Second Grade: “Speak Up”
Workshop-Specific Considerations
for Students Who Are Gifted/Talented/Advanced
Within this unit you will find a GT Link noted at the top left of specific individual Workshop plans. The link allows you to access this document that details ideas suggested to increase the level of rigor for your gifted/advanced students and when to incorporate those suggestions. These ideas generally reflect the strategies noted in the General Recommendations found in the unit overview. These ideas may include content strategies (i.e. extended reading options), process strategies (i.e. framing a question in a different way so that students are asked to analyze or synthesize) or product strategies (i.e. project options) to increase the intellectual demand for your gifted/advanced students.
Although there is no requirement within the unit for students to pursue the content during their reading workshop time, we have suggested that some students might be interested in doing some additional reading and writing. Since many of the gifted/advanced students are excellent readers and read 2 or more years above grade level, additional strategies for this unit include offering the opportunity to read about people who have, individually, made a significant contribution by acting as “responsible citizens”. Some gifted children enjoy and appreciate reading about extraordinary individuals as means of measuring their place in the world and how they might want to make an impact. Application to the real world is also evident in the suggestion to encourage students to look for current issues or causes that offer an opportunity for individual advocacy and action.
Prior knowledge and pre-assessment: The first grade unit, Kids Care, addresses CAS standard 1.4.1b: Identify attributes of responsible team members and focuses on the essential questions “What makes a community?” and “What can we do to make a difference in our communities and the world?” After the pilot year (2011-12) your second graders should have strong background knowledge with which to begin this unit. The pre-assessment will be key in identifying students who need greater challenge in this unit.
Final product: Raise the level of intensity for this project by encouraging students to address a real world problem with a particular audience in mind. Their final piece of writing can take the form of a letter to the individual/organization that would have the “power” to implement change. Alternatively, their final writing can become an action plan for the student to actually implement. Depending upon your class you may have very few or several students taking this project to the next level. Their ideas may lead them to further interdisciplinary studies as a project may require investigation into science or history and a presentation may invite explorations in art or music.
Workshop Plan # / Section of the Workshop Plan / GT NotesWorkshop 1 / Whole Group
Session #1 / This individualized KLEW assessment will be a good opportunity to evaluate students’ prior knowledge/understanding of the concept of “responsible community member.” Consider asking students to put their pencils down and move to a different area before sharing, so you are sure whose ideas are whose. Evaluate the KLEWs for greater: detail, accuracy, many or insightful examples, depth, complexity or a unique perspective or example. Humor can also be an indicator of a more sophisticated understanding.
As students discuss examples of problems in the community, encourage them to look at “how” the problem hurts the individual or the greater community. Many gifted/advanced students have heightened interpersonal sensitivities and empathy and some live in a world unto themselves in which they are not able to empathize effectively. Opportunities to analyze how or why a behavior or activity may impact a person or a group of people will provide an opportunity for them to process this knowledge into greater understanding or empathy.
Independent/Small Group Work Time #1 / Some gifted readers may read 2 or more years above “grade level”. Ensure that books are available at their level throughout this unit. Books about people who have made a difference (as responsible citizens) tie in nicely. A list of possible titles is included in the notes for Workshop 12.
Encourage gifted/advanced thinkers to predict what solutions might be most effective or describe what better solution they might have designed to solve the problem they identified in their reading. They can share these ideas during Whole Group Sessions #2. Be sure they explain their thinking.
Workshop Plan # / Section of the Workshop Plan / GT Notes
Workshop 2 / Whole Group Session #1 / Urge your advanced thinkers to consider how the problem in Rosie’s Story hurts both the individual AND the community.
Ask questions that prompt students to analyze on what personal traits Rosie drew to solve her problem.
Launch / Make available copies of
· The Ugly Duckling (available in a variety of editions with DRA levels from 11-38 and also in Spanish),
· Chrysanthemum (DRA 20),
· Crow Boy (DRA 28) or
· The Hundred Dresses *(DRA 34)
and ask gifted/advanced thinkers to compare the problems and solutions in any of these texts to Rosie’s problem and solution.
*This book is more complex but adds a deeper layer to the concept of how a problem can impacts an individual significantly.
Workshop 3 / Whole Group
Session #1 / Although there is no requirement for students to read books connected to the unit topic, as students become familiar with Jane Addams in the TCI text, some students may want to read more about her.
· Jane Addams: Pioneer Social Worker by Charnan Simon
· Jane Addams by David Armentrout (Spanish)
are two possible titles.
Encourage students to think about the personal traits of Jane Addams and compare them to Rosie.
Independent and Small Group Time #1 / Work with a small group of advanced/gifted thinkers to encourage them to consider all the implications of a specific problem. Using a school problem as an example, such as too many students going to the nurses’ office during instruction time, list all the “stakeholders” impacted by the problem:
· the student going to the nurse who will miss instruction/learning time,
· the students who have to wait while the pass is written,
· the teacher who will have to do “make-up” instruction,
· the principal who is concerned about the loss of learning time,
· the nurse who is maybe seeing some “not so serious” problems.
In coming up with a solution, all the impacted parties need to be considered. A graphic organizer from the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary can be found at http://cfge.wm.edu/TeachingModels/ReasoningEvent.pdf
Workshop 4 / Whole Group
Session #1 / While there are very good reasons for designing response groups with mixed-abilities, it is sometimes beneficial for advanced students to be grouped together. This depends on the task, of course, but in meeting with a like-ability group of students, advanced students may probe and push each other’s thinking to an appropriately rigorous level.
Workshop 6 / Whole Group
Session #2
Anchor / Ask gifted/advanced readers/thinkers to develop a set of criteria for evaluating solutions to a problem. See attached template (Comparing Solutions) and sample. Ask them to apply the template to a problem from a story such as Chicken Sunday (DRA 30) by Patricia Polacco (instruct students to stop reading at the bottom of the page that ends with “You’ll have to change his mind somehow.” and complete the template before finishing the book.)
When doing their writing about a problem of their choosing, advanced/gifted students can propose a couple of solutions and then explain why they picked one, based on criteria they used. The graphic organizer “Comparing Solutions” can be used here.
Workshop 7 / Whole Group
Session #2
Anchor / As always, encourage advanced writers to use rich language including strong verbs and interesting adjectives and adverbs.
Independent/Small Group Work Time #2 / To insure students have included all elements of the writing assignment, give them highlighters and ask them to highlight
· where they describe the problem in purple
· the evidence that it is a problem in green
· the steps for solving the problem in blue
Workshop Plan # / Section of the Workshop Plan / GT Notes
Workshop 8 / Whole Group
Session #1
Teaching/Active Engagement / Differentiate questions for higher level thinkers by asking them to think about “point of view” as it relates to prior knowledge/previous experiences/responsibilities. Using a school problem as an example, does the principal have a different point of view from the students? From the parents? From the teachers? Why?
Independent/Small Group Work Time #2 / Quietly urge advanced writers/thinkers to include a second point of view in their writing.
Workshop 9 / Whole Group
Session #1
Teaching/Active Engagement / This topic is rich for students with an interest in history, people or justice. Gifted students often have some of these traits. This topic also provides rich material for discussion about point of view and how it evolves over time. Encourage interested students to read about the times. Possible books include:
· Jackie Robinson: He Was First by David Adler
· Jackie Robinson by Sally Walker (Spanish) (DRA 28)
· Jackie Robinson by Jonathan Brown (Spanish)
· Stealing Home: Jackie Robinson: Against the Odds by Robert Burleigh (Lexile 901L)
· Jackie Robinson and the Story of All-Black Baseball by Jim O’Connor DRA 30-34
· Campy: The Roy Campanella Story by David Adler
· Jackie’s Bat by Marybeth Lorbiecki
Alternatively, books about Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks will provide a different but parallel look at this topic. (See booklist in note for Workshop 12)
Some of these topics will be difficult for some seven year olds, but encourage deep conversations.
Independent/Small Group Work Time #2 / An alternative writing topic might be to write about whether the students believe that Pee Wee Reese’s solution to the problem was the best solution. Was there something else he could/should have done? Was there something else others could have done? Ask students to evaluate the options.
Workshop 10 / Whole Group
Session #1
Teaching/Active Engagement / During the discussion on Teammates, ask students who did additional reading to think about how Rosa Parks and/or Martin Luther King advocated for themselves and/or others.
Independent/Small Group Work Time #1 / A deeper discussion may be had with a small group of students by asking whether or not when you advocate for yourself you are also advocating for others.
Workshop 11 / Whole Group
Session #2
Launch / Be sure there continue to be lots of titles available about Jackie Robinson and add additional titles on Chavez and Huerta. Some possibilities include:
· Cesar Chavez: Fighting for Farmworkers by Eric Braun (Lexile 590L)
· Cesar Chavez by Lola M. Schaefer (DRA 28)
· Learning about Justice from the Life of Cesar Chavez by Jeanne Strazzabosco (DRA 28)
· A voice for Her People (DRA 24)
· Humanitarians by Carlotta Hacker (DRA 38)
Whole Group
Session #1
Anchor / Encourage students to challenge themselves by analyzing the similarities and differences between the advocacy of Jackie Robinson and that of Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Jane Addams, Garrett Morgan, Susan La Flesche Picotte and/or Luis Valdez. They can continue this analysis by looking for how their advocacy experience had elements similar to these historic figures.
Workshop Plan # / Section of the Workshop Plan / GT Notes
Workshop 12 / Whole Group
Session #1
Launch / Students are looking for examples of responsible citizenship and/or advocacy in their reading today. Again, although there is no requirement that student reading material be related to the unit topic, students may be interested in reading further about some people who have made a difference with their advocacy.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
As Good as Anybody by Richard Michaelson
Martin Luther King by Rosemary Bray (DRA 38)
If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King by Levine (DRA 38)
Martin Luther King, Jr. by Roop (DRA 28)
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on Washington by Ruffin (DRA 28-30)
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela by Gini Holland
Mandela: From the Life of the South African Statesman (DRA 38)
Meet Nelson Mandela by Bobbi Katz (Lexile 790L)
Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi by Demi (DRA 40)
Mohandas Gandhi by Barraclough (DRA 30-34)
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale by Zemlicka and Knudsen (DRA 28)
A Picture Book of Florence Nightingale by David Adler (DRA38)
Rosa Parks
Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation by Andrea Davis Pinkney
I Am Rosa Parks by Rosa Parks (DRA 30-34)
Rosa Parks by Greenfield (DRA 38)
Rosa Parks: From the Back of the Bus to the Front of a Movement, Wilson (DRA 38)
Rosa Parks: Freedom Rider, Mattern (DRA 34)
If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks, Ringgold (DRA 34-38)
Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens: Olympic Star by Pat McKissick (copyright 2001)
Jesse Owens by Jane Sutcliffe (DRA 28)
A Picture Book of Jesse Owens, Adler (DRA 28-30)
Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady, Humanitarian, and World Citizen by Pam Rosenberg
Eleanor Roosevelt by Mary Winget (DRA 30-34)
Eleanor Roosevelt: Fighter for Social Justice, Weil (DRA 38)