TOPICS TONIGHT:
1. County model for gifted services
2. How that translates to instruction at our alternative school
3. Fixed vs. Growth Mindset
4. County programs and resources for gifted students
5. HBW programs and resources for gifted students
1. County model for
gifted services
Students in APS may be identified as
gifted in one or more of the following
areas:
•
•
•
•
English
• Visual Arts
Social Studies • Music
Math
Science
New elementary model matches
current Secondary model for Gifted
Services…
with the addition of:
• Intensified, AP, IB levels
• Dual enrollment college courses
• Additional electives in Arts, Math,
Science, English, Social Studies (e.g.
Robotics, Creative Writing, Economics,
Engineering, Psychology, Directing…)
2. How that translates
to instruction at our
alternative school
HB Woodlawn is a little
different, and that’s why
you chose it for your child.
In keeping with this vision of
alternative education, and
because of the small size that
makes the magic of our program
possible, we do things a little
differently.
FOR EXAMPLE…
*however*
Because an unusually large proportion of
our students are identified as gifted in one
or more academic areas, and in the arts,
we do effectively have clusters of
gifted students in our academic
classes.
Arlington county requires all teachers
who teach gifted students– which at
HB is almost all teachers– to have
training in gifted education… typically
in differentiating instruction for
gifted learners.
Teachers might modify instruction in
any / all of the following ways:
• Content (what students learn)
• Process (activities used to direct /
assist learning)
• Products (how students
demonstrate what they have
learned)
And what about the Resource Teacher?
With teachers, I…
•
•
•
•
•
•
Co-plan and co-teach lessons
Research and create alternative assignments for
students
Design ways to compact curriculum and provide
enrichment for advanced students
Design & monitor independent projects for
students
Work with teams & individuals on special
projects
Advocate for individual needs of gifted students
with & without disabilities
And what about the Resource Teacher?
With individual students, I…
•
•
•
•
Help with independent studies
Serve as Mentor Teacher
Match students and support application processes
Frequently attend Student Studies, IEP meetings, etc
And what about the Resource Teacher?
With whole staff, I…
•
Advertise and encourage participation in
professional development opportunities
•
Help lead planning and implementation of
Professional Learning Communities
•
Help design & deliver professional learning courses
& conversations at HB-W
HB-W and APS are also talking about…
4. Carol Dweck’s research on
fixed vs. growth mindsets
•
FIXED mindset = Intelligence is a fixed trait. All
people fit somewhere on a continuum of “smart.”
You’ve got it or you don’t.
•
GROWTH mindset = Intelligence is malleable and
can be developed through education and hard
work
THE OLD SCHOOL: WE ARE BORN
WITH FIXED INTELLIGENCE
There is a fixed intelligence that
can be measured using an IQ test

No matter how much you learn or how
hard you work your intelligence stays
the same.

Alfred Binet Invented the first useable IQ test
INTELLIGENCE IS COMPLEX - OTHER FACTORS
MATTER AS MUCH, IF NOT MORE
• Hard work, persistence and focus
all play a role
• Research shows that these traits
are by-products of something else
Carol Dweck
Professor of
Psychology – Stanford University
Focused on:
• Why people succeed at what
they do
• How to foster success
Carol Dweck, Professor of
Psychology at Stanford University
Reaction to Failure
Students given impossible-to-solve math problems fell
into two groups:
• Fearful of mistakes
• Easily discouraged and defensive
• Fearful of not looking smart
A second set of students reacted differently
• Said “I love a challenge”
• Said “I learned something, I can solve it next time”
• Enjoyed the experience of failing
THE STUDENTS HAD A DIFFERENT MINDSET
Mindset:
A mental attitude that determines how you will
interpret and respond to challenging situations.
• Fixed Mindset: Intelligence is a fixed trait
• Growth Mindset: intelligence is a quality that can be
changed and developed
MINDSET STEP # 1 : LEARN, LEARN,
LEARN
• Fixed Mindset:
• “Look intelligent at all costs”
• “The main thing I want to do in
school is to show others how
good I am ”
• Growth Mindset:
• “Learn, learn, learn”
• “It’s much more important for
me to learn than to get top
grades”
EVEN GENIUSES WORK HARD
The most distinguishing features of highly successful people:
1. Their passion and dedication to their craft
2. The way in which they identify,
confront, and take pains to remedy
their weaknesses
IN OTHER WORDS
•
It matters less what you are born
with; it matters more what your
mindset is
Growth Mindset
• Better transition from elementary to middle school
• Were less intimidated when work got harder.
• Willing to put in more effort
• Earned better grades
• Better social relationships
• More willing to admit to mistakes
• Willing to broach problems
• Less defensive
• Mindset and the achievement gap (research studies)
• Girls taught growth mindset did as well as boys on challenging math problems
• A group of at-risk students showed sharp improvement when taught growth mindset
Fostering Success
• Many students misunderstand how the brain works
• Media messages often emphasize talent over hard work
• Dweck: students were ‘galvanized’ when told hard work makes you smarter; “you
mean I don’t have to be dumb?”
•School culture can foster success:
• Value taking on challenges even if you get a lower grade
• Repeated message - hard work makes you smarter
• School is not a place that judges you
• Students performed better in classes when teachers possess and communicate a growth
mindset
THE BRAIN IS MALLEABLE
 The brain is like a muscle that gets stronger and
works better the more it is exercised.
 Too often students believe the brain is static,
leading them to think talent and giftedness are
permanent, unchanging personal attributes that
automatically bring later success.
 Everytime you work hard, stretch yourself and
learn something new your brain
forms new connections and over time you actually
become smarter.
You’d think a fixed mindset would benefit gifted kids,
who see themselves as smart.
On the contrary: Dweck’s research has shown that for
gifted children who believe that intelligence is innate,
expending effort on schoolwork feels dangerous: the
need to put in effort is proof that they aren’t so smart!
In their attempts to look smart and always be
successful, gifted kids fear taking risks, & only want to
participate in activities they’re immediately good at.
How this may impact the transition from elementary to
middle, or middle to high school:
Students who have been successful with little effort
begin to struggle in the more demanding environment.
If they believe they’ve done well in school before
because they were smart… now they begin to think they
weren’t so smart after all.
If their grades begin to slip, they may never recover,
because they are likely to see the path to improvement–
expending effort– as more proof of their failure.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP?
Praise students for their effort rather than their
intelligence. Emphasizing effort gives them a variable
they can control.
Teach students that as they exercise their brains they are
forming new neural connections… the capacity to learn
and remember grows along with these new neural
pathways.
EXAMPLES OF PRAISE… for effort, strategies, focus,
persistence, willingness to take on challenges:
• You really studied for that test– you read the chapter,
you outlined it, you tested yourself on it– and it
worked!
• I like the way you tried a lot of different strategies on
that math problem until you finally solved it.
• It’s great that you took on that challenging project for
your science class! It will take a lot of work– doing
the research, designing and building the model–
you’re going to learn a lot of great things!
TEACH THE JOY OF LEARNING AS A PROCESS… express
positive views of challenges, trial & error, mistakes:
• This is hard– this is fun!
• Hm, that was too easy. Let’s find something more
challenging so you can learn something.
• Mistakes are interesting… they show how your mind
works. Let’s find a good mistake and see what we can
learn from it.
… more information about DWECK / MINDSETS in these
handouts… this research is informing conversations
among staff at HBW and in APS Gifted Services this year.
4. County programs
and resources for
gifted students
• Junior Honors Band & Orchestra (6th grade)
• Honors Band & Orchestra (7th-8th grades)
• Honors Chorus (6th-8th grades)
• Regional & State Honors Ensembles (HS)
• Fine Arts Apprentice Program (HS)
• P.R.I.M.E. (HS)
• Governor’s School (Academic, Mentorships, Arts,
Foreign Language) (HS)
• Superintendent’s Seminar (HS)
5. HBW programs and
resources for gifted
students
Middle School
• Elective courses in Robotics, Creative Writing, Economics
• AMC “Math Counts” and Math League Competitions
(Michelle Meehan, Mark Dickson)
• TAB (book club producing reviews for public library)
(Margaret Staeben, librarian)
… and much more!
See HB’s website.
• Bee Keepers (Neal Payne)
Students are
• Needle Art (Peggy Gaines)
encouraged to
• VJAS (regional science fair) – your child’s propose and run
interest clubs
science teacher
themselves! Very
• Geography Bee (Eleanor Reed)
much part of the
culture of student• Junetime (Liz Waters)
directed learning at
• National History Day (Dan Paris)
HBW.
• Odyssey of the Mind (Patty Healy, parent)
High School
• Elective courses in Engineering, Filmmaking, Social
Sciences, Computer Science
• Chess Club, Bridge Club (Mark Dodge)
• Math Team & VA Math League (Mark Dickson)
• National Honor Society (Jennifer Goen)
• VJAS (regional science fair) (your child’s science teacher)
• Scholastics Writing Awards (Catherine Frum)
• Scholastics Art Awards (Faylinda Kodis)
• Student-proposed elective courses (e.g. Art History)
• Student-proposed English electives
• Outside teacher funds
• CAS (Community as School) elective credit for internships
(Kristale Grant)
Vibrant theater department!
Les Misérables, whole-school production
• Almost monthly student-directed
plays in our Black Box
• Annual musical (this year:
Footloose!)
• Annual middle school play (this
year: Lysistrata!... Adapted by 8th
grade scriptwriters to involve
protest against school policies…)
Students direct, design and hang
lights, design & build sets, design and
create costumes, write and play
music… often with support but very
little direction from adults
Henry 8, Middle School Production
Questions?
Please fill out a card with individual questions or
concerns about your child, and leave me your phone
number or email address… and I will get back to later
this week!
Liz Waters, liz.waters@apsva.us