Peterson who graduated from Jefferson and works at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory . She went to the U of W Madison and Harvard and will talk about her process of choosing her STEM career path. On 11/23 we will do a college panel with: -Jordan Thomson, Washington University, St. Louis - Kennedy grad -Tuan Dinh, Princeton University -Kennedy grad -Jillayne Clarke, Johns Hopkins University -Jefferson grad All the speakers will be on Zoom so students will need to bring their Chromebooks and headphones those days. Sincerely, Meredith

November 4, 2021 Dear Parents and Guardians of DA 10 cohort, We have noticed that this semester is significantly more difficult for some of our DAHS students than previous years. We appreciate that many of you answered the survey the GT department sent out. The data demonstrated what we are seeing in class - we have a wide range of experiences right now in the DA STEM program and some of our students are very stressed. What we are seeing in Bloomington is similar to the experiences of educators (including other AP teachers and gifted advocates) across the country. Many of our students are struggling in ways which hadn’t manifested in pre-pandemic times. We are now seeing many members of our cohort struggle with self-regulation, the ability to focus on their work, their ability to ask questions, their ability to work with peers on an academic task, and are struggling with issues of depression and anxiety. We want to be responsive and support our gifted learners. I have met wit...