1. Mel Gollan-Wills, Learning Support Services—Secondary Gifted Itinerant

2. 1. What is the Special Education—Gifted Itinerant
Team?
2. Secondary Programming Vision Graphic
a. Transition: Elementary to Secondary
b. Outside Opportunities: Outreach, Regional SPARK!
Conferences
c. In-School Programming: “The Big Four”
3. 5Ws about the portfolio
4. Questions

4.  “Discover Gifted—Secondary” Event
 Who: Grade Eight (8) Gifted students
 What: Meet and greet secondary ELOPE students and Gifted
teacher/LST; participate in mini enrichment workshops (rotation)
 Where: Thames Room—CEC Central
 When: Tentatively scheduled for Friday, May 30th, 2014 8:30 AM-
12:15 PM
 Why: To promote transition from elementary to secondary panel;
provide a secondary contact for each student for the Fall; promote
ELOPE program to sustain enrichment programming at secondary
level in order to meet the needs of all Gifted students

7.  Opportunities for enrichment outside the regular class in a field of interest;
itinerant networks with Gifted teachers/LSTs to develop and make students
aware of opportunities
 Some offered by different faculties at Universities (i.e. Western University:
CPSX, BMI, Music, Brescia, Huron etc.) and community partners
 Conducted on-site or off-site at various institutions
 Framework varies: lectures, activities, talks, workshops, visits, experiments/
research, among others
 Promote opportunities during the year (school and summer) outside of TVDSB:
 BMI Outreach, Brescia Mini-Lectures, Forensics Unit, Shake the World Conference
 Waterloo Unlimited (grades 10-12), Queen’s ESU (formerly E=MC2)
 Shad Valley, House of Commons Page Program (Jr. and Sr.), Encounters With Canada
 Among many others…
 *WISE: Western’s Initiative for Scholarly Excellence; 1.0 free tuition university
credit at Western; attend class on-site or through distance studies

8.  Opportunities for extension/enrichment outside the regular class on a larger
scale; can be extensions of ELOPE sessions
 Students have the opportunity to network with like-minded peers across the
board
 Schools are grouped by region with approx. one (1) Regional SPARK!
conference per semester per region; at any given time there could be five (5)
occurring at the same time
 Can involve community partners or guest speakers to run workshops
 Framework varies: ½ day to full day, once a semester; multiple workshops or
single-focus (i.e. rotation of three independent workshops, CPSX lab, forensic
crime scenes, “ology” days at Western, various environmental science
workshops )

11.  “Extended Learning Opportunities Through Progressive
Enrichment”
 Enrichment withdrawal program (Gifted, bright/talented); adopts principles of
“pull-out” or cluster sessions from elementary with a different format
 Integrated into 26 schools in some capacity (includes all G/B/T)
 Completely voluntary; workshop-style; ~one period (75 min) per workshop;
schools range from 2x/week to 2x/semester; empower all departments to get
involved
 Student-interest driven
 Include range of activities from novel studies, debates, and philosophical
discussions, to guest speakers, pottery, forensic problem-solving, and critical thinking
 2nd Annual Gifted Teacher/LST ELOPE Symposium September 2013
 Can lead to larger outreach opportunities or extended sessions; opportunity to
include other schools

12.  For Gifted and bright/talented students
 Accommodation: student compacts curriculum in a shorter period of time; saves
space in timetable for other courses or other enrichment opportunities
(WISE, AP, SATs)
 Setting: either in-class or alternative setting
 New for 2013: Digital Curriculum Course Bank through Blended Learning Online
Format!
 Logistics: classroom teacher continues to mark/record work; student completes
necessary course work to meet curricular expectations and assessment criteria
 Courses are developed in full and come compacted with enrichment on a request
basis
 2D English, 2OE Civics in motion; currently working on 2OE Careers, 1D English, 1D
Geography, 2D History, (1D Science, 2D Science), 1D Math, 2D Math, for 2013-2014
 Similar process to on-site compacting; prior planning involved

18.  University level credit or advanced placement granted by exam; honoured by most
universities if level 4 or 5 achieved
 Various phases of support/delivery:
 Phase 1: Independent focus with master/mentor teacher or community member
 Phase 2: Tutorial format with master teacher(s) by discipline(s)
 Phase 3: Full AP credit* course; must be audited by AP Central through College Board;
takes approx. one school year to set up
 Logistics:
 34 courses to choose from; prerequisites
 Cost: test fee $119 CDN; study guide ~$25 (students cover costs)
 *must plan for enrichment in 3U courses, as AP credit courses are 4U+AP enrichment in
one (followed by the AP exam in the spring)

19.  Interdisciplinary studies; currently the only consistent enrichment
programming for credit at secondary; some designated enriched classes at
select schools
 Three strands:
 Theory and Foundation (reading, concepts, perspectives, organization)
 Process and Methods of research (research, planning, and presentation of
information)
 Implementation, Evaluation, Impacts, and Consequences
(critiquing, evaluating, analysing, communicating, writing, real-world applications)
 Student-interest focus for summative (ISP)
 Develop and consolidate the skills required for knowledge of different
subjects/disciplines:
 How to conduct proper research
 How to properly write about research conducted/ formulate effective research
questions
 How to communicate findings and defend position
 Last year 1.0 e-Learning credit offered semester two (2) with a thesis option;
great option for schools that did not have IDC on-site

21.  Who do I support?
 9-12+ gifted/bright/talented students, high-ability learners and
achievers; anyone seeking enrichment beyond the depth and breadth
of that typically offered in the regular classroom
 Transition support, Reach Ahead opportunities for incoming grade 8s
 Classroom teachers, gifted contacts, LSTs, and admin of these students
 What does it consist of?
 Transition support
 In-school programming (credit, non-credit)
 Outside opportunities (mentoring, IDC, SPARK and outreach, PEL*)
 Unique timetabling and programming for students seeking
compacting; problem-solving, networking with staff

22.  Where does the programming take place?
 N.B. Programming lines distributed into schools for various initiatives;
annual application
 Again, in-school [designated enriched classes, IDC, compacting, AP;
ELOPE (non-credit)]; outside (community
outreach, mentoring, SPARK!ing interest)
 When does it occur?
 All year long (including the summer, at times i.e. APSI)
 Outreaches 1x/month
 SPARK! conferences ~1x/semester
 Compacted courses (ongoing) written/updated in D2L b-learning
format

23.  Why does this portfolio exist?
 To provide accommodations for students’ unique learning needs; engage
students and program for their interests; deeper, rich and more meaningful
tasks at times (credit/non-credit)
 To support transition from the elementary gifted cluster sessions
(withdrawal)
 How does enrichment programming impact students?
 Similar to above, enrichment opportunities meet their needs, keep them
engaged, and help to foster individual talent development, social-emotional
development, and motivation
 7-12 Team
 Supports Special Education
 Enrichment can be developed for all subject areas; network with all subject-
specific portfolios on the team; focus on curriculum compacting
 Learning Forward and Learning Cycle initiatives
 Other
 Currently mentoring in GLE with AT, Law; English

24.  M.Gollan-Wills@tvdsb.on.ca