Transcript Gifted and Talented Academy year 1

Gifted and Talented Academy
year 1
Session 1
September 29, 2011
http://aea11gt.pbworks.com
Look with favor
upon a bold
beginning.
--Virgil, Roman poet
Winnie the Witch
Why do children need gifted services?
Winnie the Witch
Winnie on the Web
She’s even on Facebook!
Agenda
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Welcome and Introductions
Web 2.0 Tools
Academy History
Goals
Norms
Iowa Code
Foundation
Home Play
Closure
Web 2.0 Tools
 Wiki
– Visit http://aea11gt.pbworks.com
– Set up account
– Create team Wiki space
– Districtname_gt
 iEtherPad
Introductions
 Name
 School
 One important thing you hope to gain
from the Academy
Why the Academy?
 A common philosophy
 A comprehensive K-12 program plan
to guide programming
 Teamwork
 Establish importance of leadership
 It will benefit kids
 Sharpening focus
G/T Academy Outcomes
 To deepen understanding of the components
of comprehensive gifted and talented
programming
 To construct and/or improve a written
comprehensive gifted and talented program
plan
 To identify and use data necessary to provide,
drive, and improve gifted and talented
programming
 To network with other teachers of gifted in the
Heartland area - and beyond
Team Role
 Honor commitment to complete work
between sessions
 Everyone contributes
 Dedication to learning
 Advocacy
 Promote learning of others
 Be open to change
Administrator Role
 Provide and protect time for team to
meet
 Provide access to data
 Provide access to staff
 Encourage and guide
 Learn with teachers
 Be open to change
Group Norms, Processes and
Needs
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Talk freely - think out loud
Freedom to change your mind
Learning for all
Share air time
Ask questions
Iowa Code, NAGC Program
Standards, & PK-12 National
Gifted Education Standards
 Iowa Code provides requirements in law
for minimum compliance (Chs. 12 & 59)
 NAGC PK-12 Gifted Programming
Standards provide guidance toward best
practices
 PK-12 National Gifted Education
Standards identify essential knowledge
and skills for teachers of gifted
Comprehensive Gifted and
Talented Programming
 Comprehensive:
– Including many things
– Having a wide scope or full view
– Extensive; wide; large; full; compendious
(dictionary.com)
So what is it?
Work with your team to list the
components/characteristics of
comprehensive gifted and
talented programming.
Think: comprehensive physical,
comprehensive exam
Comprehensive Gifted and
Talented Programming
 Includes and integrates multiple domains of
giftedness
 Provides multiple programming options matched
to student need
 Addresses both cognitive and affective needs
 Is articulated K-12
 Is evolutionary in nature
 Is essential to and embedded in an effective
educational program
 Is based on student need
 Identifies children with unmet educational needs
CONSENSU
S
Managing Complex Change
Vision
+
Skills
+
Incentives
+
Resources
+
Action
Plan
=
Change
+
Skills
+
Incentives
+
Resources
+
Action
Plan
=
Confusion
+
Incentives
+
Resources
+
Action
Plan
=
Anxiety
+
Resources
+
Action
Plan
=
Resistance
+
Action
Plan
=
Frustration
=
False Starts
Vision
+
Vision
+
Skills
+
Vision
+
Skills
+
Incentives
+
Vision
+
Skills
+
Incentives
+
Resources
+
Adapted from Knoster, T., Villa R., & Thousand, J. (2000). A framework for thinking about systems change. In R. villa & J. Thousand (Eds.),
Restructuring for caring and effective education: Piecing the puzzle together (pp. 93-128). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Talk in Your Team
 With regard to g/t programming
– which areas are strengths?
– which areas need attention/work?
Survey Results
 Results tabulation sheet
– Hard copy or Excel sheet
 Transfer numbers
– Like my school = 3
– Somewhat like + = 2
– Somewhat like - = 1
– Not like my school = 0
 Totals and percentages
Survey Results
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Section 1 – Vision
Section 2 – Skills
Section 3 – Incentives
Section 4 – Resources
Section 5 – Action Plan
It All Starts With…
Vision
Beliefs
Vision
 What we aspire to
 Requires “stretch”
Example:
ITAG envisions a time when all students, including the
gifted and talented, are given an appropriate
educational experience that matches their abilities and
potential, where they have abundant opportunities for
their intellectual and creative challenge and growth, and
those who work with them are effectively trained to
appreciate, understand, and nurture their unique talents
and needs.
Mission/Philosophy
Answers the questions
 What is our purpose?
 Why does the program(ming) exist?
What it does
 Creates cohesiveness, commitment, and
understanding
 Gives meaning to our work
– Choosing how we’ll work
– What work we choose to do
--Conzemius & O’Neill, 2002
Belief Statements & Core
Values
Beliefs: an expression of what we believe to
be true
Core Values: absolute commitments that
translate into behaviors
Example:
Belief: gifted kids learn best in the company
of intellectual peers
Core Value: commitment to provide
grouping arrangements that promote new
learning for gifted kids
Sample M/V/B
 Waukee
 What is important for your work?
 Critical to connect ELP m/v/b to larger
district view
Traits
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Comprehensiveness
Rationale
Consistency
Clarity
--Purcell & Eckert, 2006
Victory Circle
 Three years from now, the DE awards
your district the “Outstanding GT
Program” distinction for the state.
 What would we see, hear, experience,
etc. that would give credence to the
award?
Gilbert
Boone
Woodward-Granger
Colo-Nesco
Newton
Creating Stretch
 What aspects of your victory are
worthy of achieving but would require
significant stretch?
 Consider these ideas to help you write
a statement of vision.
S-W-O-R Analysis
 What are the strengths in our school
that would help us achieve our victory?
 What weaknesses do we need to
overcome?
 What opportunities exist if we achieve
our victory?
 What risks do we face along the way?
Assumptions
 What assumptions do you hold about
gifted children? (+ or -)
 What assumptions do classroom
teachers, administrators, and parents
in your district/building hold?
Gilbert
Boone
Woodward-Granger
Colo-Nesco
Newton
Putting It All Together…
Consider
 desired state (victory)
 components requiring stretch
 current state (S-W-O-R)
 assumptions which drive beliefs
Create a draft of your vision,
mission/philosophy, and beliefs.
Sample Vision
 Waukee – “New learning all day every
day for each identified gifted child.”
Consider: In what ways will vision impact
programming?
Sample Mission/Philosophy
The mission of the Iowa Talented and Gifted Association is to
recognize, support, and respect the unique and diverse
needs of talented and gifted learners through
ADVOCACY:
by encouraging informed educational professionals, parents,
policy makers, and all other stakeholders to take appropriate
action for the benefit of talented and gifted learners.
EDUCATION:
by strengthening and encouraging the recognition and
implementation of practices that support identification of
talented and gifted learners and accommodation of the
social, emotional, and intellectual levels.
NETWORKING:
by increasing opportunities for collaboration and
cooperation among all stakeholders with the goal of
advancing the abilities and developing the potential of
Evaluating Your
Mission/Philosophy
Rate your mission/philosophy with
regard to
 Comprehensiveness
 Rationale
 Consistency
 Clarity
Sample
Academically talented children in Jonesville may
possess characteristics that necessitate qualitatively
different instruction. Our program is designed to
provide the atmosphere for stimulating aboveaverage-ability students.
Trait
Comprehensiveness
Rationale
5
4
3
2
Consistency
Clarity
--Purcell & Eckert, 2006
1
Sample
Academically talented children in Jonesville may
possess characteristics that necessitate qualitatively
different instruction. Our program is designed to
provide the atmosphere for stimulating aboveaverage-ability students.
Trait
Comprehensiveness
Rationale
Consistency
Clarity
5
4
3
2
X
1
X
X
X
--Purcell & Eckert, 2006
Makeover
The mission of the Jonesville School District is to
ensure that each child has equal opportunity to
receive a suitable program of educational
experiences. The school board recognizes that
some students possess, or are capable of
possessing, extraordinary learning ability and/or
outstanding talent. These students come from all
socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds.
The school board affirms the following:
 Curricular modifications as described in our
comprehensive program design will occur in the regular
classroom to provide continuous levels of challenge for
all students, including those with unique gifts and
talents.
 In addition to the regular classroom, a range of
instructional settings, both within the school as well as
the community, will be available for specialized
instruction that is integrated with the regular curriculum
and the intellectual and social and emotional needs of
gifted and talented children.
 It is the responsibility of the school district and the larger
community to ensure the following:
– Ongoing identification of gifted and talented children
– Provision of appropriate and systematic educational
services to meet the unique learning needs of gifted
and talented children.
--Purcell & Eckert, 2006, p. 18-19
Building Consensus
Determine
 With whom you will share
 How you will determine/build
consensus
Reflect on
 How the message was received
 Further work needed
Program Evaluation
 Baseline data
– Complete Self-Audit/Reflection section(s)
 Identification
 Program Goals
– Bring results to next session
 Basis for program goals
 Means to improve programming
Home Play
 Complete two sections of SA/RT
– Program Goals
– Identification
 Share draft of Mission/Philosophy with
GT Advisory, Administrative Team,
and/or School Board
– Get input
– Get mission/philosophy approved
Next Meeting
 November 29, 2011
 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
 Heartland AEA Ames Office
Memory Mingle
1. How has the information you’ve
engaged with so far “pushed” your
thinking?
2. Share in triads
3. Identify connections and/or
conclusions
4. Share with large group