Gifted Kids Online, Differentiation and Web 2.0

Elfi SandersonProgram CoordinatorGifted LearningLinks

http://ctd.northwestern.edu/gll

Gifted Myths

• Gifted students are a homogeneous group, all high achievers

• Gifted students do not need help, they can take care of themselves

• Gifted students have fewer problems than others

• Gifted students develop synchronously, social and emotional development matches intellectual development

Gifted Kids• Learn rapidly • Are intense & sensitive• Develop asynchronously• Have a strong, persistent

need to know• Have a longer attention

span• Perceive more unusual and

remote associations• Demonstrate more

sophisticated communications skills

• Are more adept at using abstract thinking skills

• Are imaginative

Related Needs

• Challenging curriculum• Exposure to higher order thinking including

problem-solving and creative thinking skills• Access to intellectual peers• Exposure to a variety of subjects and issues• Exposure to a variety of people with varying

abilities, talents and points of view• Opportunity to pursue ideas and interests• Appropriate pace of learning geared to the

individual • To learn to set realistic, achievable goals

Organizational Patterns• Individualized learning; contracts• Self-selected groupings• Subject acceleration• Grade level acceleration• Enrollment in advanced classes on other

campuses• Integrated curriculum• Flexible scheduling• Work with intellectual peers

(Taken from: Clark, B. (1988). Growing up gifted. (3rd ed.). Columbus: Merrill Publishing Co.)

How Do We Meet Gifted Student Needs?

Differentiation

Content

Product

Process

Rigor

“Rigor is defined as the intellectual engagement that requires a learner

to stretch beyond their comfort zone.”

Heacox, 2009

° Multiple processes° More expansive knowledge bases° Greater depth or ambiguity in thinking

What Zone Am I In?

. . .Complexity and Abstraction

• Metacognitive Skills

• Critical Reasoning° Inductive Reasoning° Deductive

Reasoning• Creative Thinking

° Fluency° Flexibility° Elaboration° Originality

• Problem-solving Skills° Define the problem° Zero in ° Generate

alternative solutions

° Prioritize° Implement/

Experiment° Monitor° Evaluate° Repeat as needed

Bloom’s Taxonomy

One of the simplest ways to elevate the task/thinking involved is by using Bloom’s Taxonomy and the verbs associated with the different levels.

Verb WheelBased on Bloom’s TaxonomyP Product

VerbThinking

Integrating Complexity and Rigor

Knowledge Synthesis

Rising LevelsOf Complexity

Modified

On-Target

Advanced

Differentiation for Gifted and Talented

• Engage in solving “real problems” in contexts that show application of their learning in the world

• Move them to go beyond the familiar to find new ways of demonstrating what they have learned

• Provide authentic audiences and/or authentic feedback from subject area experts

• Work towards creating original products using creative thinking

• Provide choice and flexible pacing

Enter Online Learning, the Gifted. . .

• Pursue interests and academic talents• Rigorous and challenging curriculum • Interact with like-minded peers from around

the world• Work at their own pace and level• Develop skills: technology, study, time

management and writing• Ongoing interaction with instructors/mentors• Differentiated curriculum to meet individual

needs

And Web 2.0

• New content-friendly, people-friendly internet based tools to allow everyone to produce content

• Web as place for students to build knowledge, interact, and share ideas

• If we accept that knowledge creation is a significant part of pedagogy, we need tools that support this

Examples of Web 2.0 Tools

• Blogs• Wikis• Social Networking• Video Conferencing• VoiceThreads• Google Docs• WebPages

Blogs

• What is a Blog?° Part website - Part journal° Free-form writing spaces that allow authors

to web publish instantly Only the author can create a new topic/post Posts are in reverse chronological order

° Allow authors to create conversations with public or designated audience Example: Teachers and students to

interactively converse or add information

Why Should I Blog?

• To share and debate ideas• To have a historical record of your

thoughts about your passion• To encourage class participation and

discussion• To extend the class discussion outside

of the physical classroom

Online Writers WorkshopGrades 3-8

Uses a blog within the course as a place to do

BrainstormingStoryboardingOutliningPeer Editing

https://courses.northwestern.edu

Creating Work for Real Audiences icollaboratory

• http://sites.google.com/a/collaboratory.northwestern.edu/collaboratory-home/

• http://sites.google.com/a/collaboratory.northwestern.edu/ctd-gll-online-writing-workshop---summer-2009/

Creating Work for Real Audiences

Blog Examples

• Reading and Writing in the Classroom° http://www.weblogg-ed.com

• Education Week: Blogs° http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/blogs/index.html

• Education Blog Directory° http://www.blogged.com/directory/education

• Blogs for Learning° http://blogsforlearning.wordpress.com

• Find a blog:° Blogged – http://www.blogged.com ° Google Blog Search – http://blogsearch.google.com

Wikis

• What is a Wiki?° A web site that lets any visitor become a

participant° It’s continuously “under revision” and a

living collaboration of those who are contributing

° Content created for the community… by the community

° “Wiki-wiki” comes from the Hawaiian language, meaning “quick” or “fast”

Why use a Wiki?

• Build stronger connections between new and old knowledge by collaboration of information and ideas

• Increase engagement and interaction of students

• Develop interpersonal/teamwork, communication and writing skills

International Politics Wiki

In this course on international politics students created their content based on

readings and research.

http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/International_Relations_and_Conflict

Wiki Examples

• Wikipedia – www.wikipedia.com• Wikitravel – www.wikitravel.com• Curriki – www.curriki.org

Using Acrobat Connect (Webcasting)

Introduction to Philosophical Ethics

Provocative Discussions

Provocative Discussions Using Email Threads: AP English Literature

For this month, I'd like us to focus on the issue of tragedy. ﾊ We usually use the word to mean "sad catastrophe" as in "Hurricane Katrina was such a tragedy." However, Aristotle classically defined tragedy as the fall of a "great" (usually royal) man from power to some kind of ruin (catastrophe) due to some kind of hamartia (fault), usually hubris (pride). The performance of such a tragedy would elicit "catharsis" (emotional purging) from the audience. So some questions on which to ruminate: ･ How is what you're reading this type of "tragedy" (or not)? ･ What other elements do you notice in tragedy as you read that might present themselves as legitimate additions to "tragedy?

Provocative DiscussionResponse

I have been reading Oedipus Rex this week. I am not fully sure if i consider it a tragedy as defined by Aristotle yet. If it involves the "falling of a 'great'", then I am not sure I would. I have (been) mulling over if Oedipus was truly "great". On one side of the argument, he did not intentionally marry his mother and kill his father, and the chorus seems to support him in such a way that it sounds like he is a fair ruler. However, even though he did not know the man was his father, Oedipus killed several men out of anger. He also was quick to threaten to kill the oracle, Teiresais, if he did not state the truth. ﾊ I think it may be a tragedy of some sort but the "great" that fell may not be Oedipus.

Followed by….. . . .Of course, it really depends upon one's definition of "great". If we're referring to morally great, then murder and threats probably count Oedipus down a bit morally speaking. At the same time, however, this would probably discount people such Andrew Jackson from "greatness"; while he was a champion of the common man, he killed a number of people in duels and caused the Trail of Tears, without a doubt one of the most morally depraved acts of the 1800s. But at the same time, greatness can't just be related to authority; ﾊ dictators such as Stalin could hardly be considered "great" by any but the most lenient definitions of the word.

VoiceThread

• A VoiceThread is a conversation using media

• You can participate using your voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam)

http://voicethread.com

A Midsummer’s Night Dream

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqxng9BKfow

Google Docshttp://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

Google Doc “Form”

Google DocsSpreadsheet

Webspirationhttp://mywebspiration.com/

• Visual Thinking• Brainstorming• Outlining• Idea Mapping• Flow chart

Wordleshttp://www.wordle.net/create

Creating Original Products Using WebPages

WebPages

Additional Web 2.0 Resources to Explore

• GO2WEB20: Web 2.0 Tools and Applications° http://www.go2web20.net/

• Web 2.0 for the Classroom Teacher° http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listweb20

s.html• Internet4Classrooms: Web 2.0 Tools

° http://www.internet4classrooms.com/web2.htm• The Edublogger: Tips, tricks, ideas and

help with using web 2.0 technologies and edublogs° http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/

Questions???

THANKS FOR COMING!!!