enrichment clusters + renzulli learning

Brian C. Housand, PhDEast Carolina Universityhttp://brianhousand.com

[email protected]

WHAT MAKES GIFTEDNESS?

Above Average Ability

Task Commitment

Creativity

U

A

CI

C

T P

Environment Regular

Classroom

TYPE IGENERAL

EXPLORATORY ACTIVITIES

TYPE IIGROUP

TRAINING ACTIVITIES

TYPE IIIINDIVIDUAL & SMALL

GROUP INVESTIGATIONS OF REAL PROBLEMS

Enrichment Triad

From Renzulli Learning to creating Clusters …

Are nongraded groups of students who share common interests and come together during specially designated time blocks to pursue these interests.

Enrichment Clusters

~ Renzulli & Reis

www.gifted.uconn.edu

The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented

Enrichment Clusters Are NotMini-Courses!

Enrichment clusters are groups of students who share common interests and come together during special time blocks to pursue these interests with adults who share their interests and want to help students develop their talents in this area and produce a product or service!

Major features of Enrichment Clusters

1. The Golden Rule of Clusters:

All activity is directed

toward the production

of a product or service.


2. Students and teachers select

the clusters in which they

will participate.


3. Students are grouped across

grade levels by interest areas.


4. There are no predetermined

lessons or unit plans.


5. The authentic methods of professional investigators are used to pursue products and

service development.


6. Divisions of labor are used

to guarantee that all students

are not doing the same thing.


7. Specially designated time

blocks are set aside

for clusters.


8. The Silver Rule of Clusters:

The rules of regular school

are suspended!

Clusters are modeled after the ways in which knowledge acquisition and

application take place in real-world situations.

In clusters, students make use of relevant knowledge and apply

thinking skills to common problems identified by the group.

(Renzulli, Gentry & Reis, 2003, p. 16)

Seven Steps to Implementing Enrichment Clusters on a Schoolwide Basis

1. Assess the Interests of Students and Staff2. Set Up a Wall Chart3. Create a Schedule4. Locate People and Staff to Facilitate Clusters5. Provide an Orientation for Cluster Facilitators6. Prepare Cluster Descriptions and Register

Students by Placing Them in Clusters of Interest to Them

7. Celebrate Your Success

Step 1

Learn about interests of students and staff

- Interest Inventories- Questionnaires- Talk to them- Renzulli Learning Profiles

http://tinyurl.com/chestercluster

Top 3InterestAreas

Top 3LearningStyles

Top 3ProductStyles

Step 2

Set up a wall chart

Start with student and staff interest areas in left column, categorized into larger groupings

Right column – appropriate cluster possibilities

General Interest Areas – Knowledge Organization

Possible Clusters

Language Arts,Literature, and Humanities

The Arts

Physical and Life Sciences

etc…

Step 3

Create a schedule:• The length of cluster blocks• The number of blocks per year• The length of each cluster

session• Days of the week and time of

day

Step 4

Locate facilitators:

School – Teachers, Support Staff, Para-pros

Community – Parents, community volunteers, older students, interns, retired teachers

• Create a network• Call prospective volunteers• Meet with interested volunteers

Colleges andUniversities

Partners in Education

Federal and State Agencies

Businesses

PTO

Co-Workers

Parents

Friends

Teachers and Staff

Community

Religious Organizations

Retirees

Service Clubs

High School Students

Administration

Para-professionals

Step 5

Provide orientation for facilitators

- TODAY’s workshop = ORIENTATION

- Brainstorm cluster implementation

- Enrichment Clusters Database

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu

Step 6

Register students for clusters that interest them.

Teachers -- you should offer clusters in areas that YOU are passionate about…

Step 7

Celebrate your success:

• Newsletter • Product Fair• Slide show • Newspapers• Brochure • Open

house• Web site • PTA Meeting• Video • School

assembly

Questions?

Answering Real World Problems

with Real World Solutions

usingReal World Technology

NCAGT February 11, 2010

Dr. Elizabeth FogartyDr. Katie O’ConnorDr. Brian Housand

The whole process of education

should thus be conceived as the

process of learning to think through

the solution of real problems.

-- John Dewey, 1938

“We need students to get more deeply interested in things, more involved in them, more engaged in

wanting to know, to have projects that they can get excited about and work on over long periods of time,

to be stimulated to find things out on their own.”

Interest and Rigor Lead To Creative Productivity

Joseph Renzulli

What Makes A Problem Real?


1. A real problem must have a personal frame of reference, since it involves an emotional or affective commitment as well as an intellectual or cognitive one.

(Renzulli, 1992)

2. A real problem does not have an existing or unique solution.


(Renzulli, 1992)

3. Calling something a problem does not necessarily make it a real problem for a given person or group.


(Renzulli, 1992)

4. The purpose of pursuing a real problem is to bring about some form of change and / or to contribute something new to the sciences, the arts or the humanities.


(Renzulli, 1992)

What is a REAL

Audience?

REAL Technology

NETS

FO

R

STU

DEN

TS

200

7

1. Creativity and Innovation

2. Communication and Collaboration

3. Research and Information Fluency

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

5. Digital Citizenship6. Technology Operations

and Concepts

NETS

FO

R

TEA

CH

ER

S

200

8

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessment

3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

Brief overview of AIG camp

• Dual purpose: Serves gifted children and serves as a practicum for ECU gifted education students

• 100 children participate for 5 days.• Curriculum is geared toward the overarching concept

each summer. Concept examples include Perspectives, Systems, and Interactions.

• Children self-select two units of study for the week.• Units of study are designed by ECU gifted education

students.

ECU Model for Unit Planning

Expectations• Connects to the overarching camp concept

• Connects to a real world problem• Integrates technology in a meaningful way

• Includes rigorous and new content (advance teacher research may be necessary)

• Searches for unique solutions to a real world problem that can be presented to an authentic

audience

Example: Taking initial thinking and moving toward more rigorous thinking…

Initial Thinking• We want to plan an architect

unit.• Children will use an architectural

software program.Questions

• What will the children be learning in this unit?

• How is it related to a real world problem?

• Who can the children present their ideas to?

Answers• The real world problem might

be how to build a house for a wheelchair bound individual that is comfortable and safe.

• Interview a wheelchair bound person to find out her wants and needs.

• The content will be learning about appropriate building products and building codes.

• Present ideas to a local builder and receive feedback.


Initial Thinking• We want to plan a unit about

space.• Children will visit the NASA

website.Questions

• What is the content of this unit?• How is it related to a real world

problem? • How can you connect an

audience?

Answers• The real world problem might

be whether or not we should continue to explore space during tight financial times.

• The content will be learning about recent developments in space exploration to prepare for a debate on the topic.

• A few NASA officials will be present via Skype to hear the debate and give feedback to the teams.


Initial Thinking• We want to plan a unit about

sports equipment.• Children will use a simulation to

test out different sports equipment.

Questions• What will the children learn?• Describe the real world problem

and its connection? • How can you connect an audience?

Answers• The real world problem might be how

the type of sports equipment used affects the success during a game. What about access to everyone? What happens when athletes don’t have the funds to purchase the best equipment or when some athletes have access to the equipment before others?

• For new content, incorporate standards and regulation information from various sports and their governing bodies. (i.e. type of bats in baseball, type and material for competitive swimsuits).

• Present ideas using a PSA format to a governing sport’s body or to a Health and Human Performance professor regarding accessibility of equipment and new regulations to consider for specific sports.

Real-World Problem-Solvingand Problem-Finding

Important aspect of curriculum for the gifted.

• Allows students to apply their learning

• Allows students to utilize analytical thinking skills to solve a problem or find problems to solve

• Encourages development of social capital

Use real- world problem solving and real-world problem finding to increase the depth and complexity of your lessons.

Technology-infused Products for Authentic Audiences

Important aspect of curriculum for the gifted.

• Allows students to apply their learning

• Forces students to take risks• Develops students’ creative

productivity – allows gifts to manifest themselves

Recommendations for Implementation

Select an Enrichment Team

You should choose members of an enrichment team who are excited about the cluster concept and look forward to promoting it within your school, include teachers, parents, administrators, and older students.

Start small

You may choose to pilot enrichment

clusters by beginning with a small number of classes, for example -

2nd, 3rd, & 4th grades.

Goal setting

Be realistic about your goals.

• Keep in mind what you want to accomplish and why you hope to accomplish it through clusters.

How-to Write descriptions

Do not use the word learn in the description of your enrichment cluster. Instead, use action words like explore, investigate, search, discover, and create.

• Would you like to become a “Dumpsite Detective” and uncover ways to reuse our trash?

• Would you like to see worms at work reducing our lunchroom garbage?

Join The Recyclers and learn how to make trash into treasure!

Be a Mother Nature Super Hero and Save the World!

What should we do?

What should we buy?

Which cookie tastes best?

What games are best for my

friends?Why is this product better than the other?

Test food and products to decide which ones are best!

Would you like to be a detective? Investigate crimes?

If investigating a crime, gathering evidence, and solving mysteries strike your curiosity then this is the cluster for you! Join our CSI team!

Have you ever wondered what it takes to solve a crime?

Would you like to travel back in time? Have you ever

wondered how people of the past lived?

Carry a little bit of the past with you as you make your own containers from gourds, rivercane, and cloth!

Discover how the early pioneers made their clothes, built their houses, and survived off the land.

Reflecting back on the INSPIRATION you

filled out, please offer a cluster topic idea.

Small Group Work

For the next 15 minutes:

• Brainstorm implementation strategies for the enrichment cluster your group chose.

• Please do so by answering the following questions:

Developing an Enrichment Cluster1. What will the name of the cluster be?

2. What will (potential) products or services be for this cluster?

3. What roles will cluster members assume?

4. What “standards” may be met?

5. Who will (potential) authentic audience(s) for the product be?

The things we know best are

those things we have not been

directly taught.• Luc de Clapier, Marquis de Vauvenargues

6 Key Questions[For Facilitating an Enrichment Cluster of Type III Investigation]

1. What do people with an interest in this area do?

2. What products do they create and/or what services do

they provide?

3. What methods do they use to carry out their work?

4. What resources and materials need to produce high

quality products and services?

5. How, and with whom, do they communicate the results

of their work?

6. What steps need to be taken to have an impact on

intended audiences?

“We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear,

computer-like capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on inventive, empathetic, big-picture capabilities of what’s rising

in its place,

the Conceptual Age.”~ Daniel H. Pink

“Teaching consists of causing people

to go into situationsfrom which

they cannot escapeexcept by thinking.”

~ Author Unknown