Getting Focused Common Core Essential Standards Region 2

1. Getting FocusedCommon Core Essential StandardsRegion 2

2. NCAGT Conference Highlights Current aig Good teaching Enrichment vs. extension vs. acceleration New mindset Classroom = old gifted How will aig bump it up a notch? Core focus Rigor & complexity Depth Concept learning

3. A rising tide raises all ships

4. Developing Local Curricula:Unit Design Pitch high ~ it’s easier to scale back Set end goal and back map (Use vertical alignment) How do you know this is good for gifted? (AIG IRP Curriculum design draft)

5. Enrichment (Exposure) Skimming the surface Can be content related May introduce students to new field or experience Can include subjects not normally offered More complex examples (word problems) Acceleration From A Nation Deceived Types of acceleration Early admission Grade skipping Subject acceleration Compacting Combined classes Advanced Placement Correspondence courses Mentoring Extracurricular programs Extension (excavating)digging deeper into the content

6. Common Core Standards

7. Why Gifted Students Need Differentiation Faster pace of learning (2-3 repetitions) Precocity for information Intensity of learning in area of interest Ability to synthesize information within and across disciplines (conceptual understanding) Differentiation is the deliberate adaptation and modification of the curricula, instructional processes, and assessments to respond to the needs of gifted learners. -J. VanTassel-Baska (NAGC, 2011)

8. What are Features of Differentiated Curriculum for the Gifted? (VanTassel-Baska, 2010) Features Question • Depth • Complexity • Acceleration • Challenge • Creativity • Abstraction What do these terms mean in our region?

9. Features Defined (Van Tassel-Baska) Acceleration Complexity Fewer tasks assigned to master standard Assessed earlier or prior to teaching Clustered by higher order thinking skills Used multiple higher level skills Added more variables to study Required multiple resources or tasks Synthesizes key ideas within or across disciplines

10. Example of Complexity CCS Task Demand Modification for Gifted Students determine the meaning of the metaphor of a cat in Carl Sandburg’s poem “Fog” and contrast that figurative language to the meaning of the simile in William Blake’s “The Echoing Green.” [RL.5.4] Students provide evidence to support how figurative language is used to emphasize the theme of redemption in the following stories: • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs • Sleeping Beauty

11. Examples of accelerating a differentiated task Pretest student knowledge and skills based on their understanding of place value. Group students according to their knowledge. Combine less complex standards together and create a more complex standard. Provide more complex ideas.

12. Suggested Adaptations for Gifted Learners • Vertical Alignment of Key Ideas: Know Where You Are Going • Link to Grade Level Activities and Adjust • Create Resources for Classroom Use • Redefine Gifted Services Using Common Core as a Jumping Point – WITH Conceptual Framework to Define Services • (e.g., analyze text…. What does that look like, sound like, what conceptual framework are you using? OR Critical thinking…. What does that mean? How do you define it? How is it measured WITHIN content?)

13. Features Defined Continued… Depth • Studied a concept in multiple applications or situations • Conducted original research based on an appropriate question • Developed a product based on data • Provided evidence to support key ideas • Decided among differing ideas (Note: doing several components provides additional depth)

14. Example of Depth: The Fans Have to Eat Using provided data from the previous two years, decide on an amount of food to order for this year's concession stand at the local football stadium.  Compile a list of food recommendations, amounts, and cost analyses. Justify your recommendations by writing a persuasive argument to convince the Athletic Booster Club of the needed amount of food. Attach your cost analysis to the ordering justification for this year’s football season.

15. Examples of Depth General Gifted • Students measure the number of seconds/minutes it takes their team to accomplish various tasks; • They determine the difference between their time and their partner’s time, record it on a graph and compare the sum or difference • All data are represented by team on a class graph to compare information • Is it better to have 4000 seconds or 6 hours? Prove it in pictures and words. • What is the average time for third graders to (choose your own…eat lunch, line up, finish a particular assignment)? Show your answer in words and pictures/graphs to the nearest minute and hour.

16. What Differentiation is NOT Choice Alone Project work for its own sake Writing own problems Independent study void of a “real” question Creating a new… Product creation without guidance based on a conceptual framework Making up a new ending… Different activity - void of depth, acceleration, or complexity

17. RIGOR Conceptual understanding Skills and Procedures Application

18. Secondary expectation is integration of content language and lexicon This is a good place to start with gifted students Point out distinctions between how we speak in various content areas Literacy in the Content Areas

19. Region 2 What does this mean for us?

20. The work is what’s important, not the answer…that’s what scholars do.