THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9408110146
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
BACK TO SCHOOL
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FRANKLIN LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
CHERYL McCULLOUGH hopes to run out of light bulbs this year.
McCullough, an enrichment specialist, will work with Joseph P. King Jr. Elementary School students who ``ask for a light bulb,'' the cue that they want to work on a special project.
If a student shows sufficient interest and commitment to the task, McCullough will guide the student's research and development.
McCullough, 28, also will work with classroom teachers to provide enrichment activities for all students in kindergarten through the third grade.
Bev Rabil, who started the enrichment program in Franklin two years ago, will do the same for students at S.P. Morton Middle School. For the past two years, Rabil has coordinated the enrichment program, dividing her time between the two schools.
But now the program has been expanded, and each school will have a resident specialist.
Franklin's enrichment program is based on the schoolwide enrichment model, or SEM, developed by Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reiis, professors at the University of Connecticut.
Renzulli and Reiis, who had worked with gifted children, found that a small percentage of students qualified for the program. However, many children will exhibit gifted behavior about a specific topic for a specific length of time, Rabil said.
Rabil and McCullough trained together at a two-week SEM workshop at the University of Connecticut in 1992, just before Rabil started the program in Franklin. McCullough then taught in the gifted program in Southampton County.
Franklin's enrichment program is also expanding to Franklin High School, where ``Future Problem Solving'' will be offered after school this year.
``The program is still evolving,'' Rabil said. ``It is normally a three- to five-year effort.''
Rabil and McCullough will work closely with the classroom teachers at each school, offering advice and curriculum planning help. And they will be available to do team teaching or to provide resource materials a classroom teacher requests.
Last year, Rabil coordinated ``Terrific Tuesdays'' several times a year at King and ``Fabulous Fridays'' once a month at Morton. On those days, students were able to attend various sessions on topics they had picked.
``This year, one of the big things we'll focus on is curriculum compacting,'' Rabil said.
If a student is strong in a particular area, as measured by pre- and post-testing, he is allowed to skip that class once a week to work on his ``light-bulb'' project, she said.
The student receives a grade for the class and for the project.
``We're trying to get kids excited about learning in different areas,'' said McCullough, who has a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in education and curriculum instruction, both from Virginia Tech.
School officials are excited about the possibilities, said Superintendent A.R. Butler IV.
``What we wanted to accomplish is to use the higher order of thinking skills with all students, not just gifted students,'' Butler said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Bev Rabil, left, will lead the enrichment program at S.P. Morton
Middle School, and Cheryl McCullough will do the same at Joseph P.
King Jr. Elementary.
by CNB