Last minute thoughts/advice re: GT application??

[Anonymous]

I'm putting together DC's GT application. Does anyone have any last minute thoughts/advice? DC is in the pool (one amazing score, the rest are so so). I'm trying not to overthink it. I came up with concrete examples for the parent questionnaire, have 3 work samples, and am including one award and one recommendation letter (maybe 2 if we get the other one in time).

[Anonymous]

I think you have it covered quite well. Try not to stress over it!

[Anonymous]

I'd love some advice in this area as well. What kinds of work samples are good examples for an advanced 2nd grader? I really feel at a loss as to what is appropriate!

My DC is in second grade, so we don't really have any "awards." (I'd give my DC a "Best Kid Ever" award, but I don't think that counts.)

There are some great little projects my DC did at home and I'll include images of those as well as concrete examples for the questionnaire. I'm having a hard time giving concrete examples of my DC's sense of humor. DC has a fantastic sense of humor, but that seems hard for me to quantify with specific examples.

Thanks and trying not to stress... much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kinds of work samples are good examples for an advanced 2nd grader? I really feel at a loss as to what is appropriate!

Submit things that your DC has done at home that would not be part of the school curriculum.

For example, if your DC really likes building with LEGOs and has created an Amazing Contraption, take a picture of the creation and have DC tell you about it. You can then transcribe what DC tells you about the contraption and submit the picture and description as a work sample.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Submit things that your DC has done at home that would not be part of the school curriculum.

I believe at least one page of the work samples must be labeled "created at school." I'm pretty sure I just saw that in the materials, but pls double-check in case my memory is wrong. Hopefully you have saved something that came home from school recently that you can submit. Then for the other 4 pages you can include whatever you want.

Regarding the Lego contraption bit posted above, I would not transcribe something my child wrote. Let your child write something on his/her own, but if you are writing it for him/her, you are invariably going to end up editing to some degree or another. You may create the impression that this is not what DC came up with, but rather something you "coached" him/her into saying or modified as you wrote it down. That is already an issue with the parent-submitted work samples (there is sometimes some skepticism about how much of it the child actually did) and I think that's why they want at least one page that was created at school.

My DD is in the Center now, and for her work samples, I submitted only things in her own handwriting and nothing that I had any input into. It was all stuff she had done at school or done at home independently that I had saved. We did not "create" any work samples for the application.

I'm referring my DS now and am doing the same thing, just gathering things I've saved, mostly from school b/c he doesn't tend to create lots of written product or build creations that can be photographed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Submit things that your DC has done at home that would not be part of the school curriculum.

I believe at least one page of the work samples must be labeled "created at school." I'm pretty sure I just saw that in the materials, but pls double-check in case my memory is wrong. Hopefully you have saved something that came home from school recently that you can submit. Then for the other 4 pages you can include whatever you want.

Regarding the Lego contraption bit posted above, I would not transcribe something my child wrote. Let your child write something on his/her own, but if you are writing it for him/her, you are invariably going to end up editing to some degree or another. You may create the impression that this is not what DC came up with, but rather something you "coached" him/her into saying or modified as you wrote it down. That is already an issue with the parent-submitted work samples (there is sometimes some skepticism about how much of it the child actually did) and I think that's why they want at least one page that was created at school.

My DD is in the Center now, and for her work samples, I submitted only things in her own handwriting and nothing that I had any input into. It was all stuff she had done at school or done at home independently that I had saved. We did not "create" any work samples for the application.

I'm referring my DS now and am doing the same thing, just gathering things I've saved, mostly from school b/c he doesn't tend to create lots of written product or build creations that can be photographed.

We were told that if you go to FCPS, the one created at school will be submitted by the school (so you only get to add 4 pages, not 5). They also cuationed us not to include too much. They said that you don't want to look like you're overcompensating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We were told that if you go to FCPS, the one created at school will be submitted by the school (so you only get to add 4 pages, not 5). They also cuationed us not to include too much. They said that you don't want to look like you're overcompensating.

My son is in a GT center this year (3rd grade) and at that time the school submitted work did not count against the five pages that parents could submit. Also, we were urged to type up his words for a system that he designed as his handwriting was pretty poor. The dictation was accompanied by a diagram that he drew himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We were told that if you go to FCPS, the one created at school will be submitted by the school (so you only get to add 4 pages, not 5). They also cuationed us not to include too much. They said that you don't want to look like you're overcompensating.

My son is in a GT center this year (3rd grade) and at that time the school submitted work did not count against the five pages that parents could submit. Also, we were urged to type up his words for a system that he designed as his handwriting was pretty poor. The dictation was accompanied by a diagram that he drew himself.

I would not follow this advice. No 2nd grader "designs a system." Sounds like a parent planting evidence in the child's file and then claim it was the child's. I'm sure the committee sees thru this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We were told that if you go to FCPS, the one created at school will be submitted by the school (so you only get to add 4 pages, not 5). They also cuationed us not to include too much. They said that you don't want to look like you're overcompensating.

My son is in a GT center this year (3rd grade) and at that time the school submitted work did not count against the five pages that parents could submit. Also, we were urged to type up his words for a system that he designed as his handwriting was pretty poor. The dictation was accompanied by a diagram that he drew himself.

I would not follow this advice. No 2nd grader "designs a system." Sounds like a parent planting evidence in the child's file and then claim it was the child's. I'm sure the committee sees thru this.

Not the quoted poster, but a gifted 2nd grader could design a system. These are not just bright, above average kids. Profoundly gifted kids really are a lot different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We were told that if you go to FCPS, the one created at school will be submitted by the school (so you only get to add 4 pages, not 5). They also cuationed us not to include too much. They said that you don't want to look like you're overcompensating.

My son is in a GT center this year (3rd grade) and at that time the school submitted work did not count against the five pages that parents could submit. Also, we were urged to type up his words for a system that he designed as his handwriting was pretty poor. The dictation was accompanied by a diagram that he drew himself.

I would not follow this advice. No 2nd grader "designs a system." Sounds like a parent planting evidence in the child's file and then claim it was the child's. I'm sure the committee sees thru this.

My then 2nd-grade DD designed a system and we typed up up her description verbatim. She's a 3rd grader in a GT Center this year.

[Anonymous]

Profoundly gifted kids really are a lot different.

Yes they are, but just to be clear, "profoundly gifted" is a term of art. Psychologists generally use this phrase to refer to children with IQs around 175 or higher. Profoundly gifted children are extremely rare. There probably are not more than a handful in the entire GT program, if that, because such a small percentage of the population is in this range. The children in the Centers are gifted, but very very few of them are profoundly gifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Profoundly gifted kids really are a lot different.

Yes they are, but just to be clear, "profoundly gifted" is a term of art. Psychologists generally use this phrase to refer to children with IQs around 175 or higher. Profoundly gifted children are extremely rare. There probably are not more than a handful in the entire GT program, if that, because such a small percentage of the population is in this range. The children in the Centers are gifted, but very very few of them are profoundly gifted.

Ok, if you're talking about that 1 in 10,000 child. My point is that if a child is not "profoundly gifted," he/she probably didn't "design a system"--just pushed by parents looking to build a GT file.

[Anonymous]

Ya know. I gotta say. It really all depends on what you mean by "design a system."

A system is defined as, "an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole."

I can easily see a second grader creating a system by this definition. I would even venture to say that my child has done so, though I would not define her as a one of those 1 in 10,000 profoundly gifted types. Just that she does combine things to make a whole in a creative and intelligent way. Kids in second grade can do this with Legos, paper, wire, wheels, tape--all kinds of things. We're not talking about second graders designing complex computer systems here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ya know. I gotta say. It really all depends on what you mean by "design a system."

A system is defined as, "an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole."

I can easily see a second grader creating a system by this definition. I would even venture to say that my child has done so, though I would not define her as a one of those 1 in 10,000 profoundly gifted types. Just that she does combine things to make a whole in a creative and intelligent way. Kids in second grade can do this with Legos, paper, wire, wheels, tape--all kinds of things. We're not talking about second graders designing complex computer systems here.

Yes, but your implication is that this is something way beyond what a normal 2nd grader does, therby justifying/ratifying that a child belongs in GT.

Try googling any IQ score in the 175 range and that's 1:10,000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, but your implication is that this is something way beyond what a normal 2nd grader does, therby justifying/ratifying that a child belongs in GT.

Try googling any IQ score in the 175 range and that's 1:10,000.

I didn't make any previous posts regarding "designing a system." You are confusing one Anonymous poster with another.

I just made an observation that states that by definition, it is perfectly reasonable to find a number of gifted second graders who are not only capable of designing a system, but who do so for fun. There is, however, a difference between a child who is "gifted" and a child who is "profoundly gifted" to the point of being 1 in 10,000. I'm sure there would likewise be differences in the systems that such children would design.