Hello NexA Community! My name is Annie Ragan and I am the new Advanced Learning and DREAMS lab teacher here at NexA. This is my very first year teaching and I am so excited to be part of this amazing teaching family. I was born and raised in Coeur d' Alene where I attended Harding Elementary, Lakes Middle and Lake City High School. My further education includes North Idaho College and University of Idaho where I recently graduated with my Bachelors in Elementary Education. In my free time, I love spending time with Jeff, my husband of 19 years and our two daughters Julianna (17) who is a senior at Lake City and Elsie (15) a sophomore at Lake City. We love to travel as well as enjoy any outside activity: camping, fishing and hiking, you name it! I also love to bake, listen to music/attend concerts and read. I look forward to learning alongside the students, staff and parents of NexA. It is my belief that learning through hands-on, real world experiences will inspire our kids to learn and grow in our community. I look forward to meeting you all soon!
ALP - Advanced Learning Program
The Process
At NExA we practice Inclusion Learning. Where students of all abilities are in the same classroom. In order for a student to qualify for Advanced Learning at NExA they must be in the 95% of peers on nationally normed tests. (We use cogAT, iStation, iReady).
Once students are identified for the Advanced Learning Program the student and parents meet with the ALP teacher and the Core Teacher to set up an Individualized Learning Plan. ILP processes are student-centered and result in a customized plan that recognizes the student’s individual characteristics and is reflective of the student’s learning environment. Students take an active role in assessing, reflecting on, and planning based on their academic, career, and personal goals. Although the process is student-centered, the ILP is shared among parents, counselors, and teachers, as a means of supporting the student’s academic development. If you have any questions about the process please contact bweinberger@cdaschools.org
How Project Based Learning Meets Alp Students Needs
Project-based learning is ideal for the gifted student, focusing on student choice, teacher responsibility, and opportunities for differentiation. PBL’s can challenge students with various abilities and interest while covering multiple educational disciplines in one project. The in-class modifications allow teachers to support students of all ability levels. Advanced learners can drive problem solving of real problems in the community creating positive relationships between school and community.
Here are a few examples of how we meet the needs of gifted students in the General Education Classroom. (Suggestions from the National Association for Gifted Children)
Offering students the most difficult problems first
Pre-Test volunteers- if they show mastery they can move on
Vertical Enrichment
Projects that speak to students interests
Enable gifted students to work together
Planned Tiered Learning
Connecting to a community Mentor
Use Technology
Independent Projects
Ideas For Parents
Use phrases like “you worked hard” or “you caught on fast” instead of “you’re so smart”
· Encourage your child to take on challenges, gifted students are often used to catching on quickly and may be risk averse.
· Find a passion and dig in. It has been said the it takes 10,000 minutes of a topic in order to become a master.
· Write Haikus: A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again. This is Basho Matsuo’s famous haiku. Use haiku as a way to challenge gifted students to summarize chapters, current events, biographies or vocabulary words. Haiku are student-friendly yet force them to be concise and purposeful with their word choice.
· Reach out to your childs teachers, no matter the subject they are a wealth of knowledge and are always willing to help
Links for Parents