Schools for Scholars
Presented by
Nora Ho
Outcomes
Participants will:
 Know their students
 Understand scholarliness
 Be able to create a nurturing, scholarly
environment
through
the
implementation
of
depth
and
complexity
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Attributes and Characteristics
of Scholars
 Thirst for Knowledge
 Exercise their Intellect
 Take Intellectual Risks
 Look at Multiple Perspectives
 Have Goals they want to reach
 Ponder Ideas
 Have unanswered Questions
 Save Ideas
 Have a Strong Work Ethic
 Use Research and a Variety of
Resources
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Scholarly Intelligence
 Intellectual Autonomy
o Value and validate intelligence
o Understand giftedness
o Recognize strengths/Build skills
o Envision what can be
 Intellectual Courage
o Self-Advocacy
o Risk-Taking
o Creativity/conformity
o Individual needs/Belonging
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Academic Rigor
 Standards we set for our students
 High expectations for students through
depth and complexity
 Content mastery
 Skill mastery
 Critical thinking across the disciplines
 Commitment to put similar emphasis on
expectations for ourselves
 Increase mastery of discipline content
 Improve ability to apply5 learning
 Model critical thinking
An academic program is rigorous
when there is and/ or are…
 Depth and integrity of inquiry
 Sustained focus
 Multiple perspectives
 Unanswered questions
 Big Ideas
 Goal Setting
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An academic program is appropriate
when there is and/ or are…
 Differentiation of curriculum and
instruction
 On-going assessment
 Respectful and appropriately
challenging work
 Academic relevance
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Academic relevance
 Students are able to make personal
meaning. (Novelty)
 We have prior intellectual or emotional
connection.
 It is connected to real life.
 It is significant to the times.
 It actively engages or involves us.
 Learning increases when connections
are built upon prior knowledge
 Content material is
rigorous and respectful
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Scholarly Practice
 Allows students to function as a practitioner, a
producer, a researcher, or a scholar
 Allows students to assume a leadership role
 Provides a rationale for “Why is this important?”
 Provides students with the tools and methods for
independent learning
 Establishes the relationship between questions
that disciplines seek to answer and questions
they seek to answer in their daily lives
 Offers opportunities to learn how to use and
apply the skills of a discipline in real world
situations.
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Scholarly Skills
 Time Management/Organization
 Decision-making
 Learning how to learn
 Asking questions/conducting interviews
 Determining when to persist
 Gathering and analyzing data
 Determining bias in documents
 Using the tools of the discipline
 Identity perspective
 Make observations/report findings
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Scholarly Habits
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Value physical fitness
Believe in the power of effort
Tolerate ambiguity
Understand the nature of frustration
Think and communicate with clarity and
precision
Manage impulsivity
Listen with understanding and empathy
Create, imagine, innovate
Question and pose problems
Think interdependently
Find humor
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Knowing the need to
differentiate to meet
academic needs and
knowing the social and
emotional needs of
scholars, how will this
determine your learning
environment?
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A Scholarly Environment Is…
 Welcoming
 Safe
 Caring
 Respectful
 Flexible
 Time
 Structure
 Supportive of study, reflection,
collaboration and academic rigor
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Relationships: a Professional
Learning Community
 Understand and Practice
“Scholarliness”
 Exercise and validate intellect
 Practice the work ethic
 A pervasive expectation and
celebration of growth
 Mutual Respect
 Clear Rules and Expectations
 Appreciate individual strengths and
differences
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Open Communication
Killer Statements:
 If you would just try harder….
 You did a great job but…
 You are not working up to your
potential…
Non-judgmental, respectful dialogue with
appreciation of differences and
recognition of the strengths of each
member of the learning community
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Icons
Language of the Discipline
This is a nursery rhyme.
Once upon a
time…
The
End!
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Icons for Depth
 Language of the
Discipline
 Unanswered
Questions
 Details
 Rules
 Patterns
 Ethics
 Trends
 Big Idea
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Language of the Discipline
Scholar
Icons
Differentiation
 Depth
 Complexity
 Novelty
Environment
Disciplinarian
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Sample Lesson:
Thinking Like a Disciplinarian
Language
Think Like a Marine Biologist
I describe and classify marine life
and determine how these
organisms develop, obtain food,
reproduce, interact with other
life, and why particular groups live
in different regions of the ocean.
 Animal classifications—e.g.
mammal, fish; ecosystems,
habitats, communities,
populations, predator/prey,
producer/consumer/decomposer
, reproduction
I investigate:
 Scuba diving, knowledge of
oceanic landforms & ocean life,
cause & effect, problem
solving, chemistry, medicine,
botany, swimming
Skills/Tools
 how marine plants and animals
can be harvested as food without
destroying their natural
populations
 whether or not human activities,
such as dumping waste products
in the ocean, harm marine life
 what substances marine
organisms produce that can be
used to treat human diseases.
Products
 Specimens, pictures, drawings,
charts, graphs, food, medicine
Adapted from: Long Beach Unified
School District GATE
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We agree. The
earth rotates
around the sun.
Details of ideas, subjects, concepts are investigated
and add to student’s depth of understanding.
•How can you elaborate on this?
•What are the parts-to-whole relationships in this study?
•What information can be added to what we already know?
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The repetition
of something
What patterns
exist in your
topic?
Patterns of behaviors, activities, events, etc. are investigated
to create an understanding
beyond the single event.
•In what ways is the past repeated in the present and may
possibly be repeated in the future?
•What information does the pattern provide?
•How does the pattern explain some event or thing?
•What are the details within the pattern?
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What are the current trends of
advances in your discipline?
Students investigate trends within issues, ideas, events, etc.
to gain understanding of the big picture.
•What are the external factors affecting the information
about this topic?
•What causes of action affected the development of the
ideas about this topic?
•What social, political, economic, technological, and
popular ideas affected the knowledge about this topic?
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The guide or procedures one must obey in this field of
study.
•What are the procedures in the study of your topic?
•What are the written and unwritten
rules?
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Rules/Expectations
 Clear Rules and Expectations provide a
sense of security and stability
 Rules are necessary for a society to
function
 Rules should be developed as a
collaborative effort
 Rules should be few and simple with
clear and logical consequences
 Stated rules and expectations allow
students to consider their choices
 Rules must be enforced in a respectful
manner
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Students discover and investigate questions for
which there are no answers. The missing or
unclear parts of the discipline.
•What ideas remain unclear or incomplete about this
•topic?
•What information is still ambiguous about this topic?
•What ideas are still unresolved about this topic?
•What information is relevant to this study but is
unavailable?
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RIGHT!
WHAT ARE THE
CONTROVERSIES?
WRONG!
Ethics can be investigated to determine why
decisions are made in certain ways.
The Debate. The right or wrong surrounding an
issue in this discipline.
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Students investigate ideas in order to determine what
the overarching ideas are within a field of study or
across disciplines.
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Icons for Complexity
 Relationship Over Time
 Relationship Between, Among, Across
Disciplines
 Multiple Perspectives
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PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE…
How has the
topic changed
over time?
How will it
look in the
future?
How has the area
of study changed
or evolved?
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How does one discipline relate to other disciplines?
Do they use the same tools, language, and/or skills?
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Perspective: relating
information from…
.
 Differing roles
and
knowledge
 Opposing
viewpoints
 Multiple
perspectives
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What is the
Student’s Role?
 All students participate in respectful
work.
 Students work in a variety of group
configurations, as well as
independently.
 Students assume more responsibility
for their own learning.
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Students Have the
Responsibility to…
 Treat others with respect
 Refrain from engaging in behavior that
interferes with learning or detracts
from a scholarly environment
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What Is The Teacher’s Role?
To Understand…
Who we teach
What we teach
How we teach
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Teachers have the
responsibility to…
 Model and mentor
 Be a scholar and practice scholarliness
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Becoming a Gifted Educator
Be:
A Scholar
Enthusiastic about learning
Willing to go outside your comfort
zone
An advocate for your students
A Model and Mentor
Hold:
High expectations
Students Accountable for Quality Work
Provide:
Opportunities for interaction with
students’ mental peers
A nurturing safe place
Research and standards-based
instruction
Pervasive caring
Encourage:
The pursuit of in-depth learning
Respectful questions
Risk-taking
Share:
Who you are
Your passion
Your knowledge
Know:
How Gifted Students learn
What you teach
Your students
Take:
Care of the Caregiver
Help:
Students understand their giftedness
Students understand and express their
feelings
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We are indebted to
the works of:
 Deborah Burns, PhD. Cheshire Public Schools,
Jan Leppien, PhD. University of Great Falls,
Jean Purcell, PhD. Connecticut State Dept. of
Ed., from a workshop entitled, Developing
Scholars and Expert Practitioners
 Sandra Kaplan, EdD., U.S.C., California Model
of Differentiation
 Marilyn Lane, Educational Consultant
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