Whilst this blog is part of my studies for my Masters in Education (Teacher Librarianship), I have returned to my first love, gifted education. I now work as P-12 Coordinator for Gifted Education in a large private school in Brisbane. My position description is still developing; but one facet is to work with teachers to meet the academic and social emotional needs of gifted students within their classrooms.
I have been incredibly lucky to have found a like-minded soul to partner with whom to begin my quest. Whilst not formally trained in gifted education, she is a passionate and curious educator who works with the Year 7 class which has been clustered for academic potential (rather than performance). It was at her invitation that I began to collaborate on a “filler” unit, Exposing the Media, timetabled for the final three weeks of term, after the assessment period for all Year 7 students.
My goals have three main targets:
students, teachers and myself.
Students will:
Explore diverse perspectives and develop critical consciousness of how people are positioned by the media, whilst beginning to build own perspectives
Apply understanding of persuasive devices used to develop a script and storyboard illustrating diverse points of view on a current news topic of interest.
Create a short video communicating understanding of strategies used by the media to influence an audience by applying these strategies in their video
Teaching Staff:
Work with colleagues to develop a motivating and inspiring unit of work which meets the unique needs of gifted learners, building own knowledge and understanding of ways to meet the needs of gifted learners
Utilise each teacher’s unique knowledge of curriculum, content and skills
Build a “big picture” understanding of the Year 7 Australian Curriculum as opposed to their focus on their own department responsibility.
Self:
Develop collegial relationships with and between staff from different departments (silo breaking)
Tread carefully to build teacher trust
Develop teachers’ sense of agency to design appropriately differentiated curriculum for gifted learners.
Develop a big picture understanding of each facet of the Year 7 Australian Curriculum
