Students make sense of content by how they process it. All students need time to reflect on and digest the content before moving on to the next activity. How a student processes helps you determine their understanding. Practicing metacognition and self-evaluation with your G/T students also helps them determine their level of understanding and progress. Students' self- and peer- reflection abilities are developed during these experiences. For your general ed students, one or two processing experiences for every 30 minutes of instruction can alleviate feelings of content saturation. G/T students may be able to hang on a bit longer before feeling overwhelmed, but it's not a bad rule to follow. If you are employing Frequent, Small Group, Purposeful Talk, you are already going a long way toward helping each student process.
The Davidson Institute says that processing activities must be restructured to:
Be more intellectually demanding
Require a higher level of response
Stimulate inquiry
Allow active exploration
Facilitate discovery
Encourage making abstract connections
Increase the level of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives on the task
Over time, I am attaching activities, docs, extensions, rubrics, and more to the ideas below. Be sure to check back in!
Examples of Process Differentiation:
Self-Directed Learning
Flexible Pacing
Modifying Group Interactions and Roles
Guided Self-Management
Flexible Grouping: Individual, Pairs, Small Groups
Allowing for flexible groupings of students: individual, pairs, small groups
Specialized Learning Centers (for Skill Work)
Games and activities that encourage creativity and reward risk-taking
Discussions and activities that involve both Divergent (many correct answers) Thinking and Convergent Thinking (only one correct answer)
Explicitly teaching students how to learn independently (research, rubrics, etc.)
Journaling
Partner talk
Literature Circles (which also support content differentiation)
Small Group Process Differentiation
Click a link below to learn more about each strategy for Small Group Differentiation.
Readers Workshop:
RAFTs:
Article includes various examples
Think Dots and Cubing:
Jigsaw
Learning Centers
Readers Workshop
RAFTs
Processing with Depth & Complexity
Depth & Complexity Activities
Depth & Complexity Frames
Big Ideas Parthenon
Genius Hour
Please see our Elements of Depth & Complexity section for more ideas.
Alternative Vocabulary Activities
Consider the following Vocabulary Activities instead of simply defining or working on spelling.
Definition Extensions (Susan Winebrenner) ☟
Students choose from a menu or use all of the following ways to twist, research, or play with their vocabulary words:
Acronyms
Portmanteaus
Silly/Creative Definitions
Euphemisms
Hyperbole
Idioms
Palindromes
Slang Words
Latin and Greek Roots
Puns
Abbreviations/Acronyms
Over Complicated - Change words in a definition to higher-reading-level or multisyllabic synonyms to make a definition more complicated (and learn more words in the process).
Tom Swifties: Statements that combine a verb and related modifier. Examples: "That plate burned my hand," Joseph said hotly.
Shared Experience Activities
Shared Experience Activities can put all students on equal footing with one another. They require no prior knowledge outside of common life experiences or the most recent content you've taught. Effectively allowing students to demonstrate their thinking through shared experience activities lets teachers see which students are quickest on their feet, out-of-the-box thinkers, or
Examples of Shared Experiences ☟
Many of the following examples of Shared Experience Activities are ideas that are adapted from Dr. Bertie Kingore's training on Recognizing Gifted Potential. You can find similar ideas in many of Dr. Kingore's catalog of books for Gifted and Talented students.
Alphabet Time - Students label a sheet of paper or document from A to Z. Next to each letter, they have 3 minutes to write as many things that they can think of about the shared experience for each letter of the alphabet.
From this activity, you can effectively gauge the following traits of giftedness: Advanced Language, Accelerated Learning, Analytical Thinking, Meaning Motivation, Perspective, and Sense of Humor
I Wonder/Wonder-Full - Students reflect on a daily shared experience from the content or school day by filling out one of the following questions each day: "I wonder who..." "I wonder what..." "I wonder where..." "I wonder how..." "I wonder why..." or "I wonder if..." about each respective topic.
From this activity, you can effectively gauge the following traits of giftedness: Advanced Language, Accelerated Learning, Analytical Thinking, Meaning Motivation, Perspective, Sense of Humor, and Sensitivity
Draw Starts - Students are given some slight scribbles on a page and are tasked with creating an original work of art that utilizes the scribbles. In this case, the scribbles are the shared experience, but you could take this activity a step further and have them do a Draw Start on a current topic in class.
From this activity, you can effectively gauge the following traits of giftedness: Advanced Language, Accelerated Learning, Analytical Thinking, Meaning Motivation, Perspective, Sense of Humor, and Sensitivity
Personal Stories - Students have 3 to 5 minutes to write or illustrate a personal story that is meaningful to them. To get them started, have them consider an emotion that is associated with the memory.
From this activity, you can gauge the following traits of giftedness: Advanced Language, Accelerated Learning, Meaning Motivation, Perspective, Sense of Humor, and Sensitivity
Alternative methods for sharing personal stories can be found here: Group Time: Sharing Personal Stories, by Ellen Booth Church
Idioms
Palindromes
Slang Words
Puns
Abbreviations/Acronyms
Over Complicated - Change words in a definition to higher-reading-level or multisyllabic synonyms to make a definition more complicated (and learn more words in the process).
Tom Swifties: Statements that combine a verb and related modifier. Examples: "That plate burned my hand," Joseph said hotly.
Using Social Media to Process Learning:
List of Classroom-Safe Social Media Tools and Alternatives ☟
Kaizena - a forum that allows students to get feedback for revising their work.
Student-Created Playlists - Students can use video or music apps like YouTube or Spotify to create playlists that describe a specific
Tools to Support Student Self-Reflection:
How-To Videos - Students can use Screen Recording features on their iPads to capture themselves explaining processes and their reflections thereof. Alternative tools to screen-record for students without iPads include: Screencastify, Snagit, and Jing
Vlogging - Students simply record themselves summarizing what they've learned, providing opinions, and/or reflecting on how their perspective has changed in video format. Students may then post to an appropriate platform. You can find an example here: Germany Travel Vlog
Podcasting - Students do an audio recording similar to the description above for vlogging. Check out NPR's Student Podcast Challenge for ideas.
Blogging - Students do a written reflection similar to the descriptions above. Websites like Blogger and LiveJournal are some tools for blogging, but students could create blogs on a classroom website just as easily.
Tools for Surveying Student Understanding:
Tools for Creating Collaborative Center Activities:
Other Platforms for Sharing Ideas and Learning
Thinglink - Create clickable hyperlinked pictures to share an experience.
Piktochart - lets you create infographics to offer a visual explanation of a concept or idea.
Tackk, Wakelet - Create small interactive pages or build a portfolio of work using different media tools.
MindMup, Moovly, and PowToon - Create multimedia videos with a variety of tools.
If students are already on social media apps like YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, etc. (let's face it, most of them are) it's fine to recommend groups or individuals that support student learning, imagination, and creativity for students to follow. Examples of groups or individuals to follow include:
Children's Favorite Authors
Middle Grades' Favorite Authors
When to Use Process Differentiation:
Process differentiation should be part of your normal, everyday Formative Assessment Cycle. ☟
Exit tickets
FSGPT
Checks for Understanding
Two- to four-question quizzes
Journaling
Observational checklists
Student questions
Reflection (self, peer, or group)
Teachable moments
Reading Recommendations for Advanced Learners
From the Texas Reading Initiative Task Force for the Education of Primary Gifted Children
Use preinstruction assessments to accurately determine students' instructional and independent levels of reading.
Use a variety of assessments beyond standardized achievement tests to document students' progress and guide instruction.
Use strategies geared to gifted students' instructional needs including curriculum compacting, advanced content, appropriate pacing, and above grade-level materials.
Focus on far greater depth and complexity.
Incorporate into reading programs rich, inviting tasks requiring spatial as well as analytical and abstract thinking.
Encourage students to develop more complex, high-level comprehension and reach advanced interpretations.
Encourage and support advanced levels of vocabulary and word study.
Promote students' research using technology to generate original investigations and advanced products.
Provide frequent opportunities for students to explore authentic text and a variety of genres.
Allow students to pursue individual interests through reading.
Provide examples of superior work in order to challenge students to ever-increasing levels of excellence.
Advocacy Initiative: Guiding Questions, from Roberts, J.L., (2019). The primer for effective advocacy. TEMPO, XL(2), 32-37
Advocating for policy is important at the school, district, and state levels; and policies that support gifted education will be discussed. Whether we're pushing for policy additions or change, advocating for ourselves in class when we feel that our needs are not being met as students, or working on a Project Based Learning assignment that involves reaching out to community leaders to leverage positive change, effective advocacy is just as important for adults to know as kids.
Advocating for a policy change:
Why is it important to have policy?• To help us brace for any change• When leadership changes, you turn to policy• Lays a foundation• Practice is often assumed to be policy, but there’s really nothing to stand on• When striving for equity, equitable policy is powerful
What does policy do?
• Policy defines what institutions choose to do or not to do about a perceived need.
• Policy controls how resources are allocated and used in a given program area.
• Policy defines the mechanisms and system by which opportunities for targeted populations (e.g., gifted) will be offered
• Policies should be comprehensive enough to ensure adequate impetus for program development and service delivery in an area.
How do education policies impact G/T Education and the lives of gifted students?Policies determine how resources are spent.Policies protect services, eliminating the need to advocate for that service on an ongoing basis. A list of policies related to G/T:
• Acceleration
• Clustering
• G/T as part of Special Ed umbrella
• Vergils - Inverted RTI
• Advisory Council
• Identification
• 2E Children
• Narrowing the Excellence GapUnintended Consequences or Barriers• Early entrance to kindergarten
• Dual Credit Scholarships
• Limited programs
• Limiting testing to certain pops
• Inflexibility of definitions/terms/qualifications
• Age limits
• TSI Ready
• Online classes
• Grade Skipping
• Early graduation
• Limiting AP courses to Juniors & Seniors
Whether you are a student, parent, or teacher, this form is a great place to start planning your advocacy initiative.
Jigsaw
Learning Centers
Readers Workshop
RAFTs