A.1+-+Observation+Visits

On Friday, October 23rd, I observed N. Lincoln's 7th grade Social Studies class at Hewitt Trussville Middle School. Every Friday, the students in her class present a current event to the class. Students are required to include a visual aid and four to six discussion questions. (See the attached rubric for more information). One student presented a current event on health care reform which sparked a rather interesting and extended discussion from the students. I was very impressed with the participation of the students. Mrs. Lincoln has a very positive, inviting classroom and seems to enjoy teaching. Her questions require the students to think about and evaluate the topic of discussion, without influencing them with her own opinions and judgements. I enjoyed my visit to her classroom.

GATE students in this school system are serviced in grades K-2 on a consultative basis; grades 3-5 in a resource class, and grades 6-8 through content.

The GATE students at Hewitt Trussville Middle School are serviced through science in 6th grade, social studies in 7th grade, and English in 8th grade. Students may also take advanced courses in other subjects in each grade. Gifted and Talented students are expected to use primary documents and richer text throughout their middle school years. GATE teachers in this particular middle have collaborative time built in their schedule to work with other teachers to bump up the curriculum.



During the month of November I also visited Sharon Colley's 7th grade Language Arts Block at Chelsea Middle School, which is part of the Shelby County School System. This particular class met from 1:30 until 3:00. This year Mrs. Colley has replaced the accelerated reader program with literature packets in order to broaden the knowledge of genres of literature while allowing for personal selection and reading level (how is that for differentiation). After reading their selection, the students choose activities given to them in a 3-2-1 format. These activities allow for creative and critical thinking. Mrs. Colley had several of the student made projects on display in her classroom. Mrs. Colley works collaboratively with the media specialist to provide book talks about each genre for the students. The media specialist pulls from the shelf books of a certain genre and gives an overview of the storyline and why one might be interested in a particular book. I was able to witness Mrs. Dixon (the media specialist) present her book talk on the genre of animal tales and the interst of the students was very high. They actually ran to select a book as soon as Mrs. Dixon finished her presentation. It is great to see kids that excited over checking out a library book! After their book selection for animal tales, the students were able to go to the book fair in the media center. The students then resumed the remainder of the literature arts class by exploring expository writing with Mrs. Colley. (see attached lesson plan). Mrs. Colley's students really seem to enjoy her class. Her students from last year almost mobbed her (in a good way) while we were walking back to class!



On Wednesday, December 2nd from 1:36 until 2:19, I visited Linda Rummell at Liberty Park Middle School, which is a part of the Vestavia Hills City School System. When I scheduled the appointment a couple of weeks ago I did not realize that it was "Linda" from class last summer. It was great to see her again. We talked a little about her program at LPMS. She provides services for the 6th graders at her school and another gifted specialist serves the 7th and 8th grade students. Students are served daily (if they choose) during homeroom time (approximately 20 minutes) for a time devoted to creative expressions. During creative expressions, the students create comic books using the program comic life, communicate by written letters with a girl who is traveling by sea (Vicarious Voyage), and are currently exploring winter celebrations around the world. Mrs. Rummell reported that about half of the population of her students take advantage of this time.

Mrs. Rummell also provides services for ANY 6th grade student who has compacted out of social studies. Students are tested on the material that is going to be presented each nine weeks and are required to receive an A on the test to take advantage of this class. Students attend Mrs. Rummell's class every day during the social studies time period and work on independent projects that are interest based. After completing the projects, the students make presentations to their entire class. I like this because it provides an opportunity for students to shine who may not if they had stayed in the general ed. social studies class. The students must take chapter tests developed by Mrs. Rummell on the content that is being covered in class to document a grade. During this time, Mrs. Rummell also presents lessons on affective concerns, creative problem solving, and cause and effect just to name a few. One advantage to this method is that more students may be identified for the gifted program who may have otherwise been overlooked. This has happened to several students who were only considered high achievers by their teachers. Mrs. Rummell referred the students and they were admitted to the gifted program.

Mrs. Rummell also serves as the sponsor for the Junior United Nations Assembly (JUNA) for 6th graders at LPMS. This student ran model of the United Nations Assembly increases an awareness of world issues for participating students. Students who are involved select a country, define a specific problem associated with their selection, and write a resolution to attempt to solve the identified problem. The children design costumes and a flag as well as compete with other schools involved in JUNA. Although 7th and 8th grade students have embedded time in the school day for JUNA, the 6th graders must stay after school to participate in JUNA. Mrs. Rummell hopes this will change next year.

During my observational visit, I had the opportunity to observe Mrs. Rummell teach a cause/effect lesson using the creative problem solving model/study skills with her students who had compacted out of social studies. The students were very attentive and Mrs. Rummell made the necessary accommodations for one particular boy who did not want to use the example presented to him. I was especially excited to see the girls in the class participate and speak confidently and take the issue at hand seriously. This tells me that Mrs. Rummell provides a safe environment for all of her students, while maintaining adequate control to run a classroom. The girls in this class even tried to assist the somewhat uncooperative boy who with his personal scenario that he insisted on using.

Identification procedures are similar to other schools that I visited. Students identified through 2nd grade child find and mostly teacher and parent referrals in grades 3 - 8. Elementary and middle schools have gifted specialists who serve identified students and high schoolers are served by the option of taking AP classes. The key difference noted in this system is the option that students have of whether to attend or not, compacting social studies, and services are not subject based.

Creative Problem Solving Worksheet used at LPMS by L. Rummell  I enjoyed all of my observational visits because it opened my eyes to what is possible in the world of gifted education.