University Daily Kansan
Friday, September 29, 1978
5
New program devised for 'gifted' children
By LYNN WILLIAMS
Staff Reporter
A second grader finishes his arithmetic assignment early and starts throwing his eraser around the classroom. Or he bares his teacher with a lengthy, detailed description of what he saw on television the day before.
Instead of being labelled a behavior problem, such a child may now be considered a candidate for tests to determine if he is gifted. Linda Hometra, director of the Lawrence School, said yesterday for the Lawrence School it was told yesterday.
The grant that Lawrence has received is under Title 4C, a federal program. It will provide funds for teaching gifted children between kindergarten and the second grade.
THE CURRENT practice of leaving a gifted child in his regular class was not adopted because it aroused less negative reaction from parents and students, Heromerta said, but because it works
A few years ago a gifted child in Lawrence might have been gifted in a separate classroom with other gifted children.
Leaving gifted students in their original classrooms is also less expensive, she said. When gifted students were segregated, a state requirement set the teacher-student ration in gifted classrooms at 1 to 12.
or the lawrence school district's 17 elementary schools, five have had some type of special education for gifted children in the past and five schools are beginning programs this year.
THIS FARLY high figure may be because Lawrence is a very academic community, she said.
Kansas is one of only a few states that require special certification of teachers of the gifted. It also is one of four states which requires special education for gifted children.
The exact number of gifted children in the district this year is not known because of ongoing identification procedures. But Homerana estimates the number of gifted students in her schools at about three percent of the total enrollment.
Research on the sign of giftedness in children has identified more than 200 distinguishing, characteristic signs.
Elaborate or profusive writing or writing and a preference for complex art are other signs.
years above the child's grade, outstanding understanding of math concepts and good problem-solving skills.
Lawrence teachers consider a reading level of two
"The CHILD that draws fingernails and then bellybumps and then eyelashes on his pictures could see the moon."
Teachers with certification to teach the gifted are known as consultants in Lawrence. They counsel teachers on how to teach their gifted pupils as well as teaching the pupils themselves.
Jiva Jenkins, who is in charge of the graduate gift program at the KU department of educational
psychology and research, has been doing research on identification of gifted children.
She recently completed a project which indicated that the peers of gifted students identified their gifted peers by the same criteria.
NATIONAL GUIDELINES provide six areas in which a child may be identified as gifted.
They are general academic ability, specific academic abilities, creativity, leadership ability, kinetics or body skills and visual and performing arts, Jenkins said.
Educators also are beginning to distinguish between giftedness and talent. "Gifted" is being used to identify intellectual prowess and "talented" is used to signify capability in artistic areas, she said.
Plans laid for anti-nuclear protest
Bv ROBIN ROBERTS
Staff Reporter
A training session to prepare students for a civil disobedience demonstration at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant will be at 9 a.m. Sunday.
The actual demonstration will take place during the arrival, by railroad, of the nuclear reactor vessel to the site, which is near Burlington.
The training sessions and the demonstration were discussed last night at a special meeting of the KU Students for a Radioactive Free Kansas.
Although members of the group said they did not know the exact date of the reactor's arrival, reports from Kansas City Power and Light and Kansas Gas and Electric, which are equal investors in the plant, and from a guard at the plant's gate, have led them to believe it will arrive sometime in October.
Seven persons at the meeting last night indicted that they would like to take part in the investigation.
However, Patton Mulford, president of the Students for a Radioactive Free Kansas, said a number of students who attend the Monday meetings also were interested.
STUDENTS FROM Lawrence would be joined in the protest by members of other local anti-nuclear energy groups in the Southwest as they embroiled the umbrella group of several area organizations.
Michael Almon, a member of the student organization, said the Sunflower Alliance had voted on the proposal for civil disobedience last Sunday.
However, he said, because the alliance votes by consensus method and some members voted against the proposal, the Kansas Natural Guard was necessitated.
Jeannie Green, also a member of the group, said the members of the Sunflower Alliance voted against the proposal had taken the advantage to alliance to be identified with illegal action.
GREEN SAID the training would involve role playing to enable demonstrators to use a computer to create simulations.
Green and Gavin Claughan will conduct the "non-violent" training session this Sunday. Green said anyone wanting to attend her at 8:14-9:29 for the location of the session.
Creek site. She said there also would be a discussion of the legal repercussions.
Criminal trespassing carries a fine of not more than $200 and a jail sentence of not more than five years.
However, Almon, who directed the meeting last night, said that if the numbers were large enough, the police probably would just tell the demonstrators to go
Green explained, however, that the track probably would be cleared before the train
SHERIFF FREEMAN had said that the protesters "would probably be run over."
Coffey College Sheriff Earl Freeman said yesterday that students blocked the tracks in the neighborhood.
Students at the meeting expressed concern that the train would not stop for them.
"If there is a demonstration I'll be there," he said. "They can demonstrate all they want but they're not going to block any tracks."
Besides the illegal demonstration, the Students for a Radioactive Free Kansas also have planned a supportive demonstration to raise awareness about the dangers to hinder infiltrators and trouble makers.
Eversole had been the acting director of University Relations since James Collier was born.
Robin Eversole named to head KU relations
Robin Eversole, new director of University Relations, now will control the flow of information from KU's official information service.
Richard Von Ende, executive secretary of the University, appointed Eloise director this week after the KU office of affirmative action agreed to her appointment.
The University did not search outside
university Relations for someone to fill the
position.
In a letter to Von Ende, Clarence Dillingham, acting director of affirmative action, said that the appointment of Eversole without conducting an outside search would be proper because of a lack of minorities in administrative positions.
VON ENDE said yesterday that Eversole was appointed director because of the high quality of her work while she was acting director.
"She was appointed because she's doing an outstanding job managing the office and the quality of publications has risen since she was director of publications". Von Ende
Eversole was director of publications at University Relations for three years before she was appointed acting director of the office.
Eversole said, "We're planning on continuing the operation of the office as it has been."
Eworsle was editor of the University of Wisconsin press for five years before she came to Washington in 1945. She served as governor of Oregon in 1962 and received her master's degree from KU in 1970.
She said she hoped to continue cooperating with campus offices.
Although the group does not know the exact date of the reactor's arrival, members said they heat and nuclear group equipment and inform them of the reactor's arrival there.
Green said that affinity groups, organized at the training sessions, would consist of four or five students who would stick together at the demonstration, allowing outsiders and non-trained persons to be identified.
Green said a "phone tree" had been organized to contact area members.
THE GROUP* also discussed a practice
package to take place in Lawrence between
October and November.
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