Schuylkill Valley's Gifted Program

Gifted Education (5-12): Dr. Elizabeth E. Schucker, Ed.D.

Logo credit goes to Dominic Batdorf and his talent for graphic design (2024)

Philosophy of gifted education through Research-based Curriculum

Project-Based Learning Foundation: Based on an experiential learning framework, including Peg Grafwallner's (2017) methodology:

'Keeping it REAL': The gifted students explore how learning opportunities impact their daily lives, which provides them with the understanding of how to be of service to their communities.

'Keeping it RELEVANT': The gifted students have the opportunity to take control of their learning with leveled, differentiated, student-directed projects that connect the learners to 'real world' challenges.

'Keeping it RELATABLE': The gifted students engage in a 'partnership model' with the Gifted teacher as they relate their learning to civic agency-based roles. Students connect to the cause and effect relationships of the topics as they directly apply to their lives and lived experiences.

"Learning situations that are designed to promote creative-productive giftedness emphasize the use and application of information (content) and thinking skills in an integrated, inductive, and real-problem-oriented manner. These experiences have been described as Type III Enrichment in my major pedagogical work entitled The Enrichment Triad Model."

A more detailed version of the theory can be found in (Renzulli, 2022).

Our gifted curriculum is built upon a series of experiences and opportunities through Problem and Project-Based Learning (PBL) that are designed to support gifted and talented students in their areas of academic strength and interest. This supports the belief in core content 'depth and breadth' necessary for academic, leadership, and social and emotional growth.

What is Project and Problem-Based Learning?

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects. Students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.

In Project Based Learning, teachers make learning come alive for students!

Students work on a project over an extended period of time, from a week up to a quarter/trimester that engages them in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question! They demonstrate their knowledge and skills by creating a public product or presentation for a real audience.

As a result, students develop deep content knowledge as well as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills. Project Based Learning unleashes a contagious, creative energy among students and teachers!

What is Project Based Learning? | PBLWorks

Agency-Based Challenges

Agency-based challenges give students the opportunity to create solutions to specific real-world problems. Each year, unique grade-level PBL challenges promote application of the students' agency through various tasks, projects, and competitions! This includes partnering with the Stroud Water Research Center, The BCIU's STEM/Engineering competition, Master Watershed Steward's 'Trout in the Classroom', The Philadelphia Zoo's 'Unless Contest', the 'Future City' competition, a picture book publishing opportunity in conjunction with Windsor Press Printing, and the county-wide 'What's So Cool About Manufacturing' digital storytelling contest to explore this concept. What is 'Student Agency'? Student agency engages learning through activities that are meaningful and relevant to learners, driven by their interests, and often self-initiated.

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-student-agency-is-ownership/2019/10

Enrichment through project and Problem-based learning

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Our gifted curriculum is built upon a series of experiences and opportunities through Problem and Project-Based Learning (PBL) that are designed to support gifted and talented students in their areas of academic strength and interest. This supports the belief in core content 'depth and breadth' necessary for academic, leadership, and social and emotional growth.

What is Enrichment?

In a brief summary, enrichment includes activities teachers provide students that go beyond what is being taught in class. These activities are something different than what is being learned and go deeper than what students normally do in class. As a gifted student, they may have a tendency to think beyond what is being taught, to go deeper into the meaning, to think outside the box, to think down to the smallest part of the box, or to think as if the box isn’t even there. This is a representation of what gifted is, and this enrichment is needed through specially designed instruction to meet these needs. We want to make sure all gifted students are given opportunities to think in this regard and go deeper into materials through challenge and choice.

What is Project and Problem-Based Learning?

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects. Students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.

In Project Based Learning, teachers make learning come alive for students!

Students work on a project over an extended period of time, from a week up to a quarter/trimester that engages them in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question! They demonstrate their knowledge and skills by creating a public product or presentation for a real audience.

As a result, students develop deep content knowledge as well as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills. Project Based Learning unleashes a contagious, creative energy among students and teachers!

What is Project Based Learning? | PBLWorks

Agency-Based Challenges

Agency-based challenges give students the opportunity to create solutions to specific real-world problems. Each year, unique grade-level PBL challenges promote application of the students' agency through various tasks, projects, and competitions! This includes partnering with the Stroud Water Research Center, The BCIU's STEM/Engineering competition, Master Watershed Steward's 'Trout in the Classroom', The Philadelphia Zoo's 'Unless Contest', the 'Future City' competition, a picture book publishing opportunity in conjunction with Windsor Press Printing, and the county-wide 'What's So Cool About Manufacturing' digital storytelling contest to explore this concept. What is 'Student Agency'? Student agency engages learning through activities that are meaningful and relevant to learners, driven by their interests, and often self-initiated.

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-student-agency-is-ownership/2019/10

Services at the High School

Services available at the high school level include:

Access to gifted support and mentorship with a focus on career readiness and college preparedness
Access to multiple college and career resources
Mentoring for gifted child
Collaboration among Gifted peers
Academic Enrichment

Services at the Middle School

Services available at the middle school level include:

Cluster grouping
Independent project opportunities
In-class differentiation with support from gifted support teacher
Consultative services for classroom teacher for specific needs of gifted students.
Mentoring for gifted child
Enrichment and extension offerings
Field trips
Collaboration among Gifted peers
Curriculum is based on Project and Problem Based learning
Competitions/Contests

Services at the Elementary School

Services available at the elementary school level include:

Cluster grouping
Independent project opportunities
In-class differentiation with support from gifted support teacher
Consultative services for classroom teacher for specific needs of gifted students.
Mentoring for gifted child
Enrichment and extension offerings
Field trips
Collaboration among Gifted peers
Curriculum is based on Project and Problem Based learning
Competitions/Contests

Filming a scene for a spoof on 'The Magic School Bus' for 7th grade's 'What's So Cool About Manufacturing' contest with our featured manufacturer, Alcon, a leader in eye care! (2022-2023)

*Photo credit goes to Ian Luckey

Meet the G1FT3D Teacher, Dr. Elizabeth Schucker, Ed.D.

Dr. Schucker has been teaching for 20 years and has served in a variety of roles in education. Elizabeth holds a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with a concentration in Reading and a master’s degree in Reading with a Reading Specialist Certificate, both from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. She earned her Doctoral degree in Education in May of 2021 through Kutztown University’s Education Doctorate (Ed.D.) in Transformational Teaching and Learning, Carnegie Consortium, CPED. Through her doctoral work, she explored critical civic learning opportunities containing actionable components where students were challenged as leaders to apply their knowledge in agency-based ways. This continues to be a core philosophy applied to the SVSD G1FT3D program through problem and project-based learning opportunities.