Wildcat Gifted
August 2019
Quarterly
Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.
AND SO THE ADVENTURE BEGINS!
Welcome back to a brand new
school year! I hope you’re all excited
to be back – I definitely am!
If your summer experience was
anything like mine, you surely had a
ton of things going on. My family
went through ten weeks of constant
go-go-go with all the camps,
activities, and family events. One of
the highlights of my summer was a
family trip to Colorado Springs. I’ve
lived in Kansas since 1986, and this
was my first trip into the beautiful
state of Colorado!
In addition to the “fun” things I got
to do this summer, I also had the
opportunity to engage in some
professional learning through
graduate level classes with Fort
Hays State University. I’m
continuing with my pursuit of a
master’s degree in gifted education,
with my ultimate goal to be able to
provide top-notch services to the
gifted students of Louisburg.
I did get a chance to relax and
rejuvenate myself this summer.
Whether it was reading books,
fishing with my kids, or traveling,
I’m definitely feeling ready to go for
the upcoming year!
My family and I during
one of our adventures at
the Garden of the Gods in
Colorado Springs!
QUEST
“True perfection is a bold
quest to seek. Only the willing
and true of heart will seek the
betterment of many.” –
Socrates
Last August, LMS students
learned about the Japanese
concept of Kaizen, or
“continuous improvement.”
This philosophy on life fits
perfectly with my goals for the
Louisburg gifted program. At
the high school, gifted
students can take the Quest
class. “Quest” is an acronym
that stands for:
Q – Questioning
U – Understanding
E – Expanding
S – Synthesizing
T – Thinking
My goal is to help facilitate
these principles with all gifted
students so that they can
continue to lead a lifestyle that
embodies Kaizen.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2019-20?
In the spirit of “continuous improvement,” I hope to improve the
LHS and LMS gifted programs through these new endeavors:
Gifted Workshops: More
information will be coming out
soon, but I’m excited to offer
these periodic workshops to help
serve our gifted students! A
survey will be coming out soon to
collect ideas for workshop topics.
SMART Goals: “SMART” stands for
Specific, Meaningful, Ambitious,
Resourced, and Time-Bound.
Gifted students will begin each
semester brainstorming and then
progressing toward completing
these SMART goals.
Pre-IEP Surveys: Prior to a
student’s annual IEP meeting, I
will send a Google Form survey
for parents to complete.
Louisburg High School
202 Aquatic Dr.
Louisburg, KS 66053
HS Advisory: At LHS, the Advisory
period has been moved from the
beginning to the middle of the
day. I hope gifted students take
advantage of this change to come
to the Quest Room to work with
me.
Problem-Based Learning: We
began working on PBL projects
last spring, and this is an activity
that I hope to use more often at
LMS and in Quest.
Website: In May, I launched a new
website for LMS and LHS gifted:
https://wildcat-
gifted.weebly.com
(913) 837-1747
bovairdr@usd416.org
https://wildcat-gifted.weebly.com