Dr. Gwen Frank, SUNY College at Oneonta Best Practice Conference MEETING THE NEEDS OF ALL STUDENTS INCLUDING ADVANCED AND GIFTED STUDENTS

AGENDA Welcome Activity – What kind of instructional issues plague professional educators when they have advanced students in their classrooms? Two differentiation strategies to meet the needs of advanced learners Curriculum Compacting Orbitals

ACTIVITY Individually - Somewhere in your Best Practice brochure, make a list of challenges educators have with prescribing curriculum for advanced students. Partner Total group

Differentiating in Mixed-Ability Classrooms “Teaching should respond to what we know about the learner(s)”

CURRICULUM COMPACTING

STUDENT BEHAVIORS WHICH MAY SUGGEST THAT COMPACTING IS NECESSARY Consistently finishes tasks early Work is usually well done and correct Seems to have some advanced familiarity with the material Expresses interest in pursuing alternate or advanced topics Consistent high performance or motivation Creates own puzzles, games, or other diversions in class

CURRICULUM COMPACTING The classroom practitioner needs to decide: What is important in the unit that the student needs to know? What do students already know or are able to learn quickly? What can be skipped or eliminated? What can be accomplished quickly –within a normal unit?

Is there a child who is bored? Is there a child who you instinctivley knows the material is easy? Are they always making 90’s or above with little effort? Is there a child who says they are “bored” and you may just want to give them more work for just saying that? Is there a child who is misbehaving because his/her work is complete and the work has earned a 80% or above?

CURRICULUM COMPACTING Is a teaching strategy that “buys time” for acceleration and/or enrichment The goal is to modify or “streamline” the curriculum to allow students to move at a quicker pace and then have time to pursue an alternative topic or go into greater depth in an area of study.

HOW DO YOU DO THIS? Pre- assess – use a chapter or teacher created test You may offer it to all students or just a few – your choice 80% should be considered mastery They have earned the grade, so document that in the grade book keeping a copy of the student test

Prescribe alternate activities – acceleration or in depth study Never more of the same assignments that students have already indicated that they have mastered by the pre-assessment

ORBITALS

STRATEGY ENCOURAGES STUDENTS TO: Raise questions of interest to them individually Helps them to find out

RESOURCES The Differentiated Classroom – Responding to the Needs of all Learners - Carol Ann Tomlinson – ASCD – 1999 How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms Carol Ann Tomlinson –ASCD

Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom Susan Winebrenner – Free Spirit Publishing, 2001

Dr. Gwen Frank Assistant Professor SUNY College at Onenonta THANK YOU