Context
This unit has been designed for middle-level gifted, or academically-inclined, students within the Humanities Department of the Pittsburgh Public Schools gifted education program. The students, though grouped by perceived intellectual strength, have a wide array of gifts and talents. They need academic strength and/or interest-based enrichment and, at times, acceleration to satisfy the curiosity of their ever-wondering minds. They are not, contrary to popular assumption, 'all good students', nor do they all 'instinctively know everything'. They are also not capable of 'getting it all right on the first try'. They really like to ask questions. A lot of questions. And though most students cherish their intellects, they struggle with the often negative reactions that others have to their unique perspectives. They also struggle to admit when they are struggling, most likely because they have been culturally conditioned to be silent. Thus, each of the teachers in our program writes course materials suited to each student's specific academic need and interest, as determined by test scores. As indicated above, teachers implement the upper tier of Bloom's Taxonomy together with interactive communication, problem solving, and the creative thinking process, to help develop self-directed learners through project-based course development. The students select from among these courses similarly to choosing multiple college electives, attending one 90-minute session per choice each week over a course of 16 weeks.
Comments: