CFGE Curriculum Corner

Registration is now open for the Professional Summer Institute – a two day workshop for teachers, gifted program coordinators, and administrators.

The purposes of this Institute are:

1. To highlight Center for Gifted Education Materials 2. To disseminate research- based best practices 3. To provide professional development to promote leadership and exemplary practices in gifted education

Sessions

• Language Arts Curriculum

• Social Studies Curriculum
• Science Curriculum
• Spatial Reasoning
• Research-based Teaching Models
• Creativity and Learning

• Developing Social and Emotional Skills to Support Talent Development

• Reasoning and Curriculum: An Integration of Thought and Content

• Designing Curriculum for Underserved Populations: Implications of Research for Practice

• Informational Texts: Reading, Writing, and Research for High Ability Students

All sessions will take place at the College of William and Mary School of Education, located at 301 Monticello Ave Williamsburg VA 23185.

Visit the http://education.wm.edu/centers/cfge/profdev/conferences/psi/index.php for session descriptions, lodging information, and directions.

Please visit the CFGE website for information about our National Curriculum Network Conference:

http://education.wm.edu/centers/cfge/announcements/national-curriculum-network-conference-2013.php

Here are some additional resources you may find helpful as you work in schools and with children and families this week:

1.  Coping with Violence and National Tragedy. http://www1.cyfernet.org/hotnew/12-12-tragedy.html (CYFERNET)
2.  Helping Your Children Manage Distress in the Aftermath of a Shooting. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/aftermath.aspx (American Psychological Association)
3.  When the World Is a Dangerous Place: Helping Children Deal with Violence. http://www.childcareexchange.com/resources/view_article.php?article_id=5015244 (ChildCareExchange.Com<http://ChildCareExchange.Com>)
4.  Helping Children Deal with Tragic Events in the News. http://www.ncdhhs.gov/mhddsas/services/disasterpreparedness/MisterRogersFINAL.pdf (Fred Rogers’ advice from Family Communications)
5.  Talking to Children about the Shooting. http://files.www.cmhnetwork.org/media-center/morning-zen/tips-for-talking-with-kids/talking_to_children_about_the_shooting.pdf (National Child Traumatic Stress Network)
6.  Tips for Talking to Children and Youth After Traumatic Events. http://www.samhsa.gov/MentalHealth/Tips_Talking_to_Children_After_Disaster.pdf (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
7.  Little Listeners in an Uncertain World: Coping Strategies for You and Your Young Child after Tragic Events. http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/handout.pdf/700245522?docID=2381&verID=1 (zerotothree.org<http://zerotothree.org>)

8.  Book list:  books about grief and loss  http://classroombookshelf.blogspot.com/2012/12/childrens-books-on-grief-and-loss.html

A colleague forwarded these sites to me:

1.  A National Tragedy: Helping Children Cope, from the National Association of School Psychologists (http://www.nasponline.org/resources/crisis_safety/terror_general.aspx).
2.  Talking to Children About Violence, National Association of School Psychologists (http://www.nasponline.org/resources/handouts/revisedPDFs/talkingviolence.pdf)
3.  Listen, Protect and Connect: Psychological First Aid for Teachers and Schools (http://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/documents/files/PFA_SchoolCrisis.pdf)

As a student of Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska in both my master’s and doctoral programs, I have been fortunate to work on many of the Center for Gifted Education (CFGE) curriculum projects.  Entering the 25^th anniversary year of the Center, it is with great pleasure that I can say that the work begun by Dr. VanTassel-Baska is continuing with great momentum.

Many new curriculum materials are in production at the CFGE!  I would like to highlight the items that will be available in 2012 – 2015.  Because these items are still in production, please note that titles are subject to change.

Prufrock Press

Two mathematics units, one science unit, six humanities units, and an assessment guide are in development through Prufrock Press.

• Currently available:  Splash! Everyone into the Pool! is a unit for high-ability learners in kindergarten and first grade focusing on mathematical concepts related to linear measurement, the creativity elements of fluency and flexibility, and the overarching, interdisciplinary concept of models. The unit consists of thirteen lessons centered around the idea of designing a community pool. Students examine the question of why we measure, the importance of accuracy in measurement, and the various units and tools of measurement. The unit presents a hands-on, constructivist approach, allowing children to build their knowledge base and their skills as they explore mathematical ideas through play and planned investigations. Students are involved in creative and critical thinking, problem solving, process skill development, and communication opportunities.

• Available in early 2013:  Polygons Galore! is a unit for high-ability learners in grades 3 to 5 focusing on two-dimensional and three-dimensional components of geometry by exploring polygons and polyhedra and their properties. The van Hiele levels of geometric understanding provide conceptual underpinnings for unit activities. The      unit consists of nine lessons that include student discovery of properties of polygons and polyhedra, investigations for finding areas of triangles and quadrilaterals, study of the Platonic solids, and real-world applications of polygons and polyhedra. Geometry is a fundamental and powerful strand of mathematics that is the foundation for spatial reasoning.  This unit includes activities related to:  identifying, comparing, and analyzing polygons by using properties of the polygons; constructing meanings for geometric terms; developing strategies to find areas of specific polygons; identifying and building regular and non-regular polyhedra; and recognizing geometric ideas and relationships as applied in daily life and in other disciplines, such as art.
• An elementary science unit, modeled after the Project Clarion units, is in production and will be published by Prufrock Press in early 2013:  The Earth Beneath Our Feet is a science unit designed to be used with high-ability third and fourth graders.       Children are fascinated with rocks.  They enjoy digging in the soil and take pleasure in finding rocks of various types.  This unit builds on the excitement that students have by engaging students in hands-on scientific investigations about rocks.  Students begin to investigate and understand the major components of rocks, the rock cycle, and the important uses of rocks.  This unit works to expand on the content knowledge that students will develop by including information about the rock cycle, weathering, and the impact of various natural and man-made processes on the land.  The contemporary issue that will be explored as part of the unit is the process of fracking.

• Six humanities units for students in grades 6 to 8 are being developed and will be published by Prufrock Press in 2013 and 2014:  (I need several teachers to pilot these units at each grade level.  Please see my contact information below if you are interested in participating.)  These humanities units focus on the way in which the literature, art, and music of each decade reflect the history and events that were occurring in America at that time. These units are intended to stimulate student interest and creativity, to develop higher order thinking skills, and to promote interdisciplinary learning. The units may be used to supplement a social studies curriculum or a language arts curriculum, or could be used as stand-alone materials in a gifted education program.

The working titles for the units are:

• 1950s:  Beneath  the Formica: Conformity in the 1950s
• 1960s:  Our Voices Will be Heard: The Movements of the 1960s
• 1970s:  Taking Time Out for Me: Celebrating the Self in the 1970s
• 1980s:  Climbing the Corporate Ladder and Tearing Down Walls in the 1980s
• 1990s:  Speeding onto the Information Superhighway: The Explosion of New Identities in the 1990s
• 2000s:  Searching for Control: Creating an Identity in the Post-9/11 World

• A teacher resource book will be published by Prufrock Press in 2015:  Assessments      for Highly Able Students includes sample curriculum-based assessments for use with highly able students.  The assessments are compiled from the award-winning curriculum units developed at the Center for Gifted Education at The College of      William and Mary. These assessments are taken from each content area and are illustrative of methods for assessing student performance in the gifted education classroom.

Thank you for your continued interest in our curriculum materials!  For additional information, you may reach me at 757-221-2588, or at klchan@wm.edu.

A new math unit, Splash!  Modeling and Measurement Applications for Young Learners is available now from Prufrock Press.  Please see this link for information:

http://www.prufrock.com/Splash-P1650.aspx

The Institute is designed for gifted program coordinators, other district and building-level administrators, teachers of the gifted, and all teachers who want to enhance their ability to differentiate appropriately for their high-ability learners. Sessions on June 21 and 22, 2012 will draw upon existing research and evidence of effective practices in gifted education.

See this link for more information:

http://education.wm.edu/centers/cfge/profdev/conferences/psi/index.php

The following is a link to a list of ideas for using The Hunger Games in the gifted education classroom:

http://blog.prufrock.com/blog/2012/3/21/teaching-the-hunger-games-in-the-gifted-classroom.html

Please use this link to access the spring issue of The Bridge: 

http://education.wm.edu/centers/cfge/the-bridge-newsletterSpring2012/index.php