Turning Responsive Instruction on Its
Head: The Gifted/Advanced Learner
Connection
Mary Cay Ricci
Author and Educator:
Twitter: @MaryCayR
PAGE Conference
April 30, 2015 12:30-3:30
Outcomes
As a Result of Today’s Session, participants will have:
• Examined how teacher and student mindset
influence instruction.
• Examined Responsive Instruction as a vehicle for
equitable access.
• Begun planning a responsive instructional
experience for high potential and advanced
learners
Introductions
• Your name
• Your role
• Your School/District
• Anything else you would like to
share.
Today’s Anchor Activity
If at anytime during this afternoon’s
session you finish a task early or want an
alternative task, the anchor activity
folder holds some additional articles or
you may explore some of the student
books.
A Responsive Presentation
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Ask questions
Share ideas
Interact
Have a Growth Mindset
What is a Growth Mindset?
What do you already know about
Growth/Fixed Mindsets?
Using your arm as a gauge, show me how
much you know.
What do you already know about growth
and fixed mindsets?
Fixed Mindset
Growth Mindset
Intelligence is a fixed Intelligence is a
trait.
malleable quality, a
potential that can be
developed.
(neuroplasticity)
What are some ways that a teacher,
school, and/or school system’s
mindset can impact
differentiation/responsive instruction
in the classroom?
How does an educator’s growth
mindset relate to instructional
decisions?
How does a growth mindset school
culture relate to equitable access to
advanced learning opportunities?
Psychosocial Skills are Critical:
A child’s innate ability is only about 25% of
achievement.
Innate Ability
or IQ
25%
Other
Factors
75%
From: Talent Development as an Emerging
Framework for
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A Sampling of Psychosocial Skills
That Support Achievement
• Comfort with
Perseverance
intellectual tension
Self-confidence
• Coping skills for
Grit
failure,
disappointment
Emotional
• Ability to handle
regulation
critique and
Resiliency
feedback.
• Growth Mindset
Psychosocial skills (non-cognitive
factors) that support high
achievement must be actively and
deliberately cultivated.
Advanced and Gifted Learners….
Must be provided with opportunities
to develop perseverance, grit and
resiliency….
What might happen if they do not
develop these psychosocial skills?
The 4 Most Important Components in
a Growth Mindset Environment
• Deliberate cultivation of psychosocial skills
(non-cognitive factors) such as perseverance,
resiliency, and grit
• Equitable access to advanced learning
opportunities
• Growth Mindset feedback and praise
• Student conceptual understanding of neural
networks in the brain
(Ricci 2014)
Grit-Resiliency-Perseverance
As a table group• Discuss these three words and
brainstorm what they mean.
• What is the same about them?
• What is different?
• Using the sorting circles and sticky notes
compare them.
What are some things that your school
or your district have done to develop
these psychosocial skills?
• Perseverance
• Coping skills for failure,
disappointment
• Grit and Resiliency
Equitable Access
• Do all of your
students have
equitable access to
enriched and
accelerated
(advanced)
instruction?
• Are students
supported once they
have that access?
How a Fixed Mindset Influences:
Traditionally Underserved Students
• May believe that teachers don’t
expect much from them.
• Believe that they “can’t”
• Do not value the importance of
effort.
“But the data says he can’t…..”
Test scores, measures of achievement
data suggests where a student is at
that moment in time.
They don’t tell us where a student
could end up- what the possibilities
are.
Over the last several years there has
been a shift in the field of
“Gifted and Talented” Education.
Neuroscience has
had a significant
impact on the field.
Giftedness is a
developmental
process that is
domain-specific and
malleable.
What are some ways to insure
equitable access?
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Eliminate labels in the classroom
Eliminate “tracking” at an early age.
Consider the possibilities in all students
Adopt a Responsive Instruction model
What is Responsive Instruction?
• Responsive instruction is about
responding to and respecting what
students know when they walk in the
door.
It is about FRONT-End Differentiation
I would argue that….
It is not possible to plan and
facilitate an equitable, engaging,
differentiated, responsive
classroom if an educator does
not possess the belief that
intelligence can develop.
In your district……
• Do all students have equitable access to
enriched and accelerated instruction?
• Do they have to be labeled as “GT” to
get these services?
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A Responsive Model will allow us to
address unmet needs.
Should ALL students have access
to advanced, enriched and/or
accelerated instruction?
What are the barriers?
What is Responsive Instruction?
• When does differentiation typically
happen within the scope of instruction?
• Responsive instruction is about
responding to and respecting what
students know when they walk in the
door.
It is about FRONT-End Differentiation
Why is a differentiated, responsive
classroom important to a growth
mindset culture?
• The mindset of a teacher contributes
greatly to how he/she responds to the
needs of students.
• If an educator views a child through a
deficit lens, then that child will not likely be
given opportunities to grow.
Responsive Instruction
Meet them where they are….
• Preview material before the preassessment
(3-5 minutes).
• Administer preassessment.
• Analyze preassessment to determine areas
already mastered, any gaps in learning and
areas of need.
Always spend just a few minutes
previewing the skill, concept, process that
you will be assessing.
This helps prime the brain and will give you
a more accurate picture of what each child
needs.
What are some Previewing methods?
• An example or two of what you
are pre-assessing
• View a picture or photo about
the content being assessed
• Questioning
• Short video clips
At your table or with a partner…
• Think of a preview activity for the following
preassessments:
– Fractions
– D-Day
– Setting
– Civil Rights
– A standard/skill/concept that you teach.
What method should be used to
preassess your knowledge of this
subject?
Who is my audience?
How can they show me what they know?
How will I evaluate the information and
plan for instruction?
The First Step to Responsive
Instruction is Preassessment
• It is a tool that helps determine what students know
about a topic, skill, concept, or process before it is
taught.
• Pre-assessment helps us respond to a student’s
needs immediately. (instead of waiting until the
middle or end of a learning sequence)
It should be used routinely across content areas.
Preassessment is not a test.
In can be…
• Observation with anecdotal records
• A small group discussion
• Reading and reacting to text
• Sample math computation problems
coupled with application of the skill or
concept.
Sample Preassessment
Common Core State Standard RL 4.3-Describe in depth a
character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on
specific details in the text (e.g. a character’s thoughts, words, or
actions).
• Chose a short text that has details about a character, setting and
event. Ask students to read it independently.
• Ask students to write a summary of the text.
• Students will then hear the story being read out loud by the
teacher and follow along.
• Students will then participate in a Shared Inquiry discussion
using the text as a resource.
• After the discussion, they may revise their original summary
response.
• Teacher will determine student understanding of CCSS RL 4.3
through both their written response and their responses to the
questions during the Shared Inquiry discussion. This provides
two different opportunities for the student to demonstrate
understanding- written and oral.
Once you have previewed and given
your pre-assessment, how should the
results be analyzed?
• “Cut off” scores should not be
utilized
• Identify areas of mastery, areas
with gaps and areas of no
understanding.
Where is your school or district with:
• Administering preassessments: Who
develops them?
• Analyzing the results ?
• Responding to student need as a
result of preassessments coupled
with anecdotal observations ?
Instructional Unit
Preassessment
(Performance-based
assessment focused on the
targeted CCSS in the unit.
used to assist in grouping.)
Instruction
Formative
Assessment
Daily
Summative
Instruction
(Performance-based
assessment focused on
the targeted CCSS in the
unit.
Shared Learning
Experience
(optional)
Small Group
Scaffolding
Small Group
Compacting
Meaningful Independent Work
and/or Anchor Activities
Small Group
Acceleration
Enrichment
GT
Curriculum
What we found…
• Students who did not previously have access
to challenging learning experiences …..did
access the acceleration group AND were
successful.
• Students moved groups depending on the
upcoming standards being taught.
Curriculum Compacting
• Identify students who would benefit from
curriculum compacting.
• Eliminate the repetition of work that has
already been mastered and streamline
instruction that can be mastered at a pace
that matches the student's motivation and/or
ability.
Enrichment and Acceleration
• Plan for enrichment and/or acceleration that is:
– Teacher facilitated
– Engaging
– Infused with opportunities to think critically
– Allows for students to go deep and wide
– Allows for students to engage in above grade
level standards
• Identify students who have complete
understanding and are ready for another
learning outcome. Plan for enrichment and
topic/content acceleration for these
students.
• Form flexible instructional, teacher
facilitated small groups. Use formative
assessments to move students.
What does “acceleration” mean?
ELA Grade 5 Standards:
• Compare and contrast the overall structure of events, ideas, concepts,
or information in two or more texts.
• Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting
important similarities and differences in the point of view they
represent.
ELA Grade 6 Standards:
• Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series
of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the
plot moves toward resolution.
• Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or
speaker in a text.
“ Data on the positive benefits of acceleration
are so compelling, and yet acceleration is so
rare. We hope that all advocates for children
can agree that acceleration should be far more
common (then enrichment) in schools.”
Beyond Gifted Education By Peters, Matthews,
McBee and McCoach
Take a look at the planning template..
Why are students prematurely
removed from “higher level” groups?
• STRUGGLE and STRETCH are
good things for students
• What happens if kids do not
have success or fail?
An Important Question:
What often happens when
students face challenge?
What do you do when you
face challenge?
Let’s see………
With a partner you will work together to
solve the puzzles in your game bag.
The object is to take the blue and orange
game pieces to create two identical
shapes.
1. Work together on the first few
challenges.
1. After success with a few at each level,
go the next level until you are faced
with challenge.
• Did anyone feel like giving up? Why?
• What made you want to go on?
• How is this like or different from
what students go through when
they are faced with challenge.
• Should I take the game away from
you if I don’t think you are catching
on quickly or are not successful?
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What are the “Look Fors” in a
responsive, growth mindset
classroom?
Ongoing Assessment
Flexible/Fluid Grouping Practices
Curriculum Compacting
High Expectations
Higher Level Thinking
Acceleration and Enrichment
Classroom Environment
Plan for a Responsive Lesson..
Using the template or your
own format.
Thank you..I appreciate the effort that you
put into today’s session!
Mary Cay Ricci
Twitter@MaryCayR
marycayricci@gmail.com