2.15.17 CAC-GATE Parent Meeting

February 15, 2017 at 6:00 p.m.

Parent Night Agenda

1. CAC Board Report
2. Dr. Luis Knight- Parenting Strategies to Promote Positive Health and Success
3. Kara Rydman- IUSD Multiple Criteria Measures Process
4. Kara Rydman- Open Forum Discussion

The Community Advisory Committee for GATE serves as an important vehicle for parent and community involvement in the educational program of gifted and advanced learners. The committee is comprised of parent representatives from each school within our district. CAC-GATE hosts general parent community meetings to promote open communication between district administrators, school staff, and parents. Meetings also provide parents with information and opportunities related to gifted education. All of our CAC-GATE parent nights are open to all IUSD parents.

This month we will be hosting our second CAC-GATE Parent Night of the 2016-2017 school year. I welcome you to join us and bring along other interested IUSD parents. To open the meeting the CAC-GATE Board will share out information regarding recent business. Our keynote speaker Dr. Luis Knight from Boys Town California will present information on how we as parents can support our students as they move through their educational career and beyond. As Coordinator of our Advanced Programs, I will then provide an overview of the Multiple Criteria Measures Process we utilize in IUSD to screen and place students in the GATE program in 3rd through 7th grades. A short question and answer session will also be held at the end of the meeting.

I hope that you are able to join us for this community event.

More Growth Mindset Resources

Looking for more Growth Mindset Resources? Check out these books.| 

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. By Paul Tough
Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter more have to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, optimism, and self-control.

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes. By Mark Pett
Meet Beatrice Bottomwell: a nine-year-old girl who has never (not once!) made a mistake. She never forgets her math homework, she never wears mismatched socks, and she ALWAYS wins the yearly talent show at school. In fact, Beatrice holds the record of perfection in her hometown, where she is known as The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes. Life for Beatrice is sailing along pretty smoothly until she does the unthinkable–she makes her first mistake. And in a very public way!

Thanks for the Feedback, I Think (Best Me I Can Be!) By Julia Cook
This entertaining story follows RJ as he goes about his day doing the things he enjoys. But when a couple of friends give him compliments, he just isn’t sure how to respond! As RJ continues through the day, he hears from his teacher and parents that while there are many things he’s doing very well, there are also some things he needs to work on. Throughout this must-read story, RJ learns what it means to receive positive and negative feedback, and how to respond appropriately to that feedback.

1.18.17 Parent Meeting & Book Club

GATE Parent Meeting & Book Club

 Happy New Year!

Please join us for the upcoming GATE Parent Site Representative Meeting and book club. Our Book Club 2016-17 Selection is “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck. Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck in decades of research on achievement and success.

We will meet at IUSD’s Learning Center, Room 1, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 18th. This meeting is intended for adult attendance only. Childcare will not be available. Please refer to location address and directions below.

Book Club Discussions will be held during the first hour of the meeting. The last 30 minutes will be reserved for general parent site representative discussion topics.

I look forward to seeing you.

Chapters 3-4 Discussion Questions

1. Did you always assume that success came right from innate talent or ability? Discuss people you know who are brilliant or talented but never went anywhere. And people who are not so brilliant or talented, but are highly successful. How did they do it?
2. Were you labeled a gifted or smart child? Did it help you or hurt you?
3. Was there a difficult transition in your life where you fell into a fixed mindset and lost confidence in your abilities? Describe it.
4. How can we help our children when they are stuck, struggling, or not feeling "smart?" How can we teach grit?

Meeting 2 Challenge: Change the way you praise!
This month intentionally choose the words you use to give people feedback by praising the process, not the person. Verbally praise others for skills that don’t sound predetermined: hard work, persistence, rising to a challenge, learning from a mistake, etc. Avoid praising children for being “smart”, “brilliant” or “gifted”.

Avoid Person-Praise. Focus on Process-Praise!

• · “Great job! You must be smart at this.”
• · “Great job! You must have worked really hard.”
• · “See, you are good at English. You got an A on your last test.”
• · “You really studied for your English test and your improvement shows it.”
• · “You got it! I told you that you were smart.”
• · “I like the way you tried all kinds of strategies on that math problem until you finally got it.”

Visit www.mindsetkit.org for more information.