Hi Ms.Mandell, I hope you are having a wonderful week. I tried to blog through my iPad, but when I get to it,it shows the question and I can't blog.Am I supposed to comment or is it something else? Please answer on Monday in block 4.I am very eager to do this assignment. Sincerely and respectfully, Arushi Sai Vadali
Make sure that you sign in to the blog and then become a follower of the blog(add it to your reading list) and then you will be able to post in the white box.
I will also suggest to always type your response FIRST in a google doc or word file, save it and then copy it here. Control+C copies and Control+v PASTES it here!
My ideal GNT classroom would have learning and fun mixed into one great year. It would be nice to experiment and find answers to some problems ourselves. For example, we could study how far a paper airplane with a point will fly how far one without a point will. Not only science, but we can also apply social studies learning about the world around us. It would also be nice if we could have a Do Now, a little worksheet that we have to do as soon as we come into class. Even a little puzzle would do. If possible we should be able to choose the difficulty level. There should be three stacks, one with some easy puzzles, another with difficult puzzles, and the last with problems in between. That will give a nice beginning warm up. There should also be a place with little activities to do while we wait for others to finish if we are done early. There could be word searches, crossword puzzles and maybe even some Sudoku. There could be some puzzle games like the Rubik’s cube or a puzzle ball. We could also have a nature unit where we go outside and study, well, nature. The classroom could have a caterpillar or a plant a seed and record observations on how much the caterpillar or seed advanced in its life cycle. There could be scavenger hunts trying to find a bunch of things listed in a piece of paper. When we find that specific item, we read what it says about that item, check it on our sheet, write down where we found it and then start looking for the other items listed. There should also be a poster in the classroom every week stating the day’s homework. Sometimes we also need to look for the poster! There should be two people assigned at a time to be paper passers. That will make it easier and a lot faster than having students raise their hands every time some papers need to be passed out. The paper passers can change every month or so. There could also be other jobs such as collectors, who collect the work, and board erasers who erase the board. Each table should pick a captain, a writer, a substitute and a questioner for every time we do a group activity. The writer should be the one with the neatest handwriting, because he or she will write or record our work down. The captain will be there to guide the group in case of any disputes. If the captain doesn’t know the answer to a question or problem, that is when the questioner comes in. He or she will ask the teacher any questions the group might have. The fourth person, the substitute, will take the job of a person who is not there as long as they are not there. When the person comes back, they can take their job back. That way whenever we do group projects, there are no arguments over who does what. I think all of my ideals will make the GNT classroom a better place.
When I think of G and T I think of learning in a fun and interactive way that engages me into the topic. My ideal G and T classroom wouldn’t be like “You have to do this!” but would give you a choice in what you would do (either write about the way your brain functions or make a diagram of the brain with each part labeled and given a description of.) The block would start of in my ideal G and T classroom with a challenge on the board. We would get a few minutes to attempt to solve the puzzle. Then we would get into the main part of the class. There should be different units in the classroom. Each week you get assigned into a unit with different people than who you worked with in the last unit. In each unit there should be a different way of working. So let’s suppose in unit 1, the system works like you should get 20 points and there are activities listed which each give you a different amount of points based on difficulty, and in unit 2 there is a list of topics to write about and you have to choose two of them, and in unit 3 it is the same assignment for everyone, see what I mean. So after the topic is over everyone should have gone to each unit. If you are done before the time is up then you either work on the challenge or go to the fun unit. In the fun unit, there should be hands on experiments or fun facts about any subject you want. There should be a packet for every subject including a packet just for fun along with a few puzzles or brain teasers. In the just for fun packet, there should be fun experiments like which paper airplane model would fly the best with instructions to make each plane, but that one you would have to test at home or else someone’s head would be the crash site for one of the planes. In the writing packet, there should be fun topics like write a story about Tom without using letters that swoop down or have a dot (j, i, g, y, q.) If you finish a packet it will come under extra credit. After the time is up for the units then we go over the challenge. If someone gets the challenge right for three weeks in a row then they get to choose their group members for the next project. It would usually be that the teacher puts you into groups but if you get the privilege of choosing you have to choose a person of the opposite gender then the next time would be the same gender as you and so on depending on how many people are in each group. For the groups there should be jobs. Each group should have a lead that analyzes what we are doing and bosses everyone else around (ha-ha). Another component of the group is the writer who writes all of the steps and results. One of the most vital roles is the worker who does all the work. There could be more than one worker. The final job is the reviewer who checks all the work and discusses the work done with the rest of the class when the time is appropriate. I also think that once in a while there should be a friendly argument over a topic the teacher gives us so we could express our opinions. There should also be some tournaments sometimes about any topic or game like chess. Another competition there should be is to see who could build the best bridge when the topic is architecture. The winner of this could also choose their group. I would also like to do some experiments with the whole of the class. The class itself should also have jobs. Supraj already has the job of passing out the folders. There should also be jobs for passing papers out, collecting homework or other papers to hand in, and erasing the white board. The jobs should change per month. This is good because it saves a lot of time and energy. This is how I would want my G and T classroom to be because it is fun, simple, and also educative.
I have many ideas or wants for a G&T classroom, but most of them would be, most likely, impossible to get in the classroom. For example, a class pet that’s an elephant would be pretty cool, but it will probably not fit in the door. Also, we probably won’t get an elephant as a class pet probably cause it’s an elephant. But seriously a class pet would be really awesome. Like some frogs or a turtle or maybe even some fish. Class pets would help us a lot. It will let us learn about different types of animals. Another idea that I have for our G&T classroom is for us to have a Do-Now for us to do as soon as we step into the classroom. It should be a math problem or a brain teaser or some type of riddle. This would let us have something to do while you are getting our lesson ready or whatever you need to do at the start of the class. The do now’s are one of the wants that I have for the G&T classroom that actually makes sense. The do now’s will also let us do something fun and challenging to keep us entertained at the start of every G&T class. A cool thing that I would like to be added to 6th grade G&T is experiments. Experiments are awesome and would definitely make G&T way more fun. Like playing around with dry ice and making lots of cool smoke. Another thing that would be cool is if we could use liquid nitrogen to make Dippin Dots. I saw the tutorial on how to do it once and I always wanted to do it since but I never knew where to get liquid nitrogen from.It would be cool if each table would do the same experiment and see the different results. One of my ideas for an ideal G&T classroom is if we did experiments. One of the more fun ideas I have for this classroom is groups. Working in groups for projects and homework and other things would be amazing. It would be even better if we could pick our partners. This is because since we are familiar with who we will be working with, we will probably get a better grade. We will also work better together if we are in groups. If we work in groups it’s also a plus for you too! That is because if we work in groups you will have to work less. You will have to grade fewer papers if you grade fewer papers that means it will take up much less of your time. Having groups are definitely my favorite of all the ideas I mentioned here. Finally, the last idea I will mention here for our classroom is to use computers or Chromebooks. This is one of my ideas because of how awesome it is. For example, it’s way more fun to type an essay than actually writing one. And anyways, paper is SOOOO 20th century! Computers are more fun and simple than using paper for assignments and projects. What if you have horrible handwriting, like me, it will be easier to just read what I or someone else wrote online, where you can easily make out what someone typed. This is my last idea to help make our G&T classroom better and also more fun.
Once I found out that I got into G&T I felt so blessed. I felt really proud of myself. A new class, a new teacher, and definitely a new subject is something that I never had done before obviously. G&T is a different class unlike math and reading writing, which we constantly have. We do those subjects everyday. That being said, I want G&T to go perfectly, especially for this case. First of all, in my ideal G&T classroom I’m hoping that we get to use a lot of technology instead of paper. You got to believe it, SAVE THE TREES! I think of technology as a very interesting subject. There are lots of things that our whole class can do with it. We create a ton of projects online instead of buying supplies; do research for information, and more. Another reason why I want to use technology in my ideal classroom is that we can go on different and fun websites for learning specific topics. I think that, that’ll be great. We can learn different things beside from what we are going to be doing in G&T too. Technology in G&T will be more efficient. It will make the classes go faster and smoother. That is why I think we should have tech in our classroom. In my ideal classroom I would also like if we did a ton of varieties of activity. The activities that I am taking about are the ones that involve our minds. That will also make us smarter. I wish to do different puzzles for example, Sudoku’s, and riddles. The thing that would be even more fun is a G&T packet. That packet should include every subject, including puzzles and word searches. I’d also enjoy having a lot of group activities. Group work will make us socialize with people we don’t know. One day we will all probably become good friends because of G&T. Each table or group will have a team name. Everyday when we walk in, on our table, there will be a sign that either says Station 1, 2, 3, and possibly 4. Each group has to go to their assigned activity and finish it. Whichever group finishes first, they get a point for the day. The group that reaches 10 points wins and gets a prize. After that, you can move on with G&T class. Moreover; I’d like to do creative crafts. For me, creativity makes me think and crafts are just really fun. Creativity also makes me imagine and problem solve. Speaking of solving problems, I think I have a solution to making our classes go easier. We should have jobs in the class such as a, paper passer and much more. That will too make us more responsible. During G&T it would also be pretty cool to experiment and add a little bit of science and engineering. For example, we can experiment what would happen if a kite didn’t have any wings. I’m also thinking of having some type of plant or living organism so that we can learn about their qualities and watch it grow. That will conclude life science too. I think that all these ideas will make G&T a better place to learn and grow.
G n T is very fun but I think it could be better. There are many ways to make it better for example you can have the students pick what they want to do. Every week I think you should get the tests and everything else done and then the students can vote on what to do next. At the end of class we should get 30 minutes to do whatever we vote on. For example we should be able to vote on playing math games, having a building competition with clay, to doing science experiments. We should also have lots of extra credit possibilities. For example if we had to make a 5 paragraph essay for homework if we did 7 paragraphs we would get extra credit. The next adjustment should be seating. There should be free seating so everyone doesn’t sit in one place for the whole year. There should also be an option to sit on your own if you think it disturbs you to sit with everyone. The only rule about free seating should be that every time you come in you cannot sit with the person you sat next to the prior week. After you don’t sit with that person for a week than you can sit with that person again. This allows everyone to make more friends and learn about many cultures. Next is attendance. Everyone should be motivated to come to school even if it’s just for G n T. There should be a chart that everyone gets and every time they come to class you should put a sticker on one square. When they take the charts home they might add stickers to it so you can prevent this by putting different stickers on the square every week. When you get 4 stickers (Which means they come 4 times a month) you should have a prize box where they get to pick one thing from it. The final adjustment is we should have access to chrome books and we should go to the apple lab sometimes to do projects. We can do power point on the laptops and present them to class. We could maybe do a writing project on word and we can write whatever we want and who ever writes the most can get a prize. Finally we might be able to learn how to make Prezi’s and it will be very fun. These are all of my adjustments that we should make to G n T. First we should have free seating but with a few rules like you can’t sit next to the same person. Then we should want to be here for G n T every Monday because of the prizes you get when you attend class. Finally we should be able to get technology very often for various different projects. These are all the thing you should add to G n T. I hope you take these suggestions even though some of them are very hard to achieve.
I was completely out of this world when I got a mail that said “Your child is eligible for the G+T program”. I just thought of all the wonderful things that I would be doing. Projects, presentations, everything that would make me so happy and proud of myself. Well, I knew all of these things would be available only if…we had an ideal, hard working class. That is exactly what I am going to describe now. An ideal G+T classroom. The first part, and cooperative class. The only way we could get things done and move on is if we cooperate. We can learn a lot more than if we were just playing around and doing whatever we want. If we all follow directions, we might even get to learn more than we planned! Next thing, attendance. If we do something important, like a test, or even an important lesson, and someone misses it, it could be holding up the whole class to work on an assignment or to move on. Even worse, you have chances of falling behind. That could risk your whole grade. I don’t think anyone would want that happening. Another thing I’d like to talk about is…SMILE! Every day there is so much to do, so many exciting things to accomplish, so many goals to reach. I guarantee, we can accomplish so many things and become 6th grade Einsteins! But that chat happen if we’re gloomy, dark and atrocious, I don’t think we can do anything but frown. For all those people out there who like to save energy, Fun Fact! It takes more muscles to frown than smile! So don’t spend your valuable time and effort to frown! Smile…it might even just be enough to get you an A+ in class participation! We talked about positive attitudes, so now let’s move on to our surroundings. Neatness. Sometimes, a little neat is needed. It would be completely abhorrent if you were so messy you couldn’t find a pencil. It’s too scary! In reality, I get the fact that we all lose things, and it’s true. We’re only human. But if you lose/can’t find something every single class, that’s called disorganization. That’s pretty much what we don’t want. If we do have that, it would be bizarre because we are G+T students. We’re the cool kids! We’re the kids that are in because we excelled in simple things like, following directions, organization, discipline, and so on. We should know how to stay organized. Next, thing on line, preparation. We all know GNT is a 4th block class, but class preparation is important. One more thing is that class preparation can well affect the class as well as yourself too. Classes will be held behind, you will hold it up, it just not good. These are all what the class needs. Now for learning. I think that if we want an ideal classroom, we should have some things that are far out of this world. Exploding Volcanoes, Potato lights and so much galore. These are what all we need for an ideal G+T classroom.
My ideal G&T classroom would be very social, lots of interacting with technology, and learning lots of science. So, we would get to discuss our topic with friends, which is better than doing it yourself. Also, we interact a lot with technology, which would be better than paper. Also, learning lots of science would be great, as everyone wants to know a lot of things. So, this is what an ideal G&T classroom will be like for me. Discussing topics with friends is good for various reasons. One of the reasons is because it is very interactive. This will increase our social skills. It also makes the project more enjoyable. In addition, we will have a great time working together, and helping each other to help finish our project. Working together can also make a project better. You can ask for help, or somebody can help you think of ideas, which would have been better than working all alone. In addition, your group can help you if you are having any trouble. If you are confused or behind schedule, your group can help you fix your problems. So, this is how discussing with friends can make a project a lot more enjoyable and simple, as well as making it a lot better than it could have been if you worked on it all alone. Interacting with technology will also better than not interacting with technology. This is also better than normal paper, because it is much faster than paper, because all you have to do on technology is tap buttons to get letters and words on, which is easier than making outlines of letters and numbers on paper. Also, you can do special tricks that you can’t do on paper, such as special effects, and animation, which will make our presentations look better. Lastly, technology is mainly our future now, although paper used to be our future, so working with technology is basically preparing us for our future, so that we have an easier future. This is why interacting with technology is more important than working with paper, and is more efficient than paper. Learning lots of science would also be good, because science teaches lots of vital things. Science also teaches lots of fun facts, in which we have a passion to learn. Also, a G&T class would have us learn lots of high level science. Besides, who doesn’t want to know more about the world, and how it works? Also, science will cover most of what you have in life, so learning science is also vital to learning in life. Many people will do science in the future, which is why we should start learning it now, so that we have a head start in the future. Otherwise, we will get left behind, because we didn’t learn lots of science when we were young, and will not live a good as life as if we had known lots of things. So, an ideal G&T classroom would be having lots of social interaction, so that a presentation would be easier. It would also have plenty of technology usage, so we could have lots of factors to make a better presentation. And finally, it would have lots of things having to do with science, so that we can learn a lot more than we already know. If we have each of this, it would be exactly what my ideal G&T classroom would be like.
An Ideal Gifted and Talented Classroom for me is a fun, creative, and a place full of imaginative minds. In the G&T classroom I expect a kind, fun, and creative teacher, which we already have!
My ideal G&T class would have very respectful classmates. It should be filled with great ideas and smiles. Before I got into the Gifted and Talented program this year, I would always hear from my friends that they’d do cool and fun projects! We should also have something to ourselves, like a class pet or a book that we’d make together as a class. At the end of the year, we would have a class yearbook! This year I’d like to do A LOT of work on technology! Maybe we can use the new Apple room with permission from either Mrs. Cilento or Mr. Postorino. This year I want to learn new and advanced learning skills. I also want to do some power point projects too! Some advanced Power Point techniques will do just the thing! During the past few years, I have been very eager to be in G&T and go on a field trip after watching some of my friends show up with flower pot holders and little wood calendars from Home Depot! It would be awesome if we get to go on a field trip somewhere entertaining and where we can learn or do hands on activities! I sure hope that every-once-in-a-while we would learn a few words in different languages. The country of that language would be researched by….US! Every other month, we can focus on a specific culture, and then together do an activity on that. This will get us going, and can encourage us to explore new and different parts of the world! From the day I heard about this program, I was astonished of all the amazing work my classmates did. Now, I would like to enjoy this moment of being a gifted student. This year, I’d love if we can do some partner work with some of our friends who live nearby. Hopefully we can do some wacky science experiments! As I had mentioned earlier I would love it if we used more technology. In science class with Mrs. Rogoff, we take notes, do homework etc. all on the computers in Google Classroom. In our journals I think we should write down any goals we have for this year’s Gifted and Talented program.
Every month, Mrs. Mandell can give us a worksheet full of logic puzzles and other math puzzles etc., like the ones we solved during our G&T test. Every time we do this together, depending on the level of the student, you can increase the level of the puzzles, so it will get harder and harder. I personally love and enjoy solving these types of puzzles. As we do this, our minds will get more exercise, and more exercise means that the brain will grow more. The Gifted and Talented program is meant to be a place where the students work together and show their creativity. These suggestions for an ideal Gifted and Talented classroom can make this a very enjoyable and a great learning experience!
My ideal gifted and talented classroom is that we would have a very nice and helping teacher. I would also like to have respectable, fun, helpful, and encouraging classmates. I hope that we will be able to have about three to four lessons about all kinds of different things. I hope that in this gifted and talented class we will be able to be imaginative, creative, fun, and happy. This year I would really like to have some fun projects to do without any stress. I would like this gifted and talented class to be stressful and relaxing. Another thing that I would like is to have not that much homework. Most of all, I would like to learn about new and different things this year. I hope we could interact with technology and learn more skills about technology. I hope that at the end of every gifted and talented class everyone would be happy and have smiles on their faces. I would like to learn all sorts of things that we have not gone over in school yet. I hope that we will be able to go on fun field trips and be stress free. I hope that everything in the room is organized, even also the things we are going to learn. I hope that at the end of some classes we could have fun and play a game altogether with everyone. Another thing that I would find fun and interesting is that sometimes when the weather is nice out, we could have some classes or class time outside. I would be very grateful if everyone in the class could be friends with one another. The most important part to me is to have gifted and talented classes to be stress free. I hope that instead of class being stressful, I hope it would be fun and not just boring. Students should be respectful to the teacher. I also hope that this year our gifted and talented teacher would not have to scream at us. I hope that we will all one day love our gifted and talented teacher because she is helping us learn more than what we already know about. Let us be thankful that the teacher is here to help us learn. I especially hope that we will have enough supplies for everyone to use. I hope that this year in gifted and talented classes, we will have fun and just enjoy being with our friends. I would like have more free time to read, have fun, and talk to our fellow classmates or friends. I also hope that sometimes we could have a radio on so we could listen to music while we are doing work. My ideal gifted and talented class would be to have some freedom in a classroom instead of having to follow all these rules the teacher makes. I hope that we (the students) would be able to make some rules of our own. Overall, I would like to have this GNT class stress free, fun, creative, enjoyable, and some freedom to do whatever we want to do.
My ideal G+T classroom would include many exciting hands-on activities.For example, last year, my favorite part was when we were able to make and customize our own kites. Mrs. Azar had us decorate the kite first, then showed us how to assemble it. Then after we created the kites, we were able to fly them! None of them actually stayed in the air for long though. Another activity we did last year was a Rube Goldberg machine. Each of the classes made their own machine. Another thing Mrs. Azar had us do was create our own inventions. We did this activity in groups. My group invented the “Automatic Fish Feeder” It was an ok invention. It was made out of a 2-liter bottle, some plastic items, and a paper towel roll. Like the name says, it helps you feed fish. Two years ago, we did our architecture unit in G+T. It was one of the best topics of the year! There was a challenge where you had to build a model of the Empire State Building (my group did it and we have a picture on the district website.) We worked with simple machines and robotics.It was a blast! Every year, we had a major project grade that we were supposed to work on in the middle of the year. I also think my ideal G+T class would use lots of technology. For our invention unit, we also had to brainstorm, with a group, another cool invention, plus make a snazzy short commercial to go along with it, AND a little poster we would make on the laptops. My group had the idea of the “NRG Block.” It was one of those portable chargers in the shape of a cube. It was also supposed to have a lightning bolt as its logo. We stated in our commercial that it could store much more power than other portable chargers and that it comes in many different colors. We were supposed to create the commercial with the imovie app on the ipads, and, like I said earlier, we made posters with a program on the laptops provided. Another example of the use of technology in G+T is the projector. Mrs. Azar, and many other teachers, have now become dependent on projectors for lessons, project presentations, videos/movies, slideshows, and much more. Mrs. Azar specifically uses her projector for project presentations mid-year. Most classes also now use google much. For example, I am using google docs to type this very blog as you read. Teachers also now like to use google classroom. Teachers can have students join their “google classroom” and teachers can post due assignments on their google classroom. Nowadays, many schools are using technology help teach their classes. Technology helps make learning more fun for children, such as myself. So I think that technology is ideal for ANY class. One more thing that my ideal G+T class would have are brain games. I know. What do you mean by brain teasers? You ask. Well, it’s because I enjoy brain teasers. It is always fun to have your brain tricked and teased and just confused. Plus, they can be useful for activities to do after work is finished. Sure, reading a book is fun to, but so are brain games. I hope you keep all these ideas in mind.
My ideal GnT is a place where you challenge yourself to be a better you. We should have the freedom to choose what we want to do during the block. We would have three choices and we would have tables for each assignment so we would be more comfortable with our classmates. We could do that maybe once a month for half a block. The tables would have different sections about what we are learning about. When we come into the room the board should say DO NOW and we would take a worksheet off the back table and start it. That would be good so that as soon as we step into the classroom we would start thinking. We would go over it really quickly since it should be only one question so that we don't waste class time. But it should be some kind of brain teaser or riddle. It should get you thinking a lot. I think we should do many interesting experiments and projects. For projects we should be able to pick our own partners. We should have a half hour in every class to do the project for four weeks. If we don't finish we have homework. I think that if we get to pick our partners we will be able to work better and you would have less work to check. For an experiment each table will have a different hypothesis and we would see all the different outcomes of the experiments. Then we would collect all of the data and draw a conclusion. I think that to learn we should use Chrome books so that we could do near pod, story bird, or just learn new things. Since I have ugly handwriting this would really help you read my work instead of trying to figure out what I wrote. I think that if we do get homework we should have to read a book and answer questions to practice our RACE skills. After we learn a section of our unit we should have a quiz and before a test we should have a game that will help us study. It would be a nice fun exercise to study for the test. Each table would be a team and the table who wins gets a prize. I think we should learn by having a power point or slide on the board. Everyone will discuses it among their table and then each table would have a different answer and explanation. Sometimes we would have a worksheet and we would have to complete it. If everyone at your table completes it then you can share your answers and see if you are correct so that we wont waste time. We should also have jobs like someone passes out the folders as soon as he/she gets into the room. Someone could always pass out the papers and he/she could pick a friend to help. We could have the board eraser who obviously erases the board. Another person could be the cleaner upper who cleans everything up in the last two minutes of class that person could also collect all the papers if we had homework or any forms that need to be handed in. The thing I really want for GnT is it to be a great learning environment. I also want it to be fun and challenging.
Since early childhood, I have been told that an individual must find his or her own place in the world. That he or she must carve out an identity through experiences, time, and by acquiring education. In my mind, this class is the perfect opportunity for me to discover myself in a vast world. My ideal G&T classroom would be full of excitement with knowledgeable learning experiences. It is an expectation that I put on myself, that by the end of the year I would have accomplished many goals by opening up my mind to better possibilities. My G&T classroom would be an encouraging place to learn and my heart yearns for it to be a place where all of us can work as a team and apply our skills together. It will be a place where we can all help each other and learn from our mistakes. It’s important to learn and apply what we know to new things. My ideal G&T classroom would be a place to continuously learn more everyday. My G&T classroom would be a place where we would grasp new information. We will expand our wisdom and express our intelligence as a class, by applying our old skills and newly achieved ones. My expectation is for all of us to be at a higher level by the end of the year. This will take place gradually and little by little learning and grasping knowledge that would satisfy us. The classroom would contain an encouraging atmosphere. Weekly we will enter the class excited to learn and will not be afraid to ask questions or embarrassed to fix wrong ones. It is a place we accept each other's opinions regardless what it is about. There is mutual respect for each other in class and we care about one another. All of us should be motivated to learn exciting things and expand our knowledge. I want my mind to mature in such a way that is full of excitement and also somewhat challenging. I enjoy doing brain teasers, and riddles because it’s fun and gets my mind going. It’s also cool reading and learning things about the world. I want to get to a higher standard by working together in our G&T class. My mind enjoys interesting subjects and going outside the box. I want to learn about all sorts of things, such as, interesting topics that leave me curious about what is coming next. I also enjoy things in different genres and stories that speak for different cultures! Class discussions are helpful too. It’s a great way of listening to each others experiences and opinions. I want our classroom to be a helpful and healthy environment for everyone. I really enjoy being able to have this opportunity with G&T this year. I’m hoping for more to come my way. It’s a great experience having so many amazing things to learn about each week. “There’s no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs.”- Author unknown. G&T will be at a very successful position with all of the hardworking and talented people. G&T will help students reach their goals, and it will help them become who they want to be.
My ideal G&T classroom would contain 3 things, a class pet, technology, and fun class work. Firstly I think we should have a class pet. Every week we come in we can observe it and write a one paragraph summary about the pet. We can even have some kids bring it home to take care of it. Another thing I would have in an ideal G&T classroom is the use of technology. Think about it. In this generation, almost all jobs use technology is some shape or form, so why not learn how to use it. We can learn coding which is probably a lot of people’s future career. If we know how to code right now, once we are adults, we will be masters. This class should also use chrome books. We can research, do work, etc. It will even save paper. Also we need to have fun class work. What’s the point of learning if you can’t even pay attention? We should be able to talk to our friends about something and do projects. Another idea we have is we can have stations. Basically we walk into the class and there is different stuff at each table. On the board it would say “Today’s topic is plants”. One table could have supplies for writing and essay about it. Another could have an actual plant and you have to write a little summary about it. The third could have chrome books where we type the essay. The last table could have people drawing a garden and plants. This ways it meets everyone’s needs whether it’s on the computer or in real life. This opens up a lot of opportunities for us and we would never get bored. Another great idea would be to have us to projects. My favorite would be to do a Prezi about a certain topic. For example, we have to choose our dream job. In my case I would first introduce myself and who I am. Then explain what job I want to do and what it contains. So I would say, “Hi I’m Mahir Rana and I would want to be a game designer. A game designer codes and makes assets (Textures, models, sounds, etc.) for games.” And it doesn’t have to on the computer. Someone who likes to draw can make a poster. Or someone who has experience with coding can make a small program about his project. This makes it so we aren’t locked to one thing which is kind of annoying in other classes. My goal of writing this little essay is to make G&T great again. Oops wrong speech. My goal is to make G&T something kids look forward to. Not groan and moan. And the most important part of it all is… The teacher of course! Without the teacher we wouldn’t be able to learn. And for this all to happen, Ms. Mandell has to take it into consideration. In short, I think our G&T classroom needs all of this to make it a fun and better place to learn.
When I think of GNT, I think of thinking outside the box. Something normal, average kids can’t express or think of. GNT isn’t math, it isn’t language arts, science, or history, it’s is all of those combined plus more. If we were to use math in this case it would be, GNT= Fun+Subjects+Imagination. My ideal GNT classroom would be a classroom with advanced technology that would make it easier to interact with others. We would have access to technology that was never dreamt of. I ask myself, “Why advanced technology out of everything else,” because technology gives access to everything else. Well, not yet but I believe if that technology like that is invented, it should be used in schools, for children, to let them learn. Another factor that I would want in my ideal GNT classroom would be to interact with other GNT students around the world, to work together. A class pet would also do because they can help us and keep us safe. Another reason we should have all this cool stuff is because it helps us to build our knowledge of everything. It gives a better way of learning and studying. It gives us a better understanding, and imagine that in a GNT classroom! Another idea that popped up in my head was, what if all objects drawn on the board become 3-d the second you write them. That would definitely be a great feature to be added to the GNT classroom. Right now, students are limited to the resources in the GNT class, but I think the students should have an unlimited array of choices, so they could perform more efficiently in their work. Right now, there aren’t a lot of new inventions that are being invented, but I think that old inventions should be brought into the GNT classrooms to get studied about. Maybe, students can learn something from ancient and past artifacts and inventions that scientists never recognized! Ah, and now the problem about paper. Useful in many ways but not all. Some people love paper but others don’t. For some people, it confuses them when you have a lot of it in front of you, others like it that way. Personally, I like paper in some ways like essays because you get to fix your mistakes and you see what you did wrong but if type it on a laptop or computer, you can’t see your mistakes. To fix that problem I suggest that in our GNT classroom, there should be a choice in which you get the choice to pick whether you want to use paper or the technology that is available. Also a piece that is key to this puzzle is……. FUN! Fun because GNT should be challenging but not in a way that it puts a student in pressure or stress. It should be fun and the students should think that GNT is worth it and they will learn a lot from it. Imagination is also key to a better and more advanced GNT atmosphere because the students should be able to relate to ideas to the topics they are learning about. They should have a broad vision of what they are learning about so they can think out of the box so one day they can be an Einstein. The GNT atmosphere should allow kids to do that. Last but not least, I think the GNT classroom should be comfortable for the students to do there work. They should have enough space to work, so that they can concentrate without being disturbed. Now, imagine all these ideas plus the ideas of others in one GNT classroom. Wouldn’t it be GREAT!?!?!?!?!?!
My ideal Gifted and talented classroom. By: Jiselle D’souza Homeroom # 507 Grade 6 Enrichment
My ideal G&T classroom is a place where students can learn and do fun, interactive , hands on activities such as powerpoints, activities using technology( chromebooks,Ipads,etc.), experiments , and group work in a friendly atmosphere. The Gifted and Talented program should be an educational opportunity for students to dig deeper than the pace of other students in their regular classes. I have been going to G&T enrichment for 4 years now and it has many great qualities such as the educational lessons, activities like (architecture, learning about other cultures, and doing fun projects), and even watching videos about various interesting topics. I would like these things to still be in our classes along with all the other things from last year. I feel like the G&T atmosphere is also very different from the everyday classroom.When you walk in a regular classroom you would normally feel bored and tired but when you walk into a G&T classroom you feel a burst of joy and excitement knowing that each day will have a fun new day filled with many challenging projects and activities. A regular day at G&T in elementary school for me was after leaving class we would take a bus to Avenel Middle School. After we reached we would go to class and do our do now. Later on we would work on our major project meaning whatever we were working on for that period of time.When we were done with that we could help others or do fun games and puzzles until class ended. I think that this year's G&T program is much better than last year's already considering that we had to miss many classes last year including, math, social studies, health, and gym causing us to have to make up the work and have lot of homework for that night.(If we have to much homework we would have to stay up late at night causing us to be tired in class the next day.)Plus our grades won’t have to suffer for the students at G&T being out of class and missing the assignments or tired from not getting enough rest.This way we can keep up with our regular classes and our G&T classes without missing out on anything Although I really enjoyed the G&T curriculum last year I would add some small things that I think could make G&T better. For example we could do more presentations and projects instead of just doing worksheets.We could also work in groups more often because when working together people enjoy the work more,they work quicker, and with all the different minds the project will be done even more efficiently. I hope you will take my ideas into consideration to make the Gifted and Talented program even better than it already is! I am very glad to have such an amazing opportunity being in the Gifted and Talented program!Not only does it increase my knowledge but it makes me a better person!
When I think of a ideal G&T classroom, I think of having a great time learning and some awesome fun. I would have a great and fantastic teacher just like you Ms.Mandell. We would respect each other, have a lot of fun, and get work done as well. As you all know, G&T is a special program for gifted children. There are many subjects in G&T. Our subject is enrichment. We are very smart in math, science, and more subjects. I am really excited about this G&T year in middle school and I can’t wait to start. We should first start with the looks. That will get us started for the year. I think that when we enter the room, we should seek happiness in our minds. I understand that we don’t have a G&T room but we can still attach some quotes around the room that make us cheerful. Some examples would be like “Mistakes are proof that you are trying” by Samantha Snyder ” and “No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up, and never give up” by Regina Brett. These quotes will make us feel positive and have a good attitude throughout the class. Then, they will stay there just in case we ever need them during class. It also spices up Mrs.Hilarczyk’s room a little bit. All I’m saying is that, if we make the room look great, we will be great as well. The next thing that we need to focus on is following our daily routine. Since the time we walk in the classroom, I think we should have a daily routine. We should start with a daily puzzle to get our brains going. I think that it should be based on math and we should have a time limit. Then, we go over it quickly and put it in a folder that we take home and bring back each day. It should only take about 10 minutes. Then, if any announcements are to be made, this would be the time. After that, we go into the main part of the day. This would be a lesson, any test needed to do, worksheet, or other G&T assignments to do. Finally, to conclude the day, we should talk about what we learned and what would be coming up. We can relax, read books, do some puzzles, and more relaxing things so we can end the day well. Now finally, some suggestions about supplies. I think that we should use the computers one in a while. When you use the computer, you relax your wrist and use more of your fingers. We don’t have to use the paper all the time. Also, during 4th block, regular classes are not going on so we can borrow the chromebooks from Mr.Murphy or Mrs.Sharma( 6th Grade Science Teachers). Another thing that I think we should use is workbooks or packets. Maybe, we can have some packets to do relating to the topic. Then, when we finish them, grade them, and take them home. If we have the time, we can go over it. Maybe if you take these some of these ideas, the class and I can help you make anything interesting if possible. There is always a chance. You should never give up.
My ideal G&T class would be fun and also very educational. It would be nice to experiment on some of our own answers and who knows, maybe we can have an "AHA!" moment. We should start the day with a Do Now or some daily starters. That way, we can get a warm up, have something to look forward to as soon as we enter the class, and get ready for the lesson ahead. Maybe we can even have different levels of difficulty for them since not everyone is on the same level. There should be an easy level, middle level, and hard one. That way everyone can get a challenge. Maybe there will also be time to have different varieties each week so we can get an even amount of learning for each subject. I like to learn all the subjects in each day. We should also have worksheets to do while we are waiting for others to finish. In our spare time maybe we could do brain teasers or maybe crossword puzzles. They shouldn't be very easy but not too hard either. That way we have a little free time and don't continuously have to do work. It would be fun if we could have a teacher of the day. Each person should get a chance to teach a lesson based on what we are learning. It would be really cool to have a student's point of view and learn the way they take in knowledge. For the subject science, we should have a class pet. That way we could study the habitat of it and the needs. It would also just be alot of fun to have to take care of an animal. Maybe some butterflies where we can keep track of the stages and make a presentation. For math we could do some games using apps online. Maybe we could have a competition to see who gets the answer correct first. Math is really fun because you can use different formulas to get the same answer. Some were close to the middle of the year, we should get more serious since we will be getting close to PARCC. In my opinion, I would love to have surprise projects using posters, diagrams, models etc. every weekend. It would keep us all on our feet. You would never know when you have a grade due. This year, I know I am going to love being in G&T because my teacher seems nice as well. Mrs. Mandell seems really nice and I hope to learn things I don't know. From the look of the SGO test we took, I think we are going to learn alot about the brain and how it works. It would be awesome to learn about the brain and the parts we use because it would help us be prepared to learn what we are going to learn in the future. I'm looking forward to the next class and can't wait to begin all our new lessons.
G&T I would like to start-off by talking about how I became part of G&T. One day I found out that my teacher had recommended me for G&T test. I can tell you I still remember that day and how nervous I was… My older sister had told me that it is going to be an amazing experience. I was looking forward to this and soon I became part of it. One of the big learning’s from G&T class is that you become more responsible. I had to make-up all of my work on my own for classes that I would miss. Another thing I can say is that unlike all of our other classes, G&T is different.
I started reflecting on what would be my ideal G&T class? Boy, I thought this would be easy to write but the more I think about it, the more difficult it was to come-up with one easy answer. I have always cherished a class full of funny kids and a teacher full of energy. At the same time, I would prefer that my teacher would get to know all about me. Since G&T is special, this would help the teacher guide and motivate me to stand-out tall. Like many others, I am a totally different person in school when compared to at home. I strongly think that G&T class should be a place where we not only learn skills to be better but we can have fun and be ourselves. It should provide an environment for collaboration and growth. It should not be like other classes but one where we aren’t afraid to ask questions or try something new. We should all become close to each other, foster a relationship to help us learn from each other. If we know each other we won’t be afraid to share our thoughts or feel embarrassed.
In my previous year G&T classes we strived to do different things. Last year, we did many cool projects and experiments. We worked in groups and tried new things that we would have not thought-of otherwise. My ideal G&T class would be a place for innovation, try new things and become more knowledgeable. But add to this, I would want my class to be entertaining. The last thing you want is that it becomes boring and you only wait for the class to end. We probably can try to put together our own little shows and do fun activities in our classroom. There should be a time to bond with each other, share things, talk about experiences that will always help us remember each other.
I would not say that our class should be so different that it becomes something from another planet. It should provide us an opportunity to learn about things for which we had no prior knowledge. I also suggest that we get to learn and use advanced technology or test our brains. To me, G&T has no specific topic. It is general knowledge and a place where we learn about things we don’t learn in other blocks. I really look forward to this exciting learning experience every week, eagerly waiting for my next class.
My ideal G&T room is basically how I imagine a fancy, classy, Pinterest- style room, and I would love a classroom that is chic, but any room in which I feel expressive is a great classroom. My ideal G&T room would be large and bright. In my G&T room, there should be lots of bookshelves with books on all genres. On the shelves, there can be mystery, Shakespeare, science, etc. Because this is a G&T classroom, we need to have more advanced books about major topics. I love books. It’s like an escape from reality, so if I’m ever feeling down, I can come into my G&T room and read. Reading always helps me know that in any situation that you are in, you can always keep going. On the wall, I would want inspirational posters. But not any poster, it should be quotes by famous scientists and people who made major impacts in the world. There must also be Harry Potter quotes on some posters. I always thought that if you ever need to accomplish something, you need to have inspiration and motivation to keep going. All the inspirational people in the world probably had obstacles in the way. The teacher’s desk should be in the left side of the room. The teacher’s desk can be personalized by the teacher, but there MUST be a little plush apple with a cute smile on it in the corner of the table. In a classroom, a teacher is always VERY important and every teacher makes an impact on us. At the back of the room, there can be a bulletin board with little cards with what we learned that day. Sometimes, when we see what we did last time, we will not forget that easily. In G&T, we will definitely be learning more complex topics, so we need visual aids. For example, if we’re learning geology, we might need a cross section of the earth to help us learn better and if we are learning about the volcanoes at the bottom of the sea, we might need a model of the volcano. I personally think that if you see something, it helps you remember it better. When we are learning each topic, maybe a person who is an expert in that field can come into the classroom. Students and the expert can have interaction and the students can ask questions to that person. We could also debate about different topics in which people can have different opinions. My favorite part about G&T is that we get to learn more advanced subjects. Those advanced subjects are what we do not normally talk about in a regular classroom. I also like that we are not limited to one area, like History or Math or Writing, but we can roam around all different topics. In G&T, we talk about more interesting topics (no offense to regular classes) and I really like that. This is how I imagine my ideal G&T classroom should be. I also gave some reasons why I like G&T.
Ladies and Gents- Fabulous ideas. I will definitely get some five minute mysteries and some brain teasers for you to start with and settle in with at the beginning of class. Unfortunately, no pet, I have one at AMS, but I'm there 4 days a week in one room. Thanks for all the feedback...traveling from wing to wing is tough and limiting...
Hi Ms.Mandell,
ReplyDeleteI hope you are having a wonderful week.
I tried to blog through my iPad, but when I get to it,it shows the question and I can't blog.Am I supposed to comment or is it something else? Please answer on Monday in block 4.I am very eager to do this assignment.
Sincerely and respectfully,
Arushi Sai Vadali
Make sure that you sign in to the blog and then become a follower of the blog(add it to your reading list) and then you will be able to post in the white box.
ReplyDeleteI will also suggest to always type your response FIRST in a google doc or word file, save it and then copy it here. Control+C copies and Control+v PASTES it here!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ms.Mandell
ReplyDeleteMy ideal GNT classroom would have learning and fun mixed into one great year. It would be nice to experiment and find answers to some problems ourselves. For example, we could study how far a paper airplane with a point will fly how far one without a point will. Not only science, but we can also apply social studies learning about the world around us. It would also be nice if we could have a Do Now, a little worksheet that we have to do as soon as we come into class. Even a little puzzle would do. If possible we should be able to choose the difficulty level. There should be three stacks, one with some easy puzzles, another with difficult puzzles, and the last with problems in between. That will give a nice beginning warm up. There should also be a place with little activities to do while we wait for others to finish if we are done early. There could be word searches, crossword puzzles and maybe even some Sudoku. There could be some puzzle games like the Rubik’s cube or a puzzle ball. We could also have a nature unit where we go outside and study, well, nature. The classroom could have a caterpillar or a plant a seed and record observations on how much the caterpillar or seed advanced in its life cycle. There could be scavenger hunts trying to find a bunch of things listed in a piece of paper. When we find that specific item, we read what it says about that item, check it on our sheet, write down where we found it and then start looking for the other items listed. There should also be a poster in the classroom every week stating the day’s homework. Sometimes we also need to look for the poster! There should be two people assigned at a time to be paper passers. That will make it easier and a lot faster than having students raise their hands every time some papers need to be passed out. The paper passers can change every month or so. There could also be other jobs such as collectors, who collect the work, and board erasers who erase the board. Each table should pick a captain, a writer, a substitute and a questioner for every time we do a group activity. The writer should be the one with the neatest handwriting, because he or she will write or record our work down. The captain will be there to guide the group in case of any disputes. If the captain doesn’t know the answer to a question or problem, that is when the questioner comes in. He or she will ask the teacher any questions the group might have. The fourth person, the substitute, will take the job of a person who is not there as long as they are not there. When the person comes back, they can take their job back. That way whenever we do group projects, there are no arguments over who does what. I think all of my ideals will make the GNT classroom a better place.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of G and T I think of learning in a fun and interactive way that engages me into the topic. My ideal G and T classroom wouldn’t be like “You have to do this!” but would give you a choice in what you would do (either write about the way your brain functions or make a diagram of the brain with each part labeled and given a description of.) The block would start of in my ideal G and T classroom with a challenge on the board. We would get a few minutes to attempt to solve the puzzle. Then we would get into the main part of the class. There should be different units in the classroom. Each week you get assigned into a unit with different people than who you worked with in the last unit. In each unit there should be a different way of working. So let’s suppose in unit 1, the system works like you should get 20 points and there are activities listed which each give you a different amount of points based on difficulty, and in unit 2 there is a list of topics to write about and you have to choose two of them, and in unit 3 it is the same assignment for everyone, see what I mean. So after the topic is over everyone should have gone to each unit.
ReplyDeleteIf you are done before the time is up then you either work on the challenge or go to the fun unit. In the fun unit, there should be hands on experiments or fun facts about any subject you want. There should be a packet for every subject including a packet just for fun along with a few puzzles or brain teasers. In the just for fun packet, there should be fun experiments like which paper airplane model would fly the best with instructions to make each plane, but that one you would have to test at home or else someone’s head would be the crash site for one of the planes. In the writing packet, there should be fun topics like write a story about Tom without using letters that swoop down or have a dot (j, i, g, y, q.) If you finish a packet it will come under extra credit.
After the time is up for the units then we go over the challenge. If someone gets the challenge right for three weeks in a row then they get to choose their group members for the next project. It would usually be that the teacher puts you into groups but if you get the privilege of choosing you have to choose a person of the opposite gender then the next time would be the same gender as you and so on depending on how many people are in each group. For the groups there should be jobs. Each group should have a lead that analyzes what we are doing and bosses everyone else around (ha-ha). Another component of the group is the writer who writes all of the steps and results. One of the most vital roles is the worker who does all the work. There could be more than one worker. The final job is the reviewer who checks all the work and discusses the work done with the rest of the class when the time is appropriate.
I also think that once in a while there should be a friendly argument over a topic the teacher gives us so we could express our opinions. There should also be some tournaments sometimes about any topic or game like chess. Another competition there should be is to see who could build the best bridge when the topic is architecture. The winner of this could also choose their group. I would also like to do some experiments with the whole of the class. The class itself should also have jobs. Supraj already has the job of passing out the folders. There should also be jobs for passing papers out, collecting homework or other papers to hand in, and erasing the white board. The jobs should change per month. This is good because it saves a lot of time and energy. This is how I would want my G and T classroom to be because it is fun, simple, and also educative.
I have many ideas or wants for a G&T classroom, but most of them would be, most likely, impossible to get in the classroom. For example, a class pet that’s an elephant would be pretty cool, but it will probably not fit in the door. Also, we probably won’t get an elephant as a class pet probably cause it’s an elephant. But seriously a class pet would be really awesome. Like some frogs or a turtle or maybe even some fish. Class pets would help us a lot. It will let us learn about different types of animals.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea that I have for our G&T classroom is for us to have a Do-Now for us to do as soon as we step into the classroom. It should be a math problem or a brain teaser or some type of riddle. This would let us have something to do while you are getting our lesson ready or whatever you need to do at the start of the class. The do now’s are one of the wants that I have for the G&T classroom that actually makes sense. The do now’s will also let us do something fun and challenging to keep us entertained at the start of every G&T class.
A cool thing that I would like to be added to 6th grade G&T is experiments. Experiments are awesome and would definitely make G&T way more fun. Like playing around with dry ice and making lots of cool smoke. Another thing that would be cool is if we could use liquid nitrogen to make Dippin Dots. I saw the tutorial on how to do it once and I always wanted to do it since but I never knew where to get liquid nitrogen from.It would be cool if each table would do the same experiment and see the different results. One of my ideas for an ideal G&T classroom is if we did experiments.
One of the more fun ideas I have for this classroom is groups. Working in groups for projects and homework and other things would be amazing. It would be even better if we could pick our partners. This is because since we are familiar with who we will be working with, we will probably get a better grade. We will also work better together if we are in groups. If we work in groups it’s also a plus for you too! That is because if we work in groups you will have to work less. You will have to grade fewer papers if you grade fewer papers that means it will take up much less of your time. Having groups are definitely my favorite of all the ideas I mentioned here.
Finally, the last idea I will mention here for our classroom is to use computers or Chromebooks. This is one of my ideas because of how awesome it is. For example, it’s way more fun to type an essay than actually writing one. And anyways, paper is SOOOO 20th century! Computers are more fun and simple than using paper for assignments and projects. What if you have horrible handwriting, like me, it will be easier to just read what I or someone else wrote online, where you can easily make out what someone typed. This is my last idea to help make our G&T classroom better and also more fun.
Ya Pruthvi!A class pet would be nice.
DeleteOnce I found out that I got into G&T I felt so blessed. I felt really proud of myself. A new class, a new teacher, and definitely a new subject is something that I never had done before obviously. G&T is a different class unlike math and reading writing, which we constantly have. We do those subjects everyday. That being said, I want G&T to go perfectly, especially for this case.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, in my ideal G&T classroom I’m hoping that we get to use a lot of technology instead of paper. You got to believe it, SAVE THE TREES! I think of technology as a very interesting subject. There are lots of things that our whole class can do with it. We create a ton of projects online instead of buying supplies; do research for information, and more. Another reason why I want to use technology in my ideal classroom is that we can go on different and fun websites for learning specific topics. I think that, that’ll be great. We can learn different things beside from what we are going to be doing in G&T too. Technology in G&T will be more efficient. It will make the classes go faster and smoother. That is why I think we should have tech in our classroom.
In my ideal classroom I would also like if we did a ton of varieties of activity. The activities that I am taking about are the ones that involve our minds. That will also make us smarter. I wish to do different puzzles for example, Sudoku’s, and riddles. The thing that would be even more fun is a G&T packet. That packet should include every subject, including puzzles and word searches. I’d also enjoy having a lot of group activities. Group work will make us socialize with people we don’t know. One day we will all probably become good friends because of G&T. Each table or group will have a team name. Everyday when we walk in, on our table, there will be a sign that either says Station 1, 2, 3, and possibly 4. Each group has to go to their assigned activity and finish it. Whichever group finishes first, they get a point for the day. The group that reaches 10 points wins and gets a prize. After that, you can move on with G&T class. Moreover; I’d like to do creative crafts. For me, creativity makes me think and crafts are just really fun. Creativity also makes me imagine and problem solve. Speaking of solving problems, I think I have a solution to making our classes go easier. We should have jobs in the class such as a, paper passer and much more. That will too make us more responsible. During G&T it would also be pretty cool to experiment and add a little bit of science and engineering. For example, we can experiment what would happen if a kite didn’t have any wings. I’m also thinking of having some type of plant or living organism so that we can learn about their qualities and watch it grow. That will conclude life science too. I think that all these ideas will make G&T a better place to learn and grow.
G n T is very fun but I think it could be better. There are many ways to make it better for example you can have the students pick what they want to do. Every week I think you should get the tests and everything else done and then the students can vote on what to do next. At the end of class we should get 30 minutes to do whatever we vote on. For example we should be able to vote on playing math games, having a building competition with clay, to doing science experiments. We should also have lots of extra credit possibilities. For example if we had to make a 5 paragraph essay for homework if we did 7 paragraphs we would get extra credit.
ReplyDeleteThe next adjustment should be seating. There should be free seating so everyone doesn’t sit in one place for the whole year. There should also be an option to sit on your own if you think it disturbs you to sit with everyone. The only rule about free seating should be that every time you come in you cannot sit with the person you sat next to the prior week. After you don’t sit with that person for a week than you can sit with that person again. This allows everyone to make more friends and learn about many cultures.
Next is attendance. Everyone should be motivated to come to school even if it’s just for G n T. There should be a chart that everyone gets and every time they come to class you should put a sticker on one square. When they take the charts home they might add stickers to it so you can prevent this by putting different stickers on the square every week. When you get 4 stickers (Which means they come 4 times a month) you should have a prize box where they get to pick one thing from it.
The final adjustment is we should have access to chrome books and we should go to the apple lab sometimes to do projects. We can do power point on the laptops and present them to class. We could maybe do a writing project on word and we can write whatever we want and who ever writes the most can get a prize. Finally we might be able to learn how to make Prezi’s and it will be very fun.
These are all of my adjustments that we should make to G n T. First we should have free seating but with a few rules like you can’t sit next to the same person. Then we should want to be here for G n T every Monday because of the prizes you get when you attend class. Finally we should be able to get technology very often for various different projects. These are all the thing you should add to G n T. I hope you take these suggestions even though some of them are very hard to achieve.
I was completely out of this world when I got a mail that said “Your child is eligible for the G+T program”. I just thought of all the wonderful things that I would be doing. Projects, presentations, everything that would make me so happy and proud of myself. Well, I knew all of these things would be available only if…we had an ideal, hard working class. That is exactly what I am going to describe now. An ideal G+T classroom. The first part, and cooperative class. The only way we could get things done and move on is if we cooperate. We can learn a lot more than if we were just playing around and doing whatever we want. If we all follow directions, we might even get to learn more than we planned! Next thing, attendance. If we do something important, like a test, or even an important lesson, and someone misses it, it could be holding up the whole class to work on an assignment or to move on. Even worse, you have chances of falling behind. That could risk your whole grade. I don’t think anyone would want that happening. Another thing I’d like to talk about is…SMILE! Every day there is so much to do, so many exciting things to accomplish, so many goals to reach. I guarantee, we can accomplish so many things and become 6th grade Einsteins! But that chat happen if we’re gloomy, dark and atrocious, I don’t think we can do anything but frown. For all those people out there who like to save energy, Fun Fact! It takes more muscles to frown than smile! So don’t spend your valuable time and effort to frown! Smile…it might even just be enough to get you an A+ in class participation! We talked about positive attitudes, so now let’s move on to our surroundings. Neatness. Sometimes, a little neat is needed. It would be completely abhorrent if you were so messy you couldn’t find a pencil. It’s too scary! In reality, I get the fact that we all lose things, and it’s true. We’re only human. But if you lose/can’t find something every single class, that’s called disorganization. That’s pretty much what we don’t want. If we do have that, it would be bizarre because we are G+T students. We’re the cool kids! We’re the kids that are in because we excelled in simple things like, following directions, organization, discipline, and so on. We should know how to stay organized. Next, thing on line, preparation. We all know GNT is a 4th block class, but class preparation is important. One more thing is that class preparation can well affect the class as well as yourself too. Classes will be held behind, you will hold it up, it just not good. These are all what the class needs. Now for learning. I think that if we want an ideal classroom, we should have some things that are far out of this world. Exploding Volcanoes, Potato lights and so much galore. These are what all we need for an ideal G+T classroom.
ReplyDeleteMy ideal G&T classroom would be very social, lots of interacting with technology, and learning lots of science. So, we would get to discuss our topic with friends, which is better than doing it yourself. Also, we interact a lot with technology, which would be better than paper. Also, learning lots of science would be great, as everyone wants to know a lot of things. So, this is what an ideal G&T classroom will be like for me.
ReplyDeleteDiscussing topics with friends is good for various reasons. One of the reasons is because it is very interactive. This will increase our social skills. It also makes the project more enjoyable. In addition, we will have a great time working together, and helping each other to help finish our project. Working together can also make a project better. You can ask for help, or somebody can help you think of ideas, which would have been better than working all alone. In addition, your group can help you if you are having any trouble. If you are confused or behind schedule, your group can help you fix your problems. So, this is how discussing with friends can make a project a lot more enjoyable and simple, as well as making it a lot better than it could have been if you worked on it all alone.
Interacting with technology will also better than not interacting with technology. This is also better than normal paper, because it is much faster than paper, because all you have to do on technology is tap buttons to get letters and words on, which is easier than making outlines of letters and numbers on paper. Also, you can do special tricks that you can’t do on paper, such as special effects, and animation, which will make our presentations look better. Lastly, technology is mainly our future now, although paper used to be our future, so working with technology is basically preparing us for our future, so that we have an easier future. This is why interacting with technology is more important than working with paper, and is more efficient than paper.
Learning lots of science would also be good, because science teaches lots of vital things. Science also teaches lots of fun facts, in which we have a passion to learn. Also, a G&T class would have us learn lots of high level science. Besides, who doesn’t want to know more about the world, and how it works? Also, science will cover most of what you have in life, so learning science is also vital to learning in life. Many people will do science in the future, which is why we should start learning it now, so that we have a head start in the future. Otherwise, we will get left behind, because we didn’t learn lots of science when we were young, and will not live a good as life as if we had known lots of things.
So, an ideal G&T classroom would be having lots of social interaction, so that a presentation would be easier. It would also have plenty of technology usage, so we could have lots of factors to make a better presentation. And finally, it would have lots of things having to do with science, so that we can learn a lot more than we already know. If we have each of this, it would be exactly what my ideal G&T classroom would be like.
An Ideal Gifted and Talented Classroom for me is a fun, creative, and a place full of imaginative minds. In the G&T classroom I expect a kind, fun, and creative teacher, which we already have!
ReplyDeleteMy ideal G&T class would have very respectful classmates. It should be filled with great ideas and smiles. Before I got into the Gifted and Talented program this year, I would always hear from my friends that they’d do cool and fun projects! We should also have something to ourselves, like a class pet or a book that we’d make together as a class. At the end of the year, we would have a class yearbook! This year I’d like to do A LOT of work on technology! Maybe we can use the new Apple room with permission from either Mrs. Cilento or Mr. Postorino. This year I want to learn new and advanced learning skills. I also want to do some power point projects too! Some advanced Power Point techniques will do just the thing! During the past few years, I have been very eager to be in G&T and go on a field trip after watching some of my friends show up with flower pot holders and little wood calendars from Home Depot! It would be awesome if we get to go on a field trip somewhere entertaining and where we can learn or do hands on activities!
I sure hope that every-once-in-a-while we would learn a few words in different languages. The country of that language would be researched by….US! Every other month, we can focus on a specific culture, and then together do an activity on that. This will get us going, and can encourage us to explore new and different parts of the world!
From the day I heard about this program, I was astonished of all the amazing work my classmates did. Now, I would like to enjoy this moment of being a gifted student. This year, I’d love if we can do some partner work with some of our friends who live nearby. Hopefully we can do some wacky science experiments! As I had mentioned earlier I would love it if we used more technology. In science class with Mrs. Rogoff, we take notes, do homework etc. all on the computers in Google Classroom. In our journals I think we should write down any goals we have for this year’s Gifted and Talented program.
Every month, Mrs. Mandell can give us a worksheet full of logic puzzles and other math puzzles etc., like the ones we solved during our G&T test. Every time we do this together, depending on the level of the student, you can increase the level of the puzzles, so it will get harder and harder. I personally love and enjoy solving these types of puzzles. As we do this, our minds will get more exercise, and more exercise means that the brain will grow more.
The Gifted and Talented program is meant to be a place where the students work together and show their creativity. These suggestions for an ideal Gifted and Talented classroom can make this a very enjoyable and a great learning experience!
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ReplyDeleteMy ideal gifted and talented classroom is that we would have a very nice and helping teacher. I would also like to have respectable, fun, helpful, and encouraging classmates. I hope that we will be able to have about three to four lessons about all kinds of different things. I hope that in this gifted and talented class we will be able to be imaginative, creative, fun, and happy. This year I would really like to have some fun projects to do without any stress. I would like this gifted and talented class to be stressful and relaxing. Another thing that I would like is to have not that much homework. Most of all, I would like to learn about new and different things this year. I hope we could interact with technology and learn more skills about technology. I hope that at the end of every gifted and talented class everyone would be happy and have smiles on their faces. I would like to learn all sorts of things that we have not gone over in school yet. I hope that we will be able to go on fun field trips and be stress free. I hope that everything in the room is organized, even also the things we are going to learn. I hope that at the end of some classes we could have fun and play a game altogether with everyone. Another thing that I would find fun and interesting is that sometimes when the weather is nice out, we could have some classes or class time outside. I would be very grateful if everyone in the class could be friends with one another. The most important part to me is to have gifted and talented classes to be stress free. I hope that instead of class being stressful, I hope it would be fun and not just boring. Students should be respectful to the teacher. I also hope that this year our gifted and talented teacher would not have to scream at us. I hope that we will all one day love our gifted and talented teacher because she is helping us learn more than what we already know about. Let us be thankful that the teacher is here to help us learn. I especially hope that we will have enough supplies for everyone to use. I hope that this year in gifted and talented classes, we will have fun and just enjoy being with our friends. I would like have more free time to read, have fun, and talk to our fellow classmates or friends. I also hope that sometimes we could have a radio on so we could listen to music while we are doing work. My ideal gifted and talented class would be to have some freedom in a classroom instead of having to follow all these rules the teacher makes. I hope that we (the students) would be able to make some rules of our own. Overall, I would like to have this GNT class stress free, fun, creative, enjoyable, and some freedom to do whatever we want to do.
ReplyDeleteMy ideal G+T classroom would include many exciting hands-on activities.For example, last year, my favorite part was when we were able to make and customize our own kites. Mrs. Azar had us decorate the kite first, then showed us how to assemble it. Then after we created the kites, we were able to fly them! None of them actually stayed in the air for long though. Another activity we did last year was a Rube Goldberg machine. Each of the classes made their own machine. Another thing Mrs. Azar had us do was create our own inventions. We did this activity in groups. My group invented the “Automatic Fish Feeder” It was an ok invention. It was made out of a 2-liter bottle, some plastic items, and a paper towel roll. Like the name says, it helps you feed fish. Two years ago, we did our architecture unit in G+T. It was one of the best topics of the year! There was a challenge where you had to build a model of the Empire State Building (my group did it and we have a picture on the district website.) We worked with simple machines and robotics.It was a blast! Every year, we had a major project grade that we were supposed to work on in the middle of the year.
ReplyDeleteI also think my ideal G+T class would use lots of technology. For our invention unit, we also had to brainstorm, with a group, another cool invention, plus make a snazzy short commercial to go along with it, AND a little poster we would make on the laptops. My group had the idea of the “NRG Block.” It was one of those portable chargers in the shape of a cube. It was also supposed to have a lightning bolt as its logo. We stated in our commercial that it could store much more power than other portable chargers and that it comes in many different colors. We were supposed to create the commercial with the imovie app on the ipads, and, like I said earlier, we made posters with a program on the laptops provided. Another example of the use of technology in G+T is the projector. Mrs. Azar, and many other teachers, have now become dependent on projectors for lessons, project presentations, videos/movies, slideshows, and much more. Mrs. Azar specifically uses her projector for project presentations mid-year. Most classes also now use google much. For example, I am using google docs to type this very blog as you read. Teachers also now like to use google classroom. Teachers can have students join their “google classroom” and teachers can post due assignments on their google classroom. Nowadays, many schools are using technology help teach their classes. Technology helps make learning more fun for children, such as myself. So I think that technology is ideal for ANY class.
One more thing that my ideal G+T class would have are brain games. I know. What do you mean by brain teasers? You ask. Well, it’s because I enjoy brain teasers. It is always fun to have your brain tricked and teased and just confused. Plus, they can be useful for activities to do after work is finished. Sure, reading a book is fun to, but so are brain games. I hope you keep all these ideas in mind.
My ideal GnT is a place where you challenge yourself to be a better you. We should have the freedom to choose what we want to do during the block. We would have three choices and we would have tables for each assignment so we would be more comfortable with our classmates. We could do that maybe once a month for half a block. The tables would have different sections about what we are learning about.
ReplyDeleteWhen we come into the room the board should say DO NOW and we would take a worksheet off the back table and start it. That would be good so that as soon as we step into the classroom we would start thinking. We would go over it really quickly since it should be only one question so that we don't waste class time. But it should be some kind of brain teaser or riddle. It should get you thinking a lot.
I think we should do many interesting experiments and projects. For projects we should be able to pick our own partners. We should have a half hour in every class to do the project for four weeks. If we don't finish we have homework. I think that if we get to pick our partners we will be able to work better and you would have less work to check. For an experiment each table will have a different hypothesis and we would see all the different outcomes of the experiments. Then we would collect all of the data and draw a conclusion.
I think that to learn we should use Chrome books so that we could do near pod, story bird, or just learn new things. Since I have ugly handwriting this would really help you read my work instead of trying to figure out what I wrote. I think that if we do get homework we should have to read a book and answer questions to practice our RACE skills. After we learn a section of our unit we should have a quiz and before a test we should have a game that will help us study. It would be a nice fun exercise to study for the test. Each table would be a team and the table who wins gets a prize.
I think we should learn by having a power point or slide on the board. Everyone will discuses it among their table and then each table would have a different answer and explanation. Sometimes we would have a worksheet and we would have to complete it. If everyone at your table completes it then you can share your answers and see if you are correct so that we wont waste time.
We should also have jobs like someone passes out the folders as soon as he/she gets into the room. Someone could always pass out the papers and he/she could pick a friend to help. We could have the board eraser who obviously erases the board. Another person could be the cleaner upper who cleans everything up in the last two minutes of class that person could also collect all the papers if we had homework or any forms that need to be handed in. The thing I really want for GnT is it to be a great learning environment. I also want it to be fun and challenging.
Since early childhood, I have been told that an individual must find his or her own place in the world. That he or she must carve out an identity through experiences, time, and by acquiring education. In my mind, this class is the perfect opportunity for me to discover myself in a vast world. My ideal G&T classroom would be full of excitement with knowledgeable learning experiences. It is an expectation that I put on myself, that by the end of the year I would have accomplished many goals by opening up my mind to better possibilities. My G&T classroom would be an encouraging place to learn and my heart yearns for it to be a place where all of us can work as a team and apply our skills together. It will be a place where we can all help each other and learn from our mistakes. It’s important to learn and apply what we know to new things. My ideal G&T classroom would be a place to continuously learn more everyday.
ReplyDeleteMy G&T classroom would be a place where we would grasp new information. We will expand our wisdom and express our intelligence as a class, by applying our old skills and newly achieved ones. My expectation is for all of us to be at a higher level by the end of the year. This will take place gradually and little by little learning and grasping knowledge that would satisfy us.
The classroom would contain an encouraging atmosphere. Weekly we will enter the class excited to learn and will not be afraid to ask questions or embarrassed to fix wrong ones. It is a place we accept each other's opinions regardless what it is about. There is mutual respect for each other in class and we care about one another. All of us should be motivated to learn exciting things and expand our knowledge.
I want my mind to mature in such a way that is full of excitement and also somewhat challenging. I enjoy doing brain teasers, and riddles because it’s fun and gets my mind going. It’s also cool reading and learning things about the world. I want to get to a higher standard by working together in our G&T class. My mind enjoys interesting subjects and going outside the box. I want to learn about all sorts of things, such as, interesting topics that leave me curious about what is coming next. I also enjoy things in different genres and stories that speak for different cultures! Class discussions are helpful too. It’s a great way of listening to each others experiences and opinions. I want our classroom to be a helpful and healthy environment for everyone.
I really enjoy being able to have this opportunity with G&T this year. I’m hoping for more to come my way. It’s a great experience having so many amazing things to learn about each week. “There’s no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs.”- Author unknown. G&T will be at a very successful position with all of the hardworking and talented people. G&T will help students reach their goals, and it will help them become who they want to be.
My ideal G&T classroom would contain 3 things, a class pet, technology, and fun class work. Firstly I think we should have a class pet. Every week we come in we can observe it and write a one paragraph summary about the pet. We can even have some kids bring it home to take care of it. Another thing I would have in an ideal G&T classroom is the use of technology. Think about it. In this generation, almost all jobs use technology is some shape or form, so why not learn how to use it. We can learn coding which is probably a lot of people’s future career. If we know how to code right now, once we are adults, we will be masters. This class should also use chrome books. We can research, do work, etc. It will even save paper. Also we need to have fun class work. What’s the point of learning if you can’t even pay attention? We should be able to talk to our friends about something and do projects. Another idea we have is we can have stations. Basically we walk into the class and there is different stuff at each table. On the board it would say “Today’s topic is plants”. One table could have supplies for writing and essay about it. Another could have an actual plant and you have to write a little summary about it. The third could have chrome books where we type the essay. The last table could have people drawing a garden and plants. This ways it meets everyone’s needs whether it’s on the computer or in real life. This opens up a lot of opportunities for us and we would never get bored. Another great idea would be to have us to projects. My favorite would be to do a Prezi about a certain topic. For example, we have to choose our dream job. In my case I would first introduce myself and who I am. Then explain what job I want to do and what it contains. So I would say, “Hi I’m Mahir Rana and I would want to be a game designer. A game designer codes and makes assets (Textures, models, sounds, etc.) for games.” And it doesn’t have to on the computer. Someone who likes to draw can make a poster. Or someone who has experience with coding can make a small program about his project. This makes it so we aren’t locked to one thing which is kind of annoying in other classes. My goal of writing this little essay is to make G&T great again. Oops wrong speech. My goal is to make G&T something kids look forward to. Not groan and moan. And the most important part of it all is… The teacher of course! Without the teacher we wouldn’t be able to learn. And for this all to happen, Ms. Mandell has to take it into consideration. In short, I think our G&T classroom needs all of this to make it a fun and better place to learn.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of GNT, I think of thinking outside the box. Something normal, average kids can’t express or think of. GNT isn’t math, it isn’t language arts, science, or history, it’s is all of those combined plus more. If we were to use math in this case it would be, GNT= Fun+Subjects+Imagination. My ideal GNT classroom would be a classroom with advanced technology that would make it easier to interact with others. We would have access to technology that was never dreamt of. I ask myself, “Why advanced technology out of everything else,” because technology gives access to everything else. Well, not yet but I believe if that technology like that is invented, it should be used in schools, for children, to let them learn. Another factor that I would want in my ideal GNT classroom would be to interact with other GNT students around the world, to work together. A class pet would also do because they can help us and keep us safe. Another reason we should have all this cool stuff is because it helps us to build our knowledge of everything. It gives a better way of learning and studying. It gives us a better understanding, and imagine that in a GNT classroom! Another idea that popped up in my head was, what if all objects drawn on the board become 3-d the second you write them. That would definitely be a great feature to be added to the GNT classroom. Right now, students are limited to the resources in the GNT class, but I think the students should have an unlimited array of choices, so they could perform more efficiently in their work. Right now, there aren’t a lot of new inventions that are being invented, but I think that old inventions should be brought into the GNT classrooms to get studied about. Maybe, students can learn something from ancient and past artifacts and inventions that scientists never recognized! Ah, and now the problem about paper. Useful in many ways but not all. Some people love paper but others don’t. For some people, it confuses them when you have a lot of it in front of you, others like it that way. Personally, I like paper in some ways like essays because you get to fix your mistakes and you see what you did wrong but if type it on a laptop or computer, you can’t see your mistakes. To fix that problem I suggest that in our GNT classroom, there should be a choice in which you get the choice to pick whether you want to use paper or the technology that is available. Also a piece that is key to this puzzle is……. FUN! Fun because GNT should be challenging but not in a way that it puts a student in pressure or stress. It should be fun and the students should think that GNT is worth it and they will learn a lot from it. Imagination is also key to a better and more advanced GNT atmosphere because the students should be able to relate to ideas to the topics they are learning about. They should have a broad vision of what they are learning about so they can think out of the box so one day they can be an Einstein. The GNT atmosphere should allow kids to do that. Last but not least, I think the GNT classroom should be comfortable for the students to do there work. They should have enough space to work, so that they can concentrate without being disturbed. Now, imagine all these ideas plus the ideas of others in one GNT classroom. Wouldn’t it be GREAT!?!?!?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteMy ideal Gifted and talented classroom.
ReplyDeleteBy: Jiselle D’souza Homeroom # 507 Grade 6 Enrichment
My ideal G&T classroom is a place where students can learn and do fun, interactive , hands on activities such as powerpoints, activities using technology( chromebooks,Ipads,etc.), experiments , and group work in a friendly atmosphere. The Gifted and Talented program should be an educational opportunity for students to dig deeper than the pace of other students in their regular classes.
I have been going to G&T enrichment for 4 years now and it has many great qualities such as the educational lessons, activities like (architecture, learning about other cultures, and doing fun projects), and even watching videos about various interesting topics. I would like these things to still be in our classes along with all the other things from last year.
I feel like the G&T atmosphere is also very different from the everyday classroom.When you walk in a regular classroom you would normally feel bored and tired but when you walk into a G&T classroom you feel a burst of joy and excitement knowing that each day will have a fun new day filled with many challenging projects and activities.
A regular day at G&T in elementary school for me was after leaving class we would take a bus to Avenel Middle School. After we reached we would go to class and do our do now. Later on we would work on our major project meaning whatever we were working on for that period of time.When we were done with that we could help others or do fun games and puzzles until class ended.
I think that this year's G&T program is much better than last year's already considering that we had to miss many classes last year including, math, social studies, health, and gym causing us to have to make up the work and have lot of homework for that night.(If we have to much homework we would have to stay up late at night causing us to be tired in class the next day.)Plus our grades won’t have to suffer for the students at G&T being out of class and missing the assignments or tired from not getting enough rest.This way we can keep up with our regular classes and our G&T classes without missing out on anything
Although I really enjoyed the G&T curriculum last year I would add some small things that I think could make G&T better. For example we could do more presentations and projects instead of just doing worksheets.We could also work in groups more often because when working together people enjoy the work more,they work quicker, and with all the different minds the project will be done even more efficiently. I hope you will take my ideas into consideration to make the Gifted and Talented program even better than it already is!
I am very glad to have such an amazing opportunity being in the Gifted and Talented program!Not only does it increase my knowledge but it makes me a better person!
By: Jiselle D’souza 6th grade Enrichment Homeroom# 507
When I think of a ideal G&T classroom, I think of having a great time learning and some awesome fun. I would have a great and fantastic teacher just like you Ms.Mandell. We would respect each other, have a lot of fun, and get work done as well. As you all know, G&T is a special program for gifted children. There are many subjects in G&T. Our subject is enrichment. We are very smart in math, science, and more subjects. I am really excited about this G&T year in middle school and I can’t wait to start. We should first start with the looks. That will get us started for the year. I think that when we enter the room, we should seek happiness in our minds. I understand that we don’t have a G&T room but we can still attach some quotes around the room that make us cheerful. Some examples would be like “Mistakes are proof that you are trying” by Samantha Snyder ” and “No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, show up, and never give up” by Regina Brett. These quotes will make us feel positive and have a good attitude throughout the class. Then, they will stay there just in case we ever need them during class. It also spices up Mrs.Hilarczyk’s room a little bit. All I’m saying is that, if we make the room look great, we will be great as well. The next thing that we need to focus on is following our daily routine. Since the time we walk in the classroom, I think we should have a daily routine. We should start with a daily puzzle to get our brains going. I think that it should be based on math and we should have a time limit. Then, we go over it quickly and put it in a folder that we take home and bring back each day. It should only take about 10 minutes. Then, if any announcements are to be made, this would be the time. After that, we go into the main part of the day. This would be a lesson, any test needed to do, worksheet, or other G&T assignments to do. Finally, to conclude the day, we should talk about what we learned and what would be coming up. We can relax, read books, do some puzzles, and more relaxing things so we can end the day well. Now finally, some suggestions about supplies. I think that we should use the computers one in a while. When you use the computer, you relax your wrist and use more of your fingers. We don’t have to use the paper all the time. Also, during 4th block, regular classes are not going on so we can borrow the chromebooks from Mr.Murphy or Mrs.Sharma( 6th Grade Science Teachers). Another thing that I think we should use is workbooks or packets. Maybe, we can have some packets to do relating to the topic. Then, when we finish them, grade them, and take them home. If we have the time, we can go over it. Maybe if you take these some of these ideas, the class and I can help you make anything interesting if possible. There is always a chance. You should never give up.
ReplyDeleteMy ideal G&T class would be fun and also very educational. It would be nice to experiment on some of our own answers and who knows, maybe we can have an "AHA!" moment. We should start the day with a Do Now or some daily starters. That way, we can get a warm up, have something to look forward to as soon as we enter the class, and get ready for the lesson ahead. Maybe we can even have different levels of difficulty for them since not everyone is on the same level. There should be an easy level, middle level, and hard one. That way everyone can get a challenge. Maybe there will also be time to have different varieties each week so we can get an even amount of learning for each subject. I like to learn all the subjects in each day. We should also have worksheets to do while we are waiting for others to finish. In our spare time maybe we could do brain teasers or maybe crossword puzzles. They shouldn't be very easy but not too hard either. That way we have a little free time and don't continuously have to do work. It would be fun if we could have a teacher of the day. Each person should get a chance to teach a lesson based on what we are learning. It would be really cool to have a student's point of view and learn the way they take in knowledge. For the subject science, we should have a class pet. That way we could study the habitat of it and the needs. It would also just be alot of fun to have to take care of an animal. Maybe some butterflies where we can keep track of the stages and make a presentation. For math we could do some games using apps online. Maybe we could have a competition to see who gets the answer correct first. Math is really fun because you can use different formulas to get the same answer. Some were close to the middle of the year, we should get more serious since we will be getting close to PARCC.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I would love to have surprise projects using posters, diagrams, models etc. every weekend. It would keep us all on our feet. You would never know when you have a grade due. This year, I know I am going to love being in G&T because my teacher seems nice as well. Mrs. Mandell seems really nice and I hope to learn things I don't know. From the look of the SGO test we took, I think we are going to learn alot about the brain and how it works. It would be awesome to learn about the brain and the parts we use because it would help us be prepared to learn what we are going to learn in the future. I'm looking forward to the next class and can't wait to begin all our new lessons.
G&T
ReplyDeleteI would like to start-off by talking about how I became part of G&T. One day I found out that my teacher had recommended me for G&T test. I can tell you I still remember that day and how nervous I was… My older sister had told me that it is going to be an amazing experience. I was looking forward to this and soon I became part of it. One of the big learning’s from G&T class is that you become more responsible. I had to make-up all of my work on my own for classes that I would miss. Another thing I can say is that unlike all of our other classes, G&T is different.
I started reflecting on what would be my ideal G&T class? Boy, I thought this would be easy to write but the more I think about it, the more difficult it was to come-up with one easy answer. I have always cherished a class full of funny kids and a teacher full of energy. At the same time, I would prefer that my teacher would get to know all about me. Since G&T is special, this would help the teacher guide and motivate me to stand-out tall. Like many others, I am a totally different person in school when compared to at home. I strongly think that G&T class should be a place where we not only learn skills to be better but we can have fun and be ourselves. It should provide an environment for collaboration and growth. It should not be like other classes but one where we aren’t afraid to ask questions or try something new. We should all become close to each other, foster a relationship to help us learn from each other. If we know each other we won’t be afraid to share our thoughts or feel embarrassed.
In my previous year G&T classes we strived to do different things. Last year, we did many cool projects and experiments. We worked in groups and tried new things that we would have not thought-of otherwise. My ideal G&T class would be a place for innovation, try new things and become more knowledgeable. But add to this, I would want my class to be entertaining. The last thing you want is that it becomes boring and you only wait for the class to end. We probably can try to put together our own little shows and do fun activities in our classroom. There should be a time to bond with each other, share things, talk about experiences that will always help us remember each other.
I would not say that our class should be so different that it becomes something from another planet. It should provide us an opportunity to learn about things for which we had no prior knowledge. I also suggest that we get to learn and use advanced technology or test our brains. To me, G&T has no specific topic. It is general knowledge and a place where we learn about things we don’t learn in other blocks. I really look forward to this exciting learning experience every week, eagerly waiting for my next class.
My ideal G&T room is basically how I imagine a fancy, classy, Pinterest- style room, and I would love a classroom that is chic, but any room in which I feel expressive is a great classroom.
ReplyDeleteMy ideal G&T room would be large and bright. In my G&T room, there should be lots of bookshelves with books on all genres. On the shelves, there can be mystery, Shakespeare, science, etc. Because this is a G&T classroom, we need to have more advanced books about major topics. I love books. It’s like an escape from reality, so if I’m ever feeling down, I can come into my G&T room and read. Reading always helps me know that in any situation that you are in, you can always keep going.
On the wall, I would want inspirational posters. But not any poster, it should be quotes by famous scientists and people who made major impacts in the world. There must also be Harry Potter quotes on some posters. I always thought that if you ever need to accomplish something, you need to have inspiration and motivation to keep going. All the inspirational people in the world probably had obstacles in the way.
The teacher’s desk should be in the left side of the room. The teacher’s desk can be personalized by the teacher, but there MUST be a little plush apple with a cute smile on it in the corner of the table. In a classroom, a teacher is always VERY important and every teacher makes an impact on us. At the back of the room, there can be a bulletin board with little cards with what we learned that day. Sometimes, when we see what we did last time, we will not forget that easily.
In G&T, we will definitely be learning more complex topics, so we need visual aids. For example, if we’re learning geology, we might need a cross section of the earth to help us learn better and if we are learning about the volcanoes at the bottom of the sea, we might need a model of the volcano. I personally think that if you see something, it helps you remember it better. When we are learning each topic, maybe a person who is an expert in that field can come into the classroom. Students and the expert can have interaction and the students can ask questions to that person. We could also debate about different topics in which people can have different opinions.
My favorite part about G&T is that we get to learn more advanced subjects. Those advanced subjects are what we do not normally talk about in a regular classroom. I also like that we are not limited to one area, like History or Math or Writing, but we can roam around all different topics. In G&T, we talk about more interesting topics (no offense to regular classes) and I really like that.
This is how I imagine my ideal G&T classroom should be. I also gave some reasons why I like G&T.
Ladies and Gents-
ReplyDeleteFabulous ideas. I will definitely get some five minute mysteries and some brain teasers for you to start with and settle in with at the beginning of class. Unfortunately, no pet, I have one at AMS, but I'm there 4 days a week in one room. Thanks for all the feedback...traveling from wing to wing is tough and limiting...