Talented and Gifted (TaG) Program
Parent Informational Session
Thursday
October 8, 2015
6:30-7:30 p.m.
Hosted by:
Rick Papera,
Sarah Rooney &
Lynne Henwood
Joe Renzulli’s 3 Ring Conception of Giftedness
A Little About Us…
Lynne Henwood
• Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA: B.A. in Psychology
• Georgian Court College, Elementary Education Certificate
• Rutgers Gifted Certification Program
A Little About Us…
Sarah Rooney
East Stroudsburg University-Major: Education with a concentration in
mathematics
• Master's Degree in Middle School Mathematics- Montclair State University.
• Rutgers Gifted Certification Program
•
A Little About Us…
Emily Brennan
Leave Replacement
Definition of Giftedness
Federal Definition of Gifted and Talented
"The term ‘gifted and talented,” when used
with respect to students, children, or youth,
means students, children, or youth who give
evidence of high achievement capability in
such areas as intellectual, creative, artistic, or
leadership capacity, or in specific academic
fields, and who need services or activities not
ordinarily provided by the school in order to
fully develop those capabilities."
(No Child Left Behind Act, P.L. 107-110 (Title IX, Part A, Definition
22) (2002); 20 USC 7801(22) (2004))
Washington Township’s Gifted Mission Statement
The TaG program is designed to meet the needs of
those students who require a differentiated
curriculum in an environment that addresses their
unique learning styles. We strive to accomplish
this through providing a rigorous program of
studies which includes: a challenging, relevant
content requiring higher order thinking skills; a
focus on the development of independent study; a
supportive environment conducive to risk-taking;
opportunities for creative expression and problem
solving; and collaboration with other students of
similar abilities.
Bright Child
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Knows the answers
Is interested
Is attentive
Has good ideas
Works hard
Answers the questions
Top group
Listens with interest
Learns with ease
6-8 repetitions for
mastery
Understands ideas
Enjoys peers
vs.
Gifted Child
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Asks the questions/highly
curious
Mentally and physically
involved
Plays around, yet tests
well
Discusses in detail,
elaborates
Beyond the group
Shows strong feeling and
opinions
1-2 repetitions for
mastery
Constructs abstractions
Bright Child
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Grasps the meaning
Completes assignments
Is receptive
Copies accurately
Enjoys school
Absorbs information
Technician
Good memorizer
Enjoys sequential
presentation
Is alert
Is pleased with own
learning
vs.
Gifted Child
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Draws inferences
Initiates projects
Is intense
Creates a new design
Enjoys learning
Manipulates information
Inventor
Good guesser
Thrives on complexity
Keenly observant
Highly self-critical
Some unexpected traits of Gifted Children:
http://www.ctgifted.org/website/cmsAdmin/uploads/Gifted-Teacher-Booklet.pdf
Identification Process
-still working on finding the best way to identify the students who are in need of our services
CogATs
MAPS
Teacher behavior checklist
We also consider writing samples and
Continental Math League performance
 Torrance Test of Creativity
 Beginning this year: TaG Portfolios
 Q,V, NV
 Twice Exceptional
 ESL
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CogAT – An Initial Look
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Purpose: To assess students’
abilities in reasoning and
problem solving using verbal,
quantitative, and non-verbal
(spatial) symbols
 Group administered ability test
 S.A.S. – Standard Age Scores –
Currently are used to begin the
investigation into “giftedness.”
 For more information about
the CogAT, you can visit their
website.
CogAT – Verbal Reasoning
The words displayed are
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The verbal section of
CogAT will measure:
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Oral Vocabulary
Verbal Reasoning
Sentence Completion
Verbal Analogies
green, blue, red
Answer choices are:
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color
crayon
paint
yellow
rainbow
CogAT - Quantitative
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Not just about math
facts
More about thinking
numerically and
problem-solving with
numbers
Relational Concepts
Quantitative Concepts
Quantitative Relations
Number Series and
Equation Building
areas are assessed.
Given two problems
numbered one and two
with three answer choices,
solve the two problems and
determine if the answer is
greater than, less than, or
equal to…
#1) 0 + 3
#2) 3 + 0
The answer choices are:
◦ 1 is greater than 2
◦ 1 is less than 2
◦ 1 is equal to 2
CogAT – Non Verbal
Figure Classification, Matrices, Figural
Analysis, and Figural Classification are
assessed.
 The items on these tests use only
geometric shapes and figures that have
had little direct relationship to formal
school instruction.
 This test requires no prior knowledge.
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CogAT – Non-Verbal
Practice Problem
The answer choices are:
If a dark piece of
paper is folded in the
center from top to
bottom and a hole is
punched in the
bottom right-hand
corner, what will the
piece of paper look
like when it is
unfolded?
A) one hole in the bottom
right-hand corner
B) one hole in the bottom
right-hand corner and one in
the top right-hand corner
C) one hole in the top righthand corner
D) one hole in the bottom
right-hand corner and one in
the bottom left-hand corner
E) one hole in the bottom
right- hand corner and one in
the top left-hand corner.
The Non-Verbal Child
Typically exhibits stronger visual-spatial
abilities than auditory sequential abilities
 Performs well on tasks with spatial
components, i.e., solving puzzles, tracing
mazes, mental rotations, etc.
 Perceives the inter-relatedness of the
parts of any situation
 THINKS OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!
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The Non-Verbal Child
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“…learn(s) better visually than auditorally…
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…learn(s) all at once…when the light bulb goes on, the learning is
permanent…
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…do(es) not learn from repetition and drill…
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…arrives at correct solutions without taking steps; ‘show your work’
may be difficult for (this type of student)…
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…may have difficulty with easy tasks, but shows amazing ability with
difficult, complex tasks…
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…(is a) systems thinker…
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…tend(s) to be organizationally impaired and unconscious about time.”
Linda Silverman, PhD
Push-in Program
In Washington Township, we are committed to ensuring that our
higher-level learners are challenged every day.
In addition to our pull-out program, we
provide a ‘Push-In Enrichment (PIE) experience for K-5.
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Higher-level learning or creativity experience
Differentiated based on ability and interest level
Opportunity for students to utilize their potential gifts and talents
Teachers see students in a different learning situation
Exposes teachers to different techniques for challenging students
TaG teachers observe potential learning needs of students
TaG teachers are resources for classroom teachers
TaG Year TimeLine
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September
◦ Continue DENTIFICATION PROCESS/ allow for
transition time to new year
◦ Assessments for Non Verbal
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October-May/June
◦ Work with current identified students
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June
◦ Begin IDENTIFICATION FOR FALL 2015
Students WILL ONLY BE ADMITTED into the
program during September—ONLY
EXCEPTION will be new students to the district.
 We will be collecting data throughout the year.
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Non Verbal at a Glance
(some changes this year: this is for NV ONLY)
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Grades 3, 4, 5 (NV only students)
1x per week for 90 minutes
Critical Thinking activities
◦ “Thinking Outside of the Box”
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Exploring Creativity
◦ 4 elements of creativity
 Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, Elaboration
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Develop divergent thinking
Higher level thinking/questioning
Menus
Grade 5 at a Glance
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Verbal/Quantitative/NV
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90 minutes
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Meet s 1x per week for
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“Night of the
Notables”
Leadership Theme
Independent studies
Collaboration
Quantitative,Verbal
and Visual/Spatial
Centers
Opportunities for
competitions
(Interpretive Reading,
Word Masters, Chess)
Vocabulary building
Wonderbook/Blog
Grade 4 at a Glance
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Verbal/Quantitative/NV
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Meet s 1x per week for
90 minutes
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Curiosity theme
Independent studies
Collaboration
Quantitative centersCML, Khan Academy
Verbal centers-Word
Masters, etc.
Visual/Spatial Centers
Vocabulary building
Puzzles/problemsolving
Wonderbook/Blog
Grade 3 at a Glance
 Grade
3: Verbal, Quantitative, NV
Theme: Failure and Resilience
 1x per week for 90 minutes
 Collaboration
 Puzzles & Problem-Solving
 Verbal, Quantitative, and Visual/Spatial
Centers
 Hands-on activities
 WONDER BOOK
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Website
Chess
 WordMasters
 Interpretive Reading-grade 5
 Other Competitions
 Fun pages
 Parent resource page
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http://www.wtschools.org/
• Rigor
• Pushing
outside of
the comfort
zone
• Raising the
bar
• Struggle is
good
• Failure is
OKAY
• Risk Taking
Click picture
to link to a
related article
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recommend…