Gifted and Talented Academy

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Gifted and Talented Academy

• Session 5
• June 16, 2011

http//aea11gt.pbworks.com
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Agenda

• Day 5
• Welcome/Warm Up
• Lessons Learned
• Staffing Patterns/GT Schedules
• Advocacy
• Work Time
• Closure

3

• Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
• --Confucius

4
Welcome Back!

• Where weve been
• Mission/philosophy
• Target population
• Identification
• Program goals
• Comprehensive programming
• Collaboration
• PEPs

5
Objectives

• To deepen understanding of the components of
  comprehensive gifted and talented programming
• To examine system-level factors affecting
  comprehensive programming
• Advocacy Leadership
• To identify areas of professional growth
  necessary to effectively implement programming
• In-service Design

6
Warm Up

• Individually
• Identify three ways youve grown in your thinking
  about g/t programming since September (1/sticky
  note)
• In your team/at your table
• Share ideas (3-5 minutes)
• Pair up w/someone not at your table
• Share 1 idea
• Repeat twice
• Return to table
• Share one thing you heard

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Lessons Learned

• Form mixed-district groups of five
• Number off by 5s
• Jigsaw Lessons Learned article
• Discuss connections to Academy learning
• Large group share

8
Barriers or Bridges

• Two lunch bags
• Bag 1
• One side barrier to accomplishing the
  recommendations from Lessons Learned
• Other side bridge to accomplishing
• Nest w/bag 2
• Build wall
• What two barriers can you identify with?
• What bridges do you need to build?
• Discuss with your team Whats our plan?

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Staffing Patterns/Schedules

• What are the total FTEs for gifted and talented
  in your district?
• How are they distributed K-12?
• Who develops the schedule?
• What programming components have been identified?
• How is the teachers time allotted to implement
  those components effectively?
• What needs to change?

10
Job Descriptions

• Do you have a job description?
• If so, in what ways does it accurately reflect
  what you do?
• What guidance should/would the written g/t plan
  provide and vice versa?

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GT Teacher/Administrator Agreement

• What is the value in an agreement?
• How does it align with programming and with job
  description?
• What do school counselor agreements look like?
• Do you need an agreement with administrators?
• Time to discuss

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Advocacy What is it? Why is it necessary? On
what levels does it occur? What resources are
available? Where do we need to focus our advocacy
efforts? Do we need a plan?
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Advocacy What is It?

• the act of arguing in favor of something an
  idea, cause, or policy
• --NAGC, 2000 as cited in Purcell Eckert, 2006
• getting decision makers at the school, school
  district, state, and national levels to support
  strategies, services, and policies to initiate,
  implement, and support gifted education.
• --Purcell Eckert, 2006

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Why Advocate?

• Raise awareness
• Show positive impact
• Influence change
• --Purcell Eckert, p. 240
• Review Guiding Principles p. 241

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Levels of Advocacy

• National
• State
• District
• School

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Levels of Advocacy

• Find a partner and discuss
• how you have been involved in gifted advocacy at
  any of these levels.
• the extent to which advocacy is or should be
  part of your job.
• the effectiveness of your individual and
  collective advocacy efforts.
• ways to increase the effectiveness of your
  efforts.

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Advocacy Resources

• http//www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id36
• http//www.hoagiesgifted.org/advocacy.htm
• Purcell Eckert, Chapter 18 (p. 239-248)

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Advocacy Plan

• Traits
• Clarity the plan has a clear message
• Inclusiveness the plan involves interested
  parties
• Support Information the plan includes support
  information
• Specificity the plan provides specifics for
  implementation
• --Purcell Eckert, p. 242

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Advocacy Focus

• Barriers and Bridges
• Think back to the barriers and bridges you
  identified.
• Discuss the ways in which advocacy could make a
  difference.
• Do you need to develop an advocacy plan? (See p.
  243, Purcell Eckert)

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Work Time

• Work with your team to further develop and/or
  refine your written gifted and talented plan.
• A copy of your new/revised written gifted and
  talented plan is due June 30.

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Required Sections

• Vision/mission/beliefs
• Identification (include target population)
• Program Goals
• Differentiated Program
• Staff Qualification/Allocation
• In-service Design
• Program Evaluation (optional)