Hoover PD Presentation

8/3/2019 Hoover PD Presentation

1/11

NOT

PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT

SESSION

Mandy Fox

day, December 3, 2011


2/11

What Do You Think?

Weve all been there at one point or another sitting in arequired professional development class listening tosomeone go over a concept/strategy that weve been usingeffortlessly for years because weve already learned about itand incorporated it into our methodology. We grumbleour way through the session, irritated that we have to sit

on our butts re-learning a topic we could have taughtjust as well ourselves, if not better. Partly were irritatedbecause we have SO much else to do! Many teacherswould categorize a situation like this aswasted time.



3/11

SOME OF YOUR

STUDENTS FEEL THE

SAME WAY!



4/11

ResearchDr. Karen Rogers (2002) cites current studies that found

75-85% of average and above average elementary schoolstudents can pass subject pretests with 92-93% accuracy.The United States Department of Education's NationalExcellence Report found that gifted and talentedelementary school students knew 35-50% of the entirecurriculum in the five major subject areas at the verybeginning of the school year. Renzulli and Reis directed acomprehensive national study that found elementaryteachers could eliminate 40-50% of the regularcurriculum for the top 10-15% of students with nonegative effects on their achievement (or positive effects ifthey leave the 40-50% in).



5/11

SO WHAT DO I DOWITH THESE

STUDENTS ANYWAY?



6/11

A Nation Deceived

The school doesnt think the child is ready to be accelerated. Safe is better thansorry. (Doing nothing is the same as do no harm.

We have several smart students- how do we know this child is different? (Tools andinstruments are available. MUST do 9 weeks of documented differentiation.)

Theres absolutely no proof that moving students ahead will help themacademically or socially. (Evidence indicates that when childrens academic and

social needs are not met, the result is boredom and disengagement from school.)

How can we be sure they will be OK socially with older kids? (Accelerating selectedstudents can save years of loneliness and social isolation for students who dont fitin.)



7/11

Are YouTailoring

YourCurriculum?

Lets put it intopractice right now!



8/11

Score

90%

and up-

Move to Activity One80-90%- Move to Activity Two

79%- Move to Activity Three



9/11

AnchorActivitiesThe purpose of an Anchor

Activity is provide meaningful

work for students when they

are not actively engaged in

classroom activities (e.g.,

when they finish early, are

waiting for further directions,

are stumped, first enter class,

or when the teacher is workingwith other students.)

Benefits of an Anchor Activity

An Anchor Activity can be

used to differentiate

activities on the basis of

student readiness, interest

or learning profile.

Anchor Activities allow

students time to work on

independent research, to

work more in depth with a

concept, enrich their skilldevelopment.

Anchor Activities can be

used as a management

strategy when working

with small groups of

students.

Anchor Activities can be

a vehicle for making the

classroom more studentcentered.

These activities should help

challenge students to use

higher level thinking. They

are not busy work or

mindless activities. There

should be several varieties

for students to choose from.

- from the Webster Grove

School District website

ACTIVITY 1 With the group of people who

have gathered, at Activity 1, design a tic-tac-toe

assignment for your students for a particular

unit. This assignment can and should be useful

to you and your classroom.

ACTIVITY 2 Watch the video which helps

describe compacting, anchor activities, and

independent studies. Once you have completed

this activity, you may move on to Activity One.

ACTIVITY 3 Meet with the teacher and

discuss compacting, anchor activities, and

independents studies. Once you have

completed this activity, you may move on to

Activity One.

INFO & IDEASNOVEMBER 2011 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY

MANDY FOX


10/11

IndependentStudies

from the article Teaching Gifted Students

Through Independent Study by Johnsen

and Goree

Step 1: Introducing the

Independent StudyIn introducing the independent study,

the teacher defines the process and

gives each student a plan to manage

his or her work. At this stage, the

teacher describes (a) various steps

that will be used during the study;

(b) the dates when different stages of

the study are due; and, if known, (c)

the audience who will be interested

in the results of their study.Step 2: Selecting a TopicAt this step, the students select

something to study. It may be a

problem they want to solve, an issue

they want to debate, an opinion they

want to prove, something they

want to learn how to do, or simply

something they want to know more

about.

Step 3: Organizing the StudySometimes, the teacher assists

students in organizing or mappingtheir topics to help them find specific

questions or problems. For example,

if the teacher asks the students to

brainstorm problems related to their

topic. Organizational structures may

include (a) descriptions, (b)

comparisons, (c) causes and effects,

or (d) problems and solutions.

Step 4: Asking Questions

After doing some preliminaryresearch and organizing their topics,

the students are ready to ask

questions. Good questions lead to

quality independent studies. Can it

be answered by a simple yes or

no or by facts from a reference

book? If so, the question may not be

one that requires much research.

Good study questions often produce

several possible answers and may be

pursued differently by various

researchers.Step 6: Gathering

Information

There are many ways of gathering

information. Some of these include

note taking, writing letters,

surveying, interviewing, observing,

reading, listening to focus groups,

brainstorming with others, locating

information on the Internet, going on

field trips, and conducting controlled

experiments in a laboratory.

Step 7: Developing a ProductWhile most students believe that

independent study is synonymous

with written report, information

may be organized in a variety of

ways. Products include books,

diagrams, dioramas, videos,

computer programs, games, graphs,

posters, puppet shows, reports, tape

recordings, timelines, debates,

dramatizations, models, newspapers,

poems, speeches, and many others.Step 8: Sharing Information

While information may be shared

informally, students need to learn

that there is life beyond the product.

The teacher might discuss with the

students some of these reasons for

sharing information: Students can

learn from one another; students can

improve their products; others can

help evaluate the product; and

students can gather support for the

product.

WHICH ACTIVITY IS BEST? STUDIES SHOW...

Studies showthatvarious typesof

differentiation can affectstudents

progress in the classroom by leaps

andbounds. Hereare some

examples of types of activities

that can affect students success in

the classroom.


11/11

Nuts and Bolts of

Compacting

Most teachers and parents likethe strategy of curriculumcompacting, but they are oftenunaware of what exactly occurswhen this method is used. Beloware practical ideas and

suggestions for implementation.

* The teacher meets withcompacting students to decidewith them on which alternateactivity or activities they will work.

* Some type of a time line isestablished, including when thestudents will meet with theteacher again and when thealternate activity is due.

Compacting students can workindependently or together, but itis important that they touch basewith their teacher often.

* The score that determinesmastery is also the score thatgoes in the grade book. Studentsmay receive extra points, ifnecessary, for compactingactivities, but they should not bepenalized with a lower grade if

they work on a more challengingactivity and do not get a highscore. Gifted students aresometimes reluctant to work onalternate activities because theythink a possible lower score willnegatively affect their grades.

Steps must be taken to ensurethat does not happen.

* Sometimes compacting

students from several classroomsare grouped together for analternate activity and work withone of the grade level teacherswhile the rest of the students areworking with other teachers atthe same grade level. Thisfunctions well if all teachers at agrade level are targeting thesame skills and content at thesame time.

* The most important rule for acompacting student is: "The onechoice you never have is thechoice to do nothing!" This isbecause learning time is sovaluable. Therefore, it isimportant that it never be wasted.

* Each student should beresponsible for keeping his/herown compactor folder with thework in it. This is a good way fordisorganized gifted students tolearn skills in organization, andit gives them practice in takingresponsibility for their ownwork and their own learning.

* Parents need to discuss andshow interest in their child'scompactor activities.However, parents should notpressure their child tocompact out of the grade-level work every time. Even

gifted students have someacademic weaknesses. Mostgifted children compact outsome of the time and usuallyin a specific subject. Veryfew compact out all of the time orin every subject.

Identifying Kids Who Would Benefit

1.! Finishes First Often

2.! Appears Bored

3.! Brings In Own Materials4.! Constantly Daydreams5.! Always Has High Scores6.! Asks Questions7.! Assists Students

8.!

Above Grade Level

9.! Expresses Interests10.! Scores 90% on Pretest
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