I wish you a wonderful holiday with family and friends. We are in the time of the year when it gets extra busy and we barely have time to reflect. Our team attended NAGC 2024 in Seattle this month and we want to share with you key takeaways from the conference. We will dive more in depth later, but you can reach out if you want more information before then.

Know any kids like this? Learners with high ability come with so many challenges–unmet potential is often one we ALL struggle with.

Our children with high abilities (and all children!) can and will learn SO MUCH from games! Playing games can help with focus, perseverance, learning to lose and conflict resolution to name a few. Games can be store bought or made on the fly (see Ultimate Tic Tac Toe link below). According to Dr. Karyn Purvis, “Scientists have recently determined that it takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain- unless it is done with play, in which case, it takes between 10-20 repetitions.” So, let’s make some time to PLAY!

I can hear you now asking…WHEN?!? Well, start small and consider building your game collection to be used during indoor recess in lieu of computer time. OR, find a way to make game day a part of your morning routine–do you have children looking for things to do while others are arriving and having breakfast? Maybe ILEARN testing days lend themselves to game day. Could you host a gaming lunch?

IDEA: Use a blank BINGO board for review days–students fill in squares with vocabulary or phrases they think might be mentioned during a review session and play along.

IDEA: Click here for a link to a cool way to use Scattergories in the classroom.

IDEA: Click here to learn more about Ultimate Tic Tac Toe–middle school and high school kids could really get into this!

Want some ideas for building your wish list? Or a list of games to share with your parents for the holidays? Here is a list of games that are fun for kids of all ages!

As educators, we hear AI and immediately have a response–do we like it? Is it really going to change the way we teach? How do I experiment with it? What does it have to offer me as a teacher of learners with high ability? Dr. John Spencer of Spencer Education (keynote speaker at this year’s NAGC conference) has a lot of thoughts on the A.I. Revolution that is worth your time–click here!

If you aren’t already using A.I. to help differentiate your lessons, try this to dip your toe in the water: Open ChatGPT and use a command driven by a RAFT–Role, Audience, Format and Tone to receive help with question stems that might just shift your teaching to the next level for those learners who need more opportunities for critical thinking, but may also need support in the area of communication

EXAMPLE prompt typed into ChatGPT: I am a third grade teacher. My students are comparing and contrasting simple machines. I would like a set of question stems with fill in the blanks that align with DOK 3 and 4. Please format in an academic language that is third grade friendly.

DOK 3: Strategic Thinking

1. Imagine you need to lift a heavy object. Which simple machine would you use, and why? A _________ would work best because _________.

2. Analyze how a pulley and a lever could work together. A pulley _________, while the lever _________. Together, they _________.

3. Create an argument for why a wheel and axle might be more effective than an inclined plane for moving a heavy load. A wheel and axle _________, whereas an inclined plane _________, which makes _________.

DOK 4: Extended Thinking

1. Design a tool using at least two simple machines. My tool includes a _________ and a _________ because _________.

2. Evaluate how changing the size of a simple machine, like the length of a lever or the slope of an inclined plane, would affect its efficiency. When the _________ is changed, it _________, which makes _________.

3. Imagine you are building a playground. How could you incorporate simple machines to make the playground more fun and useful? I would use a _________ for _________ and a _________ for _________ because _________.

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is a proactive model of academic, social, and behavioral support for students. HA Services for students can look like an upside down pyramid in terms of the release of teacher control and intellectual demand. A student can be any of these tiers for any content or service area. Here is an example: A student can receive HA Tier 3 support in Math, HA Tier 1 support in Reading, Tier 2 support in social, and Tier 1 support in behavioral support.

HA Tier 3 at the top of the hourglass is when the majority of the instruction time is spent on a student driven process. This includes independent investigations of a topic and compacting. The document below is an individual learning plan that is student driven with teacher guidance to document the process.

HA students may be achieving above grade /age level in academic achievements, but below their age in emotional development. Here is a list of books on different HA topics for students to help learn about themselves:

Accepting Others: The Big Umbrella

Perfectionism: The Beautiful Oops!

Anxiety: Catching Thoughts

Our kindergarten students are taking the CogAT in December on their devices just like the 2nd and 5th graders. NWEA is wrapping up for our 2nd and 5th graders who scored an 80th-95th percentile on one of the batteries of the CogAT. The next step in their screening in January is the teacher ratings scale SIGS-2 for any student who scored a 94th-95th percentile on any of the batteries. Those scales will be sent to teachers in their inbox with an email from SIGS-2 Support.

Registration is now open for the NAGC Teachers Summit, offered virtually on February 25-26, 2025! We can provide funds for a substitute if you are interested in attending the virtual conference during the day. Please click on the link above for the schedule. It would be two half pm days.

The NAGC Teachers Summit provides practitioners with tools and strategies to serve the unique needs of your gifted and high-potential students. Learn from both practicing educators and experts in the field as you create your own learning experience through flexible, dynamic online PD at this event custom-created just for teachers. Attend live and interact with presenters, then follow up with on demand learning through 10 additional hours of recorded content provided post-conference.

The HA Licensure program is a 4 course program that focuses on the needs for high ability learners, curriculum, and programming support. Ball State University, IU Southeast, and Purdue have programs. Reach out to Kim Jovic if you are interested. We have a district agreement to review with details on the reimbursement.