Garden Spot High School

669 East Main Street

PO Box 609

New Holland, PA 17557

May 28th, 2015

Dear 10th grade Students, Parents, and Guardians,

Here at ELANCO School District we are committed to providing the best educational opportunities possible for all our students. With that in mind, we are making changes in what the gifted programming will offer in the coming years for our students with GIEPs. Some things, like SEE Seminars, student interviews, and students attending GIEP meetings, will remain the same. As you know, this past year I have been working with the middle school students and valued the regular meeting times when I could work with the grade level as a peer group. We were able to address many of their GIEP goals during this time. This group time will be carried on into the high school next year.

How will this work? After meeting with administration, we have developed a plan that will minimally impact the regular class time yet allow me to teach your student and help meet his/her GIEP goals. At these meetings we will focus each quarter on one of the four domains of gifted education: creativity, critical thinking, cognitive skills, and affective skills. For example, what is planned for the 10th grade in 2015-2016 is:

  • 1st quarter Critical Thinking
  • Review study skills for AP classes
  • Socratic/Paideia seminars
  • 2nd quarter Cognitive
  • Multiple intelligence modes and education
  • Awareness of self-advocacy
  • Analysis of academic strengths and creativity
  • 3rd quarter Affective
  • Setting personal goals
  • Primary and secondary goals
  • Group process training
  • 4th quarter Creativity and Critical Thinking
  • Game theory
  • Problem solving
  • Personal creativity across the curriculum

SEPTEMBER / BLOCK / TUESDAY
1 / 8th
2 / 15th
3 / 22nd
4 / 29th

In order for this work to occur, 10th grade students will be coming to work with me for one half of a block each week, rotating blocks so that the students will miss only 40 minutes of a class per month. For September it would be:

Students will have their first meeting with me on Tuesday the 8th, will come on the 2ndTuesday during the second half of Block 2, on the 3rdTuesday during the second half of Block 3, and on the 4thTuesday during the second half of Block 4. Some things that I made sure of in implementing this plan are that:

  1. Student will receive a full year schedule with dates as to when they come to me (included in this letter).
  2. Students will not be held accountable for anything they miss in the regular classroom during the time they are working with me. Teachers will be made aware of this and encouraged not to schedule tests or labs that they think should be made up.
  3. If there is instruction that is missed, it should be made available by the teacher on the Spartan Learning Portal so that students don’t miss content.
  4. We will have a classroom (room 1009) where we will meet each time.

As the students move through the grades, there will be different quarterly focuses depending on the GIEP goals.

I will also not be teaching online classes for ELANCOline next year. While I enjoyed that work very much, it demanded a time commitment that interfered with my duties as the gifted support teacher. Next year I will once again be able to start pushing into classrooms to see how the students are working among their gifted and non-gifted peers and how the structure of the class meets their gifted needs. I will have available time to attend department meetings to work with teachers on how to address the gifted students’ academic requirements in their classrooms. And it will also mean more time to work one-on-one with students who need guidance or help with something.

I am very excited about the opportunities that this opens up for us. For example, on a block 3 day when the students come at 11:15 to me, we can schedule a speaker from one of the local colleges or businesses to come work with the students through lunch (up to two hours). These speakers can address and provide activities that are specific to the interests of the student group. Or we can use that time for extended projects or even short field trips.

One thing I want to mention is that if there is a delayed schedule due to weather or testing, we will still meet, just for a shorter time since the block is shorter. The District Office has graciously offered to help cover some of the SEE Seminars with a substitute so that I won’t miss too many sessions with students. If I am to go on a field trip, students will be told to stay in their regular class that day.

During this first year, we will be working on getting this up and running while all the time evaluating how it is working so that we can continue to improve the program through best practices to enhance the learning of the gifted students. I have started a blog for students and parents to access information which can be found at:

Announcements about SEE seminars and speakers will be posted there as well as information for parents. Also, my contact information is there and you can post comments on the blog itself. So, to summarize, I am really looking forward to this opportunity to work closely with your student next year in order to support and enhance his/her education while meeting the GIEP goals.

Sincerely,

Valerie Sharir

7th-12th grade Gifted Support Teacher