That’s amazing!

Thank you to all families who have supported this fundraiser. We’ll now be able to purchase an electric kiln for the school and have it installed. Our Arts programmes will benefit greatly from this and Annette, who leads the Arts curriculum is very excited, as are all staff.

We hope to have all fundraising money in to school by the end of Week One Term Four (Friday 12 October), so that we can award the prizes at our school assembly on Monday 15 October. Assembly starts at 10:00am if you’d like to join us for this celebration!

We may yet raise over $11,000! Wouldn’t that be wonderful! Let’s see if we can do just that!

You’ll note there are some questions about the relevance of our current school goals. These can be found on our website; however a copy will also come home to all families with next week’s newsletter.

Thank you to all families who completed our Developing Talents Survey. I am currently summarising the information and hope to publish a progress update sometime next week.

Developing Talents Survey

Can people be gifted underachievers? 

The first part of the lecture presented interesting perspectives. The challenge: Attempt to define achievement. One’s notion of underachievement, of course, depends upon the way we define achievement. Renzulli’s model, along with that of Gagne was a reference point once again as was research by James Delisle (2002, Australia).

The presenter discussed Delisle’s view of underachievement; the key points being that it:

-          Is in the eyes of the beholder

-          Is content and situation specific

-          Is tied to self-image

-          Implies that adults disapprove of a child’s behaviour

-          Is a learned set of behaviours

-          Is a behaviour and therefore can be changed

-          Relates to blame – that’s the name of the game

Several environmental catalysts for underachievement that have been identified through the research of Butler-Pou (1993) and Clark (1992) were discussed; these included inadequate parental role-modelling, expectations(too high or too low) and pressure, lack of involvement or support as well as children feeling that their acceptance is conditional.

Another view, that of Carolyn Coil looked at attention addiction, excessive manipulation, dependence/dominance struggle in the early years and ‘parents to the rescue’ as possible contributors to underachievement.

The notions of ‘underachievers’ and ‘selective consumers’ were discussed; the selective consumers being those who choose to ‘opt in and opt out’ while the real underachievers are those who really do lack the defined characteristics of achievers (Heacox,1991) those being:

-          Goal oriented

-          Positive thinkers

-          Confident

-          Resilient

-          Self-disciplined

-          Take pride

-          Proficient

-          Risk-takers

Selective consumers display the above attributes but on their terms.

 As teachers and parents we can identify with both of these groups; with the children we believe are capable of achieving at a much higher level than their task commitment and output may demonstrate. It’s important to think about where self-management, motivation, volition and personality fit within this picture as well, not forgetting self-image. I believe that teachers have a responsibility to ensure that school is a place where children want to come everyday, where children are motivated to both learn and extend their learning and are both inspired and excited about the programmes in which they participate. If you listen to Ian Jukes speak and believe what he says; that in many cases,  the excitement happens for children in the activities that take place after the 3:00pm bell i.e. the dance, music, sports lessons and activities as well as the internet games etc should we then be concerned about what’s happening in day-to-day class programmes? Are many of today’s children using the school as ‘down time’ in order to prepare for the afternoon outside of school? Or are parents providing children with/expecting children to participate in so many activities after 3:00pm (including in some cases lengthy hours of homework tasks additional to that set by teachers) that they are simply too tired to perform during the school day? I remember talking with a year six student some years ago about just this, she was expected to perform at a high intensity with so many extra-curricula activities that she was exhausted every morning and therefore was too tired to participate.

Self-management is important. We see only too often, parents carrying schoolbags for children, putting their book-bags away and letting children decide too many of the boundaries; this fits into the ‘parents to the rescue’ category. Children need to be given opportunities to develop independence as soon as they come to school. There needs to be a balance with the choices they are offered and times when they are expected to comply.

On a lighter note, we were told of a child who arrived at school wearing a t-shirt with the statement, “The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily the opinions of the parents!” As parents, how many times have you had this thought!

A second speaker talked about the ‘invisible’ students within culturally diverse populations. Her view, (based upon a case-study at one particular school, with 98% Maori and Pasifika students) is that the NZ system is not designed to recognise, respond to or value, the gifts and talents children from culturally diverse communities have to offer. When families disassociate from an educational system that they may not relate to is the result that all students from these families will fail at school? This is something that Edendale has been challenged with and addressing for a number of years. We have provided emphasis classes for Maori, Pasifika and Tongan students in response to community wishes at different times. However, with changing diversity in our community we need to continue to be pro-active and consider the needs of many cultures that are now represented within our student population. In my view however, we cannot make a value judgement about the programmes and attitudes of all schools based on the experience of one community. I would be interested to hear the thoughts of others. You may like to discuss this as part of our up-coming community consultation process. We hope that you’ll choose to participate.

Other links that may be of interest are:

Heterogeneous Groupings

Underachievement

Another Perspective

Cultural Issues: Ministry of Education NZ

Meeting the Needs of Gifted and Talented Minority Language Students

The abstract stated: “The importance of identifying and nurturing the gifts and talents of all tamariki in Aotearoa is widely accepted in education circles. The continued under-representation of Maori students in gifted and talented programmes indicates the need to ensure understandings about the way children learn and the corresponding curriculum content, reflect Maori conceptions, values and practices…” 

If one interprets the statement ‘gifted Maori students’ literally as all Maori students, then the understanding is that all students are gifted (exceptional) in some way, so, do programmes provided for all students in all schools need to be reviewed  in line with this research? This viewpoint will add an interesting dynamic to our review of the developing talents programmes provided for students at Edendale.

Further ideas stated: ”Our gifted programmes should encourage young gifted Maori to explore what giftedness means for them and their community by exploring those in the whakapapa that have demonstrated ‘constructive action’ and ‘social capital’. From this they can develop strong positive ethnic identities and a sense of mana tangata.”  And… “Culturally appropriate demonstrations of gifts and talents, which in te ao Maori, (the Maori world) are influenced by the values of humility, group co-operation and group benefit.” (Melinda Webber)

Research from Bevan-Brown, (1992,2005) stated that “to be considered ‘a gifted Maori’ not only must you be exceptional in a culturally valued area but you must also use your outstanding skill, ability or quality to help others in some way…”

This, of course, is just a ‘snapshot’ of the evening.

Currently, approximately 8% of students enrolled at Edendale identify as Maori, these children learning in various teams school-wide. Edendale traditionally provides cultural teaching and learning programmes to support cultural identity.  In previous years, with 18% Maori students attending Edendale, when there were both sufficient numbers of students at each level and the teaching staff available, we catered for Maori children in Te Whanau, a Maori Emphasis team.

We  continue to review our programmes, class structures and options for ensuring the success of Maori students  at Edendale. Given our current, very diverse student population, how do you think we could (or should) consider this perspective at Edendale? Add your thoughts or feel free to email me if you prefer.

-          A historical perspective was presented during this session which included information about how thinking has changed over time in relation to the term ‘gifted and talented’. A very useful overview was presented: McCann & Henderson (2000) 

-          Some influential perspectives of gifted and talented in the NZ context were presented

-          Information relating to identification processes was given in a broad context

-          Links between how we define giftedness and talent and potentially gifted behaviours were discussed. 

It’s interesting to think about and write one’s own definition of a gifted and talented child prior to listening to ideas presented in research, as of course that’s what  research gives, someone else’s viewpoint. The term is generally regarded as being ambiguous and inconsistent and the terms are often interchanged. Davis,G.A. & Rimm S.B. (2004) At Edendale we refer to students as ‘developing talents’, working towards using gifts rather than ‘gifted’ thus the name of our classes ‘Developing Talents’ 

There was discussion around the historical view of giftedness relating predominantly to having a high IQ (test score), and it being very elitist and also innate. Today there is a much wider appreciation and acknowledgement of abilities with potential being recognised as well as performance. Environmental factors, cultural contexts and intrapersonal factors are recognised as being significant. Multiple methods of identification are considered necessary.

‘The gifted and talented are a diverse group reflecting a wide range of special abilities. There is no such thing as the gifted child’ Mc Alpine D. (2004) What do we mean by Gifted and Talented?

Theories that were discussed were:

Renzulli’s 3 ring conception of giftedness, a very popular model upon which Edendale identification processes are based as well as other factors being considered

Gagne’s differentiated model of giftedness and talent

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences 

A Maori concept of giftedness

There was some discussion about what’s happening in NZ schools; however this was in very broad terms with examples given of school statements about gifted and talented rather than discussion about programmes that schools provide, which I would have found much more interesting. A hand-out sheet listing Characteristics / Observable Behaviours / Other Behavioural Indicators was given; please email me if you’d like a copy of either  this or  the list of reference reading.

More next week, when the focus will be: How important is cultural identity for the demonstration of gifts and talents for Maori learners?

Our special PTA meeting last week was very successful with twenty-two parents and staff combined in attendance. We now have a committee: Fiona Shirreffs (Chairperson), Gillian Roache (Secretary) Louise Sadler (Treasurer) and Bronwyn Ward (Staff Representative).  PTA meetings are now on the 3^rd Thursday of the month at 7.00pm with the next meeting being on 17 May.

We are delighted that our new phone system has just been installed. You will be able to leave voice mail messages for all teachers as well as administration staff very soon. For those of you who experienced problems with our previous system, we do hope that these will now be resolved.

We are receiving quite a few inquiries about our centenary, which falls in 2009. We hope to hold a celebration  of this occasion at some point during the year. In order to be able to do this we need expressions of interest from past pupils of the school to form an Reunion Committee. Please email me if you are interested in being a part of a team to organise a weekend event or if you would like more information about what might be involved.

Our new Board of Trustees meets for their first meeting tomorrow evening, Tuesday 1 May at 7.15pm. We will let you know in the newsletter this week if there are to be any changes to the day or time of these meetings, which are open for members of the public to attend.

Tomorrow evening, JennyTong, Lyn Stanton and I attend the first session of the Gifted and Talented Programme which is part of  Auckland University Continuing Education. Information from this may be of particular interest to families, particularly those who wish to participate in our review of programmes we provide for these students at Edendale. I will give a summary of key points raised, weekly on this blog. Please feel welcome to mail through your comments about this if you wish to do so.