February 17, 2020
by learningmoore
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Gifted Endorsement: Elective Hours
Over the summer, I participated in a 5 hour online PD course offered by PLB . This PD, Differentiation for Gifted Learners in the Classroom, was composed of four lessons. These four lessons included 1. Characteristics 2. Personal, Social and Cognitive Needs 3. Special Populations and 4. Practical Strategies. For the purpose of this assignment, I will focus on practical strategies. Continue Reading →
February 2, 2020
by learningmoore
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Gifted Endorsement: Elective Hours
“So, how can teachers successfully promote the skills of an advanced learner within a regular education classroom? Differentiating instruction through the use of technology is the answer.”
February 2, 2020
by learningmoore
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Gifted Endorsement: Elective Hours
Our school did an interesting professional development. The idea was everyone would have the opportunity to get a 10 minute “taste” from each of the presenters. I was asked to present on small group instruction, with a focus on what students are doing when they are not working with me and why this format is important. This was the general outline I used for my quick presentations.
Why utilize small groups?
The biggest reason I utilize small groups – building community and relationships with my students. Without the relationship and trust, I will never get them to perform to the best of their abilities all while believing mistakes are not only okay, but good! I also utilize small groups to meet the needs of ALL of my students. It’s unfair for high learners to sit through a whole group lesson when they understood the material in the first two minutes, nor is okay for struggling learners to completely shut down because they believe they will never understand because the perception is everyone else does so quickly. I am also able to give immediate feedback and quickly catch misconceptions in learning. This saves time with reducing the need to reteach. I can also quickly note if a student is going to need more help in the future.
June 20, 2019
by learningmoore
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Gifted Endorsement: Elective Hours
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is not education at all.” -Aristotle
After spending many years researching the social and emotional needs of children living in low socio-economic disparity, I was curious about the research behind gifted students. I read Supporting Your Emotionally Excitable Gifted Child at Gifted Challenges and Sensitivity in Gifted Kids at Brydseed. I also read Development of the Emotional and Social Needs of Gifted Individuals by George T. Betts in the Journal of Counseling and Development. What I found, the needs of students in highly stressful living situations are very similar to the emotional intensity in many gifted children. There was a prevailing theme in the research – give students an outlet, build in talks about emotions, and teach conflict resolution as a skill. I had two plans, Community Themes and Morning Meeting.
I started off the year introducing “Community Themes.” These themes included perseverance, conflict resolution, compassion, kindness, and belonging. Each week a new theme was introduced with a quick daily activity and discussion. Here are the materials I used for the week of kindness and this one is for conflict resolution.
June 18, 2019
by learningmoore
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Gifted Endorsement: Elective Hours
“When is a boy not a boy?…
…When he’s a prodigy.”
-Ann Hulbert
June 16, 2019
by learningmoore
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Gifted Endorsement Year 1 Cohort: Elective Hours
This summer I had the privilege of attending a four day workshop through ASU on Teaching Inquiry-Based STEM Science. This experience was incredible, and I am so excited to take back what I learned to my classroom. What made this workshop so much more engaging than any other I’ve attended? It wasn’t just the endless amounts of free resources, but it was a truly engaging experience. As educators, we DID the activities, we experienced it from the point of view of a student learner, and we realized the flexibility of the model. Continue Reading →
June 10, 2019
by learningmoore
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Gifted Endorsement Year 1 Cohort: Think Like a Disciplinarian
I explained to my class we were about to embark on an exploration known as the Great Fossil Find, but first we would need to dig deep into how a paleontologist would think about this experience. I showed them this Flocabulary video on fossils to grab their attention. Next, I asked them to watch this video, Paleontologist at Work, and take notes on anything they had questions about or found interesting. We followed up with a class discussion. Then, I told them we would watch the video again, but this time I wanted them to be thinking about the following questions:
May 31, 2019
by learningmoore
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Gifted Endorsement Year 1 Cohort: Independent Study
Our fifth graders had just completed their “Improve the World” project, but what next? This project gave our learners the opportunity to discover the potential impact solar energy could have on the world, and especially in impoverished communities. I couldn’t imagine asking them to simply research a topic, it needed to have more meaning. Continue Reading →
May 4, 2019
by learningmoore
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Gifted Endorsement Year 1 Cohort: Prompts of Depth and Complexity
I began introducing the prompts of depth and complexity early in the school year. I used direct instruction and discussion to help my students understand the definitions. The prompts are included in my posted daily objectives for student learning. This is also a talking point to help them comprehend the prompts. I teach math and science and find some prompts to be more beneficial than others. I have ‘Language of the Discipline’ on my whiteboard where I hold small group instruction. I post the vocabulary that is relevant to the topic, and I have my students refer to it during discussion and answering questions. Here are some examples of how I have integrated them throughout the year.
Example: Classify two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures Continue Reading →
March 10, 2019
by learningmoore
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Gifted Endorsement Year 1 Cohort: Iconic Pathways
For this lesson, my students focused on these icons of depth and complexity: trends, details, multiple perspectives, big idea, and unanswered questions.
Puzzlement Presented: Today you will think like a scientist, an entrepreneur, an environmentalist, and an economist! What questions do you have about each of these sources of energy? (solar, nuclear, coal, wind, hydro, and natural gas) Come up with at least one question for each using keywords. Continue Reading →
