Gifted Course:

GIFTED STRATEGIES K-6

Dennis Schuman

CONSULTANT: Dennis Schuman

My background in education is rooted in Elementary school and Gifted education. I started my teaching career in the Cleveland Public School system, with four years in grades 3-6 and three years teaching a self-contained, grades 3-4 gifted class. Following my experience in Cleveland I moved to the Paradise Valley Unified School District where I continued to teach elementary regular education classes, as well as champion the development of Gifted Education services for the district. For the next forty-three years, I taught various configurations of Gifted classes including both resource and self-contained Classes. I am Nationally Board Certified, an Instructor for Ottawa University, presenting Gifted Endorsement classes and have been recognized for my Public Speaking Seminars to elementary students on “Creative Thinking for Elementary Students”.

Class Description:

  • This four-day workshop is designed for the classroom teacher who has the responsibility to “differentiate instruction” and “personalize learning” for the gifted learner in their classroom.

  • The techniques learned would be appropriate for regular classroom teachers as well as gifted teachers, who want to add new tools to their instructional skill set for helping to close the pandemic learning gap with any student.

  • Participants will learn about the specific, unique, and varied needs of the widely diverse types of gifted learners, as well as strategies for working with these students.

  • Teachers will learn how to involve student participation in the design of their learning, teaching methods and specific classroom activities with proven effectiveness.

    Course may be used toward the gifted endorsement.

Objectives/Outcomes:

  • List at least ten characteristics of gifted children.​​

  • List a least 5 characteristics of giftedness that tend to screen children out of programs.

  • Identify at least 5 teaching strategies.

  • Explain appropriate ways of using these techniques in a regular classroom.

  • Determine ways to evaluate the use of these strategies within a gifted program or regular classroom.

Course Syllabus:

  • Identify characteristics of gifted students.​

  • Identify characteristics that screen students out of gifted programs.

  • Identify verbally gifted students.

  • Identify strategies for working with verbally gifted students.

  • Identify creative questioning strategies for working with gifted students.

  • Identify mathematically gifted students.

  • Identify strategies for working with mathematically gifted students.

  • Identify creative questioning strategies for working with gifted students.

  • Implementing creative questioning techniques in the classroom.

  • Identify spatially gifted students.

  • Identify creative questioning strategies for working with spatially gifted students.

  • Implementing creative questioning strategies in the classroom.