Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment YS samples

Thanks to a good poke from here... I finally cleaned out my daughter's room in search of some sample work. We applied for YS last spring but didn't include samples... which they turned around and asked for (gave us a year which is soon to expire)

Anywho, I'm looking for some advice. I figure I can send a couple of poems, some suduko 9 x 9s, and a story or two. Is that too much, too little. I could send in math but it will look worksheet-ish (most of her most elaborate math is in the form of doodles in her school books). Does anyone know a link or advice on determining grade level for writing? I'm trying to look past basic grammar errors and more at sentence structure/story line... any advice.

She just turned 7.

I will add - it is funny - whatever age she is at I think she's different but is it that much different. But when I look back at stuff from last year - I'm blown away. Then I think I'm her mother... sure she read Harry Potter at 6 but she wasn't reading in the crib... The denial dance or overly proud mother. Either way, I'm getting this in and done or I'll kick myself.

Thanks for any help - openly to aid all reading - or pm.

Thanks!

I would include what you've collected, a few worksheets, a xerox of her doodles in school books. There isn't any way to determine grade level for writing - just send what you have!
Also - include a book list with approximate ages. HP at 6 is not typical even for typically gifted kids.

The only thing holding you back is perfectionism - Do it.

Just do it!!!!! I'm so proud of you for having gotten this far.
Grinity

I always recommend video if you can do it.

Be very selective and remember your purpose--don't bore them with lots of "cute"--but show her working on something she's passionate about. It's ideal if you can also include the work she was doing, too. (The paper, I mean.)

So, for example, film her doing some math problems that you give her, then include the page she "doodled" on. Try to let them see the way her mind works.

If you don't have video, audio recordings would work, too, but there the paper work is vital, and you might need to describe in writing what they're hearing.

Better to send too much than too little, I think, as long as you aren't going crazy with volumes of stuff. (Again, selectivity is important!) But I think I'd send more than what you've listed unless the poems and stories are really stunning and long.

Remember that your goal is not merely to demonstrate that she's GT, but to distinguish that she's HG+. That's a very different aim!

Best of luck! I hope she sails in!

When I originally contacted them regarding their program, we had no test scores. In listing the "samples" they would like to see, they went back to video several times. She told me that if they could physically watch the child, it made their decisions fairly easy.

Rats. I was hoping to avoid borrowing someone's camera but seems like a mistake not to... Our video camera died and the old VHS one - I'll see but I have a strange feeling I don't have the cables to make a video after it is recorded.

But all very good suggestions. I would have gone with less is more and blown off video. But it would be good to know either way it turns out that it was based on the clearest picture of her we could make....

fyi on the video camera, I just shot video on my blackberry. Don't have a camera either.

We don't have video cam, so I voice-recorded DS doing science experiments and asking his usual questions that I could not answer!