[Ohiogift] Innovative Practice

[Charlie Toland]

I agree with avoiding the word "genius."  As parents, we've grown to
dislike the using "gifted" and avoid that at home, now.  These labels have
their own stigmas in schools, much like other labels. After many years, we
realized that the "gifted" label also distorts our kids understanding of
what the classes are about. Our enrichment classes are called "focus" which
is a nice word.  I'd look for something that is more to the point, and
benign.

Charlie Toland

On Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at 7:28 PM, Susan Rakow <susanrakow at earthlink.net>
wrote:

> Karen- I'd be a lot more comfortable with this really cool idea if it
> wasn't named "genius hour".... Innovation hour, Special Interest hour,
> ingenuity hour... But Genius is such a loaded word. I understand why for
> this age group you need to give grades, though that seems in opposition to
> how true talent is cultivated. But which standards? Above grade level?
> Including the arts and technology? Creative thinking exercises like from
> Future Problem Solving? I'd love to hear more about how this works out...
> Are students grouped in any way? I'm worried you might end up running
> tutoring for kids who need it.....
> Susan Rakow
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Mar 6, 2015, at 12:27 PM, Wiley, Karen <kwiley at kingslocal.net> wrote:
>
> Effective with the 2015-2016 school year, all students in 5th and 6th
> grades will now have Genius Hour as part of their regular specials
> rotation.  While this is not an exclusively gifted service, it is truly
> innovative to allow time during the school day to offer students a
> supportive environment in which their passions are supported and nurtured.
>
> I am credentialed with my GIS license, and will be the instructor for
> Genius Hour.  I will be the teacher of record, and the class will be grade
> based.  We are currently developing a standards-based course syllabus,
> which will, among other things detail how students' growth will be
> evaluated based on their competencies and project completion.  We look
> forward to the gains students will realize during our upcoming Genius Hour!
> Best,
> Karen Wiley
>
> Karen Wiley, 6th Grade Social Studies
> Columbia Intermediate School
> kwiley at kingslocal.net
> 513.398.8050 x13041
>
> Columbia Intermediate...Be Nice Out There!
>
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