Addressing the Needs of Gifted Students through Responsive Teaching

Addressing the Needs of Gifted Students through Responsive Teaching Presenter: Kandice McLurkin Coordinator; Academic English Mastery Program LAUSD Introduction by: John Charles Pero Coordinator; Psychological Services LAUSD

What is Responsive Teaching? “The use of cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to, and effective for, them. The pedagogy teaches to and through the strengths of these students.” Dr. Geneva Gay

Why is Responsive Teaching Necessary? • Obviously, students present with vast amounts of Diversity (more to come) • Individual student diversity plays a significant role in their response to instruction • Effective teaching (all students learning to their full potential) must consider individual student characteristics

Types of student Diversity • Language • Academic skills • Cognitive skills • Gifted Special Needs • Learning Styles • Motivation • Cultural views • There are others

The Key to Effective Teaching with Diverse Populations… …An In-depth look at Responsive Teaching

Line Up Activity Decide where you place in a line up from novice to expert Instructional Strategy: Line Up Activity

Cooking

Dancing

Language Development Content Knowledge Foundational Skills Effective Expression Meaning Making

Conduct a Close Reading of excerpts of Chapter 2 of ELA / ELD Framework Motivating and Engaging Learners pgs. 19 – 21 Focus Question: Why must educators keep issues of motivation and engagement at the forefront of their work to assist students in achieving the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and CA ELD Standards? Respecting Learners pgs. 21 – 24 Focus: Cite evidence from text that can be used to support why using one of the 5 Instructional Areas of CLR is vital for culturally and linguistically diverse students to have equitable access to the CCSS ELA/Literacy and ELD Standards. Text Coding Symbols

Five CLR Pedagogical AreasWhen looking at instruction from the what and the how perspective there are five general areas that we have identified where CLR can have immediate impact by increasing student motivation and engagement. Infusing Situational Appropriateness with Language and Behavior (Responsive Language) Creating an Inviting Learning Environment for Student Success (Responsive Environment)

Learning Behaviors Spectrum TRADITIONAL SCHOOL NORMS FOR BEHAVIOR CULTURAL BEHAVIORS SPECIFIC TO UNDER-SERVED YOUTH *student-centered approach *preference for variation/ spontaneity *sociocentric *high movement *cooperative *inductive *overlap *many ways to communicate *purpose-driven *affective *field-dependent *interpersonal *teacher-centered approach *standardized/rule-driven *quiet *stationary/low movement *time specific *competitive *deductive *turn-taking *mainly verbal communication *teacher-centered and led *field independent *intrapersonal

Create Instructional Range

Collaborative Learning Across the Curriculum is a Required Skill! Common Core State Standards recognize that students need to develop skills to collaborate in academic work – skills for teamwork, active and skillful participation in discussions, and inquiry-based collaboration.

Culturally Responsive Discussion Protocols • Build upon the strengths of the sociocentric, cooperative/collaborative, interpersonal learners • Opportunities for movement • Explicit teaching of ways to interact in a variety of forums for a variety of purposes, i.e. situational appropriateness • Structured and consistent effective and engaging classroom management • Student centered • Some designed for quick discussion and others are designed for project-based interdependence/collaboration

Culturally Responsive Participation Protocols • Used to explicitly communicate to students how the facilitator or teacher wants the students to respond during whole group instruction. Non-voluntary forms of responding are important because they promote equity and accountability for learning. • Decreases cultural misunderstandings and validates a variety of cultural behaviors and practices • Communicates high expectations for participation and accountability • Opportunities to practice situational appropriateness

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.6 Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or expression.

New Ways of Talking About LanguageLanguage Diversity Language Deficit

Show What You Know

Four Areas for Infusing CLR Pedagogy Responsive Classroom Management Use of attention signals strategically: Use of movement activities strategically: Collaborative opportunities (extended beyond protocols) Responsive Academic Vocabulary Evidence of leveling vocabulary words (tier 2 and tier 3) Evidence of reinforcement/practice activities Use of vocabulary acquisition strategies (word structure, apposition, context clues, synonym replacement) Responsive Academic Literacy Use of CR text and media Connected to the standards and unit theme Use of engaging read-alouds Use of effective literacy strategies Responsive Academic Language Code-switching opportunities Sentence lifting/Retellings/Role playing/Teachable moments Revising (phonetics, markers, syntax, and vocabulary

Seven Steps to Becoming Culturally and Linguistically Responsive • Identify your underserved or bad customer service. • Turn on your deficit monitor to identify where your biases may be. • Distinguish between race and culture. • Develop an understanding of the “rings of culture” and the complexity of culture for the purposes of instruction. • Become knowledgeable about non-standard language varieties, their sounds, rules, and grammars. • Recognize where CLR pedagogy can be infused into your teaching. • Provide regular and consistent opportunities for code-switching in your teaching.

Culturally Responsive Educators Must: Change in Mindset • Acknowledge the legitimacy of cultural and linguistic behaviors/practices and heritage • Commit to use a wide variety of instructional strategies • Teach students how to praise their cultural behaviors and heritages as a means to appreciating other heritages and behaviors Change in Skill-Set • Increase CLR strategies and activities in the five pedagogical areas • Infuse CLR into everyday teaching, beginning with lesson planning • Commit to going culturally responsive, responsive, and traditional as needed instructionally

Addressing the Needs of Gifted Students through Responsive Teaching