EXciting Times Exploring New Directions
Welcome to the ExTEND homepage!!!
MUSIC AND SOCIETY
Does music reflect our culture or does our culture reflect our music? EXTEND students are
discussing the importance of pop music and culture. We are currently listening to various songs and
discussing their meaning and significance. One of the songs we are discussing is "We Didn't Start the
Fire" by Billy Joel. This song has a great deal of historical information about our society from 1949-
1989.
CURRENT EVENTS
Throughout the year we will be reading current event articles, analyzing political cartoons and
discussing various events happening all around us. We will discuss and debate many of the events
affecting our community, nation, and world.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop
questioning."- Albert Einstein
PARENT BOOKLET
We have an ExTEND Parent Booklet!!! If you would like one, just have
your child tell me and I will send one home. The Parent Book has an
overview of how students are accepted into ExTEND, the goals of the
program, and the expected student outcomes.
GEOGRAPHY BEE
Walter J. Baird ExTEND students participate in the
National Geographic Geography Bee every January. The top scoring student
then competes against other students from Tennessee through a written test.
The top scoring students in the state will be invited to compete in the State
Bee.
FUTURE PROBLEM SOLVING
Today’s students live in a fast paced and ever changing society.
More than ever before, we face the awesome burden of preparing today’s students
for the uncertainties of the future. We cannot provide all the information
they will need to survive in the future, but we can help them develop thinking
skills necessary to adapt to the ever changing world.
The Future Problem Solving Program (FPSP) does just that. The FPSP
teaches students creative and futuristic thinking skills via an adaptation
of the creative problem solving process. Students in three grade level
divisions(4-6, 7-9, 10-12) work in teams of four guided by an instructor, to
solve problems based on projections into the future.
Many students in the ExTEND Gifted and Talented Program from
Lebanon Special School District have worked very hard on Future Problem
Solving throughout this school year. These students are not only developing skills
in creative problem solving and futures, but also in several other
fundamental areas of education. ExTEND students participating in FPS are learning group
interrelationship skills as they work as a team to find solutions to future
problems; they develop skills of organization and coherence through both
written and oral communication; and they develop higher level thinking
skills that will help them deal with problems of global magnitudes as well
as those on a more personal decision making level.
