The GTEC mandate is to facilitate the professional development of teachers from ECS to Grade 12 to improve the quality of educational practices for gifted and talented students in Alberta. Look for these resources:
| 1. | The AGATE journal is a collection of theoretical, descriptive and research articles on all aspects of the education of gifted and talented children. | |
| 2. | The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) videos contain information about current research in education as well as practical strategies for putting research into practice. We would like to highlight our newest video called Dimensions of Learning. This series will help teachers understand the model, design integrated lessons and assess each dimension. | |
| Dimensions of Learning is an instructional framework based on the best of what researchers and theorists know about learning. Its premise is that five types of thinking, or dimensions of learning, are essential to academic success. The Dimensions of Learning framework will help you plan instruction that takes into account all five of these critical aspects of learning. | ||
| (a) | Positive Attitudes and Perceptions About Learning | |
| There are a number of ways that teachers can help students feel accepted and comfortable: establish relationships with each student, monitor their attitudes, engage in equal and positive classroom behaviors, respond positively to students' incorrect responses or lack of response, provide students with opportunities for cooperative learning, help students develop strategies for gaining acceptance from peers, use activities that involve physical movement, have students identify their own standards for comfort and order, establish and communicate classroom rules and procedures, establish clear policies about the physical safety of students, be aware of teasing or threats | ||
| (b) | Thinking Involved and Acquiring and Integrating Knowledge | |
| There are many techniques and strategies teachers students experience content using a variety of senses, present studies with the K-W-L strategy, use the concept attainment process, use reciprocal teaching techniques, present students with the "before, during, after" strategy. | ||
| (c) | Thinking Involved in Extending and Refining Knowledge | |
| In the dimensions of learning model, eight mental activities stimulate the type of thinking involved in extending and refining knowledge: comparing, classifying, induction, deduction, error analysis, constructing support, abstracting, and analyzing perspectives. A teacher can prompt students to use the eight extending and refining activities by asking questions that guide students into and through the activities. A teacher might provide students with ways of graphically representing the comparison/classification/induction process. A teacher might also present students with common types of informal fallacies as well as different ways of developing an argument or analyzing perspectives. | ||
| (d) | Thinking Involved in Using Knowledge Meaningfully | |
| There are five types of knowledge that encourage students to use knowledge meaningfully: decision making, investigation, experimental inquiry, problem solving and invention. Teachers introduce each skill and provide students with the steps involved in the process. Once the students understand the process (e.g., decision making), the teacher gives them structured tasks that will let them practise the process. Ultimately students should come up with their own tasks. | ||
| (e) | Productive Habits of the Mind | |
| Effective learners develop powerful habits of mind that enable them to regulate their behavior, think critically and creatively. Teachers can reinforce the habits of critical/creative thinking: introduce each of the habits of critical/creative thinking, have students identify situations in which each of the habits of critical/creative thinking would be useful, have students develop strategies or techniques to help them use the habits of critical/creative thinking, and have students engage in problem solving or debate. | ||
| GTEC also has a number of other video resources that are available for loan. These include a series on multiple intelligences as well as a series on challenging the gifted and on integrating the curriculum. | ||
| 3. | The GTEC Study Modules are designed to complement our ASCD video series, Dimensions of Learning, and to provide teachers with a small-group inservice package. | |
| 4. | Challenging Learners is a collection of successful teaching units developed and implemented by teachers of gifted students. (Available through Barnett House.) | |
| 5. | The Paper, a joint publication with the Centre for Gifted Education and Alberta Associates for Bright Children, contains information on current resources and recent theory and practice in the field of gifted education and provides details about GTEC events. | |
| 6. | The GTEC Web Page is currently found at this address: http://www.gtecouncil.com. The Web page includes excerpts from our new constitution, information about upcoming events and practical teaching ideas. | |
| *** For more information about these resources, contact your GTEC regional president. | ||