I feel honored that my school supported me enough to allow me to start my own gifted program at our school. We are now a few years in, and we spend much of our time on topics that are of high interest to them and also contain opportunities for the use of higher-level thinking skills and problem-solving.
All of my students are wonderful.
Seeing our program grow, has been especially exciting for me.
The students are fantastic. They work hard and seem to enjoy each of the activities that we do and embrace the challenge. To many, it is their favorite hour of the day. Their excitement is everything that I had hoped for and more. It is so gratifying to see them get excited about the different projects and then to go above and beyond in completing them. Whether it be designing packages to protect eggs being dropped off of the building, creating video games, making a paper roller coaster, or starting to learn Tinkercad, I can't wait to see what great things they are able to do next.
My Project
Learning can be fun. That is what I try to show my students daily. It has been a blessing that our school has given me great freedom in designing my own classes. The students are the stars. We have just begun our journey into virtual reality and it has been a huge success. Students have visited destinations that they have only dreamed of and can't wait for their turn to use it. During pandemic times, it is definitely a bright spot for them to be able to come to school and take their turn on my VR. Our issue is, though, that one isn't enough.
An Oculus Quest would fit this class perfectly and open up whole new worlds to them to let their creativity run wild.
Some of the students want to create amazing 3D artwork with Tilt Brush that is only possible in virtual reality. Others have been on virtual field trips and furthered their understanding of other places and cultures. They even toured the White House. The meditation app, TRIPP, has helped to deal with these stressful times we live in. As we become more comfortable with technology, I would personally love to expand its usage to inspire service projects.
I would definitely use it with my social studies and language students. Writers could go wild using sensory language to describe what they now could fully experience, and I could transport my class in a few clicks to a whole different place and time. The great thing about it is, that even though it is only one unit, we can cast what is being seen onto a larger screen for everyone to share in the experience. It would truly enrich our studies in many subjects.
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