Garden Spot High School
669 East Main Street
PO Box 609
New Holland, PA 17557
May 28th, 2015
Dear 9th grade Students, Parents, and Guardians,
Here at ELANCO School District we are committed to providing the best educational opportunities
possible for all our students. With that in mind, we are making changes in what the gifted programming
will offer in the coming years for our students with GIEPs. Some things, like SEE Seminars, student
interviews, and students attending GIEP meetings, will remain the same. As you know, this past year I
have been working with the middle school students and valued the regular meeting times when I could
work with the grade level as a peer group. We were able to address many of their GIEP goals during this
time. This group time will be carried on into the high school next year.
How will this work? After meeting with administration, we have developed a plan that will minimally
impact the regular class time yet allow me to teach your student and help meet his/her GIEP goals. At
these meetings we will focus each quarter on one of the four domains of gifted education: creativity,
critical thinking, cognitive skills, and affective skills. For example, what is planned for the 9th grade in
2015-2016 is:




1st quarter Cognitive Skills
a. Study skills
b. Interpersonal skills
c. Collaborative work skills
d. Conflict resolution
nd
2 quarter Critical Thinking
o Socratic/Paideia seminars
3rd quarter Affective Skills
a. Academic skills review/renew
b. Leadership and group interaction skills
4th quarter Creativity and Critical Thinking
a. Game theory
b. Problem solving
c. Personal creativity across the curriculum
In order for this work to occur, 9th grade students will be coming to work with me for one half of a block
each week, rotating blocks so that the students will miss only 40 minutes of a class per month. For
September it would be:
Students will miss the first Monday of the month since
that is Memorial Day, but will come on the 2nd
Monday during the second half of Block 2, on the 3rd
Monday during the second half of Block 3, and on the
4th Monday during the second half of Block 4. Some
things that I made sure of in implementing this plan
are that:
SEPTEMBER
BLOCK
MONDAY
1
Vacation
2
14th
3
21st
4
28th
Garden Spot High School
669 East Main Street
PO Box 609
New Holland, PA 17557
1. Student will receive a full year schedule with dates as to when they come to me (included in this
letter).
2. Students will not be held accountable for anything they miss in the regular classroom during the
time they are working with me. Teachers will be made aware of this and encouraged not to
schedule tests or labs that they think should be made up.
3. If there is instruction that is missed, it should be made available by the teacher on the Spartan
Learning Portal so that students don’t miss content.
4. We will have a classroom (room 1009) where we will meet each time.
As the students move through the grades, there will be different quarterly focuses depending on the
GIEP goals.
I will also not be teaching online classes for ELANCOline next year. While I enjoyed that work very much,
it demanded a time commitment that interfered with my duties as the gifted support teacher. Next
year I will once again be able to start pushing into classrooms to see how the students are working
among their gifted and non-gifted peers and how the structure of the class meets their gifted needs. I
will have available time to attend department meetings to work with teachers on how to address the
gifted students’ academic requirements in their classrooms. And it will also mean more time to work
one-on-one with students who need guidance or help with something.
I am very excited about the opportunities that this opens up for us. For example, on a block 3 day when
the students come at 11:15 to me, we can schedule a speaker from one of the local colleges or
businesses to come work with the students through lunch (up to two hours). These speakers can
address and provide activities that are specific to the interests of the student group. Or we can use that
time for extended projects or even short field trips.
One thing I want to mention is that if there is a delayed schedule due to weather or testing, we will still
meet, just for a shorter time since the block is shorter. The District Office has graciously offered to help
cover some of the SEE Seminars with a substitute so that I won’t miss too many sessions with students.
If I am to go on a field trip, students will be told to stay in their regular class that day.
During this first year, we will be working on getting this up and running while all the time evaluating how
it is working so that we can continue to improve the program through best practices to enhance the
learning of the gifted students. I have started a blog for students and parents to access information
which can be found at: http://blog.elanco.org/gsgs/
Announcements about SEE seminars and speakers will be posted there as well as information for
parents. Also, my contact information is there and you can post comments on the blog itself. So, to
summarize, I am really looking forward to this opportunity to work closely with your student next year in
order to support and enhance his/her education while meeting the GIEP goals.
Sincerely,
Valerie Sharir
7th-12th grade Gifted Support Teacher