My Growth as a Professional Differentiator :)

I am pleased to say that my classroom practices have improved since the beginning of the semester. I went back and re-read my first blog posting that discussed my classroom practices at the beginning of the year, and compared it to my current reflection on the inventory and made some positive discoveries.

• First, I am differentiating more often. I am using different grouping formats (hetero- and homogeneous) for instruction based on their learning needs. Conducting my graduate research project has allowed me to see the benefits of these varieties first-hand.


• I continue to use several instructional formats when teaching and have utilized a variety of instructional resources (videos, Internet, hands-on, Powerpoints, inquiry-based learning, as well as traditional formats) to facilitate learning.


• I also make an effort to pre-assess students' knowledge at the beginning (using a large webbing on chart paper), and refer back to the chart several times during the unit. This allows the students visually see how we are building on what they knew and to recognize what they have learned.


• I have realized that my students responded best to the inquiry-based instructional strategies and visual aids, so I've used more of them in my instruction.

I've discovered that I'd like to improve in my ability to match specific learning needs to assess students. I've realized that my instructional methods tend to be paper-pencil, and I want to learn other modalities for evaluating students' learning. Texts such as Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom (Winnebrenner) and Standards Based Learning have been excellent tools to help me differentiate for independent contracts and menus. Another great siteI am looking into resources such as the Layered Curriculum (Kathie Nunley) to help me identify instructional options (http://www.layeredcurriculum.com/).I still haven't attempted curriculum compacting, so it's still on the 'to do' list. I have joined NAGC and have browsed their site and put things on the 'to do' list as well. Another great website, http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/ contains all types of ready-to-print and easy to modify activities that teachers can use with their students.

My growth definitely been a process. I get excited about different ideas and ways to teach and help students learn, and I want to try it all at once! Then I overwhelm myself, get frustrated, and feel like I am not doing enough :( I've had to really learn to be realistic about what I can do when changing my instruction. I sometimes lose focus when I get that excited, and I need to temper that as well. All in all, I'm proud of how I've developed and will continue do so.

Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom

My experience with gifted kids in my classroom is what inspired me to start my Master's program at Meredith three years ago. I enjoyed having witty and intelligent conversations with these students, and appreciated their individual quirks. They are intriguing, engaging, intuitive, and inquisitive...and tough to teach. I always felt that I was falling short in meeting their academic needs, and I felt very frustrated with that. Everything that needs to be taught about educating children can not be learned in undergraduate courses, so I then realized the necessity for even higher learning.

• What areas do you know you need to improve? As I approach the end of my program, I can honestly say that I am much more capable of differentiating for gifted students. I enjoy the challenge of challenging them, talking with them, providing them with opportunities to grow, pursue interests, and challenge themselves in meaningful ways. However, I want to continue to implement more strategies to meet their needs. I have used independent study projects with greater comfort and expertise, but I would like to do more curriculum compacting - I have yet to try it and it is a goal of mine for next year.
• What are your goals as you continue to grow as an educator of the gifted? I would like to facilitate quarterly curriculum meetings for interested staff that provide resources, strategies, and tips for differentiating for gifted students. Ideally, this would be in collaboration with the current AG teacher. I have received frequent training on how to meet the needs of students that are struggling all the way through my career, but I wish I had received more support in meeting gifted learners. As a classroom teacher I think that offer practical and effective ways for enrichment for these students that many teachers will be able to realistically try in their own classrooms. Sometimes we are given ideas that just aren't plausible, and it makes me feel that much more frustrated.
• How can you use resources around you to assist you in this task? I think that if I begin talking with the current AG teacher now we can begin planning some areas of interest for next year by doing surveys at grade level meetings or via email to see exactly what classroom needs are. We could also get information from the principal regarding this topic to see if there is already an interest in such training.
• How do you continue to meet the needs of gifted students in the regular classroom when the pressure of assessments, end of course tests, low ability students, and students with special needs are prevalent? Just like I provide the accommodations for students with special needs or frequent small group or one-on-one instruction for students that require remedial support, I make sure that I provide my gifted students with the appropriate support as well. I have 3 students that demonstrate strong academic potential, and I used to meet with them as pairs/trios at least once a week. They are on independent study contracts and their work has been staggered, which means that they are at different stages of their projects, so I meet with them individually. One student has finished and presented his project and the other student has lost interest in her topic, making it easy for me to manage the one student. I have a regular meeting schedule with him. I am realistic and do the best that I can; it's definitely a work in progress, but it is work...and I am making progress.

Cooperative Learning (CL) Groups

The more experience that I garner as a classroom teacher, the more convinced that I am regarding the effectiveness of cooperative learning groups. Though cooperative learning groups serve many different purposes - share ideas, generate new ones, clarify understandings, problem solving, enhance leadership and social skills, etc - using the appropriate structure is what makes cooperative learning groups effective. To identify the structure, the teacher must first decide what the desired outcome of the lesson is, and then decide which format will provide the optimum learning for all students in achieving these outcomes. As stated in Karnes and Bean, building flexibility, choice, and challenge into all of these cooperative activities increases the likelihood that students will learn during these student-centered scenarios.

My Strengths when implementing CL:

• I've learned to use both homogeneous and heterogeneous groupings in my classroom. Homogeneous groupings can often be found during reading instruction (in the form of guided reading) as well as during mathematics instruction. Heterogeneous groupings are often found during writing as well as during science. Of course, these groupings vary across subject areas based on the purpose of the activity.
• As an educator of gifted students, I've learned that it is important to provide opportunities for gifted students to work together to problem solve with like-minded peers so that they can evaluate the thinking of their peers and reflect upon their own as they learn something new. Students also benefit from being in the helper role, learning empathy, patience, leadership, and creative ways to articulate their understanding (as a peer helper or tutor).
• As stated in the text, CL grouping is also used in my classroom as an observational opportunity. I've often discovered that I get a better idea about the capabilities of my students by closely monitoring their social interactions. My graduate research project focuses on gifted peers as tutors and their experiences during these interactions. I've been able to observe compassion, patience, pride, and high level of student engagement during these interactions, and this appears to be the most functional and effective way of instilling these traits.
• I often differentiate the cooperative learning activities based on ability across the curriculum.

The last two points are essential to remember but often forgotten... I admit that I used to forget them before starting my program. As stated in the text, it is important that gifted students do not feel exploited in which they feel like the are carrying the burden of others, annoyed about being asked for answers, and they they are not learning. By allowing opportunities for gifted students to work with similar-abled peers, they feel confident, motivated, and will learn more.

My Goals/Areas of Improvement:

• I need to make sure that I am allowing enough 'talk time.' Karnes and Bean stated that was the one area that many gifted students felt their needs were not being met. This can be a challenge; gifted students work at a faster pace so they finish earlier than everyone else. However, the more I use these groupings, the better able I am at anticipating and preparing for such an event and I am able to keep them engaged.
• I would like to make more cooperative learning projects. Often times, it is one isolated lesson (or short series of lessons) when the students are working together, but I would like generate more project-based activities for students to complete. Maybe I need to try the jigsaw format...
• I would like to use technology to enhance cooperative learning groups. I often use technology during my instruction, but I haven't figured out how to use it as part a cooperative learning activity.

One thing that makes cooperative learning groups appealing to me is that they are student-centered. The role of the teacher is the planning, and it really does require a lot of work for the teacher upfront. But this gives me the chance fade into the background and hear conversations, clarifications, confidence, and excitement from the students which keeps them engaged and facilitates ownership of their learning.

Process Skills and Product Development (K&B, Ch. 5 & 6)

“A key position in curriculum design for gifted learners is that modifications must be made on content, process, product, and environment to differentiate appropriately for these students” (133).

PROCESS SKILLS (Ch. 5). Gifted students must learn to use the knowledge they consume to product new knowledge. To do so, students must learn process skills so that they are better able to manage advanced content, these skills must be explicitly taught.

1. Purpose: Emphasis on higher level thinking such as Bloom’s Taxonomy leads to independent thinking and transfer of skills into other situations. Critical thinking and decision making should be embedded components to develop judgment skills. A constructivist perspective to student learning will be provided with a question in which they must tackle. Curriculum is adapted to consider student viewpoints and learning so that their understanding is the center of instruction.

2. Must be (1) well-defined, (2) consistently addressed over time, (3) taught within content domains with intensity, (4) organized by scope and sequence, and (5) developed by the teacher in the classroom, and (6) used as questioning techniques by the teacher (136).

3. Modifications:

a. Higher levels of thinking – focus on using information through application, analysis & evaluation

b. Open-endedness – use of teacher questioning techniques to elicit complete, complex, and diverse responses, as well as facilitate interactions between classmates *

c. Discovery learning – students learn to make meaning of what they already know to draw conclusions *

d. Evidence of reasoning – explain reasoning process to see how others analyze and evaluate personal responses/rationale to revise them and understand the ideas of others *

e. Freedom of choice – students need to choose topics, methods, products, and context of what they are learning and provided the opportunity to manage and benefit from their independence.

f. Group interactions – builds group effectiveness, social and leadership skills *

g. Pacing – speed at which instruction is being presented; gifted students benefit from accelerated pacing

h. Variety of processes – types of presentation and interaction strategies provided by the teacher *

4. * Communication skills (internal and external) are a means for thinking, processing, exploring, transforming, presenting, and reflecting. “It is important for gifted learners to realize that the greatest ideas and solutions in the world are not worth anything unless they can be communicated effectively” (139).

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT (Ch. 6). “The transformation of knowledge into creative products is a critical goal for gifted students (152). They should present an application, analysis, and synthesis of knowledge acquired through research. Student learning styles can influence the type of product, but the teacher should also encourage students to try a variety of mediums for presentation.

1. Examples of Product Types:

a. Written – letter, poem, research paper, report, advertisement, questionnaire, survey, song, glossary, script, story

b. Visual – drawing, poster, story map, graph, mobile, map, model, video, costume, multimedia, collage, web

c. Performance – dance, puppet show, demonstration, skit, experiment, play

d. Oral - debate, speech, discussion, mock interview, show and tell, reading to the class

e. Multicategorical – uses two or more of the above products; also includes exhibit, game, video, website, lesson

2. Design Process assists students for developing and creating a product.

a. Formulate a topic – brainstorm topics, narrow them down, identify areas of interest (questions) and resources

b. Organization – timeline of completion, student logs, determine audience, product selection, and material gathering

c. Transforming content – research, idea generation, reflection, manipulation, and production of new knowledge

d. Communication – learning opportunity for presenter and audience by sharing of knowledge, enhancing speaking skills, showcasing products, and discussions

e. Evaluation – multi-dimensional, from self, student, and peers. Established criteria for product organized through rubrics

f. Celebration – praise accomplishments and work through parties and product fair

g. Reflection – debriefing or the project; what could have been done differently, what went well and what didn’t

Product development is an excellent and essential component to meet the complex and advanced needs of gifted students as they become tomorrow’s creative problem solvers and thinkers (174).

Higher Order Thinking Skills Q & A

Q: What skills do your students need to be critical thinkers?

A: The ability to think critically requires a great deal of practice and it is a goal of mine for all students. This practice includes being able to defend a position with logical and relevant answers, analyze, compare and contrast, draw conclusions, identify patterns and make predictions based on patterns, ask and be able to respond to open-ended questions, summarize and synthesis information - the list goes on and on. Some students are more prepared to demonstrate a range of skills independently while others need scaffolding to do so. This is what I call 'Mentalympics.' I've mentioned this word throughout the year to my students to help them understand that their brains requires training and conditioning so that it can work to its optimum level. It's hard. It's challenging. It's what teaching is all about

Q: What does "HOTS" look like in your classroom and lessons?

A: It can look a variety of ways in my classroom, and the 'appearance' of HOTS continues to expand. One of the most obvious ways is through questioning. There are questions posted in my classroom such as "how is this skill useful to you as a reader? How can we use this skill in our everyday life?" Students are given the opportunity to question themselves and each other by evaluating their work through self-created and teacher-made rubrics. My favorite question: WHY? They need to be able to explain and rationalize their decisions. Many students are not used to having to explain their thinking, so at first when I question them they think they are wrong. It takes time for them to realize that I am going to 'push' them a step further in articulating their thoughts. I never take their answers at face value but always encourage them to provide evidence for their thinking. You may also see open-ended or extended response questions on assessments and well as multiple solution strategies, and problem-based activities (such as "Get It Together" activities). I am a huge advocate for letting the students think for themselves in everything that they do.

Q: How can you most assist them?

A: To assist them, I continue to provide opportunities for the students to make good decisions with sound reasoning, whether it be in response to an answer or how to spend their time when they finish early. I try and walk that fine line between rescuing and scaffolding. Rescuing means that I haven't given the child an opportunity to take a risk and make a mistake, but have snatched the chance from them by giving them the answer or finishing their responses for them. Scaffolding is giving the student just enough 'line' to go out on a limb with the possibility of success. This gives the students the chance to build confidence and affirm or revise their thinking. By rescuing the child, the teacher does the work and learning can not occur.

Analytical and Critical Thinking Skills

Why do you think analytical and critical thinking skills have been neglected in the curriculum? What is your strategy for changing this?

Here are a few factors that I believe have influenced this shortfall:

Time. Just as analytical and critical thinking requires more time for our students, it requires more time on the teachers behalf to design. Generating relevant, thought-provoking questions and activities isn't easy. We have to have an idea in mind about the type and topic of thinking that we want to occur, and then make an educated guess about the type of responses that may be given by the students. They also require time for discussion and/or reflection to be meaningful and beneficial for the students.

Expertise/Experience. To create and identify activities that cater to thinking skills, teachers must be knowledgeable about the content and also knowledgeable about what is appropriate for their students.

Comfort. Analytical and critical thinking activities require 'open-endedness' and some flexibility from the teacher. The teacher must be willing to be a facilitator to allow thinking to happen naturally and mutually. Because of this, teachers can't always predict where things may lead. This may provide anxiety for someone that is new or may not be accustomed to a more student-centered approach.

What I am doing in my classroom to facilitate analytical and critical thinking skills is...

- providing opportunities for students to discuss and reflect individually, in small groups, and whole class in all subject areas.

- serving as a model by reflecting with the students and being transparent about my goals for them.

- maintaining high expectations for instruction and behavior.

- inviting students to be a part of the decision-making process for rules, schedules, classroom management, and academic expectations whenever possible.

- asking 'why' a lot (they know this is my favorite question, and they want to make it a t-shirt for me!).

- encouraging them to analyze and question 'the professionals' as well as each other (ex. sharing math solutions and allowing them to question each other, looking for figurative language in mentor writing texts).

- provide opportunities for cooperative learning.

- being deliberate about providing 'wait time'.

- differentiating instruction based on student needs.

One thing that I have stressed to my students is that my job is to teach them to think. I say it all the time. I think it is important for them to become effective problem solvers, not matter how small or large the problem may be. It is very evident at the beginning of the year that they are not used to do this. They are very used to having things solved for them, and though some decisions needs to be made for them, third grade tends to be the year where they need to develop some independence. Being able to problem solving and think critically is essential to being self-directed learners.

Problem-Based Learning

What kind of advanced planing do you think you would need to do before teaching a PBL unit? What kind(s) would you need and from whom?

To start, a teacher must start planning a PBL with a great deal of time in advance. The amount of prep-work for a PBL is very similar to that of a regular unit, however, it appears to offer a more enriching experience for students. In addition, a teacher must have goals in mind, perhaps by using a backward design in order to know what s/he wants the students to learn and how the students will be assessed. From there, the teacher has to carefully plan lessons and learning activities that will meet the learning objectives.

This time component is an important factor when deciding how and when the PBL activities will be carried out. Much of the PBL requires that students 'struggle' with a question or problem in an effort to find a solution. Knowing that students have varying learning abilities and needs, it's possible to predict exactly how much time will be need to complete each activity (though it can be roughly estimated). There needs to be some room for natural discussion and/or teachable moments as well as time for students to process what is being asked. They also should be given the time to reflect about what they've learned with others as well as independently.

The materials and resources (human and experiential) must be researched and gathered along the way. The teacher will need to collaborate with other professionals in their local community and beyond to gather relevant resources. This can be in the form of working with specialists in the building, networking with a colleague who may be familiar with the topic, making contact within the local community to see if experts can come and speak or perform demonstrations, or visiting a location for an interactive, real-world experience. Collaboration is essential and takes a great deal of time to effectively sift out resources that will be beneficial for students as they complete this unit.

A problem-based unit is far from spontaneous. It takes carefully, specific planning on behalf of the teacher. It seems like a lot of up-front work in preparation of the lesson, however, the students will do majority of the work in the long run.