Eligibility
Grade 1-6 teachers in Ontario who integrate multiple subjects to engage students to solve real-world problems.
Your Involvement
A one-to-one interview (virtual or face-to-face); shared lesson plans or examplaras, feedback on research findings. Ethics approved by the University of Ottawa. Participation selection is on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Contact lhoan031@uottawa.ca (437) 599-5335
More than ever, it seems that our world is deeply divided. Gifted children may feel especially passionate about areas of social justice and/or enjoy debating current affairs. However, our society seems to have forgotten the art of respectful debate, and often resorts to hurling insults and opinions to shut down conversations. 2020 has given us a lot to talk about, whether it’s the American election, or coronavirus protocols, give your class some tools to have these tough conversations. Remember, problems need to be discussed before they can be solved!
To have personal biases is to be human. We all hold our own subjective world views and are influenced and shaped by our experiences, beliefs, values, education, family, friends, peers and others. Being aware of one’s biases is vital to both personal well-being and professional success.
Have students ponder their own biases they might have about: gender, race, climate change, Americans, conservatives, liberals/democrats, older people, married people, single people, white people, people of colour, males, females, jocks, etc… Ask what others might assume about you?
Try playing this variation of 4 Corners, which introduces students to the art of persuasion. By the end of the lesson, students are able to express their positions, as well as opposing arguments, on a particular issue.
Fore more info, click here.
TRY THIS:
Originally, Thanksgiving was a day to celebrate survival in the “new world.” What should New Thanksgiving celebrate?
Anti-Racist Art Teachers https://sites.google.com/view/antiracistartteachers/home
You can use the resources from their site and even subscribe to their monthly newsletter!
Full of ideas to explore with your students!
Originally published in the New York Times, a More / Less List is a great illustrated way to look back at the previous year and look forward to the new year. What would you like to see more of in 2022? What needs to drop away? There could be some great discussions around the idea of resolutions, but also the imperfect idea of perfection.
What comes after a funny joke? What comes before you say, “I’m sorry.” What comes before the Nobel Prize? What comes after the new year? What comes before the feeling of pride? Before / After questions not only elicit some interesting and creative answers but often interesting depth of thought. Have students come up with their own questions to keep the “ball” rolling.
List of Before / After Questions
Put your answer after each question.
What comes after a funny joke?
What comes before you say, “I’m sorry”?
What comes after the telephone rings?
What comes before the victory parade?
What comes after the electricity goes off?
What comes before pay day?
What comes after the explosion?
What comes before the marathon race?
What comes after you hear “Look out!”
What comes before you sign the contract?
What comes after you lose your car keys?
What comes before the cure for the disease?
What comes after the broken window?
What comes before the Nobel Prize?
What comes after the blender stops?
What comes before the opening curtain on stage?
What comes after a rainstorm?
What comes before the crowd gets angry?
What comes after a squeaking door?
What comes before the concert?
What comes before the hard feelings?
What comes after the invitations are sent?
What comes before the trophy is presented?
What comes after you sign your name on the line?
What comes before a book becomes a bestseller?
Create some of your own for us to try………
A little girl pictures the future as a different place—a place called “There”. Her questions echo many of the worries that all children have.
This discussion guide is one of more than 200 offered by the Prindle Institute to introduce philosophy and ethics using popular children’s books.
A Japanese tale tells of a young man who was asked to tend a garden. He cleaned and raked, removing every fallen leaf and twig. Then, when the ground was completely clear, he shook one of the cherry trees. He wanted the few flowers that fell randomly to demonstrate wabi-sabi, or the beauty in imperfection.
Wabi-Sabi: The Art Of Imperfection, Utne Reader, October, 2007
Beyond the comfort offered to avid gardeners in the depths of winter, we think that this story is most vital as a counterpoint to the tradition of the New Year’s Resolution, which encourages us all to think like perfectionists. Beauty is achieved through balance, which is usually better than perfection.
Perfectionism is the combination of excessively high standards and all-or-nothing thinking, and it is almost always compounded by a poor self-concept. It is particularly likely to manifest in highly gifted students. (Alodat, A., et al, 2020)
Supporting the social-emotional needs of high-ability students,Victoria State Government, August 2021
Perfectionism can cause students both to engage relentlessly and to actively avoid:
| Active Behaviours | Avoidance Behaviours |
| Double- and Triple-checking | Procrastinating |
| Excessive organizing | Giving up too soon |
| List making | Being indecisive |
| Correcting Others and difficulty sharing responsibility | Reluctance to try new things to avoid possible ‘failure’ |
| Academic Overachievement | Disengagement |
| Desire for control and putting high demands on others |
Information Sheet 3: Perfectionism Behaviours,
Government of Western Australia, Centre for Clinical Interventions
Academic work often comes more easily to gifted and highly able students, so they might not develop the necessary skills for managing challenges in their early school years. Teacher, parent and peer expectations can compound the problem, and such students may begin to define themselves in terms of their academic success. Difficulties later in their school career may cause them to question their intelligence or their abilities, rather than understanding that challenges are a normal part of life. Thus, highly able students should be challenged in their learning when they are young so they can develop the necessary skills.
Here are some strategies that you might use to help students who struggle with perfectionism:
A differentiated classroom provides various avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products. It means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, format/products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.
Who is the student in your class that will progress the least this year?… It may actually be your enrichment student. For them, differentiation means:
Tiered assignments provide differentiation by allowing students to work on the same content but at different levels of complexity and challenge. Content standards are met by all, but each individual student is challenged at the appropriate level – including the enrichment student! This helps to ensure optimal learning and engagement for all. Students get “just right” work, being pushed beyond what is easy or comfortable. The number of tiers can vary, but three is a good place to start.
Carol Ann Tomlinson suggests ‘teaching up’, which she describes as “a practice of first planning a lesson that’s challenging for high-end learners and then differentiating for other learners by providing supports that enable them to access that more sophisticated learning opportunity.” This approach, Tomlinson says, challenges advanced learners more than trying to pump up a “middling” idea—and serves other students better as well.
( from Differentiation: Simplified, Realistic and Effective by Bertie Kingore, 2004 )
This competition is an opportunity for Canadian middle and high school students to become more confident about money management and budgeting while having fun competing for their school. This competition will be based on the new bilingual Money Management and Budgeting Module by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC). Use this form to download the info pack.
Ontario Teachers' Blog 