Students 'a daily gift' for Schaumburg teacher
Moira O'Donoghue is a third- and fourth-grade magnet teacher at Campanelli Elementary School in Schaumburg. She's been a teacher for 12 years and in her current role at Campanelli for six.
A graduate of Indiana State University who also has a master's degree in literacy education from Northeastern Illinois University, O'Donoghue serves outside the classroom as a Fit Girls sponsor, Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports committee member and District 54 Math Task Force Member.
Before joining Campanelli's faculty, she taught three years in Stockholm, Sweden.
Q. What do you enjoy most about teaching students in the gifted program?
A. I enjoy the energy my students bring into the classroom each day. Their eagerness to learn is genuine and truly contagious. I love how each student brings new insight into classroom discussions. Their individual interests culminate into a wealth of information.
Each day I can honestly say I learn something new from my students, and I consider this a daily gift. In addition, my students are sensitive and care a great deal about the world around them. They thrive most when they are analyzing problems in the real world and when they generate solutions.
My daily interactions with my students truly inspire me as a teacher and I am very thankful to have the opportunity to work with them.
Q. How has the program changed since you started teaching it?
A. Education is constantly evolving, so obviously our program has developed over time. The implementation of the Illinois Learning Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards required us to look carefully at our curriculum and balance these new standards with gifted education best practices. Every year, we are constantly reviewing our curriculum and looking for ways we can best stimulate and develop our students' learning.
Q. What is your philosophy about teaching the gifted program?
A. First and foremost, the extension of curriculum to best fit my students' needs is imperative. Our students must have appropriate challenges and choices.
In addition, students should have the opportunity to explore their own questions through inquiry projects. One such project involved students exploring real-world environmental concerns. They developed an experiment that modeled the harmful effects of this concern and generated possible solutions.
It is truly amazing to see what students can accomplish when given the opportunity to do so. I often see myself as a facilitator in the classroom. I pose questions to students and provide them with projects or activities to explore topics. They are most engaged when they are in the front seat of their learning.
Q. With the high expectations for academic success often placed upon children identified as gifted, how do you help your students deal with the pressure that comes with their status?
A. It is important to understand and foster the social-emotional development of each student in the class. We help the students to set effective goals throughout the school year and help them develop plans to meet these goals.
In addition, we support students by explicitly teaching and modeling growth mindset. This helps students to understand that the process of learning, not just the end product, is vital. The mantra 'Mistakes help us to grow' is ever present in my classroom. This also supports students in getting beyond the fixed mindset of "I'm smart."
Instead, they are celebrated for the efforts they are putting forth. Focusing on the effort and process creates a more fluid goal for students.
In addition, our school counselor co-teaches lessons with us once a week focused on social-emotional needs to help support our students' goals. These topics include perfectionism, executive functioning and how to effectively work with others in a collaborative atmosphere.
Meeting gifted learners' needs does not simply stop at the knowledge level, but extends beyond to foster the growth of the whole child.