1. Shifting Into High Gear

2.  Projectforawesome.com – Inspire students to work on a global cause with nerdfighters. ◦ http://www.projectforawesome.com/save-the- children/the-project-for-awesome-2012-is-here- save-the-chil  NanoWrimo Pep Talk ◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCTO91aBFXk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCTO91aBFXk  Reddit – explain why like I’m five ◦ http://en.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments /1qlsp5/eli5_why_lifespans_differ_from_animal_to_ animal/

3.  Common Core is not Gifted  Writing non fiction is difficult when they haven’t read a lot of it.  CCSS don’t examine the literary elements ◦ In order to truly appreciate the great speeches you need to examine the elements so that you may gain true comprehension as indicated by the affective domain. How does it make you feel? How does it move you vs What does it mean? ◦ Prose and poetry, fiction and non fiction not that different

4.  Rigorous application of formal language study of nonfiction ◦ Prose Poetry Don’t stop at “delineate and analyze”. Use all classical elements to see how these elements give it meaning.

5.  Executivefunctioningsuccess.com  Executive functioning is a better predictor of success than IQ  Teaching students how to ask for help before the cycle of wounded learners and drop outs: ◦ Confusion Helpless Hopeless Anger Depression Anxiety ◦ Develop self advocacy and self awareness – specific ways to ask for help – visual learners vs auditory ◦ Develop a goal setting action plan

6.  Look at school district/building norms and use the 20% Allowance rule ◦ For example if 50% of your school is Hispanic, then.8 x.5 = 40% of your identified students should be in your identified population  #1 Barrier is lack of rigor  Disparate Impact – Intent unimportant, the outcome is important. Unintentional discrimination is just as illegal as intentional. ◦ Griggs vs Duke Power (1971) Civil Case ◦ CRDC – Civil Rights Data Collection 2012, 2009 by district and school – Office of Civil Rights

7.  Process of change from a pull out program to school-based resource program that supports advanced learners using a Level of Service model. ◦ One full time gifted specialist in each elementary and middle school  Level 4 – Exceptionally High – pull out ½ day a week, work with teachers to compact curriculum  Level 3 Highly – gifted cluster with a teacher who works closely with gifted specialist differentiating material, facilitates individual/small group research projects on advanced themes or topics

8.  Identification process for identifying and serving highly advanced learners based on multiple assessments: ◦ Gifted Performance Characteristics ◦ Achievement (district screeners) ◦ Creativity/Reasoning – Torrance and/or SAGES ◦ Cognitive Ability – Naglieri  Highly Gifted – IQ > 145 as part of total points accumulated across all areas  Points correspond with 4 levels of service  Increased information on individual strength and areas in need of improvement.

9.  Highly Gifted ASSIST PLANS ◦ Personalized Learning Plans for exceptionally gifted or other special needs. ◦ Developed by ASSIST Problem Solving Team (including parents) to include:  Strengths  Challenges  Interests  Goals  Interventions/Supports ◦ Interest Based learning opportunities (1/2 day pullout) ◦ Subject or grade acceleration

10.  How do we show growth when the assessment tools hit their ceiling? ◦ Learner focused portfolios with pre and post assessments.  M Squared/M Cubed, William and Mary materials ◦ Rubrics are necessary to evaluate performance assessments.  IB Rubrics  Cambridge ◦ Use differentiated report cards to communicate progress ◦ Go beyond standard curriculum with criteria assigned with outside agencies (National History Day competitions for example) and outside judging.

11.  Site created for teachers using Google Site ◦ Collaborate using groups – Gifted PLCs ◦ Share resources with organized Tabs  Extensions  Curriculum ◦ Provide Professional Development with course options – Face to face, Virtual online, Modules  Training modules, video vignettes of district teachers ◦ Share district policy and long range plans ◦ Achievement Data