The purpose of this Institute
is to provide teachers and administrators with the knowledge
and skills to design and utilize high quality curriculum
within effective programs for advanced learners. Some
of the common elements that permeate all strands of
the Institute are as follows:
- Promoting standards of excellence
- Integrating higher order thinking
skills into curriculum and instruction (cognition
and metacognition)
- Developing interdisciplinary concepts
- Developing high level content applications
(activities, questions, and assessment approaches)
Registration Information
Conference atttendees: Please come to the Sadler Center on Monday, June 22 between 8 and 8:30 am to check in. Here is a map with directions, the parking pass as well as the letter you should have received in your confirmation packet.
Target Audience
This Institute is designed for gifted program coordinators,
other district and building-level administrators, teachers
of the gifted, and all classroom teachers who want to
enhance their ability to differentiate appropriately
for their high ability learners.
The 2009 Summer
Institute Strands
Institute participants will choose one of nine strands
which relate to the frameworks and models used at William
and Mary to develop nationally acclaimed curriculum
for over 16 years, or which draw on existing research
and evidence of effective practices. Three of the strands
are workshops on implementing the Center's curriculum
units in language arts, science, or social studies.
The remaining strands will assist teachers and administrators
in improving instruction, services, and programs provided
to high ability learners.
Schedule & Details
Schedule
- Monday, June 22, 2009 - registration
at the University Center 8:00 - 8:30 a.m.
- Monday, June 22, 2009 and Tuesday, June
23, 2009 - 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - 8:30 a.m.
- 12:00 p.m.
Cost
The 2009 institute cost is $365.
Payment Information
A nonrefundable deposit of $50.00 is due with
the registration by May 29. Participants will be placed
in strands on a first-come, first-serve basis. Full
payment is due by June 12. No on-site registration will
be accepted. Requests for refunds must be received in
writing by 5 p.m. on June 12. Absolutely no
refunds will be processed after June 12. Schools or
individuals will be billed the full amount if a registered
participant does not show.
Hotel Information
Reservations for hotel accommodations may be
made by contacting the Williamsburg Hospitality House
(1-800-932-9192, $119/night; within walking distance).
Participants must mention the Center for Gifted Education
Summer Institute to receive this rate. Rooms must be
reserved by May 22, 2009. Information on additional
area hotels is available at www.williamsburghotel.com.
Directions
Click here for directions
to the conference site and the College.
The 2009 Summer Institute Strands
Strand One: The Center for Gifted Education
Language Arts Curriculum
The goals of the Center’s language arts curriculum
are to develop students’ skills in literary analysis
and interpretation, persuasive writing, linguistic competency,
and oral communication, as well as to strengthen students’
reasoning skills and understanding of concepts. The
units, which are specifically designed to meet the needs
of high-ability learners in language arts, engage students
in exploring carefully selected, challenging works of
literature from various times, cultures, and genres,
and they encourage students to reflect on their readings
through writing and discussion. The units also provide
numerous opportunities for students to explore interdisciplinary
connections to the language arts and to conduct research
around issues relevant to their own lives.
This workshop will focus on the curriculum framework,
its theoretical underpinnings, and its connection to
national standards in the language arts. The primary
emphasis of workshop time will be on exploring the teaching
models used throughout the units and how those teaching
models directly connect to the goals of the curriculum.
Details about specific units will also be touched upon.
Instructors:
Sherry Watts is an Instructional Specialist with the Division of Accelerated and Enriched Instruction for Montgomery Co. schools in Maryland. She designs and delivers staff development to assist schools and teachers in the implementation of Montgomery County’s Policy on the Education of Gifted and Talented Students. Sherry consults with administrators, teachers, and parents to help design language arts programs that serve the needs of highly able students. Sherry has over 20 years of experience teaching in elementary and middle schools. In addition to providing teacher training, she writes curriculum, and is currently working on an interdisciplinary curriculum for students in the districts Highly Gifted Center Programs.
Strand Two: The Center for Gifted Education
Science Curriculum
Participants will explore an approach to learning science
that focuses on the integration of conceptual development
and the process of inquiry. Participants will gain the
necessary knowledge and tools to implement scientific
inquiry. They will observe and reflect actual classroom
examples and sample units developed at the Center for
Gifted Education. Units will include application of
Problem-Based Learning and the Wheel of Scientific Investigation
and Reasoning, in the context of concept development.
Assessment tools to inform instruction will be explored
and applied. Each participant will receive one science
curriculum unit developed by the Center for Gifted Education.
Specifically, participants will learn about: defining
inquiry, integrating conceptual development and inquiry,
providing an environment for inquiry, models for inquiry:
1) Problem-Based Learning, 2) Wheel of Scientific Investigation
and Reasoning, questioning for inquiry, assessing inquiry,
and making interdisciplinary connections. This workshop
is designed for those with little or no training in
these materials.
Instructor:
- Steve Coxon: With backgrounds in biology and literature from Virginia Tech, Steve first taught junior and senior English in California. He spent the seven years prior to entering William and Mary’s PhD program in gifted education teaching fourth and fifth grade language arts, math, and science in southwest Virginia. Steve led the school’s FIRST Lego League teams for five years as well as acting as a judge at both the local and state levels. He also served as a therapeutic foster parent for two years.
Strand Three:
The Center for Gifted
Education Social Studies Curriculum
The social studies units developed by the Center cover
a wide range of topics while maintaining consistent
models for understanding issues, documents, and artifacts.
All of the units emphasize development of understanding
of abstract, interdisciplinary concepts, including systems,
cause and effect, and change over time. The units also
place heavy emphasis on higher order reasoning, historical
analysis using primary sources, and in-depth study of
social studies content related to various strands of
state and national standards. An emphasis on the development
of student skills in the areas of discussion, writing,
and research is embedded in the units.
The workshop will engage participants in activities
around the teaching models employed in the units, including
a concept development model, the Paul model of reasoning,
and primary source analysis. The ways in which these
teaching models are employed within different units
across the range of grade levels will also be explored.
Instructor:
Molly Sandling is a social studies
teacher at Jamestown High School in Williamsburg,
responsible for ninth and tenth grade courses World
History, World Geography, and AP Human Geography.
Molly received a B.A. in history from The College
of William and Mary and an MA in history from Yale
University. She worked at the Center for Gifted Education
while pursuing a Master's degree in secondary social
studies education and continues to work with the Center
on curriculum development. Molly has authored or co-authored
four social studies units as well as a book chapter
on adapting social studies curriculum for gifted learners.
Strand Four: Geometry for the Gifted From Hands-On Manipulatives to Proof
This hands-on workshop will focus on the teaching of geometry to mathematically talented students in grades 3-8. We will examine how gifted students learn geometry from the perspective of the van Hiele Model of Geometric Understanding. This theory will guide us in choosing the types and sequencing of activities to maximize geometric understanding from identifying the names of geometric figures to proving their properties. We will explore geometry with angle rulers, geoboards, geostrips, paper folding, paper plates, rope, tangrams, geosolids, nets, Polydrons, Lenart Spheres, Miras, spaghetti, children’s literature, and other tools. Special attention will be also given to the role of language and vocabulary in the teaching and learning of geometry. But how do you know your mathematically tallented students are ready for geometry? Completion of Algebra I is not sufficient to guarantee success in Geometry. This workshop will also address the issue of assessing geometry readiness in mathematically talented middle school students.
Instructor:
Dr. Margie Mason is a professor of mathematics education in the School of Education at the College of William and Mary. While serving as a faculty member she earned her National Board Certification in math education for children in early adolescence. Dr. Mason is a member of the Tidewater Team to Improve Middle School Mathematics, a grant funded math/science project that provides professional development to improve math teaching skills.
Strand Five: Research-Based Teaching Models in Gifted Education
Research at the Center for Gifted Education has documented the value of repeatedly exposing students to selected teaching and learning models over time. In this session participants will learn about and practice several specific models across multiple disciplines. Each model has multiple applications to support critical and creative thinking. Examples will include Paul’s Reasoning Model, Problem-Based Learning, Concept Mapping, and Creativity Models.
Instructor:
Dr. Janice Robbins is the Director of the Center
for Gifted Education at The College of William and
Mary. Previously she served as the Curriculum Chief
and the Gifted Education Coordinator for the Department
of Defense Educational Activities. She has also served
in various administrative positions with Fairfax County
Public Schools in Virginia. Janice
has a Ph.D. in Research and Evaluation from Virginia
Tech.
Strand Six: Curriculum and Instruction for Special Needs Gifted Learners: Using Case Data to Develop Appropriate Accommodations
Regretfully, this strand has been cancelled.
In this session, participants will review selected case studies of middle school gifted learners developed in a longitudinal study conducted by the Center for Gifted Education. This case analysis will provide a context for building an understanding of gifted learners from special needs populations, i.e., culturally and linguistically diverse; high nonverbal, low verbal; twice-exceptional; and low-income gifted learners. Examination of these profiles will serve as a springboard for exploring the appropriate curriculum and instructional accommodations for these students.
The culminating activity will be the development of an educational plan for a specific student. Each session participant is asked to bring a case study of a student to the Institute for this purpose. (Instructions will be provided upon registration.)
Instructor:
Dr. Kimberley L. Chandler is the Curriculum Director at the Center
for Gifted Education at The College of William and
Mary. Her professional background includes teaching
gifted students in a variety of settings, serving
as an administrator of a school district gifted program,
providing training for teachers, parents, and administrators,
and leading academic review teams for the Virginia
Department of Education. She has also taught gifted
education endorsement courses for several universities
and an online endorsement program. Kimberley is the
co-chair of the NAGC Early Childhood Division and
a member of the NAGC Education Commission.
Strand Seven: Classroom Assessment for Gifted Learners
This session will focus on the practical aspects of assessment for gifted learners, including what assessments to use, how to develop effective classroom assessments, and using classroom assessment results to inform instruction.
This session will address the knowledge and skills of the NAGC Assessment Standard related to classroom assessment including:
1) uses and limitations of assessments documenting academic growth of individuals with gifts and talents
2) develop differentiated curriculum-based assessments for use in instructional planning and delivery for individuals with gifts and talents
3) use alternative assessments and technologies to evaluate learning of individuals with gifts and talents.
Instructor:
- Dr. Lori Bland is the Director of Professional Development and Practice in Gifted Education at the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary. She is also the director of the Center’s Javits grant for K-3 Science, Project Clarion. Dr. Bland currently teaches graduate courses in gifted education at the College of William and Mary. She has taught graduate level courses in gifted education, educational research, tests and measurements, and classroom management for the University of Virginia, George Mason University, and Trinity College. Dr. Bland received her Bachelor's degree in education from the George Washington University. She received her Master's Degree and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, with concentration in gifted education, from the University of Virginia, where she had a research assistantship at the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. Dr. Bland has also served Virginia school divisions in the areas of assessment, program evaluation, and gifted education, teaching in both gifted education and regular education programs. Prior to her work at the College of William and Mary, Dr. Bland spent several years working with teacher certification and licensure.
Strand Eight: Advanced Curriculum Writing Workshop*
Please call to make sure there is still space as this option is almost full.
This session will be an advanced curriculum writing workshop for educators who have previous experience in writing curriculum for gifted students. Dr. VanTassel-Baska will be guiding participants as they develop new units, or refine existing ones, based on the Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM). Emphasis will be placed on: 1) creating curriculum frameworks that support individual units of study, 2) developing macroconcepts for use in teaching gifted learners, and 3) designing performance-based assessments for use at the unit level. William and Mary award-winning units in all subject areas will serve as models in this process. Products developed during the workshop will be: a curriculum framework, a lesson plan that incorporates a macroconcept, and a performance-based assessment task and rubric. Full units of study may be submitted for review four weeks after the conclusion of the workshop for possible publication.
*If you intend to register for this workshop, please submit the following additional information: 1) current résumé or curriculum vitae highlighting curriculum development experience and 2) a curriculum unit you have developed.
Instructor:
- Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska is the Jody and Layton Smith Professor of Education and the Executive Director of the Center for Gifted Education at The College of William and Mary in Virginia where she has developed a graduate program and a research and development center in gifted education. Formerly, she initiated and directed the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University. She has also served as the state director of gifted programs for Illinois, as a regional director of a gifted service center in the Chicago area, as coordinator of gifted programs for the Toledo, Ohio public school system, and as a teacher of gifted high school students in English and Latin. She has worked as a consultant on gifted education in all 50 states and for key national groups, including the U. S. Department of Education, National Association of Secondary School Principals, and American Association of School Administrators. She has consulted internationally in Australia, New Zealand, Hungary, Jordan, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. She is past president of The Association for the Gifted of the Council for Exceptional Children, and the Northwestern University Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa. She is currently Past President of the National Association for Gifted Children. Recent books include: Alternative Assessments With Gifted and Talented Students (2008) (Ed.), Serving Gifted Learners Beyond the Traditional Classroom (2007) (Ed.), and Comprehensive Curriculum for Gifted Education (3rd Edition) (2006) (with Tamra Stambaugh)
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