UCL Academy

Teaching our Most Able

Gifted and/or Talented at UCL

Academy

Teacher Toolkit 2014

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Page References

Page 3: What is G&T?

Page 4: Organisation of G&T within the Academy

Page 5-7: Identifying Able Learners

Page 8-9: Session planning checklist for your more able

Page 10-11: Setting the right outcomes for the more able

Page 12-15: Promoting metacognition (Meta Starters, Mains

and Deserts)

Page 16: Planning for independent learning opportunities

Page 17-18: Rich questioning

Page 19-20: Making time to think for the more able

Page 21-23: Activities that add challenge

Page 24: Planning for reasoning

Page 25: Planning for making judgements

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What is G&T Nationally?

Students with an ability to develop to a level significantly ahead of their year group. It is a comparison to others within the Academy, not nationally. As such about 12% of each cohort/year would come under this grouping. G&T should be subdivided into 'gifted' learners and 'talented' learners, with students in one or both categories. Whole Cohort Identification-UCL Academy Wide About 12% of each year group is placed on the G&T

central register Identification based on a wide source of evidence that

includes: CAT test scores, termly assessments, SAS scores, in particular non-verbal SAS

Achievements outside of school e.g. music grades, sports teams, performance groups also considered

The Academy recognises that

‘ability’ is not fixed The ‘list’ is fluid Students will not be informed of place ‘on list’ G&T provision important for ALL students – stretch,

challenge and opportunity to raise the bar Such a list is about provision not identification Nominations to also be put forward by teachers and CL’s

through informed observation Department lists of More Able/G&T are also constructed This group is tracked and progress, attainment analysed

Additional provision will be made for such students We recognise that the top 12% of every class are our Most

Able as as such should be provided for

Above all we recognise that identification is based on potential, not only current performance.

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UCL Academy Organisation of G&T Provision

SLT Lead Inclusion

manager and G&T Lead

Curriculum

Lead

G&T Subject

Champion

Class Teacher

RGR RAL & LST Various Various Various

Oversight and

monitoring UCL

Academy

Toolkit

Whole Academy G&T register,

tracking and intervention

Develop strategies

to develop potential

Identify and coordinate

enrichment, EBD, IAG

Offer CPD on teaching and

learning for G&T learners

Work with CL’s and Subject

Champions Develop resources

to aid subject

areas

Tracking and

intervention of both

Whole

Academy and subject

G&T at a faculty level

Care of students that show the

most ability (potential) in

your subject.

Responsible for progress of G&T

learners esp. those who are PP

Tracking and intervention of

both Whole Academy and

subject G&T at a subject level

Subject identification

Enrichment – and impact

Develop subject

specific resources to aid class

teachers

Know the students

Differentiate appropriately

Challenge and

opportunity – progress

Tracking and intervention of

both Whole Academy and

subject G&T at a class level

Class level analysis of

progress and attainment

Nominate

students for

subject list

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A preparedness to invest time, energy and resources

(intellectual, physical, emotional, social) into an area of

learning (Hymer 2009)

What are Able Learners like?

The very able high flier

These are learners who demonstrate their ability to learn in a variety of ways.

They soak up challenge and respond with understanding

and enjoyment. They often have a maturity and insight beyond their years

and can cope with being different and ahead of their peers.

Often they are self-motivated, have very supportive parents and teachers who provide opportunities for extending and enriching experiences.

They are receiving differentiated and challenging opportunities and they are responding at high levels.

The coaster

Often these children do ‘the stint’ and conform to teacher expectation. They play the school game well and can show pages of neat work with repetitive practice without an error.

They may well be quiet, sensitive children who perceive that the teacher is always occupied.

They may be deliberately conforming to peer group expectation and may be loath to draw attention to themselves.

They seldom ask questions because they always understand or perceive their questions as different from the usual.

This pattern of low-level response can often become a habit, and responding to the joy of challenge is seldom, if ever, experienced.

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Sometimes, daydreaming or decorating work fills the time

when the stint to comply with teacher expectation has been completed.

The disaffected

Sometimes, problem behaviour masks potential ability.

The teacher’s attention is understandably absorbed by the confrontational behaviour, particularly if the learner is aggressive, disruptive in the classroom, very withdrawn or inclined to be highly active.

In areas of high social and economic disadvantage, many potentially able children are under-challenged.

They have few positive outlets for their mental and creative energy and, sadly, too many temptations to engage in anti-social behaviour. Such behaviour becomes a habit and requires intensive cooperative work between school, home and the learner over a prolonged period of time.

Some reasons for underachievement Able students often underachieve or show limited progress

during lessons because... boredom leads to frustration get simple questions wrong as the answers can seem too

obvious – there looking for a more complex solution or theory.

do not have the learning behaviours to harness their innate ability e.g. time management

have verbal skills that are not matched by written skills – often due to lack of high reading age material at home.

do not have the language skills to articulate their ideas. are not given the opportunity to show what they can do

due to limitations in tasks seemingly go ‘off the point’ of the lesson fixed mindset lack of metacognition

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Identification of Able Students

These characteristics are not necessarily proof of high ability but they may alert you to the need to enquire further into an individual’s learning patterns and ability levels. Some are subject specific traits. They may:

be a good reader; High ability/low motivation be very articulate or verbally fluent

for their age; give quick verbal responses (which

can appear cheeky); have a wide general knowledge;

contributes wealth of ideas and information

learn quickly; be interested in topics which one

might associate with an older child; communicate well with adults –

often better than with their peer group;

have a range of interests, some of which are almost obsessions;

show unusual and original responses to problem-solving activities;

prefer verbal to written activities; be logical; be self-taught in his/her own

interest areas; Logical approach to tasks –

especially investigations Sees relationships and patterns

between variables Stream of ‘why’ and ‘how’

questions which may appear random and abstract

Fiercely self-critical and a perfectionist

Instinctive learner – dislikes rote memory tasks or copying tasks

Self-directed Speculates, suggests and predicts have an ability to work things out

in their head very quickly; have a good memory that she can

access easily; Growing self-determination Keen sense of justice. have strong views and opinions; have a lively and original

imagination/sense of humour; be very sensitive and aware; focus on her own interests rather

than on what is being taught; be socially adept; appear arrogant be easily bored by what they

perceive as routine tasks; show a strong sense of leadership; Questions rules/authority not necessarily appear to be well-

behaved or well liked by others. Intense curiosity about how things

work and why things happen Inventive, enjoys experimentation Tells you about related media

stories Attempts to use correct scientific

vocabulary Shows empathy with others and

recognises ethical issues

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Subject specific guidance for selecting G&T and Most Able can be found in the G&T folder on the T drive.

Session Planning Checklist for your Most Able

The following is a quick list of ways to ensure any able students in your group is

being catered for - rich tasks, challenge and deep thinking. We suggest that all learning sessions should be planned with this in mind and that a teacher should

scaffold down rather than pitch to the middle.

Always find out what students already know. Remember, if the learning isn't new, what are you

doing it for? Give them credit for already knowing things! Listening,Mapping,Testing,Quizzing

Always provide choices. When you're establishing learning opportunities, provide more than one choice for them to demonstrate understanding. Give them a variety of ways to present their learning e.g. film, slideshow, audio, lesson plan.

How will students be presented with choice? Cards, list on a handout, discussion, ICT? Allow students to choose to do the hardest question first – especially with equation work or

translations. Have complimentary challenging activities ready for quick learners. Not more of the same Make sure that the tasks are open-ended so that there is scope for challenge beyond the levels

you have set. Ideally extension work should not be necessary if the task is appropriately rich. Avoid pure memory and note taking activities. This often causes boredom which can escalate

into unacceptable behaviour. Keep them challenged by providing ongoing activities with a problem solving focus.

Link activities to other curriculum areas or ask students to develop their own links e.g. history,

geography, development. Encourage the students to make their own suggestions for the extension and enrichment of the

activities. Be flexible and open to risk taking e.g. let them plan their own practical even if you know it might not work!

Find time to review the activities with the student at the end of the session. How could they

have been improved? What more could have been done? Students can plan a starter for next lesson.

Some Strategies for students who get ahead of others Set an independent project to run along side classwork. If they finish early they can carry on

with their side project. (needs managing) Have an extra challenge already prepared e.g. on a +1 card. Use reading material that is more challenging to extract information from e.g. an A level text

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Get the brain

working

Challenging outcomes

Check prior learning

Challenging activities that allow students

to shine

Probing questioning

Chance to go deeper

Choice of assessment

Development of wider skills and metacognition

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Setting the right outcomes for the more able

Using high level, challenging learning outcomes can establish the right level of

challenge for your more able students. Differentiating by outcome is acceptable as long as outcome is not just the abel producing greater quality or quantity of

work. Draw from the Synthesis and Evaluative levels of Blooms taxonomy the following are suggested Outcomes to challenge the more able. These could be

displayed at a class level or given as personal outcomes to your more able.

Prove / disprove Categorize Draw conclusions from

Negotiate Extrapolate Estimate

Test a hypothesis Provide evidence Compare and contrast

Construct Venn diagrams

to show…

Sequence chronologically

determine the relationship

between

Develop a hierarchical

charts

Design flow charts

show cause and effect

relationships

Participate in discussion Debate an issue Make a model

Draw a diagram that

represents a text Graph a concept Teach /plan a lesson

Give a demonstration Create an original product

Translate into another

form

Market a product/book

Film and edit a news report

Conduct research

Judge Rank

Evaluate the costs and

benefits

Convert into visual form...

Design an investigation

into…

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Describe 2 purposes of astronomy.

Described how astronomers can observe different objects in

space

Evaluate the benefits of observing the universe – using

examples from your own research.

Assess the different methods of observing objects in the

universe and recommend one for the government to pursue.

Give advantages and disadvantages of each type of

bottle.

Describe the design features of different milk bottles.

Evaluate various bottle designs using criteria you have created.

Rank the bottles in order of desirability.

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1. Identifying "what you know" and "what you don't know."

2. Talking about thinking.

3. Keeping a thinking journal.

4. Planning and self-regulation.

5. Debriefing the thinking process.

6. Self-Evaluation.

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Meta Starters

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Meta Mains

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Meta Desserts

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• Small project to research and present on something that grabbed their attention in the news.

• Offer challenge by expecting them to know or find out more than you know.

• A difficult text to evaluate and synthesis into a simple text or into a diagram.

• Provide two sources of evidence to compare and contrast.• Present to the class for 5 minutes on a related but

additional topic

Planning Implications:

• Have a bank of materials always available E.g. Focus, Nature and New Scientists

• Photocopy articles in advance and add to SoL.• Projects can be done within or alongside relevant topics - not as

extra work

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Rich Questioning for the More Able

Synthesis

Useful Verbs Sample Question Stems create Can you design a…to..?

invent Why not compose a song about…?

compose Can you see a possible solution to…?

predict If you had access to all resources how would you deal with…?

plan Why don’t you devise your own way to deal with…?

construct What would happen if…?

design How many ways can you…?

imagine Can you create new and unusual uses for…?

propose Can you write a new recipe for a tasty dish?

devise Can you develop a proposal which would…?

formulate

Evaluation

Useful Verbs Sample Question Stems judge Is there a better solution to..

select Judge the value of..

choose Can you defend your position about…?

decide Do you think…is a good or bad thing?

justify How would you have handled…?

debate What changes to…do you recommend?

verify Do you believe…?

argue Are you a …person?

recommend How would you feel if…?

assess How effective are…?

discuss What do you think about…?

rate What would be a fair rating system for….?

prioritise Which action is the greatest priority?

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• Lots of opportunities for pupils to ask questions. • Ask students to generate questions about unusual

objects/pictures/texts.• Create an enquiring environment in your classroom.• Pose your own challenging questions to encourage

curiosity about society, how the world works and creative thinking e.g. ‘How would you improve the human body? What single change would be most beneficial to developing countries?

• Encourage posed questions to be framed by should, could, would rather than what, when etc.

Planning Implications:

• Set up a ‘Why/ How..’ board in your learning space. Students can add questions and offer answers

• Include a ‘Rich Questions’ section your SoL• Collect interesting objects for learning spaces e.g. a lava lamp,

gyroscope, press photos, artifacts. Pupils will ask about them!

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Making Time to Think for the More Able

The following generic teaching strategies have been found to be

successful in helping able pupils to extend their thinking. They invite children to think more widely, more deeply and more slowly about the topic in hand. Pause for thought Remember ‘wait time 1 and 2’, by providing at least three seconds of thinking time: 1. After you have asked a question, pause to allow pupils time to collect their thoughts. 2. After a pupil response, pause to show you are thinking and allowing others to think. Think-pair-share Allow individual thinking time, ask them to discuss their ideas with a partner, then share these in class discussion. Probe Ask ‘follow-ups’ to probe their understanding eg ‘Why?’ ‘Do you agree?’ ‘Tell me more’ ‘Give an example’ ‘Can you elaborate?’ ‘How

did you arrive at that answer?’ Withhold judgment Respond to answers in a non-judgmental fashion to encourage further thinking eg ‘Thankyou’ ‘That’s interesting’ ‘Who agrees or disagrees?’ Invite a range of responses eg ‘There is not one right answer, think of alternatives’ Play devil’s advocate

Present an alternative point of view and challenge pupils to respond to it eg by saying ‘Do you agree or disagree with this view?’ ‘Explain why’, ‘What are your reasons?’

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Encourage questioning Invite pupils to ask questions, or to write down questions that puzzle them. Value any genuine and challenging questions. Display

them to show you value them, find time to share and discuss them. Think about thinking Ask pupils to think about their thinking and learning eg ‘What thinking have you been doing?’ ‘What have you found hard?’ ‘What have you learnt?’ These kinds of questions develop what many researchers now believe to be the key to higher order thinking and intelligence - metacognition.

• Ask open-ended questions, such as ‘Would you rather be ... (a tribal leader, the queen or prime minister)? Or’ what colour is happiness?’ and explain why.

• Ask students to hypothesise: ‘What if ...? ‘, ‘Why is...?’, ‘What could you do?’

• Speculate about a hypothetical situation: ‘Imagine the world without power point?!’. How would this affect our lives?’

• Apply imagination to what you already know, such as a creative piece on settling in another country or the effect of being able to record dreams…

• Think like somebody else (from a different culture or from the past.

• Solve this geographical question like an artist!

Planning Implications:

• Add these questions as prompts in SoL• Part of differentiated Home Learning

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Activities that Add Challenge What happened?

1. A woman breaks all the lights in her house one evening 2. Lightening struck a pitch during a football match but only one

team was injured What if…? Science was only done by women? Aliens spoke French? Memory Board

1. Write key words on board. 2. Give pupils time limit to remember them 3. Wipe board 4. Ask pupils to recall the definitions only

+1 Cards Useful if a student might complete an activity before others. Have cards with a short but challenging activity on ready to give out without drawing too much attention. Students could draw them at random from a pile when they have finished. Once prepared can be

used with different classes if they are skills based. The activity must not be more of the same. Question Tokens This encourages thinking and independence. Able students can be afraid to get it wrong and are over reliant on the teacher.

Set a problem or activity. Give each group or student 1-3 tokens. It costs one token each time they ask the teacher a question.

This makes students take their time to think for themselves. Post-Its Able pupils can think of questions quickly and want to follow many paths of enquiry. This can be disruptive if the pupil is impatient. A

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pupil may also be very quite in a ‘busy’ class and not get as much time to discuss their ideas with the teacher as they need. Try this… Give a pupil some post it notes at the start of the lesson or series of

lessons. Every time they think of a question or have an interesting thought get then to jot it down. You can then see their thoughts when you mark the book or use them for a quality learning discussion. Most Difficult First An initial step towards more formal compacting, this is most effective with skill-based assignments.

With a new assignment, decide which items represent the most difficult examples of the entire task. They may appear sequentially, near the end of the assignment, or from different sections of the assignment.

Choose no more than five examples. Write the assignment on the board and highlight the Most

Difficult First (MDF) part. Those students that attempt the MDF and answer all parts

correctly do not have to complete the rest of the assignment. Those who fail to meet the criteria should complete the whole

assignment

This strategy allows more capable students to demonstrate mastery more quickly and allows them to move onto more enrichment activities. Jigsaw Useful if you have a group of high ability students and are doing a research activity. It gives the more able the opportunity to work with students of a similar ability on a challenging topic and then teach it.

1. Divide the research into sections e.g. habitats: woodland, desert, seashore, cave, gut. 2. One section needs to be challenging. 3. Each initial group has 5 students. They will go and join ‘expert’ groups to research a particular idea/topic. One G&T student per group.

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4. The group splits and makes new groups to research one of the topics. Make sure the most challenging topic is given to the most able. 5. The original groups reform and students disseminate their

research. 6. Each group then produces one overall piece of work that must include all the research areas. Carousel Write a series of challenging questions on flip chart paper. e.g. Who was to blame for Juliet’s death? Who was the ‘baddie’ in Romeo and Juliet? Does the story of Romeo and Juliet relate to today? Participants work in groups of 3-4. Each group has a different coloured marker or pen and writes down as many ideas as possible for 3-4 mins. The groups move to the next question, taking their pen and make comments on their new question. This continues until groups return to their original question to review the comments. They can then rank the answers and justify or present to the class. Challenge the Teacher! Award points every time a student makes a relevant challenge to what you are teaching or if they ask their own question.

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• Ask students to think of as many reasons as they can for a course of action e.g. limiting the development of artificial intelligence

• Summarise a concept into 50 words e.g. Past tense, gravity, • Find reasons for and make links to the history of your subject

area e.g. ‘Why was Copernicus persecuted?’ When was the first advertising campaign?

• Encourage reasoning and problem posing e.g. ‘If the answer is ‘ copper sulphate,’ what could the different questions be?

• Provide answers reason through why it is the answer (turning a closed into open question)

Planning Implications:

• Useful as plenary activities.• Can be used with a pupil who already has more existing

knowledge than others. • Can be given verbally.

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• Judge and evaluate what they read e.g. by doing a PMI: What are the Plus points, Minus points and Interesting points about a given article, scientific breakthrough or website?

• Ask for up to 10 things that make something good e.g. a teacher, then rank them in order of importance.

• Discuss a controversial item in the news and ask them to write a letter expressing their point of view e.g. Should caring for the elderly be compulsory?

Planning Implications:

• Add these questions as prompts in SoL• Part of differentiated Home Learning• Part of Review and Reflect at the end of a session