Elevate Your Expertise: A Webinar Series for G/T Coordinators
Series Price: $199
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As you begin a new school year, take time to gather with your peers and calibrate around topics critical to your role. This 4-part series is designed to help empower you in key areas of your responsibilities:
- creating leverage with new advanced math enrollment policy
- using AI to level up your skills as an instructional leader
- exploring innovative secondary service design
- how to conduct an analysis of your identification process and service design
Schedule
Part 1: October 8, 2024Texas S.B. 2124: Opening Advanced Math Pathways with Universal Screening and Auto-Enrollment
11:00 am -12:00 pm CST
Part 2: October 15, 2024
Resourcing Your Teachers to Differentiate Effectively for Advanced Learners Using the Power of AI
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CST
Part 3: October 22, 2024
Going Beyond Advanced Level Classes: How to Support our High School Gifted Learners
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm CST
Part 4: October 29, 2024
Gifted Identification and Service Design Alignment
10:00 am – 11:00 am CST
Part 1: October 8, 2024
Texas S.B. 2124: Opening Advanced Math Pathways with Universal Screening and Auto-Enrollment11:00 am -12:00 pm CST
S.B. 2124 requires Texas schools to universally screen all fifth-grade students using the math STAAR. Students who score in the top 40% are automatically enrolled in advanced math courses for sixth grade. This webinar presents research supporting this auto-enrollment approach and success stories from districts nationwide that have these policies. We will discuss student support, instructional resources, and ways to advocate for students with advanced learning needs in Texas.
Speakers
Melanie S. MeyerMelanie S. Meyer, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Baylor University where she teaches research methods and advises students conducting problem-of-practice dissertations in the Learning and Organizational Change Ed.D. program. For over 20 years, Dr. Meyer taught secondary English in gifted and advanced academic classrooms. Her research focuses on education policy, school-based creativity and talent development, and the postsecondary choice process.
Johnathan Plucker
Jonathan Plucker, Ph.D., is a Professor of Education and Faculty Lead for the Master of Science in Education Policy program at the Johns Hopkins School of Education. He previously served as the Julian C. Stanley Endowed Professor of Talent Development at Johns Hopkins, the Raymond Neag Endowed Professor of Education at the University of Connecticut, and Professor of Educational Psychology and Cognitive Science at Indiana University. He is past-president of the National Association for Gifted Children and the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts (APA Division 10).
Part 2: October 15, 2024
Resourcing Your Teachers to Differentiate Effectively for Advanced Learners Using the Power of AI4:00 pm CST
Just asking teachers to differentiate to address the needs of all student populations usually isn’t enough. Given the heavy workload of our teachers, how can we ensure that gifted learners receive the effective differentiated resources they require? In this session you will discover how artificial intelligence can be harnessed to create exceptional resources tailored to the needs of advanced learners.
Speaker
Katherine WellsKate is an award-winning elementary teacher and educational consultant based in Houston, TX who is a regular presenter at giftED. Having raised a 2E child and taught gifted students in all 3rd-5th grade subjects, (in both clustered and self-contained settings), Kate is passionate about differentiation, fostering creativity and promoting critical thinking in her students.
Part 3: October 22, 2024
Going Beyond Advanced Level Classes: How to Support our High School Gifted Learners1:00 pm CST
Explore the G/T service model that SAISD has used for over 5 years to support our high school G/T students. Learn how creating a program that acknowledges and embraces the social and emotional needs of the high school gifted learner creates equity in underserved populations and discover how cohort sessions can empower G/T students.
Speaker
Mirinda ColemanMirinda has a lifetime of experience as a gifted student and has spent more than 15 years in education. Prior to entering the classroom, she earned her B.B.A. in finance and international business from Baylor University, M.B.A. from Texas A&M, and worked for Chase Bank. Mirinda currently serves as the G/T Director for SAISD and in her previous role as the high school G/T specialist, she developed a service model to provide equitable access for the district’s secondary gifted students.
Part 4: October 29, 2024
Gifted Identification and Service Design Alignment10:00 am CST
Does your identification process match your service design? Why does this matter? Selecting identification tools that are cost and time effective while easy to use matters. However, if these tools do not match the service design, then why identify students? Let's spend some time learning how to check your GT alignment.
Speaker
Shirley BachusDirector of Advanced Programs for Leander ISD, a fast-growing district outside of Austin, TX, Shirley believes the use of high-quality curriculum as well as providing access to learning opportunities for teachers and leaders in the use of curriculum is critical to strengthening access for all learners to opportunities for academic success. A graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio, Shirley began her career as a high school English teacher in Bandera ISD in the Texas Hill Country; she has had the fortune of serving three central Texas school districts - Round Rock, Pflugerville ISD and Leander ISD- over the past 26 years.