’09 TAGT: Educator Perspective by Jana Scott

Comments by Jana Scott at Town Center Elementary.

I attended a variety of sessions. The following were most applicable:
1. Gifted Kids online gave me ideas for distance learning and Web 2.0 activities.
2. An overview of M2 for our K-2 students was beneficial as we may purchase this in the spring to complement our M3 program.
3. The Texas Performance Standards resources available especially for the Enigmas unit.

Finally, if you’ve never listened to Bertie Kingore present she is a must see. Her presentations are grounded in theory and easily applicable for diffentiation in any elementary classroom. Handouts of her presentation are available at http://www.bertiekingore.com/tagt.htm for the next two weeks.

Willis and Wolfe say activities need to include:
*mental engagement
*process engagement or metacognition
*emotional and social interactions
This requires students to be with intellectual peers not necessarily age peers.

Erickson suggested concept based instruction versus fact. Ideas to incorporate concept based instruction are:
*3 way venn diagrams
*Brainwriting (see handouts)

Marzano focused on the need for summarization and finding similarities and differences. Handouts focused on specific strategies to build these concepts.

The gifted child needs variation in faster pace and in depth level. Though other strategies good for the gifted child are good for all children, these two strategies are specific to the gifted child.

I really enjoyed her activity using analogies and items in your purse. She always presents useful material in an enjoyable format.