Outstanding work…its so clear how enriching your work with our lil learners!

I'm using someone else's link so you won't see my name in a square. I am Carrie, a parent.

Welcome Carrie!

Same! Hi! Im Liv Rubinstein’s Mom, Dr. Kristin Goble. I am a dual professor of art and education with an emphasis on adolescent academic development/ rehabilitation Psychology. I also am the Secondary Teachers Program Coordinator having licensed at least a billion Wisconsin and New York pre-service teacchers

Welcome Dr. Goble!

YESSSS

So true!

Its a gift and a curse.

There’s typically a 4-5 year developmental delay for gifted and talented…

Yes

(Yes, with respect to knowing curriculum. Yes, with respect to developmental asynchrony )

That’s exciting!

Im the Art Education Coordinator lol…maybe we should talk one day

Yes please still looking for staff to teach!

The academy courses will be available K-12, but we have discussed ways for MS and HS to assist with some of the theater programming being offered.

Are the slides progressing for others?

I'm seeing the correct slides

Yes, they are for me as well

It's working now

sense of humor 🙂

odd sense of humor

As the parent of middle and high school kids who are both identified as AL/gifted, THE SNARK IS REAL

How about all of them?

All of it!!

a lot of this resonated with us

sensitive, empathetic, hyper focused, transitions are difficult

Yes. It is remarkable. Intensity!

So absorbed in Lego creations that he doesn't even hear when I tell him that supper is ready, let alone be willing to stop creating.

INTENSE

Why do we need to go over the same concept for 5 days!

the questions and the creativity

I'm hearing the Spanish translator even though I have English turned on

nevermind I just turned it off and that fixed it

Was a with a gifted elementary school learner yesterday for dinner and noticed the intensity associated to reading, older brother was the intensity of soul

Executive Function

my daughter's desk is always the messiest in class

Could I please have access to the video here? I'd love to share it with my own mother, as it's answering questions for both of us.

I was going to ask if she would share in the chat or allow us to share with families via email.

Yes, would be useful to know where the recording of this session will be posted! (Thanks.)

We do post the recording on the AL website usually the next day after the meeting is downloaded.

A little attention can go so far

YES!

Weird is a super loaded word. I hate when people call people weird, including myself. It a backhanded compliment imo as it automatically isolates learners immediately

Absolutely - we will post the link to the video on the MMSD website and try to send an email to all the attendees also!

Thanks!

that was so true for me...college was challenging more because I had no idea how to study - never needed to

And half of all the math answers are in the back of the book! Id be inefficient to NOT copy all the even answers from the back of the book

Imagine going to school and not being offered the chance to learn anything new, day in and day out....and to feel like nobody is willing to talk about that.

I think we all feel this right now.

(Weltschmerz I mean)

^^

Naps!

in depth independent study opportunities would be amazing!

Thanks everyone for sharing your aha's. I will try to share these notes with Jackie to see too.

There is so much gatekeeping tho…we learn that the teacher “lets” us move on to the next step. They only work with teacher approval.

I am interested to hear what Ms. Drummer thinks about the value of honors classes or small groups of gifted kids to provide that "time to interact with gifted peers" and "experince DEEP content" and "pursue in-depth study"... since that is a question currently on the table at MMSD.

Yes, gatekeeping is real. Especially when there are not enough students to support a "cluster".

I second Sherri’s question

Yes, I also appreciate Sherri's question

Will get that question asked

We continue to build on our thinking with cluster grouping. It's not in all settings but something we do see in several schools

We are working with staff soon on growth mindset

Agree with Sherri's question. Also I appreciate this presentation very much, but it would be even more helpful if there was time available for discussion

I agree with Rachel’s comment as well.

Yes lets please do more grouping in younger grades!

Exactly what many of us have been asking for, for many years, in MMSD.

Is the average teacher at MMSD familiar with this content?

@Katie - We give School wide presentations about AL at the beginning of each year

So when I receive these students in the University-especially at UW- students are not equipped for independent, Innovative thinking from the jump in college. If a learner is lucky, or knows how to perform to meet standards, standardized tests, and write directly to the specific assignment rubric. It’s a major challenge. they ideally would find a way to access, recognize the social/emotional hurdles they need to incorporate as they grow love learning. Any kind of learning. We learn (or do not have access to the privilege of knowing the standardized markers“do school” earning our institutionalized skill set

Thanks Jackie!

Thanks for letting us come to this.

Thank you!! Excellent!

Thank you!!

Madison Mathletes!

Do all MMSD schools have access to the math meet? Specifically I’m wondering about Cherokee MS.

I never heard anything about math meet this year.

Yes Mamie there are limited spaces and due to subbing the selection of students was limited to students in our higher math courses, but we will also have school wide competitions happening.

Great presentation - thank you Jackie! I'd love to know more about MMSDs approach to Advanced Learners. We've been asking about this for a few years and still do not have a good understanding of the comprehensive plan. Does this exist anywhere?

Sorry I didn't intro myself! I'm a Middle School Teacher Leader.

Do the children receive any support for those extension opportunities available in their Google Classroom and Beast Academy? At what point does Advanced Learning mean something besides more loneliness doing the work all on their own?

Yes - because of the very limited slots available at the Math Meet we are only able to bring 1-2 students from each of the middle schools. These students give our most advanced math students (usually our students taking high school level courses in middle school)

I'm sorry, I missed this. Who uses Achieve3000? What is the goal?

However, we do plan to hold mini-math meets at every school so that all students can show their math skills! The ALS at the building will be able to message that out.

@Melanie - all of our Beast Academy groups are time with an Advanced Learning Specialist learning and problem solving together. Mathematicians may get to finish solving on their own outside of group time :)

Thank you so much for your transparency and dedication to our children!!!

@Genevieve that has not been our experience at all.

Thank you all! @Jon - glad to hear about some more (mini) math meets.

Are we getting an update on honors courses??

I think that’s why a lot of us are here, to get some clarify on where MMSD stands with that.

Is that true at each of the high schools?

Thank you

Thank you. That newspaper article was very confusing

Has the committee sought input from the experts and research that our present-er tonight cited?

Could you give us a quick overview of what’s going to happen with the 5-year plan and parent feedback in the last part of the meeting, so we can figure out whether it would be useful for us to stay?

It seemed she was pretty clear that stand alone honors is beneficial, so why is there so much pushback from the district about it?

Does the ALAC actually set a written agenda? Is there voting?

Are students easily "tagged" as an AL learner in multiple AL categories?

I vaguely recall that process

My concern is that a child's first identification might count toward reducing disproportionality, but if that is "enough" for the district, then they might not get all of their needs identified and met.

But given the delay of the pandemic - can we reconsider the timing of the testing? For example, a child who was a second grader and wasn

wasn't tested -- the child won't be tested for three years, 5th grade.

@ Renuka - I was thinking the same thing, but also, 3rd graders have a bunch of testing they do already.

Thanks for your thought, Melissa. Will that testing help place children who need more challenge into advanced opportunities? Or is that state mandated testing?

Good question, I think Dr. Alexander said they use the Forward test for 3rd graders to identify certain academic advancement needs

YES, to the critical thinking, problem solving and creativity for all learners!!

Just wanted to say that in MMSD acceleration options have often been offered only for those who are gifted in math and maybe science. This is another way in which other ways of being gifted (creativity, leadership, etc.) get overlooked.

Yes, Mike, Agreed.

Agreed. Too late.

Better late than never, but earlier is so much more powerful.

All kids need to get the enrichment that some kids get at home. Getting everyone out in the community experiencing things like Kids in the Rotunda, Museums, Library "field trips" etc. Making learning engaging, fun, etc

My 3rd grader is doing a pull out literacy program with the ALS

And focus on K-2 Mike - agreed!

And middle school is kind of a black hole

I think PD on differentiation will go a LONG way to identifying and meeting needs

Yes! I have a second grader who is so bored! '

Those are excellent points. I appreciate the distinction between identification and intervention/programming.

Clustering (in my experience) happens in elementary, but then disappears in middle school except in math.

This is tied to the discussion around honors classes as well. (And thank you again for answering the question about what’s happening next year)

Some schools have a much harder time supporting clustering and differentiation. The elementary AL plans even show this. Compare West side elementary schools vs. others

What are the metrics being used or proposed to be used to determine whether the AL plan goals are being met, aside from Forward exams?

Like, how is “strong articulation” operationalized and measured?

Yes, some of the west side elementary schools have set up things like their schedules so as to facilitate acceleration. But I don’t think all of the elementaries have done that.

Clustering is happening in some of the Middle Schools, Jefferson is one that has strong cluster groups for kids in Humanities

Can you clarify what pre-AP enrichment is for? Middle school students, high school students, both?

M. Moore, yes, metrics and measurement plans should be decided in advance

There should be some interest in gathering student voice/feedback to make sure we are listening those who are being supported.

It would be helpful to update and share the list of AL services and options in different areas and tiers of intervention. The old one is outdated.

We need to add elementary focus

What did we miss in our initial thinking and planning?Are there any students we are not targeting in our work?How can we Make this plan better?Are there specific leveled work we are not remembering?

Student voice - 100%. Is Saturday one option? What about during lunch or flex time (HS) or maybe during those double blocks in MS (maybe 1 day a week is devoted to this boot camp). I just worry about the logistics of Saturdays

I feel pretty strongly that teachers and parents are the ones who know the students best, and tests are not very effective at identifying AL learners

I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but it’s still entirely unclear to me what metrics are used to define a “successful” AL program within MMSD.

It seems like student satisfaction should be part of it MM

What about an explicit tie in to special education? It’s not uncommon to have giftedness co-occur with dyslexia or dysgraphia, etc. both AL and Special Ed having some sort of connection I think would be appropriate

When the previous plan was audited, there were student and family surveys

I’m not saying that was ideal, but engagement and student and family voice need to be a part of the plan

Even asking what kids think about the different AL services/opportunities

Thank you!