Abstracts

Felicity Bezer Coordinator Learning & Development Centre Gifted Education Nambour State School

Supporting a Thinking & Learning Culture

Workshop

QAGTC

fbeze1@eq.edu.au   PH: 07 5441 7979 FAX: 0 7 5476 0320

This session is for beginning teachers looking for new ideas, experienced teachers looking for a fresh approach or anyone in-between!

q       Are you interested in exploring an enabling tool that assists all learners to engage? q       Are you looking for ways to your students reach their full potential? q       Are you keen to create an environment that encourages learners to take responsibility for their own thinking & learning? q       Do you want to support your students to develop a positive perspective of themselves? If you answered yes to any of these questions then this is the session for you.   Felicity will share with you the Thinkers Frame, a resource developed to explicitly teach foundational learning theories to your students and then be used as the basis for a positive thinking and learning culture.  The Thinkers Frame incorporates the Revised Blooms taxonomy, Gardners Multiple Intelligences, Grouping strategies, Learning Journey stages plus a whole lot more.  If you use any of these taxonomies and strategies in your programming and would like to learn how to expand them into your general teaching practice you will gain much from this session.

Felicity is one of the eight G&T LDC Coordinators located throughout the state who are entrusted to support the specific needs of students who are gifted, their educators and parents.  Felicity has worked in the specialisation of gifted education since 1998 and is a passionate advocate in this field.  Currently based on the Sunshine Coast, she has spent the majority of her teaching career in rural areas in classroom, learning support and administration roles. In this session Felicity has taken tried and tested educational theories and brought them to life with a refreshing approach to support educators and students alike.

Justine Finter

Multiple Intelligences to Grow and Succeed

Talk/Presentation

Frenchville State School, Rockhampton

Ph 49315 333  fax 49315 300   email jfint1@eq.edu.au

Class teachers and school administrators

An exciting world of Multiple Intelligences to Grow and Succeed (MIGS) has evolved at Frenchville State School to develop the strengths, or the gifts and talents for all students from Pre-school to year 7. The MIGS program gives students the opportunity through their multiple intelligences to build on their individual strengths, to participate in open-ended creative activities with challenging problems which require experimentation and which reward divergent thinking through the spirit of teamwork.   The MIGS program is developed in response to the school profile -  to do something for those students more able (the gifted and talented) - whilst acknowledging that all students can develop their own multiple intelligences.  It is the wish of the school community to take an inclusive approach that involves all students at their level to enrich and identify the emerging gifts and talents.

Justine Finter is the Curriculum Coordinator at Frenchville State School.  As part of her role she coordinates the schools MIGS program - one strategy the school uses to cater for gifted and talented students.  Prior to this role, Justine  worked as a Curriculum Education Advisor in the Rockhampton district and has taught as a  primary classroom teacher for many years.

Maree Flynn & Barbara Robertson

Getting Started with a G&T Program Our First Year

Talk supported with a multimedia display through interactive powerpoint

Victoria Plantation State School

Phone:47762339 email: brobe90@eq.edu.au         mflyn1@eq.edu.au

School personnel interested in setting up a withdrawal program in their school

Maree & Barb will outline their journey establishing a G&T withdrawal program at VPSS

Maree is a Year 5/6 teacher at VPSS with a background and interest in The Arts and G&T. barb is a teacher librarian in Ingham district and the ICT coordinator at VPSS. Barb has worked extensively with teachers integrating ICT into the curriculum

Sandra Grant Lucie Sorensen

Enrichment Programs- Getting started

Power point presentation

LDC- G&T Mackay network

Sandra Grant  4965 73333 (Slade Point SS) Lucie Sorensen 49559223                 ( Pioneer SHS)

Primary and Secondary teachers and principals who are interested in implementing enrichment programs.

This presentation will take you on a journey to see how one primary school and one high school have implemented a range of enrichment programs within and across each school setting. A number of different approaches, examples of specific programs as well as ideas for tracking, assessment and reporting of student performance within enrichment programs will also be presented.

Heidi Isaksen

How to Differentiate in the Primary Classroom

Workshop (one hour)

LDC Gifted and Talented Education - Robertson State School

688 Musgrave Road, Robertson, Brisbane 4109. (07) 3452 4111   Email hisak1@eq.edu.au

Primary

This workshop aims to define what differentiation is and demonstrate a variety of ways teachers can challenge all learners in their classrooms.  A number of practical solutions will be presented for teachers to take away and apply in their own classrooms.  Participants will be given an opportunity to begin developing/planning differentiated instruction, and will leave with a variety of strategies, resources and references in order to better differentiate instruction.

Heidi Isaksen is an experienced classroom teacher.  She began teaching in 1994 and has taught in a variety of locations including city, country and overseas settings.  In 2005 Heidi was appointed Head of Curriculum at Robertson State School, an LDC for Gifted and Talented Education.  Her role entails working with teachers to develop units of work that cater for differentiated classrooms.

Lyndley Kynaston

Positive Self Efficacy: the key to Unlocking Potential

talk

Ed QLD

Email lkyna1@eq.edu.au

Early Middle Years Teachers:- year4,5,6

A teacher who encounters an unmotivated child, one who engages poorly in the learning process, or who gives up quickly, could be forgiven for having low expectations for his/her academic potential. The teacher may be correct. However, the teacher may be looking at a bright, even gifted, child with low self efficacy toward academic learning. Chaffey (2004) This presentation looks at the issues surrounding self-efficacy and how this impacts on a students engagement in the classroom. The QSRLS emphasized the importance of teacher expectations on student engagement and outcomes. Having a tool to assist teachers to identify underachieving and hidden underachieving students would obviously be a definite plus in education, especially in those early years of Middle Schooling, where research indicates that students first decide to disengage. As a result of his interest in the under-representation of minority groups in programs for the gifted,Dr Graham Chaffey has developed such a tool; Coolabah Dynamic Assessment. [CDA] This presentation will give an overview of CDA and share the presenters experiences in using this tool.

Lyndley Kynaston has been the Coordinator of the LDC G&T at Mackay North SHS since 2002. Commenced teaching career as Primary teacher in 1975[majority of experience is in upper primary], completed Certificate of Gifted Education [UNSW] 2002, Trained in Coolabah Dynamic Assessment in 2003.

MARIAN PRETE

1.      Curriculum Differentiation:  Practical Tools for Classroom Teachers 2.      Working the Web:  Online Resources which support Gifted Education

1.       Talk 2.       Workshop (Computer Lab.)

EDUCATION QUEENSLAND (LDC G&T)

mpret3@eq.edu.au

1.       Primary Classroom Teachers 2.       All educators

1.       During this session many practical classroom resources will be shared utilising Multiple Intelligences, Blooms Taxonomy and a variety of Higher Order Thinking Skills.  This session would be most valuable to teachers who are novices in the area of Curriculum Differentiation.  2.       The internet is the source of many fantastic resources useful to teachers looking at supporting the needs of gifted students.  In a hand on session, the presenter will guide participants in exploring a number of sites which feature teaching and learning activities as well as theory and ideas around  topics such as identification, advocacy and provision.

Marian has been Co-ordinator of the LDC G&T (Far North Queensland Region) since 2002.  Prior to that worked as a Teacher Librarian and Primary Classroom Teacher in regional and remote areas of Queensland.

Lynne Nolan

Differentiating a Literacy Block

Workshop

Robertson LDC Gifted Education

07 34524111

Classroom Teachers

Providing students with a range of literacy activities to suit both learning style and ability can be challenging. Planning and modifying the activities to cater for both gifted students and those with learning difficulties is essential in order for the Literacy Block to run smoothly. Together with her teaching partner Annette Ries, Lynne Nolan has developed a Literacy Block that considers a range of abilities within the class. Lynne will share how she and Annette plan and implement the Literacy Block, providing examples of activities and lessons that have been designed for both explicit teaching and independent learning.

Lynne has taught at Robertson State School for the past four years. In that time she has taught Years Three and Four and is currently team teaching Year Five. In addition to her role as classroom teacher, Lynne was appointed to the position of Enrichment Coordinator, Gifted and Talented Education in 2005, which she shares with Robyn Yared.

Lisa Vincent

Unlocking Creativity

Workshop

LDC Gifted & Talented Townsville State High School

Telephone:47218754 Email: lvinc9@eq.edu.au Learning & Development Centre, Townsville State High School.

Teachers

Unlocking Creativity The ability to think flexibly, to have tolerance of ambiguity or unpredictability, and the enjoyment of things heretofore unknown. Robert E. Franken This session will explore the concept of creativity and how we can increase this force in our own lives as well as the value of explicitly teaching creative strategies to students in the classroom.

Lisa Vincent has worked as a coordinator for the LDC Gifted & Talented for 4 years. In this time she has worked collaboratively with other LDC coordinators developing and presenting workshops for teachers and working with school administrators assisting in the implementation of Gifted Education programs in schools. She is also a Secondary School Art teacher and has a special interest in the area of creativity and motivation.

Robyn Yared

Avoiding and Averting Underachievement

Workshop

LDC (Gifted Education) Robertson State School

(07) 3452 4121 ryare1@eq.edu.au

Teachers and parents

The parent-teacher interview during which the concerned parent/s hear the statement, Your child can do better or, s/he needs to put in more effort or s/he is not performing to the best of his/her ability, is perhaps an all too familiar scenario for many parents, teachers and students. Gifted students are particularly vulnerable to underachievement. In fact, some researchers estimate that as many as 50 percent of students with high ability are not achieving well.   If educators are currently seeking to maximise outcomes for all students, and parents are doing their utmost to support their childs school performance, why is there such a manifestation of underachievement? Is there more to underachievement than simply failing to produce work commensurate with ability? Why are the gifted so vulnerable to underachievement? Is there a reason for the mismatch between potential and performance? Are underachievers simply lazy or unresponsive? This workshop will draw on findings from three decades of research combined with personal experience of working with gifted underachievers to address the complex and perplexing area of underachievement. Practical strategies that can be readily implemented by parents and teachers to avoid or avert the underachieving cycle will be explored.

Robyn Yared is currently a Coordinator of the Learning and Development Centre (Gifted and Talented) at Robertson State School. Robyn has been a co-ordinator at the centre since its inception nine and a half years ago. During this time, Robyn has gained firsthand experience with the complexities surrounding the education of the gifted through her work with students, parents and educators.    Robyns knowledge has been enhanced through the completion of her Masters in Education in which she focussed on the guidance and counselling of the gifted. Her particular areas of passion are the social emotional needs of students, underachievement and designing curriculum that challenges and promotes autonomous learning.  For the latter part of 2003 and early 2004, Robyn was a member of the working party that developed Education Queenslands Framework for Gifted Education. She has also been one of the project managers for the Australian Government Quality Teacher Program Gifted Education Professional Learning Package.