Lessons offered in a gifted support classroom will, undoubtedly, look a little different than those provided in a regular education program. As a rule, you communicate a purpose or objective, model desired academic behavior, allow for independent student work time, and encourage reflection. That being said, you will likely have smaller increments of time with which to work, meaning you may have a 45-60 minute period once a week as opposed to daily. Your approach to skill-building will likely need to be adjusted as well.
I generally start by considering the calendar. I look at the upcoming two months and make note of interruptions in our weekly schedule. These may include competitions outside of the school, holidays, assemblies, and classroom initiatives such as projects or guest speakers. If there are six to nine weeks of uninterrupted weekly sessions, I will try to schedule project based learning. If there are several interruptions in our two-month schedule, I will plan for a performance task. If there are too many interruptions to count, as it often happens in December and May, I plan single lessons.
Each time a group of students come into the classroom, I engage them in a soft start. This gives me time to complete administrative items and allows them to socialize a bit. I will spend several sessions with a particular material before moving on. I like to engage the students in open ended, hands on challenges such as those found in STEM bins. I have also utilized personal journal writing in a blog, logic games such as Clue Master from Think Fun, classroom meetings for team building, and creativity choice boards.
The projects and project-based learning units I offer generally last six to nine weeks. This may mean shortening or cutting certain steps due to time constraints. I don’t recommend units that take longer to complete because everyone starts to get bored, Teacher included.
The performance tasks that we use take two to three classes to complete.
Read “New Research Makes a Powerful Case for PBL” from Edutopia to learn why I believe in project-based learning.
To learn more about performance tasks, read “Authentic Ways to Develop Performance-Based Learning” from ThoughtCo.
Most of my PBL units PTs come from NextLesson. You can find some of them on Tpt, but I prefer downloading them from the site itself.
2022-2023 Gifted Framework
Projects/Project-Based Learning (PBL) and Performance Tasks (PT)
- Grade 6 Math Lab: My Personal Budget PBL, Awards at the Box Office PBL, Eating Around the World PBL, Rescue the Roadkill Cafe PBL
- Grade 6 ELA pull out class: Network Negotiations PT, Curtain Call PT, Stock Market Savvy PT, Take Action Project PBL
- Grade 5 Math: Logical Logos PT, Water Savers PT, Spotify a Song PT, Fast, Faster, Fastest PT
- Grade 5 ELA: Ultimate Playground PBL, Catering Kitchen PT, Tweet If You’re Magellan, Book Trailer creation using Adobe Spark (use Lit Fest books)
- Grade 4 ELA: Your Own Island PBL, Save the Polar Bear PT, Survival Fishing PT, Scene in a Box PBL (use Lit Fest books)
- Grade 4 Math: Hollywood Movie Mogul PT, Box Office Bonanza PT, Survival Fishing PT, Run the Ad PT
- Grade 3 ELA: Inventor Research Project project, Mmm Mmm Bakery PT, Fossil Night PBL, Branches of the U.S. Government PBL
- Grade 3 Math: Vet Feeds a Pet PT, Mmm Mmm Bakery PT, Kids Meals Matter PT, Book Buzz PT