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Based on results from the survey I sent out in January, many of you expressed a need for more Gifted PD on differentiation so that will be our focus moving forward.

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This presentation explains some of the more common traits you will see in a typical gifted child.

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Class 2 :Instructional Process for Gifted Children

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Class 2 :Instructional Process for Gifted Children

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This course is designed to provide self-discovery and enhance knowledge and application of instructional
strategies for best practice in teaching gifted students, including creating a responsive learning environment..
An overview of curricular models in gifted education will provide the theory and knowledge base for the study
of instructional strategies. This will also include differentiation strategies such as creative thinking
techniques, approaches to teaching the problem solving process, developing simulations, research methods,
and independent learning strategies. This course will also address the affective needs of gifted students in
selecting and developing instructional strategies. Additionally, the class will explore incorporating technology
into instructional processes,, curriculum modification techniques, methods and materials for enrichment, and
assessment strategies. Student learning will be reflected in opportunities for educators to plan, implement
instructional strategies in the classroom, and reflect and evaluate outcomes.

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You included a wonderful definition of a gifted student. You, as a whole, touched on may of the characteristics of giftedness

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“performs or shows potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared to others of their age, experience, or environment."

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Based on your responses from the survey, many of you are already have strategies in place for our gifted and talented cliental... You know the importance of simply being there and understanding  gifted and talented students. Teachers simply need to be supportive and willing to help students. This was supported by two books read for this class. “Teachers of the gifted, although not trained as counselors, can be effective in helping gifted students, underachieving or otherwise, to better understand realistic goal setting, perfectionism, competition and peer pressure.” (Rimm, 2018).
“You can meet your students’ social and emotional needs by being respectful to those concerns, and by coming up with activities to address them.” (DelisIe, 2015).
References

Galbraith, J., & Delisle, J. R. (2015). When gifted kids don’t have all the answers: how to meet their social and emotional needs. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.

Rimm, S. B., Siegle, D., & Davis, G. A. (2018). Education of the gifted and talented. New York: Pearson.

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"While no educational inter- vention is 100% effective for all students, whole-grade accel- eration for students who are ready, and for whom the process

has been carefully considered, can be not only an effective and sound intervention, but better than the alternative, i.e., doing nothing. We have the evidence and the mechanisms to make whole-grade acceleration a low-risk/high-success intervention for qualified students. "
Colangelo, N. (2004). A nation deceived: how schools hold back Americas brightest students. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa.

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Helps students gather, organize and/or review information in a creative and challenging way. Great to add sketchnoting also. See example...

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#1 Intelligence is inherited and does not change. Gifted students, therefore , do not need any special services.

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#1 Intelligence is inherited and does not change. Gifted students, therefore , do not need any special services.

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#2 Giftedness can be easily measured by intelligence tests and tests of achievement

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#2 Giftedness can be easily measured by intelligence tests and tests of achievement

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#3 There is no need to identify gifted students in the early grades.

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#3 There is no need to identify gifted students in the early grades.

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#4 Gifted students read all the time, wear glasses, and/or are physically and socially awkward.

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#4 Gifted students read all the time, wear glasses, and/or are physically and socially awkward.

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#5 Gifted Students are (or should be) well-behaved model students who get good grades.

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#5 Gifted Students are (or should be) well-behaved model students who get good grades.

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#6 Gifted students work up to their potential.

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#6 Gifted students work up to their potential.

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#8 Gifted Students will get by on their own without any special help from the school.

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#8 Gifted Students will get by on their own without any special help from the school.

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#9 It benefits everyone to have gifted students teach the materials they already know to other kids.

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#9 It benefits everyone to have gifted students teach the materials they already know to other kids.

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Easy read! Great resource!
I especially like the questionnaires, activities, student feedback, personal stories and overall great vibe this book has!

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*What to Say When Teachers Say No
*Perfectionism VS the Pursuit of Excellence
*Ten Commandments for the Highly Stressed
*Ten Commandments for The Easily Bored
*WhatKind of Class Do You Want to be Part of? (Building empathy in classroom)
*TenStrategies for Developing a Growth Mindset in Gifted Students

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Discusses and justifies ,with research, topics such as:
Matching instruction with needs, characteristics,
identification,
program planning,
acceleration,
grouping,
differentiation,
enrichment,
curriculum models,
creativity,
teaching thinking skills, leadership,
character ed,
underachievement,
cultural diversity,
economic disadvantage, disabilities,
parenting,
understanding and counseling and program evaluation

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"Gifted kids shine in many ways. Their intelligence, curiosity and potential are often easy to spot. But their struggles can be hard to detect. Gifted children and adolescents may wrestle with anxiety, loneliness, stress and frustration-often born from being consistently under-challenged in school and feeling misunderstood by peers as well as by adults." (Delisle, 2015)

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The biggest takeaway from this class thus far is the knowledge that we are already doing some of the most important things we can to help gifted students succeed.... being respectful, listening, making students feel safe,  presenting PBL (Problem or Project Based Learning) Opportunities as part of our STEM school format. Read the following article to find out how PBL's meet the  needs of gifted students in a variety of ways.  

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The biggest takeaway from this class thus far is the knowledge that we are already doing some of the most important things we can to help gifted students succeed.... being respectful, listening, making students feel safe,  presenting PBL (Problem or Project Based Learning) Opportunities as part of our STEM school format. Read the following article to find out how PBL's meet the  needs of gifted students in a variety of ways.  

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Problem-Based Learning: A Promising Strategy for Gifted Students
by Barbara Swicord, Ed.D.
President, Summer Institute for the Gifted

Educators in the 21st Century face a daunting set of challenges in the classroom. There is increasing pressure to motivate unengaged students, to deal with a wide range of talent, ability, learning styles, and diversity, and to integrate state and national standards into a crowded curriculum. Add to these problems additional stress created by funding shortfalls, teacher burnout, and the politics of community relations and it is no wonder that educators experience recurring personal and professional frustrations.

While not a panacea, problem-based learning is providing answers for many of these challenging areas. PBL (sometimes also referred to as project-based learning) can motivate students through the use of real and authentic problems. It can challenge students of varying ability levels and interests to tackle aspects of a selected problem that are appropriate to them, and can cover multiple interdisciplinary objectives in a single scenario. In addition, in-class modifications can support meager specialized programs in times of budget crunch. Self-motivated students and exciting curriculum can energize teachers, and involving students in real problems in the community can create positive relationships with parents and community members.

PBL has the potential to impact today in a positive manner the many difficulties facing American classrooms. The rest of this discussion will focus on just one of these positive areas, that of providing an appropriately challenging learning environment for highly capable students. While PBL can motivate and engage students of all ability levels, it is an elegant way to facilitate the characteristics of gifted education that can be difficult for teachers to infuse in their classrooms using more traditional methods.

It is helpful to look first at the characteristics of Problem Based Learning. While there are many ways to implement Problem Based Learning, all PBL methods have some common characteristics. There is always a direct connection to the curriculum and the curriculum is inherently interdisciplinary. The content focuses on questions or problems that the students must grapple with in order to discern the meaning of the curriculum concepts. There is a constructivist environment in that students are building the knowledge they need in order to solve the problem or answer the questions. Students are self-directed to a significant degree in their pursuit of the problem resolution, and the problems are always based in real or authentic scenarios. The problems are incomplete in that students are not given all the information they need in order to solve the problem. Students may redefine the problem as they research it and the process will likely take longer than traditional school problems or units would take to resolve.

Why is this method a good teaching strategy for gifted students? Aside from the obvious motivational characteristics of working with authentic problems in an environment that nurtures independence, self-selection of topics, and an emphasis on professional products, gifted students exhibit qualities often associated with expert problem solvers, making PBL a natural methodology for them. Expert problem solvers have broad knowledge bases; gifted students acquire information quickly. Experts look for the deep structure of a problem; gifted students demonstrate this kind of conceptual learning at an early age. Experts have many skills in their repertoire and use them flexibly; gifted students learn to carefully select problem-solving strategies as they work through problems. Expert problem solvers monitor their problem-solving processes while gifted students spontaneously use metacognitive skills and show early recognition that many questions have more than one right answer. In addition to the skills of problem solving, PBL also appeals to gifted students because the content is conceptual, the pace is appropriate because so much of it is self-directed, and they can regroup within the larger group with students who want to pursue similar aspects of the overall problem.

When setting up a problem scenario for a gifted student, the teacher must make sure that the content is advanced and that the problem deals with complex concepts. The teacher must be careful to point out connections among disciplines related to the topic. The students should gain practice in good reasoning, in forming habits of mind within the disciplines used, and in improving skills of self-direction. They should also have the chance to discuss conflicting ethical perspectives surrounding the topic. As an example, a middle school problem about using genetically engineered products in fast food restaurants would deal with science curriculum regarding genetics that might not have been covered in the traditional curriculum at that point. The teacher might need to point out relationships between genetic engineering in plants as well as in humans and the problem might also include a discussion regarding religious beliefs in various cultures. Such a problem might involve a study of how geneticists work. Students might create a plan for a series of experiments that they feel are needed in order to resolve the issue. They might also take on the roles of farmers, scientists, consumers, media reporters, or businesspersons in order to view the problem from the various perspectives of stakeholders in such a problem. These suggestions all relate to the types of characteristics of PBL that are important to consider when setting up a problem for highly capable students. It is also important to note that such a problem will cover many curriculum standards related to science, social studies, technology, language arts, health, and math. Depending on the activities that are designed and the products that are created by students, this problem could also cover standards within the creative and performing arts and world languages.

So many wide-ranging objectives can be achieved by employing PBL in the classroom that educators should be encouraged to try it if they have not already. In order to be successful, teachers should pay attention to a few helpful hints. It may be important to start slowly, using small, directed problem scenarios that are designed for the readiness level of independence and collaboration of the students in the class or group. It is critical to plan well and to cover the basic information that will be needed in the problem first. The content should drive the activity; the activity should not drive the content. Remember that the depth of the learning is more valuable than covering a lot of content. Make sure the activities are engaging, thought provoking, and authentic. When assessing students, use a rubric that clearly defines what high quality is and do not emphasize aspects of the products that are not germane to the objective of the problem. Enjoy your new role as facilitator and guide!

When the going gets tough, and it could in the beginning, teachers should be reminded that research on PBL, though still scarce, is showing positive results that hold promise for gifted students as well as all students. Students using PBL perform as well on standardized tests and often better than students in traditional classrooms. Students using PBL learn research skills, understand the subject matter at a deeper level than students taught by traditional methods, and are more deeply engaged in their work. Also important is the finding that teachers and parents of students learning by doing projects are pleased about students' enthusiasm and hard work when they are doing PBL.

For educators who are looking for a solution to many problems in the classrooms as well as a way to meet the needs of gifted students, Problem Based Learning is a great place to start. More and more resources are becoming available in the form of printed professional materials as well as Internet websites to support novice PBL-ers. Online resources include the George Lucas Educational Foundation ( www.edutopia.org), Project-Based Learning with Multimedia CD-ROM at www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm, and What Kids Can Do ( www.whatkidscando.org). Many other websites exist as well to support parents and teachers in sample problems and tutorials on PBL. After a short introduction to PBL, educators can easily create their own problem scenarios based on their knowledge of their curriculum content, the interests and abilities of their students, and their own blossoming creativity. With careful planning, a well-designed problem, and the enthusiasm of students and teachers, problem based learning can be a great boost to a teacher's professional satisfaction while creating future citizens who are well-prepared for the complex tasks and problems they will face as adults.

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Problem-Based Learning: A Promising Strategy for Gifted Students by Barbara Swicord, Ed.D. President, Summer Institute for the Gifted Educators in the 21st Century face a daunting set of challenges in the classroom. There is increasing pressure to motivate unengaged students, to deal with a wide range of talent, ability, learning styles, and diversity, and to integrate state and national standards into a crowded curriculum.

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1. Determining who gifted students are.... use test scores, checklist, student questionnaire
2. listen and discuss what students have to say. Use questionnaire below as starting point.

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Sample Web Diagram for Independent Study

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Sample Web Diagram for Independent Study

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Some strategies we can implement to make gifted students feel more welcome in our classrooms... Taken from Chapter 8 In Delisle and Galbraith's When Gifted Kids Don't Have All the Answers

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#2 Embrace the World of Online Learning:MIT & K12TED-EdWonderopolis...

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#2 Embrace the World of Online Learning:MIT & K12TED-EdWonderopolis...

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#3 Provide"Instead of" Enrichment, Not "in  Addition to" Enrichment

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#3 Provide"Instead of" Enrichment, Not "in  Addition to" Enrichment

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#4 Provide incentives such as "if you finish 1-10 with no more than 2 errors, you can stop and turn it in"

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#4 Provide incentives such as "if you finish 1-10 with no more than 2 errors, you can stop and turn it in"

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#8 Keep Private Things Private, don't announce grades, misbehaviors etc.

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#8 Keep Private Things Private, don't announce grades, misbehaviors etc.

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#9 Design Classrooms that Respect Learning Styles and Preferences

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#9 Design Classrooms that Respect Learning Styles and Preferences

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#11 Help Students Get to Know One Another

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#11 Help Students Get to Know One Another

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3. Passion Project
4. Differentiate

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Great book full of easy to use differentiation techniques and strategies!

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Great book full of easy to use differentiation techniques and strategies!

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How to work independently on an extension activity

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How to work independently on an extension activity

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TED.com, home of TED Talks, is a global initiative about ideas worth spreading via TEDx, the TED Prize, TED Books, TED Conferences, TED-Ed and more.

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TED.com, home of TED Talks, is a global initiative about ideas worth spreading via TEDx, the TED Prize, TED Books, TED Conferences, TED-Ed and more.

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National Association For Gifted Children

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National Association For Gifted Children

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Implementing the Operating Standards for Identifying and Serving Students Who are Gifted

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Implementing the Operating Standards for Identifying and Serving Students Who are Gifted

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* Enrich & Engage!
* Keep in mind with PBL it is not one size fits all... May need to modify and dig deeper to reach more students
* There will be a Gifted Module added to Canvas for you to utilize.
* Self advocacy PD
* Reaching underachievers PD
* Mindfulness

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click here

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Digital Tools

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Uppervention: Meeting the Needs of Gifted and Talented Students

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Middle school teacher and guest blogger Josh Work coins the term “uppervention” to describe his strategies for keeping gifted and talented students engaged, challenged and inspired to learn and achieve with the rest of their classmates.

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This class is an introductory course designed to provide an overview to the theoretical and research base of the field of gifted education and the nature and needs of teaching children and youth who are gifted. An overview of the historical foundations and issues related to the learning and instruction of students identified as having exceptional educational needs is explored. Core cognitive characteristics of gifted children in general and domain-specific areas, educational needs in respect to programs, services, and curricula, support structures necessary to facilitate talent development with regard to families, mentors, and personality variables are discussed.

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Doing Poorly On Purpose by James Delisle

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Doing Poorly On Purpose by James Delisle

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Will be completing a PD on this book.

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By Jerry Burkhart
Imagine an open-ended math task that gets students asking questions as well as answering them. Each student works at the level of her current ability and interest, but no one finishes, because there are always new questions to ask!

A problem like this would help you differentiate instruction for advanced learners while stimulating curiosity, deep understanding, and perseverance for all learners.

I call these tasks "problems that never end." They are a type of High Cognitive Demand task, and they need not be traditional story problems. In fact, a story problem is not really a problem at all if you have been taught a procedure for solving it. By definition, a problem is something that you have not been taught how to do!

Here's an example

I have used the image below for many years with learners of all ages. What do you think the problem might be? How would you begin solving it? Try it before reading further! My thought was to enter a different number 1-9 into each circle so that each side of the triangle has the same sum. If you had a different idea, that's fine! The important thing is that you have now engaged in both solving and creating problems.

Keeping the problem going

This is a great problem, but does it really go on forever?

Let's explore my version of the problem a bit more. Suppose you have found a solution. (Maybe you have!) Imagine some new questions that you or your students might ask.

Here are some possibilities:

How many solutions are there? What do they have in common? What counts as a new solution? How many solutions are there if I count every small variation as a new solution? Can I find more than one solution strategy?

Why are the corner numbers important? What do I know about them? How can I prove it? Is my sum the only possible one? What is the smallest possible sum? The largest? Can I make every sum between the smallest and largest?

Can I use my existing solutions to help me find solutions for other sums? How many of those are there? Are there patterns that will help me make predictions quickly?

This long list of questions may look overwhelming at first. Fortunately, when you teach, you won't be dealing with all of them at once! When the questions grow naturally out of the exploration process, they are not so daunting; rather, they are exciting and full of possibility.

By the way, if you think this list is impressive, look here for more questions (you can also download my Triangle Sums handout). The possibilities are virtually endless, because new discoveries keep leading to new questions!

I have never yet had a student who has run out of things to explore. They simply reach a point when they are ready to move on to something else. I often like to press them just a little beyond this point. They are usually capable of more than they believe, and once they get past a stumbling block, they are off and running again!

Reflecting on the experience

Take a moment now to reflect on your experience with the image. You probably did some open-ended noticing and wondering before you even started solving your problem. These processes are at least as important as remembering and practicing mathematical procedures.

In the classroom, you and your students will become partners in both solving and creating problems. It takes some courage, because you will not always know the answers - but in a way, that's the point. This is a new mindset about math - one that values creative, independent thinking.

It also changes the way you think about teaching. Rather than worrying about learning every detail before you teach it, you enrich your own understanding of math through teaching. James Tanton of the Global Math Project advises allowing yourself to be vulnerable: "be your honest true self in front of students. Wonder about math; be honest if you don't know the answer and then help students try to find it."

The versatility of open-ended problems

Is it hard to imagine your students sticking with one problem for so long? Think of this challenge as an opportunity. Learning to persevere with tasks that take significant time and effort is an important new skill for many students. Remember that you are nurturing new habits. You may sometimes have to sell the problem to your students, but it may not be as hard as you think. Students are naturally curious about their own ideas and questions - and your excitement will be contagious!

How can you teach this way when you have a long list of math standards to cover? Think for a moment about which math standards our "triangle of circles" problem might address.

Young students will learn about properties of addition and subtraction.

Older students can investigate counting strategies and symmetry as they count solutions and explore relationships among them.

High school students can create and analyze algebraic expressions to express patterns they discover.

All students develop crucial reasoning skills. The problem differentiates instruction naturally, because students enter and pursue it at their own levels.

Getting started

These problems last a long time, and they tend to deal with many concepts at once, so you will probably not need too many of them. Nevertheless, it may take time to build a collection that thoroughly addresses the standards you teach. You will probably need to build your collection gradually. The images and notes below suggest some possibilities to start with. Look here for more notes on these tasks.

A task based on this image appears in the book, Extending the Challenge in Mathematics, by Linda Jensen Sheffield. It is similar to our "triangle of circles" problem but works especially well for younger students.

How can you get from 64 to 2 using only these operations?

What do these shapes have in common?

What is special about the large black dots? What is special about the open dots? What is the area of the polygon?

The Torrans are a species from another planet. How do their numerals work?

from Advanced Common Core Math Explorations: Numbers and Operations. Prufrock Press, 2015. Used by permission.

What do you notice and wonder about this list of fractions?

from Advanced Common Core Math Explorations: Ratios, Proportions, and Similarity. Prufrock Press, 2016. Used by permission.

What is this grid of colored blocks all about?

from Advanced Common Core Math Explorations: Factors and Multiples. Prufrock Press, 2014. Used by permission.

What do these pictures show about angles in hexagons?

What are the measures of the star-tip angles?

from Advanced Common Core Math Explorations: Measurement and Polygons, Prufrock Press, 2015. Used by permission.

I hope you feel inspired to try some never-ending problems with your students, and I invite you to find, create, and share some of your own.

Further resources for problems that never end

Advanced Common Core Math Explorations book series, by Jerry Burkhart. Prufrock Press, 2014-2017.

Exploding Dots, by James Tanton

Extending the Challenge in Mathematics, by Linda Jensen Sheffield. Corwin, 2003.

Intrepid Math, by Jerry Burkhart

K-8 Math Projects, by Jerry Burkhart
___________________________
Jerry Burkhart As founder of 5280 Math Education, he helps schools and districts implement research-based programming for gifted math students and offers tools and strategies for developing and nurturing adventurous math learners. Visit his store at MyEdExpert.
is a mathematics educator and consultant with over 30 years of classroom experience. He is the author of the book series, Advanced Common Core Math Explorations, published by Prufrock Press, and he presents regularly at state, regional, and national conferences on topics related to mathematical talent development.

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Neverending Problems: Math Tasks That Keep On Giving

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By Jerry Burkhart Imagine an open-ended math task that gets students asking questions as well as answering them. Each student works at the level of her current ability and interest, but no one finishes, because there are always new questions to ask!

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The 99 Days Project - from "2e2: Teaching the Twice Exceptional" (2018)

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How does your brain work?  "2e: Teaching the Twice Exceptional" focuses on the teachers of Bridges Academy, a school in Los Angeles dedicated exclusively to engaging and educating the unique minds of highly gifted and talented students with learning disabilities or differences.

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The Vargas family discusses the issues involved when their twice-exceptional son chooses not to go to college after high school and takes an unusual “gap year” instead.

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Create lessons with Big Questions

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SOLE Cleveland (SOLE CLE) are an academic group with a focus on scaling SOLEs across the Cleveland, Ohio area.

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A few very memorable quotes from her TED Talk, " We need, in all schools, in all districts to give the opportunity for kids who don't fit, to find their own path".
"Even when we don't know what to do, figure out what we need to stop doing"

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Gifted, creative and highly sensitive children | Heidi Hass Gable | TEDxLangleyED

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Being "gifted" often feels far from a good thing, when you're the one living it. And yet the myth persists that "gifted" is an elitist and privileged label in education. That "those kids" will be fine without any extra programs or supports. After all, what's the worst that can happen - they get bored?

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Curriculum Development for Gifted Learners

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Curriculum Development for Gifted Learners

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Informative slideshow with differentiation information and research on the best types.