fostering talent in young children · fostering talent in young children kathleen cecil...
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Fostering Talent in Young Children
Kathleen [email protected]
Objectives:
Participants will become familiar with:
•Unique characteristics of highly able young learners.•Resources, materials, and problem solving activities to encourage critical and creative thinking.
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND
Today’s preschoolers live and will work in a conceptual age where the competitiveedge goes to expert thinkers who know how to identify and solve new problems.
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND
The pipeline that prepares tomorrow’s workforce must produce creators, communicators, and inventors with skills that can not be duplicated by computers or outsourced to low cost labor.
Gifted Behaviors
Show what you know!
DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICE
“DAP means teaching young children where they are, as individuals and as a group: and helping each child reach challenging and achievable goals that contribute to his or her ongoing development and learning.”[National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2006]
http://www.webmd.com/video/breus-child-how-much-sleep
Pining for Piaget
“A full understanding of human knowledge could only be gained through the study of its formation and evolution in childhood.”
(1969)
Sensorimotor birth –
2 years
*Pre-operational 3 –
7 years EGOCENTRISM
Concrete operational 8 –
11 years
Formal operational 12 –
15 years
Coaching Inquisitiveness
Children form ideas from direct life experiences. Finding a way to help children think
is more
effective than telling them how to solve a problem.
Attribute Strategy
We Go Together…Literature and Movement
REFLECTION: Learning
“Open-ended activities nurture and challenge critical and creative thinking and problem-
solving behaviors.”
Dr. Jeanne PaynterMaryland State Department of Education
Program Specialist for Gifted Education Programs
Essential Strategies
Provide models of analyzing attributes, questioning,
and creative
problem solving
throughout the early learning years.
These strategies provide children with tools to use when placed in new learning situations.
Essential Strategy: Analyzing Attributes
Attributes are the qualities, characteristics, factors, features, traits, structural, or functional properties of an object, person, or situation.
Let’s PLAY by analyzing attributes using toys!
ODD ONE OUT
Let’s PLAY with attributes!
ODD ONE OUT CARDS
Wooing the Wonder
Attribute Analogies
POWER OF PORTFOLIOS
Why maintain a Journal or Portfolio Box?Informs future challengesAugments parent-caregiver conferencesProvides performance data for kindergarten readiness and grade level placementsAdvocates for needs by including data that demonstrates advanced-level achievement
Essential StrategyConvergent vs. Divergent Questioning
Quantity
Supposition
Point of View
Involvement
Forced Association
Essential Strategy: Divergent Questioning Model
Quantity QuestionsList all the __________.What are all the solutions you can think of?Supposition QuestionsWhat would happen if __________?Suppose __________ happened?
Viewpoint QuestionsHow would this look to a __________How would __________view this?Involvement QuestionsHow would __________ feel if it were human?If you were _____, what would you do (think, feel)?Forced AssociationsHow is __________ like a __________?Get ideas from _______ to improve _____.
Essential Strategy: Creative Problem Solving
CPS Step Divergent Stage (Open)
Convergent Stage (Focused)
Mess Finding What can be improved?
Sense what is missing, causing uneasiness or concern, or needs to be improved.
Identify a concern to be addressed.
Fact FindingWhat do we know
about the problem?
Observe; collect data.Ask questions: Who,
what, when, where, why, how?
Look for important ideas (hits) and group related ideas (hot spots).
Problem FindingHow can we define
the problem?
Look at different viewpoints.
Restate the problem,“In what ways might
we…”
Select the problem based on what you want to accomplish.
Essential Strategy: Creative Problem Solving
CPS Step Divergent Stage (Open)
Convergent Stage (Focused)
Idea FindingWhat are all the possible solutions?
Generate ideas without criticism or evaluation.
Select the best solutions to evaluate.
Solution FindingWhich are the best solutions?
Develop criteria for the evaluation of the alternatives.
Evaluate and select a solution using the Evaluation matrix.
Acceptance Finding How can we put our ideas into practice?
Develop a plan of action to put the idea into practice.
Consider all stakeholders.Assess assistance and resistance to the plan.
Seven Learning Behaviors
Participating in these experiences may foster talent in young children!
Learning behaviors parallel advanced capabilities…
perceptive inquisitive
persistentcreative
resourcefulleadership
communicative
Theory to Practice
Create an enriched environment.Provide engaging, open-ended experiences.Focus on higher level thinking behaviors.Observe, record and adjust for responses.Challenge the developmental level over time.Integrate essential strategies for critical and creative thinking.
Advocacy and Resources
HCPSS Howard County Parent Advisory Committee www.hcpssgtac.wordpress.com
MEGS Maryland Educators of Gifted Students5430 Lynx LaneColumbia, Maryland 21044 410-313-6800 www.megsonline.net
NAGC National Association for Gifted Children 1707 L Street NW Suite 550Washington, DC 20036202-785-4268 www.nagc.org
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN EARLY TALENT DEVELOPMENT!
The Howard County Elementary Program
Program Offerings:
• Continuous Progress -
K -
5, provided by
classroom teachers
•G/T Program Service, provided by G/T ResourceTeachers
•Curriculum Extension Units(Second Grade through Fifth Grade)
•Instructional Seminars
Howard County Gifted and Talented Education Program
All funding for gifted and talented education in the state of Maryland is provided by each local school district.
All school systems design and implement their own programming.
Therefore it is imperative that school systems work closely with
parents and community members to advocate for programming that supports the needs of the advanced level learner.
The Elementary G/T Education Program:
A Student Showcase
Thursday March 18, 2010 6:30 Š 8:00 pm
Burleigh Manor Middle School
4200 Centennial Lane Ellicott City, MD 21042
Mark Your Calendars!
Early Childhood Programs
•Kindergarten is a full-day program in all schools (PreK is a half-day program for children that meet certain criteria)
•Differentiated instruction to address the needs of all students
•Flexible grouping and continuous progress
Contact Information
Kathleen Cecil: [email protected] Teacher, Baltimore County Public Schools
Howard County Contacts: Lisa Davis: [email protected], Early Childhood Programs
Katie Barbagallo: [email protected] Teacher, Gifted/Talented Programs