Parent Presentation



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Gifted Education's history began in the late 1800's. From that time through to the late 1990's, a student's ability was assessed using one score. One score that captured a narrow range of abilities, and it did not explain to educators what to do with these students. By using a body of evidence instead of just one score, Harford County has recognized that all students have gifts and talents. The goal is to assist students in fulfilling their potential... [Read More]

Gifted Organizations

Parent Resources

Parents are the single most important factor in developing any child's gifts and talents. There are many ways to help your child explore the world and leap ahead in his or her learning. On this and the following pages, you will find many resources to guide you in developing your child's intelligences.

There are several organizations, both national and local that can offer a myriad of additional resources. Several are listed below. Click on the other links to find many Internet resources. The "Places to Visit" page offers ideas for field trips in Harford County and the surrounding states and the District of Columbia. We are so fortunate to have many historical and science-oriented places within an easy drive for a day trip. In the "Ideas for Parents" section you will find many great suggestions for ways to work with your child. Many of these are reflected in the enrichment program in your child's school.

Organizations to Support the Education of the Gifted and Talented Student

Places to Visit

There are many interesting and enriching places to visit in the Baltimore - Washington area. Listed below are a few of the places that would benefit your child and provide a pleasant and interesting day trip for your family.

Places to Visit in Harford County

    ●  Eden Mill Nature Center
    ●  Rocks State Park
    ●  Susquehanna State Park
    ●  Steppingstone Museum
    ●  Havre de Grace Decoy Museum
    ●  Concord Point Light House
    ●  Susquehanna Lock House Museum
    ●  Skipjack Martha Lewis
    ●  Harford Community College
    ●  U.S. Army Ordnance Museum
    ●  Ladew Topiary Gardens
    ●  Liriodendron Mansion

Places to Visit in Baltimore Area

    ●  Fort McHenry
    ●  Maryland Science Center
    ●  National Aquarium in Baltimore
    ●  American Visionary Art Museum
    ●  Walters Art Museum
    ●  Museum of Industry
    ●  Baltimore and Ohio Transportation Museum
    ●  Historic Places of Baltimore

Places to Visit in Washington Area

    ●  Smithsonian Institute

Talent Development

Reading

Set aside time for reading each evening, perhaps either at bedtime or after dinner. Be sure that your child has a book available when he or she will be spending down time; waiting for an appointment or while traveling.

Develop a bibliography of books for the family to read and discuss together. There are many wonderful book lists online. Books can be requested from the Harford County Library website if they are not available at your local branch. Some lists are as follows: Children's Book Lists and the Book Spot Young Adult List

Jim Trelease's website and classic book, "Read Aloud Handbook" is a wonderful source.

There are many great book lists linked from the Hoagie's Gifted Site, including those by Judith Halsted, a leading author on reading with the gifted child.

An excellent article on guiding the gifted reader in the classroom can be found on the Hoagie's site.

When the name of a famous person comes up in conversation, suggest that your child read a biography about that person and discuss what traits made them famous. Use Biography.com or Yahooligans! biography section as a starting place for information.

Practice memory skills. Have your child memorize poetry, lists of information such as the presidents in sequence, geographical data, or pieces of music.

Develop an interest. Get your child interested in a topic. Often a topic that the entire family is interested in is a great place to begin. Go on field trips to learn about the topic. Talk to other people who are also interested in the same topic. Read from many sources about the topic (encyclopedia, books, magazines, Internet articles, etc.). Look at the history of this topic. Look at the changes over the years. Look at the topic from other perspectives (from a scientist's point of view, an artist's, an athlete's, a writer's, etc.) Try to spend months, even a year, developing this interest. Display the information in an interesting way, such as creating a scrapbook, posters or a PowerPoint slide show.

Choose something that you have to travel to collect. For example, major league stadiums, minor league parks in Maryland, state capitals, zoo visits, art museums. As you make a visit, gather items that can be used to create a display about the visit such as a collage or PowerPoint.

Teach your child to ask questions. Try the 5-whys. Ask a "why" question about a topic and then ask 4 more "why" questions. Instead of asking your child how his day went in school each day, ask him/her what the best question he/she asked that day. Let your child know that you expect him/her to bear some of the responsibility of learning.

Include your child in educational and recreational decisions. Allow them to plan a trip. Teach him/her to read a map. Search the Internet for information about the place. Have your child develop a plan that includes transportation, lodging, food, admission costs, etc. And don't forget to go!

Have your child read from many different areas: fiction, non-fiction. Select an interdisciplinary theme such as power, patterns, structure, change, order vs chaos, conflict, exploration, force, systems, and relationships. Look for this theme in the stories you read.

Begin to study a daily word. This can be delivered to your email inbox by a service such as Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day.

Allow your child to establish a pen pal in another country. Be careful to monitor all correspondence. E-Pals is a good website that helps parents monitor the correspondence.

Developing Thinking Skills

Use the following steps to develop problem solving strategies...
    ●  Finding the problem
    ●  Planning
    ●  Data collection
    ●  Defining the problem
    ●  Generation of ideas
    ●  Selecting the solution(s)
    ●  Implementation
    ●  Evaluation

Use the following steps to develop decision making strategies...
    ●  State the goal
    ●  Gather information
    ●  Establish criteria
    ●  Recognize and / or generate alternatives
    ●  Evaluate alternatives
    ●  Select the best course(s) of action

To develop creative, divergent thinking, try using the following question starters...
    ●  In what ways might we _____?
    ●  What if _____?
    ●  How else could one _____?
    ●  What hypothesis can you suggest to explain _____?
    ●  What will _____ be like in the future?
    ●  How would a dentist, an athlete, et cetera solve this problem, _____?

To develop critical, analytical thinking, try using these prompts...
    ●  Explain your reasoning
    ●  Why do you think that?
    ●  What are the parts that make up this problem?
    ●  What criteria or tests should we use in this case?
    ●  What do you think caused that?
    ●  How might we prove / disprove that?
    ●  Explain what the other side's position is

Metacognition is the ability to think about our own thinking- to plan it, monitor it, evaluate it. Help your child to develop these abilities by...
    ●  Modeling or thinking aloud
    ●  Asking the child to think aloud
    ●  Guiding students in developing a thinking plan
    ●  Helping them assess and critique their thinking

Ask questions like the following...
    ●  What is your purpose or goal?
    ●  What kind of end-product do you want to have?
    ●  What kind of problem is this?
    ●  What is your plan?
    ●  What do you know/not know about this?
    ●  What standards will you use to judge your work?
    ●  What was strong/weak about your thinking?
    ●  What did you learn for the future?

To develop a criteria for thoughtfulness use the following suggestions...
    ●  Have you child examine a few topics in depth rather than a superficial coverage of many topics
    ●  Encourage a sense of coherence and continuity
    ●  Allow your child appropriate time to think and respond.
    ●  Do not answer for your child. It is perfectly fine to leave a question unanswered for a few days
    ●  Ask challenging questions
    ●  Structure challenging tasks
    ●  Model thoughtfulness
    ●  Have your child offer explanations and reasons for his/her conclusions

Planning Chart...
    ●  What are you going to do?
    ●  What materials will you need?
    ●  What steps should you follow?
    ●  What problems might you encounter?
    ●  What might cause the problem?
    ●  What effects might happen if the problem arises?
    ●  How can you improve your plan?

Math

Be sure your child understands place value. Often the process becomes rote and the student does not really understand the process. Try teaching your child in another base such as base 2 or 6. If your child understands bases, he / she will benefit greatly when higher math processes such as fractions, measurement, et cetera are taught.

Be sure your child understands the following math properties: Communicative property, associative property, distributive property, order of operations.

Make sure your child understands that there are many strategies that can be and should be used understand math. Some are counting up, counting back, using manipulatives, drawing a picture of the problem, making tens, using doubles, et cetera.

Teach your child how to estimate an answer to a math problem.

Teach your child to examine an answer to see if it is a logical answer.

Teach your child to examine a word problem to see if all the necessary information is available.

Have your child practice word problems. Have them write their own word problems. Math Stories is an excellent site for word problems.

Play games that develop strategy situations: chess, bridge, backgammon, checkers, orienteering games, et cetera.

Always show your child how math is applicable in the real world. An excellent book that shows students how to apply math to the real world is How Math Works.

Check out the following math site on the internet: Amby's Math Resources

Have your child create his / her own games.

Science

Have your child start a collection.

Have them observe and record how experiments change.

When doing an experiment, try using the scientific method backwards: examine the results, state the steps, state the materials needed to do the experiment, and then discuss the hypothesis. Do not tell your child the hypothesis. Have them ask yes or no questions about the possible hypothesis (The reason for this is that adults, including teachers, want to give out too much information). After the questioning period, allow your child to do some research to try and find out what the hypothesis might be. After your child gives you a hypothesis, ask him/her to explain or defend his position. This process might take several days. It is not necessary to give the answer to the experiment the same day you do the experiment. Think time is a wonderful thing!

There are many great science books. Several are How Science Works, How Weather Works, How Nature Works, How Things Work.

Try this website: Cool Science

Parent Support Systems

Organize a parent group to discuss ways to develop your children's gifts and talents. Try not to allow the main purpose of the group to be a gripe session about what is not being done for gifted students. Act as an advocate for your child and the program.

Attend one or more meetings HCPS Citizens Advisory Committee for gifted education.

Search the Internet for great sites. There are hundreds of fabulous sites that will help your gifted child.

Join your state gifted organization (Maryland's organization is called MCGATE (Maryland Coalition for Gifted and Talented Education).

Dr. Carolyn R. Cooper, Specialist
Maryland State Department of Education
Gifted and Talented Education
200 W. Baltimore St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
410.767.0363 (phone)
410.333.2050 (fax)
http://www.msde.state.md.us/

Web Resources

    ●  Top 10 Things to Know about Gifted and Talented Education in Maryland
    ●  RI Parents Page for Gifted Information
    ●  Council For Exceptional Children Information Center
    ●  MSDE State Advisory Council for Gifted and Talented Information
    ●  KidSource Online
    ●  Gifted Education Resources
    ●  Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted
    ●  Johns Hopkins University - Center for Talented Youth
    ●  Bored to Tears? (Duke University)
    ●  Gifted Books
    ●  How Stuff Works
    ●  Brainy Quotes

Questions or Concerns

Listed below are the contacts for the county and each school.

Eric Cromwell, Coordinator of Accelerated Learning Programs
102 South Hickory Avenue
Bel Air, MD 21014
410-588-5354
eric.cromwell@hcps.org