G/T Committee Meeting Minutes
December 7, 2009
In attendance: Geoffrey Ohl, Natalie Hoyt, Barbara Nassab, Brittany Robey, Tara Blood, Disa Lyon, Laura Grobowsky, Margaret Fitzgera= ld, Bahereh Parsa, Darien Ross, Molly Gorny, Valerie Breunig, Jane Miller
1.&n= bsp; Cal= l to Order: The meeting was ca= lled to order at 4:10 pm.
2.&n= bsp; Cri= teria: To appreciate the opportunities provided when a student is identified as “Gifted and Talented”, Mr. Ohl felt that the history of the program should be revisited. When West Briar fi= rst opened, the classes were only taught at two levels: Pre-AP and regular. The Pre-AP classes tended to move a little faster and explored the subject material a little deeper. In the last few years, administration felt that the classes needed to be split even further and ad= ded a third level: classes are now offered at the Gifted and Talented (“G/T”) level as well.
Mr. Ohl explained that the separation between a Pre-AP class and a G/T class is that the students in a= G/T class have been qualified as G/T students.= Qualification comes about through application and achievement in gra= des, Stanford-10 test, Naglieri test and teacher recommendation. Mr. Ohl acknowledges drawbac= ks in this G/T identification system. For example, the standardized tests typically do good jobs of identifying giftedness in the math and science areas but not as well in the linguistic area. He also thinks that some students excel through determination, perseverance and hard work. The standardized tests do not capt= ure those students either. = Mr. Ohl feels that perseverance is a gift as much as intelligence.
Because of these drawbacks,= Mr. Ohl applies a more comprehensive approach to the students who take the G/T classes. For those students w= ho almost qualify, Ms. Fitzgerald will look at more criteria, like talking to = teachers, and looking more closely at grades. &= nbsp; For those students who are placed in a G/T class, even though not “truly” G/T, their progress closely for the first six weeks of school is closely monitored. The monitoring is done primarily by the teacher; the dean will also get involved. Before removing any= child from a G/T class, though, the parent is also consulted.
Admittedly, some students h= ave been placed in a G/T class out of convenience.&= nbsp; Mr. Ohl says that this will no longer happen. Ms. Hoyt is the sentry keeper and = will only allow students who are G/T qualified or G/T approved to be in G/T classes. As a second ch= eck, Dean Hoyt gives the teachers a list of G/T students during the first week of school. Those non-qualifying students will have a schedule adjustment.
3.&n=
bsp;
8
At the last GVAC meeting, 7= th grade parents voiced their concern with the G/T program. Mr. Ohl wanted to give the same opportunity to the 8th grade parents and 6th grade parents.
One 8th grade pa= rent expressed her concern that the G/T classes do not seem to be aligned on the curriculum, or at least the homework does not appear to be the same. She cited a recent science p= roject for which one teacher assigned a power point presentation, written report a= nd a diorama. Another science teacher assigned only the power point presentation. Also, in Language Arts, one teacher assigns the students to write ten pages of creative writing each week. The other teachers do not have this requirement. Dean Hoyt and Mr= . Ohl both felt that the 8th grade G/T classes should have the same quantity and quality= of work. Dean Hoyt will look int= o the discrepancy.
A discussion arose on the appropriateness of assigning dioramas, especially to 8th grade students. Mrs. Fitzgerald res= ponded that she is to approve all projects that teachers are assigning. She did not know about the diorama= . She does not feel that this type of project properly challenges the G/T student.
Another 8th grad= e parent brought up her concerns with the Science Fair Project. She does not feel that adequate information has been provided to the students. Her child’s teacher has not provided any of the important benchmark dates for the milestones of the project. However, other parents reported that they have received the benchmark dates. Several of the parents also complained that the permission slips for project ideas were handed out after the due date. If a student ne= eded to get permission to do any of the more difficult topics, the time had pass= ed when the permission slips came out. Ms. Robey addressed these concerns.= She explained that this is the first year that West Briar has partic= ipated in the science fair competition and West Briar is only participating this y= ear because HISD West Region is requiring them to participate. Most of the science teachers at We= st Briar have not previously taught the science fair. Their guide is a 200 page handbook written by a National Science Fair organization and provided by West Region= . The teachers are trying to f= ind a way to incorporate the science fair into their ongoing curriculum; Ms. Robey does not feel that the science fair fits naturally into any of the curricul= um. Mr. Ohl asked to meet with Ms. Rob= ey to develop a way to handle the science fair project with regard to the science curriculum. Dean Hoyt and Ms. Fitzgerald will also look into the problem.
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6
The 6th grade pa= rents voiced several concerns with the G/T program. First, the parents were concerned = that the students do not have any homework. In math, the students have h= ad only 3 Problems of the Week (“POW”) this year. Mr. Ohl feels that POW’s sho= uld be consistently assigned. The GV= AC committee agreed that the exercise is most effective if assigned on an every other week basis.
When 6th math ho= mework is assigned, one parent noted that the teacher does not go over it in class. The teacher checks the students’ homework for completion but not for correctness. In reading class, the teache= rs are not assigning books. This is a problem for one of the parents. She finds it challengi= ng constantly picking books for her child.&nb= sp; She would like to see more group discussions on the same book which = she feels will better illustrate and teach important reading concepts such as theme, foreshadowing, and climax. Mr. Ohl believes howev= er that classrooms can still have high level discussions even if the students = have not read all the same book. Students are more motivated to read if they can pick their own book.
Another concern was the Wor= ld Cultures G/T class. It was fe= lt that the curriculum does not delve deeply enough into the material. The parent would also like to see = more projects in the class. = Ms. Fitzgerald defended the program, reporting that she thinks the teachers are challenging the students with such assignments as the ESPN in which the students study the economics, social, political and environment issues for a country. In addition, t= he students compare and contrast several countries using the ESPN model. Dean Hoyt does not feel that= the World Cultures’ International Festival that was the best use of the G= /T students’ instructional time. She would like to see the festival scaled back.
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Other
One parent followed up on a discussion from the first GVAC meeting on the Renzulli Learning System. The parent wondered if the teacher= s are finding ways to incorporate the learning system into their curriculum. Mr. Ohl responded that the teacher= s are not using it very much. He th= inks that the teachers need more training with the program. He would like to bring in a Renzul= li specialist to West Briar to give a targeted tutorial for the teachers, spec= ific to West Briar’s needs. Ms. Robey agreed. She = does not find Renzulli very user friendly. For example, she sent her students = to Renzulli to research topics for the Science Fair. The students pulled up not only id= eas, but completed projects.
On the other hand, Ms. Robe= y finds that the IIM research method is being incorporated seamlessly into the curriculum. She is teac= hing the scientific writing through the IIM.&nb= sp; Scientific writing is different than classical writing. Dean Hoyt would like to see some c= ross curricular projects bound together through the IIM research.
At the last meeting, Mr. Ohl mentioned that he was going to start holding grade level calendar meetings = to force the teachers to schedule their tests and projects. Mr. Ohl reported that he started t= he meetings and finds them quite productive.&= nbsp; He is going to start the same type of meetings with the G/T teachers.
The meeting was adjourned a= t 5:45.