Essential Question: How can elementary educators implement and execute a formal, in-class GATE program so students can grow beyond grade-level in ELA ?
So What, Who Cares? Children are “gifted” when their ability is significantly above the norm for their age. Giftedness may manifest in one or more domains such as; intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership, or in a specific academic field such as language arts, mathematics or science (Nagc.org, 2019). Unfortunately, the Education pendulum has swung away from reaching these high-achieving (GATE) students. Frequently, students who are ready to grow and learn beyond the grade-level standards are often not given advanced opportunities, and are therefore not being challenged to their fullest potential. There are many reasons why a District, school or teacher many not implement a formal GATE program. In the article, "Are We Differentiating Effectively for the Gifted or Not" by Gifted Child Today, it states why a District may not support GATE students as much as they should: 1) PD Trainings and GATE Curriculum can be expensive and time-consuming. 2) A District may not be sure that at GATE curriculum will "cover" the CCSS as well as the standard District-issued curriculum. 3) Stakeholders haven't expressed a desire or need to promote GATE growth. 4) Adjusting the learning styles and curriculum of GATE students may negatively affect District test scores. GATE programs can be hard to implement on a state, district or school-wide level. Fortunately, teachers can implement their own in-school GATE programs in their classrooms, thus providing the support that their students need and deserve. Methodology My study will begin by reviewing school records for students in my class who have GATE designations. Next, I will create an Independent Learning Plan (ILP) focusing on ELA for each GATE student based on teacher records, grades, test scores and personal observations. I will then create and assign a student pre-assessment questionnaire using Google Forms related to their GATE experience in previous grade levels. Next, implementation of higher-level ELA teaching strategies will begin including the grouping GATE students in Literary Circles for above-grade level vocabulary work, Depth Icons analysis and story discussions. In addition, student adaptive learning website accounts (Freckle.com) will be increased one grade level up to sixth-grade. GATE students will also need to get their independent reading books approved by me during school library time, the approved books will be at least one grade level or above. To increase my exposure I will look for GATE training/conferences to gain further knowledge. I will also talk with parents at Trimester 1 conferences about goals and past and current experiences. As the study comes to a close, I will Deliver Post-Assessment to GATE students related their current GATE experiences. I will also compare the 4th grade Reading Inventory school year progression with 5th grade Reading Inventory progression to see if students levels have grown above grade level at an increased rate after being involved in the study. From there, I will adjust accordingly to provide the most influential GATE experience possible. References Nagc.org. (2019). What is Giftedness? | National Association for Gifted Children. [online] Available at: https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/what-giftedness
1 Comment
"I spent lots of time this week using the EBSCO Database and internet searches to find more articles that would help support my driving questions/790 Research Paper.
What perspectives did the 3 new research articles offer? Article #1 "District GATE Programs" helped me gain some insights about what District GATE programs are already in place. Many districts do Independent Learning Plans for students who qualify for GATE. Teachers and Administrators write up the plans in the first 30 days of the school year to set up a classroom plan as to how to best support the student. Article #2 "Six Strategies for Gifted Learners" shared the perspective of a GATE student and how to best impact their learning. I thought the section titled "Most Difficult First" was particularly interesting. Students are given the most difficult problems from that night's homework at the beginning of class. If the students passes with a 90% they will be excused from that night's homework and given a higher level, related activity to work on. Article #3 "Student Independent Investigations" discussed the positive impact that a GATE (or any student) may have with topic self-choice. I plan on using this learning opportunity in the near future. How do they inform your study and methodology? The three articles this week helped my study by giving me additional resources and data to include in my research paper. This new information gave me new options and opportunities to reach my GATE students. I plan on using the independent investigation project in the methodology over the next few weeks. How do they relate to your driving question? My driving question is "How can elementary educators implement and execute formal, in-class GATE program so students can grow beyond grade-level in ELA?" Knowing about District practices will help me understand what has and has not worked in the real-world of education. These articles gave me additional support for my research paper but they also helped me notice that I have holes in my paper which I need to address. The holes are regarding the consideration of in-class social relationships with GATE and non-GATE students. I also need additional research on teacher professional development opportunities. 1. After reviewing the videos from Brown, Gardner, Robinson and Pink, I noticed a common theme. The theme that I noticed is self-reflection. Self-reflection can take learning to another level because we need to observe ourselves (minds and actions) and be honest as to what is working and what is not. Gardner stated that there are five types minds for the future including disciplinary, synthesizing, creating, respectful and ethical. As educators, being knowledgeable of our minds and the minds of others will help us be lifelong learners and help impact those who we teach.
2. I really enjoyed watching Pink's "The Surprising Science of Motivation". Learning about the candle trick, rewards and and out-of-the-box thinking made me strongly consider how my teaching practices fit into Pink's message. As humans one of our best assets is our higher level thinking, Pink mentions that lower-level finance, accounting and programming can and will be easily be outsourced or computerized. I am focusing a lot of energy on GATE and the teaching of these students, I have recently been integrating higher-level activities into my everyday classroom with all of the my students. One example I have been using in class is giving students that hardest math question of that day's lesson prior to instruction. Students are then given time to think and discuss with their table mate prior to being given the answer. I have found great success with this method in a short time, students come up with their own methods instead of taking my methods as "the right way" thus thinking outside of the box. Students also end with a vested interest in the lesson because they have already used their own brain reasoning to figure out a problem. 3. I found Mobley's 6 Insights, well..., very insightful. Based on the article, unfortunately most of the day to day experiences we provide students during class time may be helping them learn but it is also keeping them from increasing their creativity. I like the innovations and opportunities mentioned, yet these types of articles can also be discouraging. As teachers, we naturally believe deeply in our students and care about them and their futures but it seems we may be steering them wrong due to our formal training. On a positive note, I think with an open mind we can use Mobley's strategies to infuse new enthusiasm and ideas into projects that we may already be doing. Maybe this is a good first step? I like the message of "to be more creative, spend time with creative people" and I never realized the correlation between creativity and self-knowledge, very interesting. Favorite quote "refusing to quit requires faith in ourselves, transformation is a painful process." One of the current seminal researchers of GATE is Sandra Kaplan. She is innovative and realistic. Her vision of GATE is not a single curriculum that will fill all the needs of high-level students but rather a set of principals that can be weaved into the average school class and day by a willing educator. Another thing that I admire about Kaplan's strategies are that they are not specific to GATE students, she suggests and recommends that they be used with all students to pique their interests and provide a unique style of learning. I have used several of Sandra Kaplan's strategies in my class, specifically the Depth and Complexity Icons. These icons may be similar to what someone may see in a GATE class but they are more than that. These icons give students the opportunity to discuss stories and literature in a whole new way. Instead of asking students questions like "what is the main characters best friend's name?" or "how old is Jimmy?" Kaplan's Depth and Complexity Icons give students the opportunity to create their own questions and discuss them on the spot. Literature conversations may related to things like unanswered questions, big ideas, patterns and multiple perspectives. These techniques bring up my whole class not just GATE students so I really admire Sandra Kaplan for her contributions.
I watched the video title "Creative Brains" which included commentary from Shelly H. Carson Phd. Below are some bullet points that recap the most useful parts of the video. It would suggest giving it a watch, very interesting.
In Chapter 9 Darling-Hammond spoke of International Standards, Curriculum and Assessments which also relate to the key elements mentioned in the ICARE document, I found this section particularly interesting. Research shows that most of the world’s educational leaders follow the “less is more” model as opposed to the “mile wide, inch deep” method that most American schools subscribe to. Many of leading international educators focus their testing of real-world concepts and problems. Since the CCSS implementation, I have seen a large shift in real-world student work scenarios, for instance the CAASPP Math and ELA Performance Tasks. I think these tasks do a great job of incorporating life situations that are relate able. The United States may still be far behind in many regards but I have seen a shift in Education since the CCSS and 21st Century Teaching & Learning have come about and I for one am a fan of the progression. Generally speaking, I believe the CCSS/21st Century standards allow for a better and more dynamic education than I received many years ago, so that is progress. I love the quote by John Dewey that reads “What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must we want for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely and left unchecked destroys our democracy.” As a parent, teacher and community member this quote speaks volumes because we of course want what is best for our own family but we sometimes forget (or ignore) the fact that all children deserve to have a proper education and that we should fight for other children as strongly as we would for our own kids. If we don’t make educational equality a priority then we are simply fighting against ourselves. |
AuthorJoel Kriner of the Touro Innovative Learning Masters Program. Archives
June 2020
Categories |
Photo used under Creative Commons from uimagine_csu