Encinitas Union School District

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Encinitas Union School District

• GATE Parent Information Night 2008-09

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You know your child is gifted when..

• He knows everything there is to know about
  giraffesand chess, and Top 40 music, and
  Humphrey Bogart movies.
• Your 5 year-old asks for an unabridged dictionary
  for her birthday
• He has already asked why? 100 times today and
  its only 800 am in the morning
• She builds a scale model of the Eiffel Tower out
  of toothpicks and marshmallows.
• He spends four solid weeks studying Greek and
  Roman Architecture
• She insists that everyone who visits your home
  bring a canned item for the local food shelf

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Characteristics of Gifted students

• Advanced intellectual ability
• Verbal proficiency
• Creativity
• High Energy
• Focus, Passion, Intensity
• Logical Thinking
• Sensitivity
• Sense of Humor

Taken from You Know Your Child is Gifted When
Judy Galbaragh
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Characteristics of Gifted students

• Able to Concentrate for long periods of time at a
  very young age
• Uses a large vocabulary
• Constant questioning
• Creativity
• Exceptional ability in a particular subject
• Advanced comprehension
• Faster pace of learning
• Need for school work that provides activities
  that are both complex and fast paced

The California Association for the Gifted
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Characteristics of Gifted students

• Remembers what has been learned forever, making
  review unnecessary, and frustrating for the
  student
• Is able to deal with concepts that are too
  complex and abstract for age peers
• Has a passionate interest in one or more topics
  and would spend all available time learning more
  about that topic
• Does not need to watch the teacher to hear what
  is being said can operate on multiple brain
  channels simultaneously and process more than one
  task at a time

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Common Misunderstood Characteristics

• Disorganized (creative)
• Perfectionistic and Procrastinistic OR
  Contemplative and Introverted
• Intense (argumentative)
• Poor handwriting, especially in boys (sloppy)
• Asynchronous in Development
• (not gifted at everything, immature in some
  areas)
• Complex (whole to part)
• Precocious
• Insightful
• Avid Readers
• Strong Sense of Justice
• Motivated when Interested

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Recent History of Gifted Education in Encinitas

• Target established as part of our Strategic
  Planning Process (2006..continuing)
• Administrators and teachers attend Summer
  Institute at the Center for Gifted Education,
  College of William and Mary (Summer 2006)
• Differentiation Task Force (August 2006)
• Session at Management Retreat with Leadership and
  Board August 2006
• Parent Information Nights at all nine schools
• 2006-07
• Formation of GATE Instructional Improvement
  Committee (IIC) Fall 2006

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History of Gifted Education in Encinitas (2006-07)

• Recommendations of the Differentiation Task Force
  to IIC
• What can We Do Now! Surveyed Teachers regarding
  what they are currently using
• Developed list of appropriate resources
  Identified appropriate support materials to be
  used district-wide
• William and Mary Units
• Junior Great Books
• Everyday Math
• ALEKS and Successmaker
• Re-write GATE Plan plan approved for 2 years

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History of Gifted Education in Encinitas (2007-08)

• Principal/Governing Board Training
• Work of IIC continued
• Formation of 1st Gate Certification Cohort
• GATE Parent Nights all 9 schools
• Curriculum materials piloted and refined by Gate
  Cohort
• End of Year GATE Colloquium

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History of Gifted Education in Encinitas (2008-09)

• Second GATE Cohort Formed
• Continue the work of the 1st year GATE Cohort
• Re-Writing Plan for June 2009 submission
• GATE Parent Nights all 9 schools
• Pilot and implement new identification process

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GATE Plan

• Approval by the State for 1, 2 or 3 years
• Required to receive state funding
• Last plan approved for 2 years
• We will need to submit a new plan in June 2009.

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GATE Plan 8 Components

• Program Design
• Identification
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Social and Emotional
• Professional Development
• Parent and Community Involvement
• Program Assessment
• Budget

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Program Design

• Philosophy
• all children should be challenged to meet their
  full potential,
• GATE services include high quality differentiated
  curriculum which extends student learning
• It is our responsibility to provide
  differentiated learning opportunities, that
  exhibit acceleration, complexity, challenge,
  depth, and creativity

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Identification

• Currently
• End of 3rd grade beginning of 4th
• Based upon STAR and RAVEN Tests
• STAR results reviewed each fall
• Piloting
• Looking at multiple, research-based criteria
• Parent/Teacher surveys
• Multiple Assessments
• STAR
• Naglieri
• CogAT

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Curriculum and Instruction

• Higher Order Thinking Skills
• Features of Differentiated Curriculum for Gifted
  Learners
• Acceleration in Math
• Completing the curriculum of the next grade level
• Learning advanced, accelerated math in their own
  classroom, individually, or in a small group
• Differentiation in Language Arts
• Flexible leveled groups for reading
• Jr. Great Books
• William and Mary Units

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Higher Order Thinking Skills
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Higher Order Thinking Skills
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Differentiation Feature Acceleration

• Fewer tasks assigned to master standard
• Assessed earlier or prior to teaching
• Clustered by higher order thinking skills

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Differentiation Examples Acceleration

• Implement a math curriculum objective for the
  gifted by
• Multiplying by 1 digit
• Multiplying by 2 digits
• Multiplying by 3 digits
• Complete word problems using multiplication

• Implement a math curriculum objective for the
  gifted by
• Computational procedures as a tool for problem
  solving
• Using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
  division to solve multi-step problems

Center for Gifted Education The College of
William and Mary
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Differentiation Feature Complexity

• Used multiple higher level skills
• Added more variables to study
• Required multiple resources

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Differentiation Examples Complexity

• Read Animal Farm and discuss the novels
  symbolism. Write an essay analyzing how the
  symbolism communicates central themes of the
  novel.

• Read Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies and
  compare and contrast how the novels reflect the
  concept of power. Write a persuasive essay
  arguing which of the novels communicates the
  concept more effectively and why.

Center for Gifted Education The College of
William and Mary
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Free powerpoint template www.brainybetty.com
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Differentiation Feature Depth

• Studied a concept in multiple applications
• Conducted original research
• Developed a product

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Differentiation Example Depth

• Choose one of the following topics and prepare an
  oral presentation using at least four library
  sources
• -Shakespeares World
• -The American Dream
• -The Role of Science Fiction in Literature

• Debate one of the following resolutions.
• -Mankind is on a path toward human progress
• -Studying our past will help us cope with the
  future.
• Use multiple sources including surveys,
  interview, and library sources in your
  preparation.

Center for Gifted Education The College of
William and Mary
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Differentiation Feature Challenge

• Advanced resources employed
• Sophisticated content stimuli used
• Cross-disciplinary applications made
• Reasoning made explicit

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Differentiation Examples Challenge

• Joe invested 1,000 in stock in January. When he
  sold it in December, the price was up 12 from
  his purchase price. What was his profit on this
  stock?

• Which would you rather choose?
• a) 80 profit in year 1 and 50 loss in year 2.
• b) 5 profit in year 1 and 5 profit in year 2.
• Explain your reasoning.

Center for Gifted Education The College of
William and Mary
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Differentiation Feature Creativity

• Designed/constructed a model based on principles
  or criteria
• Provided alternatives for tasks, products, and
  assessments
• Emphasized oral and written communication to a
  real-world audience

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Differentiation Examples Creativity

• Conduct an experiment on plant growth by
  measuring weekly progress of two sets of seeds,
  one in artificial light indoors and one outside
  in shade.

• Design an experiment on one of the following
  questions and share your results in an oral and
  written presentation
• Are bees attracted to diet cola?
• Are earthworms attracted to light?
• Are boys more interested in computers than girls?
• Your own question

Center for Gifted Education The College of
William and Mary
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Social and Emotional

• Teachers to receive training on needs of gifted
  students
• Parent Resources
• Character Counts

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Professional Development

• Principals
• GATE Plan
• Observation Tools
• Identification Process
• GATE Cohort
• Curriculum Materials

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GATE Certification Cohort

• Requirements of participants
• Completed application Demonstrated commitment to
  differentiated instruction, acceleration, and the
  tenets of a high quality gifted program for
  students
• Participation in Summer Institute (College of
  William and Mary Differentiating Curriculum for
  Gifted Learners Strand -Language Arts
• Required participation in monthly meetings
• District-funded participation in Annual
  California Association of Gifted (CAG) Conference
• Maintenance of a portfolio for presentation at an
  end-of-year colloquium.

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GATE Certification Cohort

• Components of Professional Development/Areas of
  Study
• Research-based instructional model in
  collaboration with the College of William and
  Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia
• Junior Great Books Inquiry Method
• Everyday Math Program Components
• Characteristics of gifted students
• Features of differentiated instruction for gifted
  students
• Identification of gifted students
• Meeting the social/emotional needs of gifted
  students
• Technology resources for gifted students
• Parent Education for parents of gifted students

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GATE Certification Cohort

• Incentives and Compensation
• All supplemental GATE materials and equipment
  supporting the program will be provided to each
  teacher accepted into the certification program.
• Remuneration in accordance with certificated
  contract for attendance to all meetings/workshops
  (outside the work day).
• Paid membership in the California Association for
  the Gifted (CAG)
• Subscription to the Gifted Education Communicator
• Beginning Fall 2008, a cluster of GATE identified
  students will be assigned to certified teachers
  classrooms.
• Several instructional and reference books

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Parent and Community Involvement

• Parent Representatives on GATE IIC
• Improving Communication
• Envoy Articles
• District GATE Brochure
• District Website
• Letters

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Program Evaluation

• Classroom Observations
• Consultant Review with suggestions for next steps
• Data on student progress
• Parent Input
• Surveys
• Focus Groups
• GATE Parent Nights

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Budget

• Amount of Funding we receive from the state is
  limited
• Can do more from a district perspective, than by
  schools purchasing or contracting things
  individually
• We supplement GATE funds with other moneys in
  order to achieve our goals

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So what does all this mean for my child?

• We serve children kindergarten through 6th grade
• We provide a research-based differentiated
  curriculum for our students
• At times students may be regrouped for
  instruction and may have more than one teacher
• We serve academically precocious students,
  whether or not they are officially identified
• Gifted students are placed in clusters within a
  general education classroom

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So what does all this mean for my child?

• Mathematics
• Students meeting identified criteria are eligible
  for math acceleration
• Math acceleration my include
• Completing the curriculum of the next higher
  grade level
• Completing the current grade level curriculum at
  a faster pace
• Being provided with extension activities at grade
  level

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So what does all this mean for my child?

• Mathematics
• Math Acceleration may be offered through
• Regrouping
• Going to the classroom of the next higher grade
  level
• Learning more advanced math curriculum in their
  own classroom either individually or with a small
  group

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So what does all this mean for my child?

• Language Arts
• Flexible, leveled reading groups
• Inquiry Based Curriculum
• Advanced reading strategies
• Quality, high level literature
• Curriculum Includes
• William and Mary Center for Gifted Education,
  Integrated Curriculum Model
• Jr. Great Books

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So what does all this mean for my child?

• Language Arts
• Through an integrated approach students are
  taught the concepts of
• Change
• The Reasoning Process
• Advanced content skills in reading
• Instruction can be done through regrouping, or
  through flexible groups within the classroom

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So whats next?

• Continued refinement of our gifted curriculum
• Alignment to CA Standards
• Continued training
• Continued sharing and modeling among teachers
• Scope and Sequence
• Collecting and evaluating data on student
  performance

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Finally

• We know there is more to be done
• We are proud of what we have accomplished
• We are committed to continued improvement to our
  program
• We know that we will never be done, as things are
  constantly changing!

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Questions