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Mrs. Adrian Hayes
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Kempsville Middle School
Hometown:
Virginia Beach
Class Information:
Students per Class: 150
Class Description:
I am the gifted resource teacher at a diverse middle school in Virginia Beach. Our zone pulls from a wide variety of neighborhoods, so our students range from economically disadvantaged to affluent. Our gifted students are clustered onto teams at each grade level so that I can work with them in their core subject areas and train their teachers in strategies that meet their special learning needs. My goal is to assist teachers in developing instruction that allows gifted students to work as problem-solvers and creative thinkers while meeting the demands of a rigorous curriculum. However, my work is not limited to contact with gifted students. In some classes, such as Social Studies, students are not grouped by ability, and so our teachers must differentiate instruction to accommodate a broad range of abilities. In those classes, I work to create lessons that will both challenge our quickest learners and provide meaningful learning opportunities for our struggling students. We also have elective classes which provide remediation for our underachieving students, and I work with those groups on monthly basis.
Position:
Gifted Resource Teacher
Needs:
Our building is among the oldest in the school system, and we have not been able to keep pace with the rapidly-developinginnovations in educational technology. While other schools in the area have mounted multimedia projectors in every classroom, our teachers struggle to share and move a few projectors on carts. We have no interactive whiteboards, and our teachers must compete for computer lab time. We certainly "get by" with what we have, and our teachers make creative use of the resources that are available to engage and challenge our students. However, our students -- especially those who are gifted and who will pursue advanced coursework in math, science, technology, and engineering fields -- need opportunities to learn with advanced technology. Our students who struggle academically need that technology every bit as much as our gifted students. For these students, technology provides opportunities for engaging, creative, thought-provoking,and hands-on learning. Students who lack the ability or motivation to learn via traditional instructional methods find new avenues to success using technology that enables them to work as producers and problem-solvers in the classroom. Our teachers have great ideas, and they are constantly looking for ways to incorporate technology into their classrooms. With greater access to technology resources, our teachers can pursue those ideas and work more efficiently to provide instruction that meets a wide range of student needs.
My Philosophy:
In my time as an educator, I have worked with all kinds of students -- both the brilliant and profoundly disabled, the ambitious and unmotivated, the rich and poor. I believe that all students, no matter where they start or what their challenges may be, are able to learn and grow, and they deserve the opportunity to do so. As educators, it is our task to develop instruction that is pitched appropriately for each of those students -- not the strongest or weakest of the bunch. Educational technology provides teachers and students with more options, more flexibility, more efficient strategies, and more creative means to teach and learn. Technology empowers teachers and learners, and it creates opportunities for all of our students to grow.