SOAR Meeting on Monday, February 25!
SOAR (Supporting Okemos Academic Resources) will host a presentation on Summer Programs for gifted children. Join us at the Okemos Public Library at 7 p in the meeting room. Contact Jill Garnett at 333-9053 for more information. Visit our calendar for upcoming events.

Upcoming Meetings:

Monday March 17 An Update from OPS with Special Guests OPS Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Patricia Trelstad and OPS Gifted and Talented Coordinator Marsha Chance. Note: This meeting will be held in the Cornell Elementary School Library at 7:00pm.

April Meeting date TBA Interpreting SAT and MATS Scores

Check out the SOAR Reference Book located in the Okemos Public Library behind the Reference Desk. The book has information on local, regional, and national programming for high-ability students of all ages.

To discuss GT concerns, sign up for the Gifted and Talented list-serve through Michigan Alliance for Gifted Education at gtmich@migiftedchild.org with the words "subscribe gtmich" in the body of the message.

Reminders:

Plan a topic or program for a SOAR meeting!

ACTION: Contact Jill Jmrgarnett@aol.com


Thinking Activities for Kids Resource Project - Compile a list of activities happening in Okemos Schools that appeal to high ability learners. Some schools offer chess club while others offer legos. We have an old version to work from.

ACTION: Contact Kim kburzych@sbcglobal.net


Email List - We have an email list of 100 plus families which we keep connected with news of events of interest to high ability learners. We need a person willing maintain the email list and send at least one email a month reminding people of upcoming events and SOAR meetings. This is an easy way to know what's going on. We have a web-based calendar to draw info from.

ACTION: Contact Kate ostrya89@sbcglobal.net


MSU Teacher Training - MSU is a major teacher educator. But do they have classes for teaching high ability kids? Last time I looked they didn't. Do they teach differentiation? Don't know. Last email I had MSU didn't feel gifted ed exposure was necessary for new teachers. If we're going to have a successful diff. curriculum new teachers need to know how to diff. So are we asking too much for the local teaching college to "teach to the market" i.e. produce teachers with diff. training. With so many gt kids so close why not teach new teachers how to meet high ability learner needs as well.

ACTION: Email the dean of education and ask questions about teacher training and g.t. Tell other parents. (We did this a couple years ago and would like to find out if there have been any changes.)

Educating High Ability Learners in Okemos - Okemos has a large population of high ability learners in it's schools. Our kids are in school 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. That's a lot of time to sit through repeated instruction as staff teach to the middle of the group or lower. (Everybody spell MEAP!) How many adults would go back for the same seminar 2 or 3 days in a row? Parents do what they can but it's sporadic at best. There are identification, confidentiality, and supervision issues with parents teaching our high ability kids. These kids need professionals who understand the academic, social and emotional needs of high ability kids.

ACTION: Work with other parents to develop a clear picture of g.t. services in Okemos. Talk with the gt coordinator to find out what the responsibilities of the coordinator are in Okemos and where g.t. is at now. (This was a 10-15 hour week position, which may have changed as she is now teaching middle school English as well.) Report to the group.

ACTION: Work with other parents to target a specific curriculum issue and meet with Patty Trelstad on a regular basis to map out a strategy for meeting the needs of high ability learners within that subject area. E.g. developing differentiated units in language arts for teacher use. Report to the group. Attached is information from MAGE about materials they sent to all the Curriculum administrators in every school district in the state.

Contact Jill Jmrgarnett@aol.com, Kate ostrya89@sbcglobal.net, Celeste celestial_1014@msn.com, Laurie koochesf@msu.edu or Kim kburzych@sbcglobal.net for where we've been


Differentiation - Differentiation is ONE tool in meeting the needs of high ability kids. In Okemos it is the best alternative to nothing. Diff. is very labor intensive and takes a long time to fine tune and successfully implement. We need to continue to encourage and expect diff to happen for the kids. Positive always positive and always there. Diff won't meet the needs of everybody but it's a start. Successful diff. in elementary schools will lead to parent expectations of the same in the middle schools and someday! high school.

ACTION: Encourage diff with student's teachers during conferences. Be positive. Tell other parents.

ACTION: Ask staff what units will be differentiated. Tell other parents.


Be a Resource Parent - Bring info or pull books from the library stacks for people at the meeting to look through. Keep the resource book current.

ACTION: Contact Kate ostrya89@sbcglobal.net


Networking Parent - Find out what's going on in different buildings - in a positive, informative way and hopefully not in a competitive way. This could overlap with thinking activities but could be much more. Develop contacts in all buildings to find out how they address diff., how they deal with g/t, etc.

ACTION: Start talking to people. Tell everybody at the SOAR meetings and beyond.

Develop kid friendly programming. Your choice.

ACTION: Contact Jill Jmrgarnett@aol.com


Resource person for outside programs. We have a starting point with our summer programs contacts, but the information could be updated and new stuff added. We could develop the school year options component more.

ACTION: Talk to Jill Jmrgarnett@aol.com

To do:

Discuss gt concerns by signing up for the Gifted and Talented list-serve through Michigan Alliance for Gifted Education at gtmich@migiftedchild.org with the words "subscribe gtmich" in the body of the message.