BECKY GALLAGHER RICKS CENTER FOR GIFTED CHILDREN INSTITUTE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF GIFTED EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF DENVER STEM Academy

REFLECTION CURRICULUM PLANNING QUESTIONING STRATEGIES GROUPING STRATEGIES SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF GT Agenda

Reflection What did you try? What was successful? What was unsuccessful? What Differentiation did you try?  Content Differentiation  Process Differentiation  Product Differentiation

Curriculum Planning

Curriculum Planning Organizational Elements Selecting a Concept Identifying Goals that Reflect the Concept Selecting Units Researching Topic Developing the Focus Questions Webbing the Content Planning

Curriculum Design Use both discipline-field based and interdisciplinary experiences.  Discipline-field: A specific body of teachable knowledge with its own background of education, training, procedures, methods, and content  Interdisciplinary: A knowledge view and curriculum approach that consciously applies methodology and language from more than one discipline to examine a central theme, issue, problem, topic or experience.

Select a Concept * Big Idea * Overarching Theme Goals That Reflect Concept * Essential Questions Units * Choose 3-4 individual units that match your concept Research * Gather teacher and student resources. * Read all you can about the unit Focus Questions * Write focus questions for the unit from your goal. These guide your investigation. Web: Brainstorm Activities, Lessons, Experiences * Real Connections not forced * Meaningful learning experiences * Open-ended, flexible activities * Divergent, rather than convergent Plan * Divide unit into main concepts. Map concepts into weeks on a calendar.

Sample Questions: for “Evidence”  What is evidence?  What does evidence tell us? Why is this important?  How is evidence sorted, organized and examined?  Whose job is it to investigate evidence? What does that career involve?  What skills are needed to analyze and evaluate evidence?  How is evidence reconstructed to “tell a story?”  How is inference distinguished from evidence?  How much can evidence tell us?

Choose a Unit Pick unit topics that students are interested in Make sure unit topics relate to the overarching theme The topic should reinforce the concept Combine standards

Shaping the Unit Ask:  How can I create a “need to know?”  How can I mentally and physically engage students in this unit?  How can I assess prior knowledge?  How can I get students to ask their own questions and create their own problems?  What experiences can I organize that will enable students to build their understandings of the “big idea” and develop concepts, skills and attitudes?  How can I help to focus their investigations?  How can I encourage students to make their own connections among their learning experiences?  How can I encourage students to express their understandings of the “big idea?”

Sample Goals  To understand how physical processes shape Earth’s surface patterns and systems  To begin to see the chronological organizations of history and how to group people and events into major eras to identify and explain historical relationships  To know how to use maps and globes to locate and derive information about people, places and environments  To measure and collect data, to compile and display results using a variety of tools, techniques and representations

Sample Questions Natural Disaster Unit  How do time, location, and human behavior influence the development of a disaster and its degree of devastation?  How have people responded to disasters in their communities?  How has science and technology increased our understanding of natural disasters?  What forces create natural disasters, and how do they work?

Key Points for Brainstorming For each unit, examine the topic from many discipline perspectives Use graphic organizers (wheels, webs, etc.) to cover discipline fields and processes Associations may include questions, topics, people, ideas, resources, materials, field trips, organizations, etc. Exploration of the topic should include student and staff input Begin to notice how the ideas can be grouped and how they are connected Meaningful learning experiences Open-ended, flexible activities

Curricular Web

Planning Divide the unit into the main concepts Figure out the best starting point and use a calendar to map the concepts Divide the specific activities by concepts and match them to weeks Consider and develop appropriate assessments

Assessments Align activity objectives to performance outcomes Develop behavioral indicators of attitudinal change Align assessment to curricular goals/objectives, standards and instructional strategies

Questioning Strategies

Why questions? Examine logic and reasoning Stimulates creative development Successful strategy to encourage purposeful learning Draw inferences Essential to the growth of higher level thinking skills, critical and creative thinking Divergent thinking

Types of Questions Purpose Information Interpretation Assumption Implication Point of View Relevance Accuracy Precision Consistency Logic

Kinds of Questions Questions of Fact Questions of Preference Questions of Judgment

Original (1956) Revised (2001) Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create Bloom’s Taxonomy

Taba’s Questioning Strategies Developing Concepts Attaining Concepts Interpreting, Inferring and Generalizing Repeating Students Responses Rephrasing responses Asking for explanations of predictions Asking for explanations of high level responses

Grouping Strategies

Grouping Factors Administrator Factors Teacher Factors Curricula Factors

Groups Require Ample space to work Clear directions and procedures Rules and guidelines established Individual roles assigned for group responsibilities Time frame assigned Tap into all members’ strengths (Gregory & Chapman, 2002, p. 70)

Ability Grouping Full time Fixed Flexible

Cluster Grouping Students of same ability placed in same classroom Pacing tends to be high Non-gifted students benefit as well Academic gains Positive attitudes toward learning

Cooperative Grouping Positive interdependence Individual accountability Promotes interaction Group processing Development of small group interpersonal skills

Sharing Groups Partners Brainstorming groups Community Clusters Content talk

Cross-Graded/ Multiage Groupings Students work together in areas of strength and interest Enhances project work Acquisition of language Sharing of creative ideas

Social-Emotional Aspects of Gifted Children

Wonders and Challenges Intensity Sensitivity Feelings of Being Different High Expectations of Self and Others Idealism/Sense of Justice Inner Locus of Control and Satisfaction Perfectionism

Peer Relationships Nobody interested in the same thing Think differently than other peers Sense of justice/fairness Still a child/adolescent

Asynchronous Development One subject/content over another Physical vs. intellectual Emotional vs. mental

Overexcitabilities Dabrowski’s theory of  Psychomotor  Sensual  Intellectual  Imaginational  Emotional No such thing as “too”- it is who you are

Parental Involvement Absent or … not absent enough Whose passion/desire/interest? Advocacy – encourage and temper

Strategies Appropriate challenge and placement – comp-peers, mentors, etc. Help students understand own development differences Help set realistic personal goals Acknowledge emotions, help communicate; help clarify Boundaries, choices, keep age in mind Advisory/small groups – bibliotherapy, readings, etc.