“ . . .received your Socratic Seminar audio presentations. Thank you very much . . .Great job!  ‘especially appreciate using all the content areas and the student introductions.

Bravo!”

In addition to the kudos above (received this year from the District GATE offices), here are a few things to know about GATE/Seminar programs at Muirlands Middle:

·  The District psychologists test every second grader and then any 5^th grader new to the District or 5^th grade students who scored close to GATE or Seminar in second grade.

·  The District no longer tests after 5^th grade (NO more 7^th grade testing)

·  Only testing done by District psychologists “counts” for District identification for GATE or Seminar (not private testing, not high IQ, not other schools’/districts’/teachers’/parents’ recommendations/letters/requests, not high-achievers, etc.)

·  Our school has close to 50% GATE/Seminar identified students with teachers who have GATE certification, making virtually all content-area classes GATE classes. Teachers teach using GATE strategies, scaffolding “up” for those who need it and further differentiating for those higher achievers.

·  The current ratio/budget allocation for Seminar classes is 25:1—all of our Seminar “slots” are filled to capacity each year with District identified seminar students.  We also have up to ten or more students at each grade level who are seminar identified by the District but who are not in Seminar classes (either because they opted to not enroll, applied for a spot too late, or other reason).

·  Seminar at the elementary and middle school level is not an honors or advanced course—just as GATE instruction is differentiated from grade-level instruction, Seminar is differentiated from GATE by content, process, and/or product based on the needs and interests of the seminar-identified students in the classes for any given year.

·  Our Seminar program here at Muirlands is humanities based; it is important to remember that not all highly gifted students “shine” in humanities---their giftedness may be in math or science or music or …

Parents, you know your child.  You can provide enrichment opportunities—anything from rocketry to junior theatre to sports and more—to help your child explore interests as they progress through middle school to get ready for high school and college.

Feel free to contact me with questions about GATE/Seminar identification, placement, or AP high school prep.

April Micolino

GATE/Seminar Team Leader

amicolino@sandi.net

Visit the district web site for more information about the GATE program: http://www.sandi.net/gate2

If you have ideas for future GATE meetings for families here at Muirlands, or if you have any questions about the GATE/Seminar program here at Muirlands, please contact  April Micolino, the Muirlands GATE team leader, or vice principal Jennifer Nash.