HAEAnetpublic Password education 0309 Gifted and Talented Academy

HAEAnet-public Password: education 0309 Gifted and Talented Academy Year 2 Curriculum and Instruction Session 2

Agenda • • • Welcome/Check In Sharing quality practices Content/Standards Focus Curriculum Documents Team Planning Closure

Sign In To… • Google docs • Pbworks – Your team Wiki – aea 11 gt Wiki – aeapdonline Moodle site

Sharing and Collaborating • Quality practices – Groups of 5 -6 (by grade span) – Mixed-district – 3 -5 minutes/person • Large group share

Processing Home Play • Discuss with your team/table group – Your goals – Accomplishments – Questions and needs • Large group share

Rationale for a Standards Focus Standards will… …ensure students learn what they need to know for success in the 21 st century …ensure educational quality …provide guideposts …provide a curriculum template Van. Tassel-Baska, p. 37 -9

Rationale for Standards • Review the benefits of standards to education (p. 37 -9) • Discuss how each of these applies to Iowa Core, Characteristics of Effective Instruction, and the Universal Constructs

Standards as Core Curriculum • Basic content areas are the organizational framework for schools • Content-based instruction provides natural context for curriculum planning • Gifted spend majority of time in traditional subject -matter disciplines • Giftedness is often conceptualized as domainspecific • Applying higher-level skills to content enhances transfer --Van. Tassel-Baska, p. 39 -40

Problems with Standards • Teachers don’t perceive standards as helpful in differentiation for most able students. • Standards are perceived as low-level. • Perception that standards are content-based and, therefore, inappropriate for gifted. • Assessments have been found to be narrow, less demanding, and tied to factual material. • Effectively implementing strong standardsbased education benefits students but requires stronger teacher planning.

Curriculum for the Gifted Five Key Features • • • Acceleration Complexity Depth Challenge Creativity

Adapting Standards for Gifted • Many are already high-level, so tasks for gifted can be developed directly from the standard • Unpack the standards to determine scope and intent • Use essence of the standard as rubric for assessment • Organize by HOTS across subject areas • Accelerate within standard after pretesting • Select materials that address the intent – not just content – of the standard

This requires… …the use of effective teaching and learning models e. g. , Richard Paul’s Reasoning Model …flexible grouping practices

Using the Reasoning Model • Triads (mixed district) • Apply Paul’s Reasoning Model to the issue/problem of quality curriculum for the gifted.

What is the issue? Quality curriculum for gifted learners Why are we reasoning about it? (purpose/goal) What are the points of view? What are the assumptions people make? What are the important concepts? What evidence supports the point of view? What inferences can we make? What would be the consequences of different actions? --based on Paul (1992) Center for Gifted Education The College of William and Mary

Gifted educators will be able to defend their practice only when they thoughtfully implement a standards-based curriculum that is adapted and modified for gifted learners. When such action is taken, gifted education becomes a part of general education reform rather than an endeavor separate from it. --Van. Tassel-Baska, p. 51

Curriculum as Profound Engagement with the World • Read segments of the article. • Identify – 3 phrases that express connections to what you’ve learned about curriculum for the gifted – 3 key phrases that capture important ideas – 3 outcomes for gifted learners to be achieved through these ideas • Write each idea on a sticky note

Processing • Form triads • Share your 9 things • Choose three of each from your group. Lay out in tic tac toe format. Feel free to play with the arrangement. • Create three true statements about curriculum for the gifted • Share with large group

Curriculum Assumptions • General school curricula are inappropriate for gifted learners • Appropriate differentiation of the curriculum in one area and at one grade level affects all areas and levels. It is a long-term process. • A curriculum plan for the gifted must be written down and communicated appropriately within a school district. Van. Tassel-Baska, p. 53 -4

Curriculum Framework • A strategic plan for curriculum – Overall goals and outcomes across all areas and grade levels – Links goals and outcomes to strategies for accomplishing them – Assessment approaches that measure outcomes

Curriculum Framework • Purposes/Benefits – Creates consensus on what a gifted curriculum is supposed to be – Provides a specific tangible product that answers the question of what a district’s curriculum for the gifted is – Brings teachers and administrators into curriculum planning in a meaningful way – Represents a communication tool – Captures distinctive features and reveals balance.

Curriculum Framework • Review Fairfax County Curriculum Framework (Ch. 4, p. 56 -60) – What do you notice about this document? – What are its essential features? – What purposes might it fulfill? • Review p. 119 -24 • See “Student Goals and Outcomes” found on the Wiki. – How would turning this into a curriculum framework document make it more meaningful and useful?

Thoughts on a Curriculum Framework Document • Outlines what students will gain from gifted programming and services • Integrates gifted into general education • Applicable to all content areas • Your thoughts?

Scope and Sequence Scope – expansiveness and comprehensiveness of a curriculum Sequence – organizing and ordering of curriculum experiences to maximize learner effects In what ways – if at all – might scope and sequence for gifted learners be different from that for typical learners?

Scope at the Course Level 7 th Grade 8 th Grade Typical Learners Pre-Algebra I Gifted Learners Pre-Algebra/Algebra II College Algebra or other advanced topic Comprehensive Curriculum for Gifted Learners, p. 47

Sequence Considerations Issues Questions Differentiation for gifted learners Could all learners do this task at the cited stage of development, or is the task demand more advanced, complex, or conceptual? Progressive development of learning How are the objectives more sophisticated as they move through the grades? Can you track such progression? Scope Are the objectives sufficiently broad-based and inclusive of underlying knowledge and skills necessary to address the goal? Logical ordering Is there a logical sequencing of knowledge and skills necessary to attain the goal? Developmental appropriateness Are the objectives developmentally appropriate for gifted learners? Do they account for the readiness of gifted learners for advanced content earlier? Comprehensive Curriculum for Gifted Learners, p. 49

Designing Curriculum Starting From the Big Idea • What are the principles or concepts we can explore? • What are the essential questions that can be asked about these concepts? • What content would best illustrate these concepts? • Which processes should be taught or applied?

• What types of skills will students need to be able to demonstrate? • What instructional products might be used to demonstrate understandings? • What activities will help the students uncover the big idea?

Team Planning • Develop student outcomes and curriculum framework document • Begin curriculum development. Keep connections to Iowa Core in mind. • Identify actions to be accomplished by session 3

Home Play • Share action steps with administrative/advisory team and content teachers where appropriate. And then start doing. • Continue curriculum development work • Read Chapters 7, 8, & 9 in Curriculum Planning & Instructional Design for Gifted Learners • Invite classroom teacher(s) to attend the next Academy session. Meet with them prior to the session to share key learning about curriculum for gifted and goals for the work.

Could, Should, Would Could all kids do this? Should all kids do this? Would all kids want to?