Talent Development

You are in luck! Black Hawk Middle School is home to some of the hardest working, highest achieving students in the state! We have students that earn excellent grades, high test scores, win contests and learn new and fabulous things every year. It is amazing to watch their growth from sixth to eighth grade.

Students will have the opportunity to join various activities, clubs and groups to enrich their daily learning. They will also be challenged right in their regular and elective classes. We have something for everyone at Black Hawk Middle School.

A lot of students will find new hobbies, interests and learnings in their middle school years. They will also have an opportunity to meet new people and find new best friends. Their chances of success will only grow as they learn new things and get involved.

More specifics about how the GT program works at the middle school level in District 196 can be found at the end of this page.

Thank you,

Mr. Herem

David Herem

GT Coordinator/Social Studies Teacher

School: 651-683-6969 x85524

Explore More Activities

Battle of the Books

Battle of the Books is a fun reading enrichment opportunity open to all Black Hawk students seeking an extra reading challenge. Students will work in teams of 4 or 6 and read the 30 books from the attached Battle of the Books list. (They can divide the titles up so each student on the team reads around 5 books by the end of the year.) We will meet once a month to discuss a book from the list. In June, the teams will meet to take the group trivia quiz that will have questions from all 30 books. Groups are encouraged to come up with a team name and a costume idea for the day of the group trivia quiz. Fun prizes will be awarded!

Learn more about Battle of the Books

Future Cities

Join Future Cities!

Future City is a project-based learning program where students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades imagine, research, design and build cities of the future.

See Mr. Herem for an information sheet and to sign up for 2022-23

Schoology access code: V82G3-2NDXQ

Learn more about Future City Competitions at futurecity.org >

Future City starts with a question—how can we make the world a better place? To answer it, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future that showcase their solution to a citywide sustainability issue. Past topics include stormwater management, urban agriculture, public spaces, and green energy. The 2022-2023 theme is a Climate Change Challenge.

Participants complete five deliverables: a 1,500-word city essay; a scale model (or multiple model segments) built from recycled materials; a project plan, a presentation video, and a Q&A session with judges. Regional winners represent their region at the international Finals. After completing Future City, student participants are not only prepared to be citizens of today’s
complex and technical world, but also poised to become the drivers of tomorrow.

Details on whether some elements of the competition will be taking place in-person this season, will be announced later in the year.

To be in Future Cities these items are non-negotiable:
*Attend Black Hawk Middle School
*Be a GREAT teammate
*Willing to compromise
*Be a hard worker

Future Cities can be time consuming and might involve choosing not to participate in other activities. Your team will HAVE to meet outside of school hours.

Future Cities is a team competition with as few as 3 people and as many as you want. There are ONLY 3 team members who are the presenters at the regional finals. If you win the regional
finals, the competition only pays for the 3 presenters to travel to Washington D.C. If you have more than 3 presenters BHMS may fundraise (to help costs) but there is no guarantee that you
will have your trip paid for.

Group of sixth-graders showing off their future cities project — *2018 Future City* group won the "Readiness for Natural and Manmade Disasters" category with their design.

Future City News

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Geography Bee

Spelling Bee

Writing Contests

Middle School Talent Development

The middle school talent development (TD) experience is different from the elementary school TD experience, and that is intentional. Students in the middle school TD programs start by being "clustered" in classes. This provides the students with groupings or whole classes of learners of similar abilities. However, we appreciate and value the uniqueness of each child. These "clusters" provides the teachers with opportunites to challenge students through adjusted lesson plans and differentiating curriculum. In District 196, this is called Levels of Service. Our TD teachers are experts in their subject areas.

What the District 196 middle school TD programs excel at is offering students choices and opportunities. We have a variety of enrichment opportunities at Black Hawk Middle School, and the offerings only continue to grow. Enrichment opportunities are open to any student, they do not need to be a TD-identified student.

We have clubs for strong readers, writers and spellers, mathematicians, geographers, computer programmers, trivia buffs and artists, just to name a few.

Students choose what they want to be a part of and we believe that makes it much more enjoyable. That is part of growing up and maturing as a student is choosing what activities I want to participate in. Students receive passes from their TD coordinator to attend these opportunities, which usually take place during our Flex Time and do not take students out of class time. However, sometimes they might meet before, during or after school. We believe middle school is great time to expand curricular horizons and harness strengths as a leaner.

Academically talented children are those students with outstanding abilities and capable of higher performance when compared to others of similar age, experience and environment. They have significantly different educational needs from their peers and require educational differentiation as a regular part of their school day to ensure they reach their full potential.

These services are available at all elementary and middle schools.

Talent Development contacts by school/location.

Parent Resources

Twice Exceptional (2e) Resources

Gifted and Talented Advisory Council (GTAC)

Service Model

Click here for more information- District 196 Talent Development Services

Talent Development in District 196 Middle Schools

Flexible and Fluid Service Model:

District 196 elementary schools cluster identified students in grades 3-5. Talent Development specialists support cluster classroom teachers with differentiating for advanced academic needs in core instruction and in guided groups.

Students whose advanced academics needs extend beyond what can be provided in a cluster classroom may be referred for single subject and/or grade level acceleration.

Talent Development services in District 196 is an inclusive, flexible and fluid model. A student does not need to be formally identified to receive support for their high academic and learning ability needs. Talent Development services are provided through flexible grouping based on district assessments and ongoing assessments in the classroom which are based on the content and standards being presented at that time.

Identification

Grades 3-5 Cluster Classrooms

Click here for more information-Elementary Cluster Classrooms

A cluster classroom is a regular grade level class with a small group of identified students together in the same class. The cluster classroom teacher receives support to meet the learning needs of advanced students in math and/or literacy in their class. Cluster classrooms in 3rd-5th grades is an efficient way to provide advanced learning strategies to students throughout the school day.

Every District 196 elementary school has cluster classrooms in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. Many schools have more than one cluster classroom in each grade level. A cluster class includes identified students with a range of abilities. The number of identified students in a cluster class varies. It is recommended that the number of identified students in a cluster class not exceed one third of the class.

Acceleration

District 196 recognizes that students with superior abilities may have their needs best served by grade acceleration or single subject acceleration. Grade acceleration or single subject acceleration will be recommended only after other appropriate program changes or modifications have been deemed inadequate to meet the academic and emotional needs of the student in the student's current grade placement. This determination will be made by an assessment team.

For more information- District 196 Acceleration Information

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