1st & 2nd day of 3rd grade

Ok, Yesterday was the beginning of 3rd grade at Texas Virtual Academy @ Southwest. TXVA is a virtual public school. Yesterday started off with an assembly in the auditorium. Now you may ask how do you do this at a virtual school. We do it on line using the program/website called Elluminate. Elluminate has a whiteboard where you can write or show powerpoint presentations. I can hear the speakers and type in my questions. There where 400 people there. Afterwards we did a small introductory lessons on how to use their online schooling system (which is pretty cool). Then Zachary started taking a reading test. The test will adjust to every question you answer wrong or right in order to pinpoint your grade level. So the test lasted 2 hours.

Today he did the math portion of the test and it adjusted the same way. It took him 2 hours and 40 min. to finish. At one point he had gotten into algebra questions like 4ab + b - a/b= with a=2 & b=4. He knew how to substitute the letters for the numbers but didn't know you multiply 4ab. So, the test adjusted down from that. We then did an introducation to learning their system. This program will be done for the first 10 days. Then he was got onto Study Island. It teaches math, reading and social studies in a game format. He really enjoyed it.

I don't know when we will find out the results of his 2 test. I hope it will be soon. But, we are off to a great start.

G/T in Texas: Is it Worth the Label?

In the state of Texas at some time during a child’s year in Kindergarten they are nominated by the teacher or the parent to get tested. This test will determine if your child is Gifted or not and if so will be placed into the G/T program at your child’s school. But is it worth getting tested?

Most schools have a G/T pullout program. This program is for children who have tested into the gifted range. These children are the top 2% of the children in the school. They are pulled out for 45 min. once a week. The time in which the child is pulled out is during an elective course like P.E., Spanish or Computers. This is the only service that G/T children receive currently.

When the child is pulled out they are normally pulled out during a class in which they would be learning new material or a class in which they enjoy. Children are not pulled from a class during a subject in which they have mastered for that grade.

The G/T pullout program focuses on critical thinking skills. This is a skill that all children G/T or not would benefit from. The G/T pullout program should focus on the subject or area that the child is gifted and help the child to continue learning and advancing in that subject/area.

So, if a G/T child is not being helped in the subject or area that this child is gifted and is being pulled out of classes in which they enjoy and are learning new material then why would any parent allow their child to be label as gifted? There is no benefit to the child’s giftedness when labeled G/T and placed in the pullout program.

If G/T children in the state of Texas really received help in the subject or area that they are advanced in the gifted child would flourish. The state of Texas needs to overhaul how they treat our brightest and smartest children. These children need subject acceleration, grade acceleration, early entrance into Kindergarten, counseling and peers that are on their same academic level be it the same age or not.

Currently the state of Texas is teaching our gifted children that it isn’t what you know it is how old you are that gets you through school. Until the state stops discriminating by age within the schools our gifted children will not receive an acceptable education through the public school system.

Weight Update

Ok, I skipped the last 2 weigh-ins. One I forgot and the second one I went to the doctor. So, I went yesterday. I have gain 1.4 pounds but after a cousins reunion it could have been a lot more. Goal for this week is to write everything that I eat down.

Voodoo Grove

Voodoo Grove

I don't know if this will work or not. Here is a link to a YouTube video of a great band. They were a local band from college (NSU). They went down to New Orleans and dissolved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyLEm2lcIlM