Gifted and talented program at Maplewood Middle
The fact that there is an Essex County level Committee that works together on gifted and talented issues for K-8 grades, that includes nearly every community in the county (rich and poor, diverse and non-diverse) except ours, says a lot. Here is their mission statement:
"The Essex County Steering Committee for Gifted and Talented Education exists to provide challenging programs and events for high ability students in the elementary and middle grades county-wide and to provide teachers of the academically gifted with regular communication among educational peers."
They have bi-monthly meetings and networking to help members plan, keep up with regulations, etc. But I suppose we'd have to have even one District staffer who really "owned" the issue in order to bother even showing up to learn.
Here is their activity list. Why aren't our G&T students able to benefit from this? Some of this is exactly what my quirky little guy needs. Do I have to move to another district to give him opportunities?
- Cooperative Interscholastic Activities: Teachers and administrative members plan a variety of activities for children to attend throughout the school year. These activities include individual and team competition.
o Academically Speaking: Trivia Jeopardy™-like game, brain bowl activity teams test knowledge and problem solving/critical thinking skills, interdisciplinary, individual, team competitive tournament style
o Challenge 24™: is a card game involving logic, number sense, and quick thinking. Students use four numbers and four operations to create the final answer of “24.” Four students play against each other in each of several rotating rounds, and students earn individual points based on the difficulty of each card. The student with the most points at the end of the tournament wins.
o Forensics: Students are given the opportunity to participate in various facets of public speaking including Interpretive Reading and Oratorical Declamation with In-district and county tournaments.
o Problem Solving Convocation: STEM based activity includes 10 timed activities, cross curriculum, interacting, engaging problem solving, and competition
o Team Chess: 4 people chess with 2 teams. 2 armies play each other for points, strategy, team work, fast paced
o Tech Day: STEM based activity using problem solving, presentation skills, team work, making friends, planning, collaboration
o Theater Workshop: is both a performance and a student workshop with presenters to work on presentation skills (New Program!)
o Totally Global: STEM based with geography, global studies, team work, fun, and interactive
This committee has been around for some time. I believe the district pays a fee to join.They actually conduct conferences for teachers and special events. These events are usually one day convocations or contests. They are not everyday or ongoing “programs”.
I know (I can read the site). The Committee has been around for some time, and we have not been members anytime recently (certainly not since my recent HS graduate was in Elementary School)
They don't provide ongoing programming, but they DO provide training, networking and content, even if it is one-off. Why the heck are we the only District around that chooses not to participate? How do we fill the same needs for information, ideas and content?
susan1014 said:
Here is their activity list. Why aren't our G&T students able to benefit from this? Some of this is exactly what my quirky little guy needs. Do I have to move to another district to give him opportunities?
- Cooperative Interscholastic Activities: Teachers and administrative members plan a variety of activities for children to attend throughout the school year. These activities include individual and team competition.
Along these lines, MMS and SOMS started afterschool MathCounts teams in the fall of 2012. I found an online district reference to MathCounts as late as 2015, but I don’t know if it’s still offered. If it is, it’s worthy of more participation than it received from MMS’s challenge-starved students that first year.
My son has done Jeopardy and 24 at his school and enjoyed them very much. I think that’s a great way to do it, just find “enrichment” activities that reinforce academic skills or incidentally teach new ones. The problem is just in the “gifted and talented” label. My son went to that summer program once at Montclair State and I always thought that when he wore their shirt it was like he was walking around wearing a “kick me” sign.
I implemented a de facto pull out program with my kids. called private school.
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Chalmers thank you for all the information. Love that we are not in the mix below. It is such a shame!!!
Membership
Membership is open to any school district in Essex County who wishes to join together with other districts in specialized county-wide programs addressing the needs of gifted and talented students.
Current Members: