Here are the web addresses I promised to send to people: Our GT web page: www.msad48gt.com Site from Illinois that is so good:www.wilmette39.org/DI/ UConn (Renzulli)www.gifted.uconn.edu 2 more sites for research: www.nagc.org www.hoagiesgifted.org
Butchart, Ross. (2007). Humanities: A Contracted Curriculum. Gifted Education Press Quarterly, 21 (3), 9-11. Retrieved October 18, 2008, from: http://www.giftedpress.com/GEPSUMMER2007.pdf
In this article, Ross Butchart is appealing the need for gifted educators to teach the humanities. A decade prior to writing this article, Butchart wrote a short textbook using quotes from history to inspire a thematic approach to the skills of debate, research, and expository writing as well as a way for students to ‘explore’ the great thinkers of history. Butchart believed he had created a resource that would help the teachers of the gifted as well as the mainstream students… but sales of the textbook were less than anticipated. He believes the textbook wasn’t embraced because there was a shift in how humanities are viewed in our schools.
Butchart quotes President’s Bush in the 2003 and 2007 State of the Union Address calling for a strengthening of students’ ability to read and learn math and science skills. In President Bush’s address, reading is the overall skill to promote learning and math and science have become essential to enhance employment and economic competitiveness. There are a number of factors that are described in the article to articulate the diminished view of teaching humanities. First, the trend to reduce instructional time for humanities (language arts, social studies, and second language) and increase time for computer skills and ICT programs has impacted the amount of time a student spends debating, researching, and writing about topics. Also, many students are concerned about their GPA scores for university entrance requirements and will opt to take a science oriented class to minimize studying impact rather than a course selection that requires an increase in time commitment. The heart of this article comes when Butchart questions that “Somehow in the last quarter of a century our culture has lost a balanced understanding of what constitutes the ‘educated person’”. Descriptions of how radio call-in shows, opinion polls, and popular TV shows dominate over thought and it doesn’t require substantiated evidence or reflection to change a predetermined stance. Butchart would like to bring critical thinking back into the daily life and he believes that studying history and great writings can be the mechanism toward this change.
The article wasn’t what I had anticipated because it was an appeal to educators rather than a prescribed approach to a curriculum. What I liked about the article was that I instantly saw a connection to the Junior Great Book program that our district has implemented in grades 3 – 8. Junior Great Book promotes quality discussion where opinion is valued as long as it can be backed with evidence from the text and this technique is transferred into areas of humanities. The critical thinking that takes place during the whole group discussions allows for many ideas to surface but maintains a focus question that drives the conversation. These are life-long critical thinking skills that all students need exposure to and develop over time. It also allows for many learning styles and aspects of humanities to be incorporated into the discussion or pre/follow-up activities. I wonder if this is easier to respond to at the elementary level where we have a self-contained classroom and time is ours to structure. Butchart’s spirited appeal captured my belief that education is to help create informed citizens with enduring visions and values.
Smith, Kenneth. (2008). Teaching Talented Writers in the Regular Classroom. Gifted Child Today. 31(2), 19 – 26.
Article Response:
Kenneth Smith outlines a unit of writing he uses in his classroom to teach students about writing a mystery. Information about two developmental levels of writers, the knowledge telling and the knowledge transformation, are presented to help the reader become aware that the teaching needs to explicitly address the needs of the student in each level and foster metacognitive awareness. The knowledge telling represents the novice or immature writer that explains the story in a linear process with the next sentence created directly from the sentence before it. The knowledge transformation model tends to explain the complex problems in a story through character development, genre schema, establish a mood and details that help maintain the focus of the story throughout the piece. For all students of writing, direct instruction will help refine techniques and sources to fully engage students with imaginative talents and foster a metacognitive awareness needed in a transformation model of writing.
In the unit development, Kenneth Smith moves from explicit teaching to a gradual release of responsibility to the student with a focus goal of developing strong personalities for the main characters. He models the techniques required in the unit through his own writing and interactive engagement activities. The types of groupings used within the unit range from whole class, small group, one on one, and independent. The use of high engagement activities and the individual development of characters for the project are important aspect of the unit development because they can be tailored to the student’s individual needs. The student that is on the verge of applying the knowledge transformation model can be scaffold through varied groupings and maintain a high level of engagement. The student that continues to use the knowledge telling model can be scaffold through varied to groupings, additional practice sessions, and organizers to bridge the models and move closer to working in the knowledge transformation model. The quality of the unit will benefit all students because there is opportunity for differentiation developed within the lessons and student-oriented classroom approach.
I enjoyed the article because it represented effective classroom practices as an inclusion model for all learners. Fundamental literacy aspects are addressed in the article such as the need for a strong reading/writing connection, the use of teacher modeling through the sharing of writing and visual demonstration, opportunities for additional practice, and having a focus and clear guidelines established for the finished piece. A belief that all students can learn the techniques to move toward and become a writer applying knowledge transformation is important to implementing this unit in the classroom. I would share this article with teachers that are interested in providing differentiated instruction in the classroom because the 5 principles of a differentiated curriculum can easily be applied with this mystery unit.
6 comments:
This is a hard, hard thing to figure out.
thanks Annette! - Karen
Here are the web addresses I promised to send to people:
Our GT web page: www.msad48gt.com
Site from Illinois that is so good:www.wilmette39.org/DI/
UConn (Renzulli)www.gifted.uconn.edu
2 more sites for research:
www.nagc.org
www.hoagiesgifted.org
hello
Butchart, Ross. (2007). Humanities: A Contracted Curriculum. Gifted Education Press
Quarterly, 21 (3), 9-11. Retrieved October 18, 2008, from:
http://www.giftedpress.com/GEPSUMMER2007.pdf
In this article, Ross Butchart is appealing the need for gifted educators to teach the humanities. A decade prior to writing this article, Butchart wrote a short textbook using quotes from history to inspire a thematic approach to the skills of debate, research, and expository writing as well as a way for students to ‘explore’ the great thinkers of history. Butchart believed he had created a resource that would help the teachers of the gifted as well as the mainstream students… but sales of the textbook were less than anticipated. He believes the textbook wasn’t embraced because there was a shift in how humanities are viewed in our schools.
Butchart quotes President’s Bush in the 2003 and 2007 State of the Union Address calling for a strengthening of students’ ability to read and learn math and science skills. In President Bush’s address, reading is the overall skill to promote learning and math and science have become essential to enhance employment and economic competitiveness. There are a number of factors that are described in the article to articulate the diminished view of teaching humanities. First, the trend to reduce instructional time for humanities (language arts, social studies, and second language) and increase time for computer skills and ICT programs has impacted the amount of time a student spends debating, researching, and writing about topics. Also, many students are concerned about their GPA scores for university entrance requirements and will opt to take a science oriented class to minimize studying impact rather than a course selection that requires an increase in time commitment. The heart of this article comes when Butchart questions that “Somehow in the last quarter of a century our culture has lost a balanced understanding of what constitutes the ‘educated person’”. Descriptions of how radio call-in shows, opinion polls, and popular TV shows dominate over thought and it doesn’t require substantiated evidence or reflection to change a predetermined stance. Butchart would like to bring critical thinking back into the daily life and he believes that studying history and great writings can be the mechanism toward this change.
The article wasn’t what I had anticipated because it was an appeal to educators rather than a prescribed approach to a curriculum. What I liked about the article was that I instantly saw a connection to the Junior Great Book program that our district has implemented in grades 3 – 8. Junior Great Book promotes quality discussion where opinion is valued as long as it can be backed with evidence from the text and this technique is transferred into areas of humanities. The critical thinking that takes place during the whole group discussions allows for many ideas to surface but maintains a focus question that drives the conversation. These are life-long critical thinking skills that all students need exposure to and develop over time. It also allows for many learning styles and aspects of humanities to be incorporated into the discussion or pre/follow-up activities. I wonder if this is easier to respond to at the elementary level where we have a self-contained classroom and time is ours to structure. Butchart’s spirited appeal captured my belief that education is to help create informed citizens with enduring visions and values.
Smith, Kenneth. (2008). Teaching Talented Writers in the Regular Classroom. Gifted
Child Today. 31(2), 19 – 26.
Article Response:
Kenneth Smith outlines a unit of writing he uses in his classroom to teach students about writing a mystery. Information about two developmental levels of writers, the knowledge telling and the knowledge transformation, are presented to help the reader become aware that the teaching needs to explicitly address the needs of the student in each level and foster metacognitive awareness. The knowledge telling represents the novice or immature writer that explains the story in a linear process with the next sentence created directly from the sentence before it. The knowledge transformation model tends to explain the complex problems in a story through character development, genre schema, establish a mood and details that help maintain the focus of the story throughout the piece. For all students of writing, direct instruction will help refine techniques and sources to fully engage students with imaginative talents and foster a metacognitive awareness needed in a transformation model of writing.
In the unit development, Kenneth Smith moves from explicit teaching to a gradual release of responsibility to the student with a focus goal of developing strong personalities for the main characters. He models the techniques required in the unit through his own writing and interactive engagement activities. The types of groupings used within the unit range from whole class, small group, one on one, and independent. The use of high engagement activities and the individual development of characters for the project are important aspect of the unit development because they can be tailored to the student’s individual needs. The student that is on the verge of applying the knowledge transformation model can be scaffold through varied groupings and maintain a high level of engagement. The student that continues to use the knowledge telling model can be scaffold through varied to groupings, additional practice sessions, and organizers to bridge the models and move closer to working in the knowledge transformation model. The quality of the unit will benefit all students because there is opportunity for differentiation developed within the lessons and student-oriented classroom approach.
I enjoyed the article because it represented effective classroom practices as an inclusion model for all learners. Fundamental literacy aspects are addressed in the article such as the need for a strong reading/writing connection, the use of teacher modeling through the sharing of writing and visual demonstration, opportunities for additional practice, and having a focus and clear guidelines established for the finished piece. A belief that all students can learn the techniques to move toward and become a writer applying knowledge transformation is important to implementing this unit in the classroom. I would share this article with teachers that are interested in providing differentiated instruction in the classroom because the 5 principles of a differentiated curriculum can easily be applied with this mystery unit.
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