DYS Homeroom

Thank you for an amazing school year! It was a wonderful experience getting to know these students over the course of the year while hearing their thoughtful reflections. Most of all, it was great to watch them form friendships and bond over the content we discussed. I'm excited to spend the summer planning for next year (thanks for the feedback on the lessons you found most impactful)!. (Also, I'm ecstatic  to hear many of you will be coming back next year as we make room for new friends and additional sections. Enjoy all of your summer camps. Maybe some of you will meet in person?!) MINI-LESSON: Five Things GT Students Need to Succeed  This week we discussed what students who are gifted need in order to thrive and succeed in life. In addition to this general information (see the list below), we also dived into a career case study (see attachments).  We discussed what a “case study” is and how we can learn a lot from one while making abstract connections to our...

Socializing is a very complex human activity. This week we went over how to find our place in a group (see the screenshot on the concept of optimal distinctiveness), high sensitivity researcher Elaine Aron’s concept of ranking vs. linking, and how to sort the wide array of information that comes our way while in a conversation. We started off with a lesson on sorting incoming social information into three imaginary baskets. Basket A: Behavior that needs to be addressed immediately. Actions or words that threaten physical or emotional safety belong in this basket. (Relevant skills: Asking someone to stop, not tolerating bullying.) Basket B: Behavior that provides a learning opportunity. Maybe we will address the person later, but not disrupt the flow of a current activity. Maybe we need to gather our thoughts first and plan some of what we want to say. (Relevant skills: Don’t wait too long or the circumstance won’t seem relevant to the other person, consider journaling first, plan wha...