Gift for teaching

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In her third year as gifted intervention specialist for Bowling Green Schools, Laura Weaver has been
recognized by her peers at the state level.
Weaver earlier this month was named Gifted Teacher of the Year by the Ohio Association for Gifted
Children.
"Though Ms. Weaver is only in her third year as BG City School’s gifted intervention specialist, in
my opinion she has done more for gifted students than many veteran teachers have in their careers,"
wrote Char Ebersole in her nomination letter. "She absorbs ideas easily and is a vital and
productive communicator of her ideas to the group. No matter how many emails I forward to her, she
follows through to the extent that I have started limiting how many contests, grants, websites, etc. I
send to her, as she will try to do them all!"
Ebersole is coordinator of gifted education at the Wood County Educational Service Center.
Weaver said her goal with her 40 students this year is teaching them 21st century college readiness
skills.
She leads the district’s PACE program, which serves superior cognitive ability students in grades 3-6.
Program goals include student development of talents and abilities in relation to self, others, and
service to society; research techniques and planning and organizational skills; various forms of
communication; critical thinking skills; and creative thinking skills.
PACE stands for Providing Acceleration, Creativity, and Enrichment and students are tested for superior
cognitive abilities for admission.
Students for the first time this year will not be required to do research and a PowerPoint for their
independent study project. Instead, they will have to have a thesis statement, their presentation, and
use a traditional format for writing their research paper (using Modern Language Association style).
Gloria Gajewicz, high school science teacher, also had high praise for Weaver.
"Laura replaced a retiring gifted education teacher two years ago that had set high standards for
the program," she wrote in her nomination letter. "I feel that Laura has continued to expect
great things from her students and has made many positive changes to the program. She has been diligent
about incorporating the new state/national standards for education into her classes and has brought in a
great deal of new technology to the program. Laura has impressed me in her drive to continue to
diversify her lessons for students while maintaining control of the classroom."
"If kids aren’t challenged, we’re not tapping their potential," Weaver stated.
She was honored at Tuesday’s board of education meeting, after spending the day with her students at
Wintergarden Park.
She said her goal is to have her students be academically successful and push them toward excellency.
"Every day’s a challenge with them," she stated. "They teach me and always keep me on my
toes."
At the park, sixth-grade students took water samples from the wetlands at the park and a facilitator from
the BG Water Treatment Plant was on hand to help them do extensive experiments to identify how water is
transformed into usable water.
The theme this year in PACE is "Balance" and this ties in with balance in freshwater supplies
in the region.
Students are exploring how water from the Maumee River and the Great Lakes Basin gets transformed into
usable water in the region. They will do experiments to see how water moves, how water is cleaned, and
how industry, agriculture, and home use of water affects the balance of our supply.  
Tuesday’s visit to the park was the first one planned for this month.
Other classes will explore the balance between predator and prey relationships as they relate to animals
both locally and globally and what positive and negative impacts humans have historically had on these
populations; and will study the effects of climate and disease as they relate to food crops and human
history.
Also planned this month is a visit from WTOL weatherman Robert Shiels to discuss the balance in weather
and weather patterns; and Northwestern University to discuss higher learning opportunities to PACE
students
Last year Weaver had her classes visit the geodesic dome at the 577 Foundation in Perrysburg then build
their own domes; and do a video chat with staff at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, during which they
learned how to apply math and financial concepts to help manage a fictional band through a cross-country
tour; and how musicians conveyed personal feelings as well as depict social and political issues.

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