O'Neill Public Schools
O'Neill Public Schools |
There is nothing so unequal as the
~Thomas Jefferson High Ability Learning O’Neill Public Schools defines a learner with high ability as a
student who gives evidence of high performance capability in such areas as
intellectual, creative, or leadership ability, or in specific academic fields.
These students require services or activities not ordinarily provided by
the school in order to develop their capabilities fully.
Talent Pool
Curriculum All the courses of study offered by a school.
Assessment Methods to evaluate what students know or have learned.
For example, students can be assessed by their written work,
demonstration, with an oral assessment, observation by the teacher, or tests.
Differentiation Differentiation is a teacher’s response to learner’s needs.
Teachers can differentiate content (what they’re learning), process
(how they’re learning), or product (how they show what they have learned)
according to student’s readiness, interests, and/or learning profile.
This can be done through various instructional and management strategies.
Differentiating content can include students selecting their own topics
or giving students different resource materials.
The process of learning is the journey students take to reach
understanding. To differentiate
process, the teacher would vary the ways students learn.
For example, the teacher could prepare activities at varying levels of
complexity. When differentiating product, students are given options to
demonstrate learning. For example,
to express understanding, one student could create a book and another could give
an oral presentation to the class. Curriculum Compacting Curriculum compacting is a way to eliminate repetition of previously
mastered material, upgrade the challenge level of the regular curriculum, and
provide time for appropriate enrichment and/or acceleration activities while
ensuring mastery of basic skills. Compacting
is accomplished by modifying or streamlining the regular curriculum; first
defining goals of curriculum, then assessing student mastery, and finally
providing appropriate enrichment opportunities.
For example, Laura’s 3rd grade teacher, Mr. Sun, pre-tested
her over the first four chapters in math. Laura
scored above a 90% on all the pre-tests, therefore proving mastery.
During the time other students are learning those concepts Laura already
understands, she does a math webquest on the computer.
This webquest gives Laura an opportunity to study math concepts in more
depth, as well as, come to new understandings.
Mr. Sun has also given Laura the option to join the class on days they
are doing a group activity. Mr. Sun
checks with her each day at the beginning and end of class to note progress and
answer questions. Laura is graded
by the pre-tests. Her independent
webquest study is considered enrichment.
Type I Enrichment
Type II Enrichment These are instructional methods and materials that
are purposefully designed to promote the development of thinking and feeling
processes. These are the objectives
of Type II’s: 1. To develop general
skills in creative thinking and problem solving, and critical thinking. 2. To develop affective
processes such as sensing, appreciating, and valuing. 3. To develop a wide
variety of specific learning how to learn skills such as note taking,
interviewing, classifying and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, etc. 4. To develop skills in the
appropriate use of advanced level reference materials such as readers guides,
directories, abstracts, computer software, the Internet, etc. 5. To develop written,
oral, and visual communication skills that are primarily directed towards
maximizing the impact of students’ products upon appropriate audiences.
Type III Enrichment/Independent Studies
Management Plan for Individual and Small Group Investigations A form designed to help students formulate their objectives, locate and
organize appropriate resources and identify relevant outlets and audiences for
their creative works.
The progression of a Type I, Type II, and Type III Experience Sam, a 6th grade student, watches a TV show about knights and
castles that sparks his interest (Type I).
At school, Sam tells his teacher, Ms. Shine, that during the time he is
compacted out of math and grammar, he would like to develop a Type III about
knights and castles. Ms. Shine and
Sam create a
Mentorships
Enrichment Clusters Enrichment clusters use high-end learning to develop talent in all
students. Clusters are driven by
interests of the students and the adults who facilitate 1. Each learner is unique.
Therefore, learning experiences must take into account the abilities,
interests, and learning styles of the individual. 2. Learning is more
effective when students enjoy what they are doing.
3. Learning is more
meaningful and enjoyable when content and process are learned with in the
context of a real problem. 4. Enrichment learning and
teaching focuses on enhancing knowledge and acquiring thinking skills.
Flexible grouping Students are grouped and regrouped according to individual needs and
ability levels. For example, a
teacher may begin a new chapter in math where students are at varying levels of
understanding. The teacher could
group students according to the skills needed to understand the math concepts
presented in that chapter. Some
students will need the basic skills, while others need more advanced skills.
Another example for flexibly grouping students would be in the area of
literature. The teacher doing a unit that includes the Civil War could
have three groups all reading about the Civil War, but reading different books
that match the students’ reading level. It
is important to know that students do not necessarily stay with the same group
for all content areas, nor do they necessarily stay together for a particular
subject. Groups are constantly
changing based on evaluations of the students’ readiness, interest and
learning styles.
Acceleration The opportunity for students to be grade skipped, subject
skipped/advanced, or have early entrance to Kindergarten.
This is decided on an individual basis if the parents or school feel
acceleration will benefit the student. The
HAL sub-committee, along with the parents and students make the final decision.
Community Plus HAL Group A small group of 5th grade high ability learners who come
together to discuss issues that accompanies being gifted.
Mrs. Bauer and Mrs. Braun facilitate the group.
This group meets approximately eight times in the spring during the
school day. Some of the issues discussed are perfectionism,
underachievement, setting goals, and expectations of self, peers, teachers, and
parents.
Special after school enrichment programs After school classes at the elementary include: sign language, computer
keyboarding, publishing pros, and knowledge master. Junior High after school classes include: chess club,
EdVentures, and writer’s workshop. After
school enrichment classes at the high school include: quiz bowl and
Challenge Classes Challenge classes offered at the high school include current history,
American government, advanced math, British literature, American literature, and
chemistry II.
Continuum of Services The following page shows what is being offered at O’Neill Public
Schools through the High Ability Learner Program at the elementary, middle, and
high school levels.
Resources The Schoolwide Enrichment Model by Joseph S. Renzulli and Sally M. Reis Creative
Learning Press: Mansfield Center, CT, 1997 “What
Is Schoolwide Enrichment? And How
Do Gifted Programs Relate To Total School Improvement?” by Joseph S. Renzulli
and Sally M. Reis http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~nrcgt/sem/whatisem.html
You
can learn more about the Schoolwide Enrichment Model at: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/sempage.html
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Questions or comments, please contact Jennifer Selting Bauer at jbauer@esu8.org . Pages last updated on: 12/16/2005
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