-----Original Message----- From: owner-copernicus-cc@news.edgate.com [mailto:owner-copernicus-cc@news.edgate.com]On Behalf Of Copernicus Learning Communities Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 9:34 PM To: copernicus-cc@news.edgate.com Subject: The Electronic Classroom: Special Needs and Special Gifts ========================================================== The Electronic Classroom Visit EdGate's Copernicus Learning Communities at: http://www.EdGate.com ========================================================== December 6, 2001 ---------------------------------------------------------- This Issue's Theme: Special Needs and Special Gifts News in this issue: + CHECK IT OUT! + DID YOU KNOW? + FEATURE: Gifted and Talented Students + SPOTLIGHT SCHOOL + IN THE NEWS ========================================================== CHECK IT OUT! Many students with special needs can benefit from innovative uses of computer technology. However, the Internet and various Web sites are often not "disability friendly." Enter Bobby, http://www.cast.org/bobby/ a tool for Web page authors that helps them identify changes to their pages needed so users with disabilities can more easily use their Web pages. Bobby is a free service provided by the Center for Applied Special Technology, which is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to expand opportunities for people with disabilities through innovative uses of computer technology. ========================================================== DID YOU KNOW... EdGate is launching two exciting new features this winter!! MONTHLY CALENDAR In December, you will have access to the EdGate Monthly Calendar. The calendar features hundreds of links to historic events for a specific date, thematic content for the season and an easy-to-use listing of famous birthdays and world events. The Monthly Calendar and Seasonal Themes will be available from the main page of any Copernicus Learning Community. SPECIAL EDUCATION CENTER The Special Education Center is coming soon to every Copernicus Learning Community! This new section of our Web site will be dedicated to serving teachers, administrators and parents that work with Special Needs and Gifted student populations. The Center will organize hundreds of links to Web sites, articles on topics of interest and professional reviews into four sections: +Law Resources - a place that parents, advocates and educators can find accurate, up-to-date information about effective advocacy for children with disabilities. +Hot Topics - information organized around current events and trends in education. +Conditions and Disorders - find an all-inclusive list of many disorders, conditions and disabilities. +Professional Support Staff - a section organized by occupational categories of special education and related services professionals. ========================================================== FEATURE ARTICLE: Gifted and Talented Students Did you know? The 2000 census reported that the number of school age children in the United States is 61,297,467. Based upon this data, the number of children in the gifted population is 3,064,873, and the number of profoundly gifted children is 6,130. Characteristics of gifted children: "Not long ago, the image of a gifted child might have been reserved for the dramatically smart-the Mozart's, Einstein's and other creative or intelligent beyond years. Today there is a broader definition, one that has been expanded to include not only those with general intellectual ability but also those with talent for creative thinking, the performing or visual arts, even leadership ability." (Quoted by Karen Goldberg for the Washington Post) Very often parents are the first to recognize that their child is bright for his or her age. There are many checklists of gifted characteristics. Generally, a gifted child: -has a wide vocabulary and talked early; -asks lots of questions and learns more quickly than others; -has a very retentive memory; -is extremely curious and can concentrate for long periods on subjects of interest; -has a wide general knowledge and interest in the world; -enjoys problem-solving, often missing out the intermediate stages in an argument and making original connections; -has an unusual and vivid imagination; -could read from an early age; -shows strong feelings and opinions and has an odd sense of humor; -sets high standards and is a perfectionist; -loses interest when asked to do more of the same. *No one will show all of these sorts of behaviors, but very bright children will fit a significant number of them. Different forms of intelligence: The child of high academic ability may be identified by intelligence tests. He may, however be gifted in areas in which intelligence tests are poor predictors. He may, for example, be: -An imaginative or creative thinker -Socially, or ethically gifted, with a well-developed sense of the moral implications of actions or situation -Good at drawing, building or designing though poor at writing -A well-developed "high achiever" who performs well in academic work but who scores poorly on intelligence tests because their relevance is not immediately apparent to him. A child may fulfill many of the criteria for giftedness yet not perform well at school. Their written work may be poor; they may be lazy and lethargic or daydream and appear inattentive; they may spend a great deal of time decorating their notebooks; they may play or disrupt lessons; they may be uncooperative, difficult to motivate and critical of teachers and other children in the class. Sometimes such a child has frequent absences from his school. Exceptionally bright children may also be well ahead in math, particularly in problem solving. They may show a wide range of interest and an extended general knowledge. They often pursue hobbies with great enthusiasm, which sometimes verges on obsessiveness. Many have great powers of concentration and an astonishing strength of will and purpose. Gifted children usually show keen powers of observation and reasoning, of seeing relationships and of generalizing from a few given facts. They often memorize quickly and show an unusual imagination, which comes out in the way they respond to questions. Children of high intelligence often want to spend time with older children as well as with adults. They often prefer games and hobbies, which are usually associated with other children. Why is it important to know if a child is gifted? All children, whether gifted, bright, average or below average, deserve the chance to lead a happy and satisfying life. Gifted children have a great thirst for knowledge and it is vital that this need is recognized as early as possible so that parents and teachers can give them plenty of opportunities to develop their talents. A good school will try to identify very able pupils and to meet their expectations and needs. The school will have developed an agreed policy on how their most able pupils are managed. It is very easy to destroy the self-confidence of any child and this is particularly so when they are talented, gifted and able. Their experiences with their teachers, their peers and their parents are critical, and it is always important to look for the indicators, which suggest that a difficult, unhappy or bored child has a hidden talent. Are gifted children good at everything? Exceptionally bright children often show good hand eye coordination, though sometimes their handwriting lags behind their reading and other skills. A six year old with a mental age of ten is likely to still write and draw like a six year old. Some children may refuse to produce any work on paper because of the frustration caused when they are unable to live up to their own impossibly high standards in handwriting and drawing. Others are particularly skilful in playing with ideas, in using their imagination and in being creative. Such characteristics do not always show on traditional intelligence tests, but parents who suspect their child may be gifted should not be afraid to talk things over with the teachers at school. There is a group of children who are better at seeing and doing than at talking and listening. These are sometimes referred to as visual-spatial children. They may find difficulty in expressing themselves in words, but often show outstanding mechanical and artistic ingenuity. In school classes where adequate provision is not made for them, able students tend to become bored because not enough is being demanded of them. Among the consequences of this may be: -switching off-e.g. Day-dreaming -avoiding school (among other imaginary ailments) -disruptiveness, which may take the form of clowning or truculence Source: http://www.rmplc.co.uk/orgs/nagc/index.html HELPFUL TIPS FOR TEACHERS - To establish and support gifted and talented students: - Find out what the students already know. - Give students "credit" for the concepts they have mastered. - Don't force students to repeat grade level work because it is available. - Provide alternative challenging activities for students to do instead of grade level work. - Discover what the students are interested in and build their projects around their interests. - Allow students some flexibility in the way they use the time they "buy back." - Trust the students to learn in nontraditional ways. - Thrill students will their ability and opportunity to make choices! - Give the students lots of experience with setting their own goals and evaluating their own work. Source: Susan Winebrenner (1992) Gifted and Talented Newsletter USEFUL TEACHERS RESOURCES ERIC Clearinghouse: The ERIC Gifted Highlights list points to ERIC resources, which are available from the main services, and to selected bibliographies, which have been derived from the ERIC sources. Talent Searches and Summer Programs: There are regional talent searches in the United States, conducted by Stanford, Northwestern, Duke and other Universities. Candidates identified by the search are then invited to participate in summer enrichment and other programs. Odyssey of the Mind:This is a worldwide program promoting creative team-based problem solving for kids from Kindergarten through college. Key links: http://falcon.jmu.edu/-ramseyil/gifted.htm http://gate.nelson.org.nz/stories/storyReader$13 Super Sites for the Talented and Gifted Child Creative Writing: CyberKids http://www.cyberkids.com/index.html A great site for children to publish their stories, poems, articles and art and for anyone of any age to check out some amazing talent. Bubbledome http://www.bubbledome.co.nz/ This colorful website has fun fantasy writing competitions and puzzle competitions with real prizes. Writing the Journey-Online journal writing workshop http://www.writingthejourney.com/index.htm Explore concepts that are important in journal writing and complete exercises designed to teach you new journal writing techniques. Cartooning: The Secret to Drawing Cartoons http://www.cartooncorner.com/artsfolder/howtacartoon/cartooning.html Emmett Scott has been teaching cartooning to children of all ages for many years now. He can teach students too! Just follow the simple lessons on the site. How to Draw Cartoons http://www.abwac.org.au/howto1.htm Find new tips each month to help you create your own cartoons. Chess Activities: Free Chess http://www.freechess.org/ You'll find some great information that will help you improve your chess game. Tim Mann's Chess Page-Free Chess Software http://www.tim-mann.org/chess.html Take part in lots of online games; perfect for the chess enthusiast. Computer Activities: Logo http://www.thinkquest.org/library/lib/site_sum_outside.html? tname=18446&url=18446/eindex.shtml (Please copy and paste the 2 lines above into your address bar. You must concatenate the second line to the first.) Learn to program in Logo, a programming language that is very easy to learn. You will be able to run your programs directly on this website, so you can start learning Logo right away. Dinosaurs: Walking with Dinosaurs http://www.bbc.co.uk/dinosaurs/ Explore the exciting world of the dinosaur and find out fun, exciting facts about every aspect of their lives. Zoom Dinosaurs http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/ An on-line hypertext book about dinosaurs. Lego: Lugnet http://www.lugnet.com/ Lego enthusiasts will love this site. Ldraw.org http://www.ldraw.org/ Ldraw is a freeware program, which can create Lego models in 3D Math Activities: Cut-the-knot http://www.cut-the-knot.com/games.html You'll fins some great mathematics puzzles (mostly java applets). The Grey Labyrinth http://www.greylabyrinth.com/index.htm On-line puzzles for the puzzle enthusiast. Puzzles and Games: Brain Food http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/ Hundreds of devious puzzles, ranging from word games to logic problems to riddles. Science: MadSci Network http://www.madsci.org/ Represents a collective cranium of scientists providing answers to your questions. The Exploratorium http://www.exploratorium.edu/ The museum of science, art and human perception offers a collage of over 650 exhibits Bizarre Stuff You Can Make in Your Kitchen http://freeweb.pdq.net/headstrong/ You'll find a variety of suggestions relating to experiments you can create in your very own kitchen. Evidence: The True Witness http://www.thinkquest.org/library/lib/site_sum_outside.html? tname=17049&url=17049/ (Please copy and paste the 2 lines above into your address bar. You must concatenate the second line to the first.) Learn about forensic science. Play a computer game where you are the detective. The WHY Files http://whyfiles.org/ Find out the latest on science in the news. Space: Space.Com http://www.space.com/ A must visit site for the space enthusiast. NASA http://www.nasa.gov/ Take a comprehensive look at our space program. Amateur Astronomer http://www.iolaks.com/softech/astro/astro.htm Useful tools for the novice stargazer. ========================================================== SPOTLIGHT SCHOOLS: Plainfield Public Schools are in the spotlight! Administrators in Plainfield have made the move to implement Copernicus and SchoolNotes district-wide. Their plan is for every school in the district to use EdGate for their primary individual school sites. In addition, each staff member will create a SchoolNotes page to communicate with parents and students. Ultimately, the district hopes to have every teacher, school nurse, guidance counselor, principal, media specialist and technology coordinator create and maintain his or her own page. Plainfield Public Schools administrators say their reason for selecting Copernicus and SchoolNotes was the ease of use. Since they are dealing with a diverse proficiency group, as are many school districts, they wanted something that would be easy to understand and manage. They also feel that SchoolNotes will enable teachers to take ownership of their own sites, rather than be dependent on a Webmaster to create and maintain everything. Copernicus was just the tool Plainfield needed, and they are on the road to a very successful implementation! ========================================================== IN THE NEWS E-Learning for Professional Development http://www.nsdc.org/standards_tech.html The National Staff Development Council (NSDC) recently released a set of technology standards, "E-Learning for Educators: Implementing the Standards for Staff Development." Professional development online offers enormous opportunities to make learning convenient for teachers. NSDC provides professional articles, an online survey and online publication to help you unravel the pros and cons of online learning. Nation's Science Report Card http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2002453 Results from the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in science show little improvement from 1996. Twelfth-grade students actually scored lower than the previous study. Only one in five seniors showed a solid grasp of science and about half knew the basics. White 12th-graders reaching proficiency dropped six points to 62 percent, while the percentage for black students was about a third of that. Find this and much more specific science "report card" information at this site. Aligning Teaching with Standards http://publications.ccsso.org/ccsso/publication_detail.cfm?PID=344 The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has completed a two-year project on Enacted Curriculum in Mathematics and Science. This final report highlights central findings of the research from 11 states that participated in the study. The report highlights how applications of the survey and data tools can be used to measure alignment of standards and instruction as well as improvement of practice. The project has produced a Guide for Professional Development and Surveys of Enacted Curriculum. Responsibilities of Principals http://www.naesp.org/comm/prss10-29-01.htm The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) has released a publication that details the responsibilities of PRINCIPALS in today's education environment. "Leading Learning Communities: What Principals Should Know and Be Able To Do" also describes 10 ways for school districts, states and the federal government to offer improved support for school principals. ========================================================== HOW TO CONTACT US Send us feedback or recommend your favorite educational Web links at http://www.EdGate.com/contact . To change your subscription status or delivery address, or to read past issues, visit EdGate's Newsletter Center at http://www.EdGate.com/edunews . To receive information about creating a customized Copernicus Learning Community for your school or district, contact EdGate at info@edgate.com. Copernicus Learning Communities offer easy access to best-of-the-Web resources for K-12 educators, students, and parents. Visit our Web site: http://www.EdGate.com . © 2001 by EdGate.com, Inc. All rights reserved. ==========================================================
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