WATG16

This session will focus on the risk factors associated with students of poverty and suggestions on ways to engage these students in learning and overcoming these adverse effects.

Outcomes

NAGC Standard 1: Learning and Development

To be effective in working with learners with gifts and talents, teachers and other educators in PreK-12 settings must understand the characteristics and needs of the population for whom they are planning curriculum, instruction, assessment, programs, and services.  Knowing the impact of poverty, these educators will make changes to the instruction based on researched practices.

Standard 4: Learning Environments

Educators will reflect on their district, school, or classroom environments in relation to students living in poverty.  They will set goals of ways to make changes to the environment to address the needs of these students. 

This session is aimed at introducing a nontraditional method of identifying elementary level students with outstanding potential in underrepresented communities. Researchers agree that culturally and linguistically diverse students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds tend to be overlooked by teachers using traditional screening assessments. As a result, this contributes to the marked underrepresentation of these students in gifted and talented programs. In this session, we will explain how project-based learning (PBL) using arts integration opportunities is an effective approach to recognize students with outstanding potential. In this workshop, we will utilize the Teacher's Observation of Potential in Students (TOPS) developed by Dr. Mary Ruth Coleman and colleagues to properly identify skills and traits of gifted and talented students.

 Outcomes

By the end of the workshop, teachers should expect to:

 

• Increase their ability to recognize and nurture outstanding potential in minority students by considering students'€™ cultural and linguistic abilities.


• Practice identifying traits and skills commonly associated with gifted minority students.


• Increase own awareness about cultural and ethnic barriers that impede the identification of gifted minorities.


• Provide teachers with a unique opportunity to hear from expert teachers who directly work with minorities.

 

Brain research and MRI analysis are changing the way we educate gifted students offering windows into the mind and how it processes and stores new learning. Learn about recent findings and how these help educators to be memory enhancers rather than just information dispensers. Discover interactive and innovative strategies that stimulate learning to help build circuitry and connect networks in the brain. See cutting research that shows how the brain of gifted student "light up"€ and the areas they utilize when processing and applying new information. See brain development at different ages and how this affects learning.

Outcomes

Participants will learn about the latest brain research and how these exciting developments change the way we teach gifted learners. Independent and collaborative learning, and multi-sensory activities that help learning stick and advance it to the next level will be shared. References to brain development and how it affects problem solving, critical thinking and executive function at different ages will be explored and analyzed. Teachers and coordinators will walk away with a better understanding of what brain research tells us about gifted learners and activities they can take, use, and apply in their classrooms the next day.

NAGC Standards:

3.4.Instruction. See how brain research can lead us in the way we plan and implement instruction.

3.6. Resources. Bring back ideas that can be used in classrooms the next day.

Do you strive to guide your students to develop empathy for others? Do you work with them to develop collaborative and critical thinking skills while expanding their creativity? Do you focus on authentic learning experiences? Then, Design Thinking is for you! Design Thinking has been applied in the business and engineering fields for quite some time, but recently, educators have begun investigating the applications for Design Thinking within school districts. In this session, created for the Design Thinking Novice, we will identify the constructs of Design Thinking, explore the process of it, and work through a design simulation of our own. We will examine how it can be used to encourage students to solve challenging, complex, authentic learning problems while maximizing their 21st century skill development.


NAGC Standards:

3.1.4. Educators design differentiated curricula that incorporate advanced, conceptually challenging, in-depth, distinctive, and complex content for students with gifts and talents.

3.2.2. Educators use metacognitive models to meet the needs of students with gifts and talents.

3.4.1. Educators use critical-thinking strategies to meet the needs of students with gifts and talents.

3.4.2. Educators use creative-thinking strategies to meet the needs of students with gifts and talents.

3.4. Instructional Strategies. Students with gifts and talents become independent investigators. 3.4.3. Educators use problem-solving model strategies to meet the needs of students with gifts and talents

This session will share ideas of ways to differentiate literacy instruction for high­ achieving learners within the classroom. Presenters from the elementary, middle and high school levels will provide samples of enrichment opportunities provided to challenge learners in English/Language Arts.

Participants will take away practical ideas that can be included in literacy instruction and will challenge high achieving students within the classroom environment.

This session will address the following NAGC Standards:

• Standard 1: Educators, recognizing the learning and developmental differences of students with gifts and talents.


• Standard 3:Educators apply the theory and research­based models of curriculum and instruction related to students with gifts and talents...


• Standard 4: Learning environments foster personal and social responsibility...


• Standard 5 Educators are aware of empirical evidence regarding (a) the cognitive, creative, and affective development of learners with gifts and talents, and (b) programming that meets their concomitant needs. Educators use this expertise systematically and collaboratively to effectively manage comprehensive services for students with a variety of gifts and talents to ensure specific student outcomes.