The Gifted Corner

Attention Parents and Educators:

Often I am asked, “Just exactly what is Differentiation?”

  Differentiation is the recognition of and commitment to planning for student differences in your classrooms.   A differentiated classroom provides multiple avenues to acquire content, multiple avenues to process and make sense of information and ideas, as well as multiple paths to develop products. 

The goals of a differentiated classroom are to maximize student growth and to promote individual student success.   The increasing diversity of students in our classrooms require an alternative to the one-size-fits-all approach to heterogeneous classrooms.

Educating all of our students requires clear commitments to each of them.   There should be no walls nor ceilings to student learning and achievement.

For more information on Differentiation, go to:

Differentiation

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

If you would like to discuss one or more of these techniques to use in your classroom, please feel free to contact me.  If you would like to share some techniques you are using currently with your colleagues, leave comments here.

Kind regards,

Amanda G. Gibson

Attention K-12 Teachers:

We have been focusing on Formative Assessment as a way to inform our instruction.  Tiered Instruction focuses on developing teaching and learning activities, lessons, assignments, assessments, etc; based on our ongoing assessments of our students.

As a teacher you can tier teaching and learning activities, lessons, assignments, assessments, etc; based on your students’ abilities, learning profiles, and/or student interests.

For more information on Tiered Instruction, please view the Tiered Instruction Power Point located in the Handouts Section located below my Blog Roll to the right of my Blog.   If you need assistance planning and/or implementing this differentiated teaching and learning strategy, feel free to contact me.

Kind regards,

Amanda G. Gibson

We would like to thank each of you for welcoming us into your schools this year.  We have been very busy coordinating Salem’s Gifted Program activities across the grade levels.  We have especially enjoyed coming into the classrooms, and assisting teachers in their planning of differentiated instruction as well as working with the students in a variety of settings.

 We have already started our in-school, before-school, after-school, and Saturday workshop sessions offering our identified gifted students an array of opportunities to explore topics such as Drama, Geometry, Painting, and Literature to name several.

This year we will continue providing our Identified Gifted Elementary Students with multiple opportunities to explore foreign languages and culture.  All of our identified gifted elementary students have the option of studying a foreign language online through Rosetta Stone.  Languages they can choose from include Spanish, French, German, Russian, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese.   We are also offering our Identified Gifted Elementary Students an Introductory Series of Workshops exploring the Russian Language and Culture with a professor at Roanoke College who is from the Ukraine.  These workshops will be held at Salem High School.

We are expanding our use of the online Renzulli Learning Systems which puts our identified gifted students in touch with engaging individualized resources specially chosen for their interest areas and learning styles. After a student’s account is activated, Renzulli Learning Systems, a web-based program can be utilized anywhere a student has internet access.  For more information on this incredible program go to http://www.renzullilearning.com/default.aspx

All of our teachers also have access to Renzulli Learning Systems as well.  Once logged in teachers can work with their identified gifted students on special projects within the site as well as search for differentiated teaching and learning activities for all of their students. If you would like to learn more about this, please contact us.

We are continuing to offer field trip opportunities to our Identified Gifted Elementary, Middle, and High School Students.  In November, while parents are conferencing with their children’s teachers, our Identified Gifted Middle and High School Students will travel to the Taubman Museum of Art in downtown Roanoke and tour the museum as well as participate in a hands-on class interpreting and analyzing artwork from the museum. We are planning another field trip to the Taubman Museum of Art for our Elementary School Students to be held on our Parent Teacher Conference Day in February.   

We will be available at the College Planning Series the High School Guidance Counselors have planned for juniors and seniors to answer questions and provide information on the college application process and opportunities available to enhance students’ portfolios as they consider what colleges they want to attend. 

Thank you again for all of your support.  Please let us know if we can assist you in any way.  If you would like more information about the Gifted Programs in the City of Salem Public Schools System, please log on to the City of Salem Schools website, and look in the Central Office section under “Gifted and Talented,” or e-mail us. 

There are also teacher resources available to you located on the G Drive in the Common Folder.  Once here, open the “Gifted Resources” Folder. 

 “Genius without education is like silver in the mine.” Benjamin Franklin

Kind regards,

Amanda G. Gibson

Attention K-12 Teachers:

The first six weeks has concluded, and you have  had the opportunity to get to know your students.  Is there a student that you would like to refer to be screened for our Gifted Program?  If so, please feel free to contact me with your referral.

If you have questions about a particular student, or would like for me to conduct a whole class and/or small group screening activity to identify potential gifted screening candidates, I am available to do this for you.

Here is a link to a helpful chart that identifies characteristics of Gifted Learners, Creative Thinks, and/or High Achievers that can also help you with your referral decision(s).

Thank you to those of you who have already contacted me with referrals and/or screening activity requests. 

Kind regards,

Amanda G. Gibson

Attention Teachers in Grades K-2:

I recently put together a multimedia presentation focusing on “What’s Next After Assessment…Differentiated Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Strategies in the Primary Grades”

I hope these resources are helpful to you as you are formatively assessing your students and developing meaningful instruction based on your findings throughout the school year.

To access this multimedia presentation, please go to my Handouts Sectionbelow my Blogroll to the right of this post.  It is titled After Assessment.

If you need assistance planning, implementing, and/or executing these differentiated teaching, learning, and/or assessment strategies in your classroom, please feel free to contact me.  Also, if you are implementing these strategies in your classroom, and would like to share what you are doing with your colleagues, leave me a comment right here in my blog or e-mail or call me.

Also, if you have lessons, teacher created materials, etc;  you would like to share with your colleagues, send it to me as an attachment in an e-mail, and I can upload it to the Handouts section here in my blog or place it in the Gifted resources folder on our G Drive.

I look forward to continuing our partnership together.  The end of the first six weeks is here.  Take this opportunity to take some time to reflect on what you have accomplished and what goals you have now for this upcoming six weeks!

Kind regards,

Amanda G. Gibson