Term+One

toc = media type="custom" key="10044655" = =Explanation= Affective Domain: the exploration of giftedness and its associated characteristics through self-reflection and comparison with gifted individuals from the past and present. - from [] media type="custom" key="12530544" media type="custom" key="12544442" = Term one =

14th/15th February
This week we discussed excellence for a P4C session and that was the theme for our day. We played a few "getting to know you" games and discussed the term 'gifted'. Our quote for this week was: “ [|Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer.] ”   - Rick Pitino (American basketball coach) We talked about what people are good at and what people are excellent at. What makes "good at" turn to "excellence"? How do you know when you are excellent at something? Does it matter if you are not excellent at everything? We also discussed how some people expect gifted kids to be excellent at everything, and often the kids said they hear people say, "You should be able to do that (eg. a maths test) because you go to Gifted Kids. We talked about the pressure that the kids are put under sometimes to perform and the assumption that because they are intelligent they should be excellent at all things. One mentioned that they are excellent at maths but really finds writing a difficult task, and he often gets told he should be able to write because he is so good at maths. We discussed how to deal with these sorts of pressures in life. A very worthwhile and "eye-opening" discussion. This also helped to lead into early ideas and thoughts about talent time and passion time.

21st/22nd February
= 2011 Archive Following: = Term one The weeks here are in relation to GKP weeks, not the same as school weeks. Week one This week we looked at Walt Disney and his talents and gifts. Some of the students had heard of Disneyland but weren't actually aware of the man behind the idea. He had many hidden talents that we also discovered. His original family name was d'Isgny, his ancestor having been French and the name Disney became the anglicised version once the family moved to Ireland.

Read more about Walter Elias Disney here: [|Walt Disney]

Also the students have been looking at themselves as learners and what their needs are. We have discussed different ways of working and how they best fit in the scenarios. Kids who thought they could have blaring music for learning were surprised to hear that some like to work in silence, and vice versa. There have been some great philosophical discussions surrounding our different learning styles and whether there are really preferred styles or not. We are all beginning to get a clearer picture of who we are and why we have been chosen to be a part of GKP.

Quote for the week //** The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…..these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. **//

Eddie Robinson Week two This week two of the classes looked at a DVD which depicted the life of Leonardo da Vinci. Although some of the children knew a little bit about him, it is certain they all found out a great deal more, and were inspired by his life. The kids were able to look at this wonderful man and determine how his precise observations have helped us in our lives today. The DVD also helped the kids see how talents and passions can fit alongside each other at times, as Leonardo used his passion for drawing to help with his talent in the areas of anatomy, mathematics and others. If any of you parents/caregivers would like to borrow the DVD, I am happy to lend it out to you. The classes that missed this DVD last week will be able to see it in Week 3. Here is one of the many sites about Leonardo. I found this one very informative:[| Leonardo da Vinci]

Also this week the students have been having some fun "getting to know you" games, such as "Splash". There are already many friendships building and all are willingly working in teams and individually when required. Quote for the week //** To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. **// ee. Cummings 1955 Week three This week, the students looked further at themselves as learners and individuals and have been planning a poster which will show the person behind the "mask". The poster will celebrate the person inside and inform others about the special characteristics of each person. The students are developing these in a number of ways, including different media such as paint, collage, 3D, etc. Once these are completed we will photograph some and display them on here, with permission from parents and the students themselves. We found out a great deal about each other this week, including the fact that one student is related to a Maori princess, one student has travelled to over 7 countries, several students have seen the Mona Lisa painting in France and one student is a triplet. Quote for the week:

Creativity is a lot like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You look at a set of elements, the same ones everyone else sees, but then reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new possibility.” Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Week four This week has been another week of finding out more about ourselves and each other. Our theme for the week was "managing time" and "perseverence" - see the habits of mind page - Link. This gave us the opportunity to have a 'finish what we started' week as we had many on-going activities that we needed to spend time on finishing. Those that followed the theme were able to finish their affective posters and also their mental edge maps, but there are still some to be completed. We also talked at length about emotional intelligence and what it means to have EI. There was a good debate in one Tikipunga class about whether it can be learned or whether it is something you are born with. Very interesting discussion.

Quote for the week:

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. ** -- Thomas A. Edison **

Week five This week we continued to focus on emotional intelligence and caring thinking as it was an authentic context that we needed to explore after some discussions occurred last week. At Tikipunga we made posters that displayed what we believe to be caring thinking. Here are some of our initial thoughts, before we dive deeper into our thinking:


 * **Caring thinking is:** || Being sensitive towards the needs of others. || Being kind and considerate to others. || Saying "thank you" when someone does something nice for you. || Caring about others feelings. || Knowing when to go and help and when to stay away. || Looking after our environment and helping others to understand how they can help. || Being intuitive. || Knowing what to do when someone is in need. || Treating everyone equally. ||
 * Showing that you care. || Making sure everyone is included. || Listening with empathy and understanding (see habits of mind) || Being grateful for what you have and helping others less fortunate than you. || Looking after our world. || Treating others as you would like them treat you. || Looking after your family. || Keeping people from harm. || Knowing that your parents are there to protect you from harm. || Understanding why people growl sometimes. ||

We also finished off many of our affective posters and discussed further what our hidden talents and passions are. Here are some of the finished products:


 * [[image:IMG_1476.JPG]] || [[image:IMG_1477.JPG]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1478.JPG width="410" height="293"]] || [[image:IMG_1479.JPG width="413" height="293"]] ||

Quote for the Week:

**I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.**

Maya Angelou - author

Week Six Goodness, it is already Week 6 and we have been so busy with so many aspects of our work. Following our discussions about caring thinking last week, we looked more closely this week at how people display caring thinking. What do you need to do or be to be a caring thinker? Some of the kids wanted to explore the exploitation of animals and we watched a fairly disturbing clip about the bile farms in China. A couple of the kids are looking more indepth into this for their passion time. We discussed how we can make a difference in the world and how some things may be totally out of our control.

Posters by Tikipunga Friday class:


 * [[image:IMG_1481.JPG width="410" height="352"]] || [[image:IMG_1482.JPG width="384" height="374"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1483.JPG]] || [[image:IMG_1484.JPG width="388" height="488"]] ||

Last week one of the kids was concerned about the word "precocious" as she had heard it referred to her at some time. We looked at what the concept meant and then to tie in the word precocious and environmental we looked at and discussed Bindy Irwin's work on DVD and whether she is precocious or not. The kids were fascinated by her passion and many have already checked out Bindi's blog and started communicating with her. We also looked further at our talents and passions and many are ready to start a more indepth passion time or talent time study next term.

We discussed the quote of the week and what habits of mind it pertains to. This quote fitted nicely into our work as John Williamson is an Australian composer/singer who was a very close friend of Steve Irwin and sang at his tribute ceremony. Bindi Irwin is definitely enjoying the journey of being a wildlife warrior, what she really wants to be.

Quote for the Week: **"The joy after all is in the journey, of being what you really want to be." ** **John Williamson, Australian singer**

Week seven This week we continued our theme of looking at gifted people from history and the children were keen to discover more about Galileo. They knew very little about him, with one stating that they thought he invented the telescope and one stating that he had something to do with finding out about the alignment of the planets. They found the DVD interesting and from there they began to complete a small research project in pairs or individually. As with all of our work around gifted individuals, we looked at what similarities Galileo had with Leonardo Da Vinci and if any of their gifted characteristics related to individuals in the class. One person said that being misunderstood was something he shared in common with Galileo and others agreed. We discussed how the work of Galileo has impacted on us today, eg. mechanics, watches, telescopes, etc. and how it may impact on our future.

We also looked at the painting style of van Gogh and then had a go at trying his method of painting, as part of our study of gifted people of the past. We looked at how his talents and his passions worked together, something we have discovered a lot whilst studying gifted. This took up all of our affective time this week. There were some excellent examples and everyone was able to produce a piece of art using the 'wrist - flicking' method of Van Gogh.

We once again visited our own needs and discussed learning styles and how they help us. We had a P4C (Philosophy for Children) discussion on What is excellence? This then lead into our quote for the week.

Quote of the week:

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." ~Aristotle

Week eight Some of the classes were very small this week due to class trips and class and school camps. The week was once again devoted to Galileo and the DVD was completed this week. Some kids have gone on to write their own information and dive deeper with their understanding of the gifts and talents of this amazing man. Here is Danielle K's plus others' research :

media type="custom" key="9044382" Our talk this week was about goal setting and what does that mean. Some of the kids said that they so often had to set unrealistic goals at school that they knew they might keep for a little while but which they knew both they and their teacher wouldn't necessarily stick to. INTERESTING! Some examples of this were - I will always check my work for spelling mistakes and punctuation; My goal is to write neatly when I write stories.

Some of the kids said that they would maybe do that once or twice and then it would be forgotten. We then talked about, " What is a realistic goal to set?"

The kids felt that setting goals around the habits of mind would be more meaningful. When questioned, the general consensus was that if they were able to stick to a goal such as "striving for accuracy" (see habits of mind - hom), the other type of goals could be reached anyway. I found myself that this was a very valuable session and one that made me think carefully about asking the kids to set goals. They did agree, however that to set a small goal such as "In the next hour I will write a paragraph about....." or "In the next hour I will research about....", etc. were achievable and able to be assessed as to whether the goal had been achieved or not. The kids then went off to see if they could set themselves a realistic goal - long term and short term. Although some found it difficult, the discussion beforehand made them more aware of how they could achieve this skill. We will continue to look at how to set goals and how to self reflect using the goals set.

Quote of the Week:

**The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication. ** ** -- Cecil B. De Mille **

Week nine This week we had a small number of children again due to illness and leadership days. Sue Barriball also visited us this week although missed this session. Our theme today was self-awareness, to be aware of ourselves helps us to make the right choices and be successful. We started with our quote this week, which was :

Quote of the Day: A man has to live with himself and he should see to it that he always has good company. // ~Charles Evans Hughes // // US //// Secretary of State and // // US Chief Justice of the Peace //

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 9pt;">Alongside this we read and pondered this wonderful poem written by a prisoner but so powerful: //

// The Man In The Mirror //

// If you get what you want in your struggle for self // // And the world makes you king for a day // // Then go to the mirror and look at yourself // // And see what that man has to say //

// For it isn't a man's <span class="IL_AD">father, <span class="IL_AD">mother or wife // // Whose judgement upon him must pass // // The <span class="IL_AD">fellow whose <span class="IL_AD">verdict counts most in his life // // Is the man staring back from the glass //

// He's the fellow to please, never mind the rest // // For he's with you clear up to the end // // And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test // // If the man in the glass is your friend //

// You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years // // And get pats on the back as you pass // // But your final reward wil be <span class="IL_AD">heartache and <span class="IL_AD">tears // // If you've cheated the man in the glass //

// -- A convict; found on the walls of his cell // Kid's Work

Mihi If you have done right You are your friend You can see a straight path A perfect road, no bends

If you have done wrong It is you who you fight You will bother yourself Through day and through night

No-one else matters For you are you And no matter what happens You WILL pull through.

So in the , It isn't about fortune, fame or wealth It's about getting along in life With others, but mostly yourself. || Tae You can't run from yourself.

Levi You can be your biggest friend and you can be your biggest enemy.

Y If you make mistakes, don't bring others down with you.

|| TJ Don't try to be someone else because you are the only person who can tell you what to do. Also then, you will respect yourself and don't worry what other people will think of you. || You can be the only one to make you what you want. You're the only one that can manage to keep yourself going. If you give up you never get anywhere. Don't expect your dreams to become true when you've done nothing towards the subject, eg. If you want to buy a motorbike - RIGHT WAY - I'll save and buy a motorbike and go to the motorbike track...... WRONG WAY - I can't be bothered, I'll just go and watch it on TV. || Danielle K Be content to be yourself. Be able to look yourself in the eyes without ever faltering your gaze, because the only opinion that matters is yours. But don't be cocky. Listen to others when they have advice to share. || Teaghan Listen to yourself and don't let anyone push you around. Only you can decide for yourself. Take help through hard decisions but when you fail, take it in and carry on with life. ||
 * Liam