Keynote Speakers for 2007
(for information on any of the speakers, click here)

Del Siegle, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
Joyce VanTassel-Baska, The College of William and Mary

Featured Speakers for 2007

Catherine Little, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
Michael Thompson, San Juan, Puerto Rico

About NCNC

Join your fellow professionals in the field of gifted education in Williamsburg and share in discussions about curriculum, instruction, and assessment for high-ability learners at the Center for Gifted Education's National Curriculum Network Conference.

The primary purpose of the conference is to provide a forum in which educators may engage in dialogue and discussion of curriculum issues for high-ability and gifted learners. The goals are as follows:

All sessions will be held at the University Center of the College of William and Mary. Directions to University Center

• Williamsburg Hospitality House at 1-800-932-9192 ($79 night, single/double occupancy; within walking distance).

• Preconference Workshop ONLY (Wednesday, March 14): $90
• Conference ONLY (Thursday, March 15 and Friday, March 16): $175*
• Conference AND Preconference (March 14 - 16): $225 *

• No on-site registration.
• Purchase orders accepted.
• Thursday, February 1, 2007.

Return to Top

Preconference Descriptions
(March 14, 2007)

Full day sessions

A-C Center for Gifted Education Curriculum Frameworks and Teaching Models
Each of these full-day workshops will explore the Center for Gifted Education curriculum in a specific area. Attendees will participate as learners in exploration of the various teaching models employed in the curriculum. Teacher presenters experienced in use of the curriculum will share their perspectives. These sessions are intended to be an introduction to the units. They are not intended to provide training on any specific unit, but rather to familiarize participants with the models embedded in the units and the process for teaching them. Participants who have copies of units are encouraged to bring them; units will also be available for review and/or purchase at the conference.

A. The Center for Gifted Education Language Arts Curriculum
Sherry Watts & Joanne Grant, Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland

The goals of the Center’s language arts curriculum are to develop skills in literary analysis and interpretation, persuasive writing, vocabulary, grammar, and oral communication, while using specific models to support critical reasoning and in-depth exploration of the concept of change. The workshop will explore teaching models and student activities that support these goals, as well as features of specific units and the resources they employ.

B. The Center for Gifted Education Problem-Based Science Curriculum
Donna Poland, New Horizons Governor's School, Virginia

The Center’s science curriculum units involve students in the exploration of real world, ill-structured problems. Each of the units emphasizes development of the process of experimental design, the concept of systems, and various specific scientific content goals. The workshop will involve participants in understanding the background and processes involved with problem-based learning and experimental design. Participants will also explore the concept of systems and discuss the scientific content topics to be taught in the units.

C. The Center for Gifted Education Social Studies Curriculum
Molly Sandling, Williamsburg-James City County Schools, Virginia

The Center’s social studies curriculum goals emphasize developing understanding of social studies concepts, the process of reasoning, principles of historical analysis, and various content topics within several social science disciplines. The workshop will engage participants in activities around the teaching models used in the units, including the concept development model, the Paul model of reasoning, and a primary source analysis framework. In addition, the workshop will explore activities related to the content of the various units, including topics in history, geography, and government.

D. Promoting Teacher Collaboration to Improve Instruction for Gifted Learners This preconference session is closed.
Dr. Valerie Hastings Gregory and Dr. Janice Robbins, The College of William and Mary

The quality of learning opportunities afforded to gifted learners is dependent on teachers’ ability to differentiate instruction. Such a complex task can be daunting; effective professional development is vital to supporting and sustaining teachers’ differentiation efforts for high-ability learners. Participants will analyze and reflect on their own instructional practice as well as apply collaborative professional development designs that promote the improvement of teaching and learning for gifted students. Several of the designs will be studied in depth including, self-reflection tools, the lesson study approach, examining student work, assessing student voices, and peer coaching. This session is designed for gifted program administrators, school administrators, gifted resource teachers, and teacher leaders.

Pre-conference sessions
(March 14, 2007)

Half day sessions
(You must choose a morning AND an afternoon session)

Morning

E. Differentiation Made Easy This preconference session is closed.
Dr. Carol Tieso, The College of William and Mary
In this session, participants will learn about the rationale behind differentiation for gifted learners, the different types of differentiation, including curriculum compacting, acceleration, open-ended questioning and strategies, and tiered questioning and instruction; and the different ways participants can preassess and group students for appropriate instruction. Additionally, participants will learn different methods of preassessment and varying management techniques for addressing flexible grouping arrangements.

F. Statistical Thinking In Action
Monica Brogan, Gloucester County Public Schools, Virginia
Students in elementary and middle grades have a natural curiosity about statistics and probability. Curriculum development and implementation, including differentiation for gifted students, should include data analysis, exploratory activities, identification of patterns and variability, student designed explorations, and the opportunity for hypotheses testing. Participants will join in explorations and activities related to statistical thinking. They will also design extensions for the explorations and practice styles of communication. Emphasis will be on data collection and analysis in grades 4-8.

G. Why Poetics Must be a Core Component
Michael Clay Thompson, Educational Consultant, Puerto Rico
Poetry is an oft-neglected element of the language arts. Classroom practice often focuses on a surface interpretive approach, neglecting the technical details of poetics that distinguish poetry from prose. Relegating poetry to the sidelines is a mistake, however, because these techniques are important not only in poetry but in prose as well. Students need to know them in order to write beautifully, and they also need to be able to notice them when they are reading classic English literature. Novelists from Hemingway to Hawthorne to Melville also wrote poetry and incorporated their poetic techniques into the sentences of their novel paragraphs. This session will survey the important techniques of poetics and present examples of their use both in poetry and in prose.

Afternoon

H. Improving Critical Reading Skills Through the Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program
Tamra Stambaugh, The College of William and Mary
The Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension Program is a supplementary reading program intended to improve the comprehension skills of third, fourth, and fifth grade students. Using a series of skill ladders and designated readings, Jacob’s Ladder provides a scaffold from lower order to higher order thinking skills. This workshop will focus on the intent, content and use of the program including practice with program components and the writing of additional skill ladders.

I. Making the Link Between Statistical Activities and Writing
Monica Brogan, Gloucester County Public Schools, Virginia
Participants will discover how to connect math and writing for students in grades 4-8. Specifically, how students can take data they generate and share it with different audiences through writing activities. Emphasis will be on writing that is clear, concise, correct, and in context. Rubric design and grading practices for activities will be included.

J. Formal Writing, Reconsidered: How School Systems Can Reconnect the Dots
Michael Clay Thompson, Educational Consultant, Puerto Rico
In the last two decades, a great deal of time and ink has been wasted in the attempt to teach writing without the foundations of formal language study that make writing instruction effective. Now, the times, they are a-changing. There is an awakening to the fact that students who do not know formal grammar, who have not studied formal vocabulary, who have not read extensively in formal classics of literature, and who know nothing about the formal techniques of poetics will be unable to write formal, standard English. For administrators and teachers, this session will examine the importance of the academic prerequisites of writing instruction, and will make both system and classroom recommendations for teaching formal essay and research paper writing.

Return to Top