Gifted Guide

Giftedness at a Glance Created by Valerie Geiler, Lucille Kenney, Caryn Meirs, RenĂŠe Clarke & Kristen Lange

Contact Information AHAP Facilitator Valerie Geiler

592-3052

AHAP Teachers Valerie Geiler Lucille Kenney Caryn Meirs

vgeiler@hhh.k12.ny.us lkenney@hhh.k12.ny.us cmeirs@hhh.k12.ny.us

AHAP Liaisons and Enrichment Teachers Chestnut Hill RenĂŠe Clarke 592-3500 Forest Park Lucille Kenney 592-3550 Otsego Valerie Geiler 592-3600 Paumanok Kristen Lange 592-3650 Signal Hill RenĂŠe Clarke 592-3700 Sunquam Caryn Meirs 592-3750 Vanderbilt Kristen Lange 592-3800

vgeiler@hhh.k12.ny.us

rclarke@hhh.k12.ny.us lkenney@hhh.k12.ny.us vgeiler@hhh.k12.ny.us klange@hhh.k12.ny.us rclarke@hhh.k12.ny.us cmeirs@hhh.k12.ny.us klange@hhh.k12.ny.us

Academically High Aptitude Program (AHAP) Mission Statement “Half Hollow Hills Academically High Aptitude Program ensures that students who possess exceptional gifts and talents receive the necessary resources to maximize their extraordinary potential.

Students will be challenged to become self-directed, life long learners. Students will encounter an individualized, diverse, and flexible curriculum.

Children will experience an enriched accelerated education through which they will acquire skills to lead responsible, constructive, and most importantly exceptional lives.�

Academically High Aptitude Program vs. Enrichment Services Academically High Aptitude Program •AHAP addresses the needs of students in grades three through five.

•It is a non-mandated district supported program.

•AHAP has objective defined criteria for entry. The first and most important assessment utilized to determine a student’s eligibility is the InView Cognitive Skills Test, similar to an IQ test. The second component used to determine eligibility is scores obtained from the New York State English Language Arts and Mathematics Assessments. Even if NYS ELA and Math Assessments scores are above average, a child’s Cognitive Skills Index must meet the IQ requirement for that year in order to be considered for the program.

•Students leave their home school to attend AHAP at the Fran Greenspan Administration Center once each week for the entire school year. Third graders attend AHAP for one half day, while fourth and fifth graders attend for a full day. Third grade AHAP students also receive one period of Enrichment services each week in their home building.

•Once a student is admitted to AHAP they are not retested for admission in subsequent years.

Academically High Aptitude Program vs. Enrichment Services Enrichment Services •Enrichment is a district supported, building level, non-mandated service for second through fifth graders.

•Enrichment is open to all students based on standardized test scores, enrichment teacher suggestion and classroom teacher recommendation.

•Enrichment is provided in each elementary school building in three 10-week cycles for the third through fifth grades. Two 10-week cycles are provided for the second grade students. Students attend one cycle per year.

•A student in enrichment one year is not guaranteed a place the following year.

•Enrichment teachers serve as a liaison for administrators, teachers, and students to further support teachers with additional differentiation in their classrooms.

AHAP Courses Below is a sampling of courses offered by the Academically High Aptitude Program for the third through fifth graders in the district.

3rd Grade Courses Fall Spanning the Heights (bridges) Skyscrapers Project Iceberg (Antarctica) Spring Spanning the Heights, Part II Econ-O-Mania Stories from the Top of the World (science and mythology)

AHAP Courses 4th Grade Fall History on the March Movers and Shakers (inventors) Endangered Animals Highway to Health Toy Story Are You a Hobbit?

Spring Movers and Shakers Music ‘N’ Motion Endangered Animals, Part II Highway to Health Journey to the Stars Are You a Hobbit?

Lost! (Galapagos) Mission to Mars

5th Grade Fall History Undercover, Part II Newspaper Alien Invaders (invasive species) Music, Part II Math & Matter CSI - Forensic Science Lego Robotics, FLL Competition Toy Story II: Sally Ride Toy Challenge Greek Mythology Flight Lost II

AHAP Courses Spring Great Debaters Newspaper Digit Squad (mathematics) Art Colony III Law & Order Brainy Behaviors Fairytales on Trial Lego Robotics, Mars Rover Edition Once & Future Kings Myth Busters Science Squad

All courses are inquiry and project based, and foster critical thinking, deductive thinking, and creative thinking.

The “Twice Exceptional” Learner On occasion, you may encounter a student that may appear to have a high intellect, but are not a typical gifted learner.

This child may be categorized as a “twice exceptional” learner; both gifted and disabled. It is difficult to describe or list all the characteristics of gifted disabled people because there are so many types of giftedness and so many disabilities. The biggest challenge in identification is that a disability often masks or inhibits the expression of giftedness, so that it is difficult to tell whether a person's abilities are outstanding enough to indicate giftedness. On the other hand, giftedness can also mask a disability because the person's abilities can help him or her overcome or compensate for the disability.

Common Myths About Gifted Students • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Gifted students are a homogeneous group, all high achievers.

Gifted students do not need help. If they are really gifted, they can manage on their own Gifted students have fewer problems than others because their intelligence and abilities somehow exempt them from the hassles of daily life.

Gifted students are self-directed; they know where they are heading.

The future of a gifted student is assured; a world of opportunities lies before the student.

Gifted students are nerds and social isolates.

Gifted students need to serve as examples to others and they should always assume extra responsibility.

The social and emotional development of the gifted student is at the same level as his/her intellectual development.

The primary value of the gifted student lies in his or her brainpower.

The gifted student’s family always prizes his or her ability.

Gifted students can accomplish anything they put their minds to; all they have to do is apply themselves.

Gifted students are naturally creative and do not need encouragement.

Gifted children are easy to raise and are welcomed addition to any classroom.

Truths About Gifted Students • • • • • • • • •

Gifted students are often perfectionists and idealistic. They may equate achievement and grades with self-esteem and self-worth, which sometimes leads to fear of failure and interferences with achievement.

Gifted students may experience heightened sensitivity to over achievements or grades perceived to be low.

Gifted students are asynchronous. Their chronological age, social, physical, emotional, and intellectual development may be able to read and comprehend a third-grade book, but may not be able to write legibly.

Some gifted children are “mappers” (sequential learners), while others are “leapers” (spatial learners). Leapers may not know how they got a “right answer.” Mappers may get lost in the steps leading to the right answer.

Gifted students may be so far ahead their chronological age mates, that they may know more than half the curriculum before the school year begins! Their boredom can result in low achievement and grades.

Gifted children are problem-solvers. They benefit from working on open-ended, interdisciplinary problems; for example, how to solve a shortage of community resources.

Gifted students often refuse to work for grades alone.

Gifted students often think abstractly and with such complexity that they may need help with concrete study and test-taking skills. They may not be able to select one answer in a multiplechoice question because they see how all the answers might be correct.

Gifted students who do well in school may define success as getting an “A” and failure as any grade less than an “A”. By early adolescence they may be unwilling to try anything where they are not certain of guaranteed success.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences Each child deserves an individualized educational experience that takes into account each child’s individual needs, interests, strengths, and weaknesses.

Continue to keep these intelligences in mind when getting to know the students in your classroom and planning for new learning opportunities.

In his theory, Howard Gardner outlines eight intelligences, which include: 1. Linguistic intelligence – “word smart” 2. Logical-mathematical intelligence - “number/reasoning smart” 3. Spatial intelligence – “picture smart” 4. Musical intelligence – “music smart” 5. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence – “body smart” 6. Interpersonal intelligence – “people smart” 7. Intrapersonal intelligence – “self smart” 8. Naturalistic intelligence – “nature smart” 9. Existential intelligence – “cosmos smart” * * In 1999, Gardner added naturalist intelligence and proposed that a ninth intelligence, existential intelligence, be considered for future inclusion.

Differentiation Strategies for High-Level Learners Curriculum Compacting Curriculum compacting is the process of identifying learning objectives, pretesting students for mastery of these objectives, and eliminating needless teaching and practice if mastery can be documented. The time saved through this process may be used to provide enrichment for students.

Example of Chart Used for Compacting

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Differentiation Strategies for High-Level Learners Tiering Lessons Tiering is an instructional approach designed to have students of differing readiness levels work with essential knowledge, understanding, and skill, but to do so at levels of difficulty appropriately challenging for them as individuals at a given point in the instructional cycle.

Tiering Activities Overview How to plan 3 pathways to understanding: Struggling Learners: Need extensive modeling and/or teacher instruction Need color-coded elements/highlighted elements/exemplars Need to review concepts/use manipulatives/use textbook Need to study vocabulary lists/cards or pictures which show vocabulary/word bank Will complete a provided graphic organizer/labeled outline/framed paragraph On-Grade Learners: Can complete on-grade expectations (with practice opportunities)/solve practice problems Don’t need to review (as much) Can make some decisions on their own regarding how to complete a task Can create their own graphic organizer/chart/posters Can draw/illustrate/explain key concepts ** Advanced Learners: These are your AHAP/Enrichment students.

Can work and create independently Can engage in more advanced research/study in-depth Will study key issues across time periods and cultures Will be able to decide which skills to use Can work with multi-step tasks and ideas in their mind Can take a concept and expand upon it and work with mentors 2002 Judy Dodge

The Revised Bloom’s Thinking Skills