Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Advice for DYS portfolio?

Hi everyone -- do you have any advice for me? DYS has asked for portfolio pieces for DS5. I didn't send any with the original application because I thought his test scores would be enough by themselves (SB-V FSIQ 150; WIAT-II word reading 160, math 123). What he is really good at is reading. He is probably up to a 5th grade level by now. But a video of him sitting and reading silently is not likely to be much fun to watch. (Is it?) So: I can send a list of recently read books, and I can send audio of him reading aloud 6-12 months ago (at age 4.5 or so), and I can try to get a more recent recording though he is much harder to pin down nowadays. His big obsession is dinosaurs, and I have been attempting to video him during one of his long involved discussions of carnivores in the early Cretaceous, or a similar "where DID you get this kid from" sort of thing. All I've been able to get so far is a loooong video of what looks like a hyper kid (he isn't, really) bouncing on the furniture, babbling about dinosaurs with a baby squealing in the background (she's happy, but loud). And I have another looong video of him reading a chapter book silently, followed by finally agreeing to read some aloud, which is fine except that he asks for help with a word ("specimen"). (OT: the book is The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth. HIGHLY recommend for the dino-obsessed.) Does any of this sound useful, or do you all have any other ideas? And if the videos are a good idea, does anyone know of video editing software (preferably free) so I can extract a segment? Currently the files are too big to send.

That email from DYS is not helping me get over my case of GT denial. lol.

Thanks!

edited to add: Oh, and I have an email he dictated to me just after he turned 5, in which he talks about carnivores vs herbivores and other dino-facts. It's essentially a transcript of one of his shorter dinosaur discussions (we were sending it to a 6-year-old). Useful, do you think?

The guru does need to weigh in :-) we know your reading lady!

But I just wanted to agree with Dottie. I don't think it is enough that books were read... I do think you've got a good candidate. It is just a question of how you get it out there. I will bow to anyone who has more experience on here but I used our video mostly to verify I wasn't "making this crap up". Maybe paranoid but we do know some hothousers... So, maybe have him look at that transcript and ask him why he had your write it down, and oh what did you mean when you said x, y, or z. Maybe think about some of his favorite big reads and ask some high level questions - make comparisons of characters in one book to another. I find at that age some times the best way to get them going is ask a question with a faulty assumption. Nothing gets my kids going faster than pointing out how wrong I am about something.

Wish I could be of more help I would suggest taking a look at Bloom's taxonomy and seeing how you can dinostrate :-) higher level thinking. Also on the books -

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/semr/using%20bookmarks.html

The site above has great questions. And the gurus here need to answer... I had the same issue at that point it was easier for me to "see it" when we ... uh, the 7 just told the 2 her violin bow is not a sword - uh I gotta go

A picture or drawing of what your child visualized with a short explaination has the potential to show depth and complexity.

Inventions using everyday materials

Creating mind maps using complex words

Constructing logic tables and riddles.....

These are great ideas, thanks! I think the problem will be trying to capture his thought processes on camera or some other way that can be shared. He has gotten more conscious of being recorded and is less likely to be spontaneous when a camera or microphone is anywhere near. We'll be seeing the grandparents this weekend -- maybe I can sneak up and catch him on camera discussing some of these things with them.

NCMom, I loved The Enormous Egg!

I just wanted to add that you can download photo software called Picasa and there is a simple editing aspect for video. All you can do is change the start and stop point, so you won't be overwhelmed by all the bells and whistles of some other software (I add this assuming you do not have video editing know-how to fall back on intuitively). Anyway, Picasa is free and easy to use.

Try turning the camera on and putting it on the table, as if it were off and you were just setting it down. Ignore it. Then he will, too, even if it's on.

Signed,

Sneaky Mom