Ups and Downs of Being Gifted

Being gifted has its ups and downs. Even though being gifted is a very good thing, students like this do have problems, too. Also, there are many myths and truths about gifted children. In this post, I'll explain these factors, but also add in some of my personal experiences.
Ups

• Gifted students are looked at a higher level and praised more
• Gifted students normally do better in school with grades
• Since gifted students have something they enjoy (a hobby), it can be easier for them to decide what they are doing in life with their career 

Being gifted can have it's downsides, too.

Downs

• Sometimes gifted students are bullied and considered "nerds"
• School is sometimes too easy, causing grades to go down from boredom
• Some students have asynchronous development , where they might be smart, but are different physically and emotionally, which is difficult

So, there are definitely many things that gifted children go through, both good and bad. However, sometimes people don't understand these things, and this is something that leads to problems. 

Myths & Truths

• myth: gifted students don't need help, they're fine on their own.
• truth: even though gifted students might be smart, it doesn't mean they won't ever need help. Would you send a star athlete to train for the Olympics without a coach? Not everyone is perfect, so not everyone will understand something the first time, no matter what level of skill they are at.

• myth: gifted students are a role-model for everyone else in the classroom
• truth: most of the time, that is the opposite. Many low-achieving students actually look at smarter students as "nerds" and try not to achieve as much as them. 

• myth: that student can't be gifted; they're getting poor grades
• truth: not every gifted student is academically gifted. Many children excel best at things such as art and music, and not so much math and english. So, not every gifted student will get good grades. Also, some gifted students will do poorly in school because they are bored of the easy work given to them.

So, gifted students do have advantages, but they do have struggles too. I have struggled with teachers expecting a lot out of me just because I'm in the G&T class. Even though I do maintain high grades, I do still struggle with many topics in school. Sometimes I wonder if I just get lucky on some of my tests. Overall, it has been fine for me. I get stressed very easily, and having a little easier school work helps me out a bit! 

Being gifted is a great advantage most of the time, but it also has its downsides too.

First Blog Post

Hi! My name's Emma and I'm a freshman! Things I like include playing guitar, singing, playing volleyball, eating, hanging out with friends, sleeping, reading, swimming, traveling, and shopping!
I don't like doing homework, waking up early, elevators, sharks, clowns, and anything that has to do with math/mechanics..
The highlight of my summer has got to be..the whole thing! I had so much fun visiting my grandparents and other family, and I also had fun hanging out with friends. If I had to choose my favorite part of the summer though, it's got to be learning how to drive !
The Rogate unit I'm looking forward to this year is debates. I normally wouldn't pick this, but it sounds very interesting and it will probably help with my decision making skills. 
:)

Kickstarter

The website Kickstarter is a website where people can share their product ideas and others can pledge money to fund their manufacturing. After the product is fully funded, people can get things in return, depending on how much they spent. This site is a great example of crowdsourcing, and benefits the buyers and the sellers. There are many good ideas here, but I have found a few that stand out. If I had $500 to spend on Kickstarter, I would spend it on these items.


The first one is HAND stylus. This product is a stylus that you can use on your iPad, iPhone, or any touch screen device. This would be great for me since sometimes my touch screen devices can be difficult to handle. Many people I know struggle with typing and drawing on their phones and iPads, so this product would be good for them because of the control and precision. I also like how they have many varieties of colors and is small and easy to use. Overall, I think this is a good idea and I would pledge $180 for it. 
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hand/hand-stylus?ref=live


The second product I would fund is quik-keyz. Quik-keyz are iPhone covers that have small bumps where the keyboard is. This product is helpful to type, since touch screens are hard to type on. A lot of people I know say they don't like typing on touch screens because it is hard to tell where certain letters are, so this would really help with using the keyboard. If I were to fund this idea, I would pay $80, to get three; one for me and the other two would go to my friends who have the problem with typing. 
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1934392683/qwik-keyztm-keyboard-touchguide-for-the-iphone?ref=card


The next product is Remee. Remee is a mask that allows you to lucid dream. A lucid dream is a dream that you can basically control. The mask can detect when you are in the REM stage of sleep(when you are dreaming) and sends off light to make yourself aware you are sleeping. This causes lucid dreaming. I think this is an amazing idea that would be really fun to try out! I would pay them $220 because it comes with one normal dream mask and one customized mask. The custom mask has settings you can change, like how long it takes before it starts giving off light.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bitbangerlabs/remee-the-rem-enhancing-lucid-dreaming-mask?ref=live


The final thing I would fund is Scanbox. This is a simple invention, but seems to work effectively. The Scanbox allows an iPhone to be a scanner, by taking a photo of whatever is needed. The only difference is that it makes to perfect dimensions every time, so it looks just like it was scanned. It is portable, easy, and I think it would be very useful. I would pay $15 for this.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/limemouse/scanbox-turn-your-smartphone-into-a-portable-scann?ref=popular

Crowd sourcing

An example of crowd sourcing is the site DesignCrowd. This graphic design company is also part of another site called BrandCrowd. DesignCrowd has custom designs for people to buy and BrandCrowd includes ready-made logos. It is similar to 99Designs, and many people compare the two sites since both of them include people giving out ideas and designers sending the actual design back.

This first link explains BrandStack, which is what BrandCrowd was until the company was bought by DesignCrowd:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandstack


This second link is a blog that explains more about what crowdsourcing is and how it relates to DesignCrowd.
http://designcrowdreviews.blogspot.com/

Google 20% Project Progress

So far, on my Google 20% project, all we've done is researched all about dreams. I am starting to try to remember my dreams and record them to determine what they mean.

Day 5 Photo: Texture

Google's 20% in School

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-von-jan/unstructured-classroom_b_1024404.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

The article posted above is about Google's 20% project and why it should be in schools. What happens in this project is that Google employees get 20% of their work time each day to work on a separate project that pursues their passions. The writer of this article, Katherine von Jan, thinks that they should use this method in school. That means that every day in school, kids would be able to spend 20% of each day to do something that they want to do. In my opinion, this is a very good idea. The project would give student a chance at what they want to do. They would be able to be themselves, and figure out what they really love. Also, it would give them an idea of what type of career they would want to do one day. It could really help with stress too, since it would be away from hard work, tests, and quizzes. No one could tell you what to do because it would be your own passion. If the Google 20% project was used in schools, it would in my opinion really help kids and help the future too with bringing new, original ideas.