tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30840999.post8883000942575240997..comments2023-10-19T08:26:02.437-05:00Comments on The Caucus Blog: HISD Bond: A Classroom PerspectiveThe Caucus Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089798243403673919noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30840999.post-60503677833713837052007-09-12T18:14:00.000-05:002007-09-12T18:14:00.000-05:00You're right. I felt like my school, last year, d...You're right. I felt like my school, last year, did a terrible job of supporting our gifted students. The only positive comment I have to add about that is that the entire district (at least for elementary schools) seems to be trying to move towards a model in which gifted students would be given their own classes, even at campuses (like mine) where most students are not classified gifted and are, in fact, below grade level. At least, this is what I gathered from my last GT training update. Does this mean that HISD will actually do this anytime soon? Of course not. However, at large campuses, you do have more of an opportunity to create all-GT classes of students: we've tried to do that on my campus in the upper grades. Then you can make sure that those kids get the opportunity to have lots of teacher attention and extension activities (instead of just having them act as tutors, which is much more common).Laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05933441630115298093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30840999.post-32394998644239783572007-09-12T17:40:00.000-05:002007-09-12T17:40:00.000-05:00My concern as a teacher for HISD is that we as a s...My concern as a teacher for HISD is that we as a society are accepting less and less from our children and calling it good enough. With the creation of NCLB we ensured no child would be left behind. What does that mean for our gifted children? They are kept with the group as well. Hopefully great teachers can pull the slower children along to try to keep up with the brighter ones. In doing so, our teacher resources, money and time go to the farthest behind. HISD has eliminated the TIER system for finding our brightest kids and putting them together on a very fast paced course. Now they are only the top quarter and they are being mixed with all the others, so no one will feel bad of course. I think the bond that will support a system of dumbing down our society is not the best plan. However, this is a national plan, not just Houston . Where do we start to complain, though? All good work is grass roots at heart. Would I love to work in a state of the art school with all the wonderful perks? Of course. Do I ultimately approve of the way the district spends my money? No, not really. I do not think that will change if the bill is defeated. Administration will go right ahead the way it has been. So, I have mixed feelings and thoughts on the plan.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com