Gifted Education
Overview of the Gifted Education Program at Birchwood School
Our view of giftedness and its implications for gifted education
Like leading scholars in the field of gifted education and talent
development (Tannenbaum, Walberg, Sternberg, et. alia), we hold that
giftedness is measured through achievement and accomplishment in
respective fields of work and study. It is important, therefore, that the
education of gifted learners mirror the knowledge base, thinking
processes, work, and products inherent in respective subject disciplines.
Students should have the opportunities to be involved in subject matter
like real historians, scientists, mathematicians, and writers. Having this
view, we can differentiate the curriculum, providing for higher orders of
thinking. The content can be broad and sophisticated while the thinking
processes and finished products can reflect those in professional fields.
Classroom application:
To accommodate the gifted population at Birchwood School we use three
strategies - immersion, acceleration and enrichment.
We use the word immersion to describe how we differentiate the
curriculum in the regular classroom. Although an entire class may study
the same topic, we provide the gifted learner opportunities to explore the
topic in a broader, more challenging manner. The content can be made
more extensive or complex, while the thinking processes may require
higher orders of thinking such as analysis or synthesis. Furthermore,
students may also display their knowledge of subjective matter through a
variety of products.
Acceleration, known to be the most effective means to accommodate
gifted learner (Lubinski, Rogers, Colangelo, Assouline), allows children to
proceed through the scope and sequence of subject matter more rapidly.
Methods of acceleration vary widely but carefully take into consideration
student ability, interest, and willingness to study.
Enrichment activities describe learning opportunities beyond the core
curriculum. These may include foreign language studies, programming in
Logo and other languages, preparation for academic competitions in
math, writing or social studies, reading clubs that enjoy classic literature
together, problem solving teams that learn the six-step problem solving
method.
Examples of Acceleration:
1. Early entrance to first grade.
2. Grade skipping.
3. Subject acceleration. Some students have studied math topics two,
three, or four years beyond their grade level.
4. Some students take on-line course work in subject matter well above
their current grade level. They study topics such as vocabulary, Latin,
and mathematics through Northwestern University LINKS program.
Examples of Immersion:
1. In all regular classrooms allow children to study subject matter through
enriched content, process, and/or product. For example, during the
course of a regular classroom reading unit such as historical fiction,
teachers will provide additional literature choices for good readers on
multiple ability levels.
2. All math classes provide extensive problem solving practice that
develop reasoning abilities and problem solving strategies.
3. In social studies and science, teachers provide opportunities for
extensive reading on each topic and arrange questioning strategies so
that students may study the material from a more sophisticated view point.
4. Writing students in all grades, under the personal direction of a
teacher, are shown how to upgrade the caliber of their work and submit it
for publication. Students regularly submit work to Cricket Magazine, Ohio
Celebration of Poets, Cleveland Bar Association, and Letters About
Literature.
5. Although all students participate in National History Day, highly able
students are shown how to do in-depth primary and secondary research,
and how to analyze their topic in greater depth.
6. Students facile in basic computing skills may choose to study
programming languages, graphic design software, and multi-media
software.
Examples of Enrichment:
1. Avid Readers Club (ARC). A lunch-time club, children in primary grades
read books such as Dr. Doolittle, Hans Brinker, and Pinocchio.
Elementary students read Watership Down and Little Women, and middle
school students read and study the Journals of Lewis and Clark
(unabridged), Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Death Be Not Proud,
Huckleberry Finn, The Federalist Papers, and essays by Locke,
Rousseau and Emerson.
2. Children learn Logo programming as early as the third grade and may
continue through middle school.
3. After school math clubs and chess clubs.
4. We have selected numerous high quality academic competitions for our
students such as Toshiba’s ExploraVision, Young Astronauts, Math
Olympiads, Continental Math League, Math Counts, National History Day,
and Power of the Pen.
5. Middle School students may participate in the Future Problem Solving
training program and contest.
Our view of giftedness and its implications for gifted education
Like leading scholars in the field of gifted education and talent
development (Tannenbaum, Walberg, Sternberg, et. alia), we hold that
giftedness is measured through achievement and accomplishment in
respective fields of work and study. It is important, therefore, that the
education of gifted learners mirror the knowledge base, thinking
processes, work, and products inherent in respective subject disciplines.
Students should have the opportunities to be involved in subject matter
like real historians, scientists, mathematicians, and writers. Having this
view, we can differentiate the curriculum, providing for higher orders of
thinking. The content can be broad and sophisticated while the thinking
processes and finished products can reflect those in professional fields.
Classroom application:
To accommodate the gifted population at Birchwood School we use three
strategies - immersion, acceleration and enrichment.
We use the word immersion to describe how we differentiate the
curriculum in the regular classroom. Although an entire class may study
the same topic, we provide the gifted learner opportunities to explore the
topic in a broader, more challenging manner. The content can be made
more extensive or complex, while the thinking processes may require
higher orders of thinking such as analysis or synthesis. Furthermore,
students may also display their knowledge of subjective matter through a
variety of products.
Acceleration, known to be the most effective means to accommodate
gifted learner (Lubinski, Rogers, Colangelo, Assouline), allows children to
proceed through the scope and sequence of subject matter more rapidly.
Methods of acceleration vary widely but carefully take into consideration
student ability, interest, and willingness to study.
Enrichment activities describe learning opportunities beyond the core
curriculum. These may include foreign language studies, programming in
Logo and other languages, preparation for academic competitions in
math, writing or social studies, reading clubs that enjoy classic literature
together, problem solving teams that learn the six-step problem solving
method.
Examples of Acceleration:
1. Early entrance to first grade.
2. Grade skipping.
3. Subject acceleration. Some students have studied math topics two,
three, or four years beyond their grade level.
4. Some students take on-line course work in subject matter well above
their current grade level. They study topics such as vocabulary, Latin,
and mathematics through Northwestern University LINKS program.
Examples of Immersion:
1. In all regular classrooms allow children to study subject matter through
enriched content, process, and/or product. For example, during the
course of a regular classroom reading unit such as historical fiction,
teachers will provide additional literature choices for good readers on
multiple ability levels.
2. All math classes provide extensive problem solving practice that
develop reasoning abilities and problem solving strategies.
3. In social studies and science, teachers provide opportunities for
extensive reading on each topic and arrange questioning strategies so
that students may study the material from a more sophisticated view point.
4. Writing students in all grades, under the personal direction of a
teacher, are shown how to upgrade the caliber of their work and submit it
for publication. Students regularly submit work to Cricket Magazine, Ohio
Celebration of Poets, Cleveland Bar Association, and Letters About
Literature.
5. Although all students participate in National History Day, highly able
students are shown how to do in-depth primary and secondary research,
and how to analyze their topic in greater depth.
6. Students facile in basic computing skills may choose to study
programming languages, graphic design software, and multi-media
software.
Examples of Enrichment:
1. Avid Readers Club (ARC). A lunch-time club, children in primary grades
read books such as Dr. Doolittle, Hans Brinker, and Pinocchio.
Elementary students read Watership Down and Little Women, and middle
school students read and study the Journals of Lewis and Clark
(unabridged), Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Death Be Not Proud,
Huckleberry Finn, The Federalist Papers, and essays by Locke,
Rousseau and Emerson.
2. Children learn Logo programming as early as the third grade and may
continue through middle school.
3. After school math clubs and chess clubs.
4. We have selected numerous high quality academic competitions for our
students such as Toshiba’s ExploraVision, Young Astronauts, Math
Olympiads, Continental Math League, Math Counts, National History Day,
and Power of the Pen.
5. Middle School students may participate in the Future Problem Solving
training program and contest.
Birchwood School
A private elementary school serving grades 1 through 8
| 4370 West 140th Street Cleveland, OH 44137 Office: 216.251.2321 Fax: 216.251.2787 |
