Another great part of my job is the Schoolwide Enrichment Model! The idea behind the Schoolwide Enrichment Model is to develop the strengths and talents of all students. We still serve our identified gifted students through differentiation and the resource (pull-out) model, but JJH teachers also enrich all students within our school and use gifted strategies in the regular education classroom (like differentiation, creativity training, higher order thinking questions, research, problem solving, etc.). For more information about SEM which was developed by Joseph Renzulli at the University of Connecticut, follow this link!
One component of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model is Enrichment Clusters. (Don't worry! You'll get to hear about other components in future posts!) At JJH, students sign up for a cluster on a topic that is interesting to them. Clusters are small groups (6-15 students) and led by an adult within the building. They are multi-age, and the kids meet for about 10 weeks on Thursdays from 1-2. One of the main ideas behind clusters is that they should be student-led. The leaders begin the cluster by introducing the topic with guest speakers, videos, books, tools, websites, etc. (In SEM terms, these are called Type I Enrichment). The kids then think about the topic and problems in our school, community, or world related to the topic. They use Creative Problem Solving to decide on a product or service they want to develop to make a positive impact on the problem. The rest of the cluster is spent making the product. There are so many GREAT things about clusters!
1) Kids get to delve into a topic in which they are interested! Our attendance is historically higher on Thursdays--Cluster Days!
2) Students are learning...they just don't know it! Clusters typically involve reading, writing, science, math, etc. They are multi-disciplinary!
3) The students realize that they CAN make a difference!!
When one of our students who often struggles with writing was taking the writing test, she read her topic and raised her hand to speak with her teacher. When her teacher went over to her, the teacher was surprised that the student said, " My topic is easy!! It says, tell about a time when you have helped others. I'm just going to write about my cluster and how we helped people by collecting donations."
We typically have about 40 clusters each session. I wish I could tell you about all of them, because we have so many amazing clusters and cluster leaders at our school! Instead, I'll just tell you about a few that I was able to get pictures of at the Cluster Fair on Thursday.
This is art made by the Recycling Stars Cluster. Students encouraged people to recycle their caps and lids. They then turned it into a seasons tree. Notice how the tree shows all the seasons!
The Math Lovers cluster explored different math puzzles and games. They then created a math contest for the school.
In the Operation Troops Cluster, students raised money to create packages to send to people serving overseas in the military.
This is a sign for the Red Carpet Event for mothers and daughters being planned by the Glam Squad. This cluster focused on bringing out the "true beauty" in women. Each month they named a "true beauty" queen within the school and put up posters in the school about definitions of beauty around the world and women who showed "true beauty."
This was mine and Abby's cluster, The Puppeteers. Students wrote three plays to help other students deal with bullies, adjust to a family member moving away, and to teach kids to NEVER GIVE UP! We wrote the scripts, created puppets, and built a puppet theater!
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| The Sew It Up cluster is always a popular cluster. In addition to sewing their own creations, this cluster made pillows to donate to Oasis Catolica. |
The Garden Clusters are always popular too! Over the years, students have planted vegetable gardens, butterfly gardens, a carnivorous bog, and trees! This cluster session, students concentrated on the vegetable gardens. Here are some carrots and broccoli from their gardens!
Any cooking cluster typically fills up quickly too! One of the cooking clusters was the Traveling Iron Chefs. These kids decided to explore cultures around the world learning both information about the country and trying food from those countries. They then taught other students about those countries and their food. Here is some sushi they made (although it was candy sushi--very popular!!)
Aren't these amazing! Honestly, the other 30+ clusters are just as wonderful, this post is just getting very long plus I don't have pics of all of them without children (I don't post pictures of children from school)! I really wish I could tell you about ALL the clusters! Students made so many amazing products like food and cookbooks, videos/movies, dances, public service announcements, photo stories, a wooden bench for our future track, art work, planned special events, and more!! The students and teachers at our school are so hardworking and creative!
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