The Art of Communication: Instructional Strategies for Gifted Learners

Differentiation• Why differentiate?• Student focused – adjust

teaching style to ensure that every child in the classroom reaches the destination/goals.– Response to student readiness

– small group, centers– Response to student interests

– passions, strengths, culturally relevant

– Response to student learning profile – learning style, culture, gender

Ways to Differentiate• Content – what the student needs to learn• Process – - the way the content is learned

(activities students engage in to master content)• Product – outcomes of the instruction (using

multiple forms of communication).

Teacher Attitude• Be flexible - Be able to adjust the curriculum or presentation of information.• See it as a journey – it is a process…take it one step at a time.• Practice – collaboration with other teachers

• “They may continue to teach to the middle of the class, missing the learners at either extreme of the normal curve—believing that the top will get the information anyway and the struggling learners may take too long to learn it.”

The Art of Communication

Paideia

• Greek word for the holistic upbringing of a childDeveloped in the early 1980s by Mortimer Adler• Active learning through Socratic Seminar• Seminars: achieve a deeper understanding

about the ideas and values in a text.• Socrates – didactic learning – finding meaning in

texts and about the world through the art of communication

Socratic Seminar

How To:• Choose an interesting and relevant text

“The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton

• Teach the students formal seminar rules• Practice annotating literature and writing

open-ended questions.• Show students how to communicate their ideas

effectively

Let’s Practice

• Read the short passage from an article on Nature vs Nurture.

• Come up with an open ended question: What has more effect on your personality: genes or environment?

• Engage in discussion.

Nature vs Nurture

One of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology is the Nature vs Nurture debate. Each of these sides have good points that it's really hard to decide whether a person's development is predisposed in his DNA, or a majority of it is influenced by this life experiences and his environment. As of now, we know that both nature and nurture play important roles in human development, but we have not known yet whether we are developed majorly because of nature or due to nurture.

GradingLily – pointed out genetic composition as a factorUsed text as support

James – off

topic

Text as support

Argued against

DNA

Kate – on

phone

Did not

come

prepared.

Rubric

• Participant offers enough solid analysis, without prompting, to move the conversation forward.

1 2 3 4 5• Participant, through his or her comments, demonstrates a deep knowledge of the text and

the question. 1 2 3 4 5

• Participant has come to the seminar prepared, with notes anda marked/annotated text .

1 2 3 4 5• Participant uses quotes or specific details from the text to support his or her ideas.

1 2 3 4 5• Participant offers clarification and/or follow-up that extends the conversation.

1 2 3 4 5

Score: ___________ out of 25 = __________________

Speed Dating• Creates a learning environment that is active and collaborative.• Preparation: read the text and come in with notes and

questions• Set up and Discussion:

– Students are in pairs and are given a certain amount of time to discuss content

– One set of students remain in seats, while the others rotate.– Students take notes on what they have learned from each individual

and decide if they want to “date” the student.

Let’s practice

• Arrange yourself in pairs.• Here is your topic: Trump for President• You have two minutes.• Switch partners.

• An important piece of this activity is reflection: What did I learn from this activity?

Graffiti Boards• An artistic representation of the thought

process, ideas, and patterns that students understand while learning a concept.

• Connection through art: “What is on your mind?”

Let’s Practice

• Your topic: the Future• Write, draw, or doodle anything that is on your

mind.

• Remember: Reflection is a very important component to graffiti boards. A journal entry is an effective tool.

Question Tests

• Testing technique: Quest – using questions to gauge student knowledge.

• Instead of answering questions, students generate questions that show their understanding of a text or a unit of study.

• In this capacity, they act as the teacher and create a test.

Rubric for Grading

Let’s try it:

• Topic: Differentiation• Using the rubric as a guide, create questions

that show your understanding of the topic.

• Let’s share – In your group, what questions were most effective at showing understanding of the topic?

R.A.F.T Writing

• A writing strategy that helps students understand their role as a writer.• Helps students focus on audience.

Role of the Writer – Who are you?

Audience – To whom are you writing?

Format – In what format are you writing?

Topic: What are you writing about?

Raft Rubric

Let’s try itRole Audience Format Topic

Big Bad Wolf Three Little Pigs Rap Why can’t we be friends?

Old Man/Lady Class of students Persuasive essay If I knew then what I know now.

Historian TV Audience editorial History will repeat itself.

Therapist Peer group brochure Love is a battlefield.

Questions?

• If you would like more information, please contact me at: cworley3@gmail.com