Wednesday, October 20, 2010

1. Welcome to the GATE Parent Meeting Wednesday, October 20, 2010 “We only think when we are confronted with problems.” John Dewey

2. Poway Unified Strategic Vision • All students will be “college ready” at 12th grade graduation • Options available for all types of learners • Open access, less restriction, to provide greater range of opportunities and choices

3. District/Site Program GoalsStudent Focus • Provide challenging curriculum appropriate to unique needs and abilities of gifted students. • Promote academic excellence by providing advanced learning experiences to maximize individual student potential. • Promote responsibility and self-confidence through learning experiences that promote self-identity, leadership and sensitivity to others. • Cultivate independent thinking and problem solving. • Provide learning experiences that address the social and emotional needs unique to highly able students. • Provide opportunities for leadership, peer interaction, healthy competitiveness, and the development of the ability to think clearly and independently.

4. College Readiness:Will your child be ready? • Student college readiness is at its lowest point in more than a decade (ACT 2005 survey) • Only 51% of high school graduates are ready for college level reading (ACT 2005 survey) • 46% of incoming UC/CSU students have to enroll in remedial reading and writing courses (CSU 2007) • 51% of incoming freshmen are unable to write brief summaries (ICAS 2002)

5. College Prepared vs College Ready College prepared means: • Completing courses: a-g requirements • Test: PSAT/SAT/ACT • Understanding the application process and getting paper work in on time • Knowledge of financial aid/scholarship opportunities • Participation in extracurricular activities

6. College Readiness • Rigorous coursework: depth and complexity • Problem solver: asks questions and generates answers • Makes connections that go beyond the boundaries of what is learned in school to what is learned in life: in other words, being able to apply knowledge • Literacy: critical reading and writing skills, basic grasp of mathematical operations, understanding mathematical concepts, and applying math to real world situations

7. College Readiness(cont.) • Strong foundation in content knowledge and ways of thinking that includes a broad curriculum • Possessing Habits of Mind, attitudes, and behaviors that lead to success • Rhetorical independence: - ability to summarize and comprehend expository texts - examines claims and provide evidence - challenges assertions to analyze an argument - connects reading to writing - combines content from multiple sources

8. Middle School College Readiness: 1. Participate and be successful in rigorous courses and critical thinking activities 2. Foundation based on and in college readiness standards 3. Focus on measuring achievement and monitoring progress 4. College and career guidance and planning 2010 BMMS Science Olympiad Team

9. Differentiated Instruction Differentiated instruction dignifies each student with learning that is meaningful, relevant, and engaging. “ The core of what the students learn remains relatively steady. How the student learns-including degree of difficulty, working arrangements, modes of expression, and sorts of scaffolding-may vary considerably. Differentiation is not so much the ‘stuff’ as the ‘how.’ If the ‘stuff’ is ill conceived, the ‘how’ is doomed.” Carol Ann Tomlinson, UVA

10. District Expectations Focus Differentiated Instruction in support of: • promoting rigor and college readiness • embedding thinking and reasoning skills into the curriculum • embedding Information Literacy into the curriculum • encouraging the incorporation of relevance and relationships.

11. How Do We Differentiate for GATE Students? Content: What we teach Quality, not quantity = more depth and complexity Process: How we teach Processing or “making sense” of content using higher level thinking skills: analytical, inferential, interpretive, evaluative Product: Output of learning Use of multiple assessments Learning Environment: Homogeneous (all gifted) or Cluster (8-10 gifted)

12. Food for Thought The question is not, is it possible to educate all children well? But, rather, do we want to do it badly enough? - D. Meier Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. - Roger Lewin The problem with many youngsters today is not that they don’t have opinions but that they don’t have the facts on which to base their opinions. - Albert Shanker Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think. - Martin Luther King Jr.

13. References • Poway Unified School District Strategic Vision: 2008-2014: “College Readiness for All-Gateway to Our Students’ Future”. • ACT College Readiness Executive Summary “Reading Between the Lines”www.act.org/research/policymakers. • Impact of Literacy on College Readiness and Success. Cynthia B. Schmeiser, Middle Grades Literacy Forum, September 28-29, 2006. • Academic Literacy: A Statement of Competencies Expected of Students Entering CA Public Colleges and Universities www.asccc.org.