Beginning in the 2017-18 school year, all Wisconsin public schools are required to provide their grade 6-12 students with Academic and Career Planning (ACP) services. If implemented effectively, ACP can be an incredible tool for identifying and meeting the needs of gifted students.
This session will explain the vision of ACP and how ACP can help schools better understand how to provide the experiences gifted students need to be challenged and continually challenge themselves. The session will also show how ACP can facilitate much deeper engagement of students in designing and executing their own learning plans and the critical role families and all teachers have in the ACP process.
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Digital Portfolios are a powerful tool for helping students self-assess and evaluate their growth, set goals, and communicate their learning. There are many ways to set up and structure these portfolios, one that we will be specifically focusing on is Seesaw. We will be looking in depth at how to use Seesaw in the classroom and as a school for assessment, time management, home-school communication, goal setting, progress monitoring, and more. We will also be sharing examples for how we are using this tool at Summit Elementary with our high performing and gifted students at all ages to extend their learning.
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Parents and teachers want children to embrace challenges. Children that acquire positive strategies to face challenges can build lifelong achievement habits and open vast possibilities for their future.
But challenges can sometimes produce negative emotions and some advanced learners develop behavioral strategies to help them avoid challenges and the accompanying negative feelings. These challenge-avoidance strategies can lead to underachievement and the Impostor Syndrome.
In this session, we will identify some of the negative responses caused by challenges, some causes of the negative emotions, and offer positive strategies for dealing with the frustration that comes with challenges. Participants will learn about the importance of encountering challenge at an early age, as well as use an emotion identification scale and problem solving strategy charts to help children handle feelings that surge through them when encountering challenges.
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The Benchmark Excelling Exceptional Spelling (BEES) program is based on sequential phonics, includes sight words and is correlated to both the PALS Spelling and Words Their Way Spelling Inventory. Learn why this spelling program was developed and how this spelling program truly works to support students to not just memorize a word for Friday's spelling test, but to learn spelling rules that students can apply when writing and reading beyond Friday's spelling test.
BEES has 282 spelling lists so that every learner begins at their "good fit" list based on their score on the PALS Spelling or on the Words Their Way Spelling Inventory. Students then proceed at an individual pace to optimize their personal learning needs.
Spelling tests occur as students learn and apply the spelling rules. No more pretest Monday, spelling test Friday, repeat!
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Because problem solving can be difficult - even for gifted students - it is important for students to have a "tool-belt" of problem solving strategies. Many of the strategies presented in this session will force students to change their normal thinking patterns and approach each problem in a different way.
You will leave this session with many unique problem-solving techniques that will help all students be more successful in math contests and on tests. Each participant will leave the session with 10 problems they can take back and implement immediately in their classroom that will interest and challenge their students.
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This presentation will summarize individualized middle school and high school interventions to improve gifted and talented students' executive functioning skills. Specifically, these interventions have targeted G/T students who struggle with social and emotional issues including anxiety, depression, ADHD, and perfectionism. The session will share the strategies taught to students, present outcomes of prior interventions, and discuss potential applications of these strategies.
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Learn about FREE ACT Test Prep materials and how they can provide information about your students to personalize their learning utilizing case studies.
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NAGC Standards addressed in this session:
“Think deeply about simple things.” That’s the advice professor Arnold Ross of Ohio State University has for all of us. The most complex and enjoyable mathematical explorations begin with simple concepts that are mined for their richness and elegance. It is much more critical to add depth and complexity than to move quickly through textbooks.
How does one take a simple concept like 5+4=9 and motivate highly capable students to think deeply? Through creative math and innovative teaching!
In this session, attendees will be shown how to keep math exciting and challenging through digging deeper rather than by going faster. Most examples and resources are for teachers of students in gr. 3-6.
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Our path to Talent Development emphasizes inclusive practices, centered on personalized learning. Our processes emphasize identification of student potential and unmet needs, which in turn, drives programming in intellectual, academic, fine arts, leadership, creativity, and social emotional domains.
Our aggregate student population is high-achieving in relation to national norms, and as a result, student data is also considered in relation to local and subgroup norms to identify outliers within those contexts.
Our discussion will outline our Talent Development Handbook, a two year project designed to revolutionize the concept and reality of educational opportunity available to all students, K-12.
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While personalized learning holds promise for meeting student needs, not all districts are ready to move to fully personalized learning environments. What can educators do when differentiation is challenging to implement and not enough to challenge advanced learners, but the district isn't ready for full-scale implementation of personalized learning?
Using personalized learning as a programming option for advanced learners can move student learning to new levels. Learn how you can personalize learning for advanced learners by setting data-driven targets and including student voice and choice in designing learning options. Students are engaged and are learning content deeply while developing college and career readiness skills to nurture collaborative 21st century learners.
I will share the process, data, and products of our journey, how I became a facilitator of student learning, and why this model can work for any classroom teacher or gifted education specialist.
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Our gifted children face many stresses in the educational environment that impact their capacity for joy. Some are external, some internal. Research in neuroscience has led to conclusive findings regarding the connection between joy and learning.
This session will discuss the importance of joy in a child’s education and life in light of recent brain research. We will also share strategies that will help parents and teachers increase joy in their gifted and talented children and teens.
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Wisconsin currently has two active federal Javits grants for projects related to gifted students. Both focus on delivering appropriately challenging and culturally relevant instruction within the RtI framework.
Expanding Excellence is DPI’s grant on mitigating the excellence gap for low-income students and English Language Learners, especially at the primary level. The Smart Spaces grant to UW-Madison/WCATY expands access to high-quality blended curriculum for underrepresented gifted middle school students.
This session will provide an update on each project and will also provide numerous suggestions and strategies based on lessons learned that participants may find useful for implementing gifted programming in their own districts, schools, and classrooms. Issues addressed will include inclusive identification, programming within the RtI model, and parent involvement.
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NAGC Standards addressed : 2, 3, 4, 5
Advocacy for any cause can be both rewarding and overwhelming. Building skills in negotiation can provide a framework to effectively advocate at both the school and district levels. Whether you are a parent, educator or administrator, effective negotiation skills can allow you to be a proactive part of ongoing discussions for including Talented and Gifted education in your district’s priorities and actions.
In this session, we will outline key negotiation factors and how they can be put to practical use as an individual advocate or as part of a larger network of advocates. We will discuss both strategies that have worked and ones that haven't worked to better target time, energy and resources to have the greatest effect.
We will use information from the book "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In" by Roger Fischer and William Ury and the NAGC Advocacy Toolkit to develop our negotiation and advocacy framework. I will share examples from my experiences as an advocate and consultant in the Madison Metropolitan School District.
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Differentiation has been described as one of the most important aspects of effective teaching, especially in the field of gifted education. However, the limits of the process and the factors contributing to effective differentiation is vaguely defined. In this session, Dr. Bahar will discuss the results of his study on teachers' differentiation ability to meet the needs of mathematically gifted students.
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NAGC Standards:
Standard 1: Learning and Development:
Standard 3: Curriculum Planning and Instruction
Innovation relies on culturally responsive practices teaching and learning. Few, however, include any analysis of the personal equity analysis necessary to use the white power and privilege most Wisconsin educators were born with to disrupt racism.
This session will provide a unique view of changing demographics, provide a vocabulary necessary to function in our racialized social world, challenge participants to begin a racial autobiography as well as provide a variety of resources for the journey and the work. Information on teaching a similar pilot unit to high school students will be described.
NAGC K-12 Programming Standards explicitly addressed in this session:
The typical teenage urge for independence makes it especially important for parents to be guides-on-the-side as our gifted learners take charge of their own education. Parents will discover ways to help their children negotiate the educational system, creating their own unique routes to graduation and beyond. Letting go while holding on is made easier for both parent and child when, together, we follow the four simple steps to sef-advocacy.
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Are you curious about creating a Makerspace? Or have you plunged in and are hoping to see what other schools are doing with their spaces?
Then please join us as we share our start up plans, current success stories as well as our honest frustrations as we fine tune our journey into this exciting world of collaboration, creation and differentiation.
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What might a gifted second language learner "look like" in your classroom? How can you identify second language learners as gifted and talented? A brief description and overview of English language proficiencies will be explained. We will examine characteristics that may be displayed in gifted or "high potential" second language learners as presented by two veteran English as a Second Language teachers currently taking courses toward gifted certification.
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Have you wondered what you could be doing in your school to help your advanced learners reach the next level in their historical thinking? If so, you should consider starting a National History Day (NHD) competition at your school.
Middle School History teacher, Linda Garcia and Library Media Specialist, Kelly Steiner work together on their school's NHD program and they will be sharing all the tips and tricks they have learned after four years of implementation.
All 8th grade students complete a project, and then students with interest, passion, and talent are encouraged to continue on to school, regional, and even state level events. Students learn about analysis, crafting thesis statements, finding credible primary and secondary sources, and presenting their findings professionally.
The presentation will be an overview of how Jack Young Middle School is addressing the curriculum needs of its advanced learners. Topics of discussion will include, but not be limited to:
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Never have we seen such an explosion of quality young adult literature. Curating a classroom library or choosing new titles for your curriculum, however, can be a daunting task.
Let us help by providing you with an overview of over 30 titles published in the past five years that will captivate and challenge your advanced learners. Specifically, we will feature titles that work well across content areas and titles that feature culturally diverse representation. Everyone deserves a chance to see herself or himself represented in books!
Attendees will be provided with a guide for taking notes as we cycle through over 30 book talks.
Participant Outcomes: Our advanced learners are hungry for challenging and engaging books. Participants will leave empowered to better meet the needs of the adolescents in their life who love to read!
This session will share the Office of Civil Rights Educational Equity Reporting tool as a way for districts to review their own gifted and talented racial / ethnic representation rates. National and state data will be shared (briefly) and then recommendations will be shared for what district and building-level educators can do about this pervasive problem.
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Wisconsin's population is growing and becoming more culturally diverse. Many of us find ourselves interacting with students who come from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. Yet, very often little is done to change the curriculum to address their educational and social-emotional needs. In addition, failing to meet the needs of CLD students also contributes to the issue of underrepresentation in gifted and talented programs.
In this interactive session, educators will engage in exploring the professional dimensions of the Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) model. The purpose of this session is to present CRT practices that enrich the curriculum, hence allowing CLD students to show their true potential. The session will offer educators an opportunity that will focus on the four principles of CRT:
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