The Eleventh Hour: When Persistence Pays Off!

Since I began working with gifted students many years ago--first as a classroom cluster teacher and now as a GT Facilitator--I have been very aware of a particular character trait which is under-developed in our brightest students: PERSISTENCE! Since so many things come easy for them, they aren't accustomed to that threshold of discomfort when some "blood, sweat and tears" might be required in order to succeed.

So when our 3rd, 4th and 5th graders began our unit on The Eleventh Hour, a very elaborate but also laborious and detail-oriented problem-solving mystery, I have to confess I was a bit skeptical about how reliable their attention spans would be in sticking it out to the end. Would interest quickly peter out when they realized it was going to take some patience, guts, ingenuity and plain-old hard work to get through it and find a solution?

I am pleased to say the students proved my skepticism completely wrong! The Eleventh Hour turned out to be one of the most engaging and successful inter-disciplinary units I've ever facilitated. Kids were revved up until the very end, always eager from the moment I got them to the "closing bell" of our sessions. And this was hard stuff, folks! Here is just a sampling of the higher-level thinking skills the students were practicing as they engaged with the story and the mystery:

• deductive reasoning
• inductive reasoning
• logic
• analytical thinking
• visualization
• vocabulary-building (context clues)
• inference
• reading comprehension
• oral fluency

Students use a cipher wheel to crack the final code
in The Eleventh Hour

The list could really go on. I just wanted to make this unusually wordy post to congratulate the students on a beautiful and inspiring job. They followed it through all the way to the end, and the few weeks we've invested in it were more than worth it.

I know some of you have already gone out and purchased the book for home. I think it is money well spent. Students have been asking if there are other similar books. The author, Graeme Base, has also published Animalia, which is said to have a very similar feel. Worth checking out! Might help turn some of those long, video game-heavy days of holiday break into some productive brain and character building! : )

Status Check #1

With several weeks of QUEST now under our belt this year, it's time to give a short summary by grade-level of the types of thinking, problem-solving and exploring we've been up to.

ALL grade levels have been busy cracking the codes on the blog and I couldn't be more happy! The persistence and determination that many students have demonstrated is truly impressive. We are fostering these codebreaking skills directly and indirectly with our logic warm-ups and discussions every session. The extra codebreaking they do on the blog reinforces their knowledge in logical reasoning, history and culture in addition to building the character traits mentioned above.

1st/2nd:
With our youngest QUEST students we've been building our foundation in core thinking skills. These ways of thinking will be the framework for most of the higher-order thinking we do throughout the next few years of QUEST and beyond. We've begun with a focus on DEDUCTIVE thinking. We've used a character named "Dudley Detective" (who happens to be a dog) to explore this type of logic through stories and scenarios. Here is what we've learned so far about DEDUCTIVE thinking:

• There is only one right answer.
• You must collect multiple facts.
• You must be patient and not jump to conclusions.
• You might have an "I got it!" moment in which the answer becomes clear.

We will learn that these rules change when it comes to DIVERGENT thinking!

3rd:
Our third-graders started off exploring the topic of STEGANOGRAPHY--the art of hiding a message in plain sight. After building some historical background on how this has occurred throughout history, we applied our creative thinking skills to come up with a way of hiding "Grandma's secret recipe" from potential thieves and spies as we travelled through the airport. Parents beware, you have some clever little spies of your own!

Next, we learned a method called a NULL CIPHER. A null cipher involves hiding a written message inside another written message. We closely studied a real example from history in which a null cipher literally saved a life, then once again put our creative skills to the test. We were trapped at an evil summer camp and had to get a message to our parents to rescue us. The problem is that the evil counselors censor all the letters so we had to hide the real message inside a an innocent message. Each student devised his/her own null cipher method an I am happy so say every student managed to get him or herself saved by outwitting the counselors!

Finally we've practiced the PINHOLE CIPHER. If you find some suspicious "pin pricks" in your magazines and newspapers at home that may be why.

4th/5th:
We've started our exploration of codes on a project of verbal coded riddles called "Hinky Pinkies." These hilarious but clever rhyming mysteries actually require some higher order verbal and linguistic acrobatics to create! We've collected final copies from every student and compiled them into a class book, soon to be published in the school library!

Next, we've begun a mini-unit on the Navajo Native American codetalkers of WWII. Did you know about this fascinating chapter of American history? Does Nicolas Cage in the movie "Windtalkers" ring a bell? To raise interest we watched the official movie trailer and discussed the historical context. Then, to futher explore the Navajo perspective of the story we read and discussed "The Unbreakable Code" by Sara Hoagland Hunter. This will evolve into a short research unit in the next couple weeks.

SPECIAL NOTE: Although the trailer was completely appropriate, the movie "Windtalkers" is rated R. Please only allow students to view at your careful discretion.

P.S. There is NOT a hidden coded message in this particular post!