giftED24

San Antonio ISD and AVID programming  addresses multilingual students' language development and academic acceleration through various offerings available for K-12 school settings. Participants will engage in key instructional routines and learn how SAISD teachers engage by design, model rigor, accelerate learning, and develop student agency at all levels of language proficiency.

If someone offers to pay you $10 to watch their dog and says they'll be gone an hour, should you get paid more if they come back after an hour and a half? Too often, students (and teachers) think of math as a rigid set of formulas and steps, and high achieving gifted learners obsess over getting the right answer, skipping over the power of asking the right questions. Instead, when we teach students to shift from asking "what" and "how" to "why" and "what if",  we unlock a set of tools for solving real-world problems of fairness and justice. In this session, learn powerful, practical steps for teaching math mindsets, including checking gut reactions, analyzing from multiple perspectives, and asking "what would the world look like if __?".

In Problem-Based Learning students are transported into a real world story. PBL this catalyst as platform for students to become knowledgeable, independent thinkers, and self-directed collaborators. Through demonstration, discussion, and classroom stories you will see how PBL uses the allure of a story to immerse students in advanced learning.

This session focuses on bringing G/T to the community. Participants will learn how Central Heights ISD has incorporated their G/T showcase with the community health fair. Attendees will be able to ask questions and share ideas with peers on the best methods of bringing their G/T projects to the community.

If gifted education wasn’t a priority to you, you wouldn’t be at this conference. But, in K-12 education, gifted education continues to be deprioritized, defunded, and in some cases, decimated entirely. This session explores practical, but powerful strategies that champions of gifted education can use to create sustainable programming to serve gifted students, even if the state and/or your district shuts down your gifted program entirely. And this isn’t just about preparing your doomsday bunker for a future fallout; it’s about envisioning a model for gifted services that creates equitable access and outcomes today.

This session is designed to help educators become talent scouts in identifying gifted MLs. A working definition of gifted MLs, their characteristics, and barriers/promising practices in their identification will be highlighted. Several observation tools will be shared for educators to use in recognizing gifted MLs.

How does a district effectively consider all kindergarten students for gifted/talented and other advanced-level services according to the state plan? Discover how to develop a purposeful kindergarten screening process that aligns services and educational best practices to foster inclusivity and provide support for our youngest learners.