Analyze definitions of giftedness, review studies that deal with characteristics of gifted students, and examine types of gifted programs currently available. Learn to identify appropriate evaluative designs of gifted student performance, including teacher, self, and peer evaluative designs and portfolio models.

Study the particular developmental aspects of gifted students in order to identify their unique social and emotional characteristics. Examine psycho-social concepts related to personality, maturation, and creativity. Through case studies, investigate gifted students' motivation, self-concept, and achievement and analyze the implications of these for classroom instructional strategies. Intervention strategies to meet the psychological and affective needs of the gifted student will also be considered. You will learn to identify the unique requirements of specialized populations of gifted and talented students, such as underachieving students, special needs students, as well as examine gender issues in giftedness.

This course is designed for teachers in either integrated classrooms or specialized GATE programs. Learn key principles and instructional strategies of differentiation of the core curriculum through depth and complexity while developing curricula aligned with the California standards.

Explore different learning styles and the theory of "multiple intelligences" which explains how all students learn, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic status. Based on this understanding, develop effective strategies and appropriate lessons for your students.

Explore the questioning techniques and methods used to enhance and prompt critical, creative and logical thinking in a gifted student. Use these strategies in either the integrated classroom or the specialized GATE program. Learn to teach valuable thinking skills through a variety of activities which focus on the student's actually thinking about the thought processes. Contrary to many schools of thought, both creative thinking and logical thinking can be taught and enhanced with various techniques.

Examines issues involved in identifying and meeting the needs of gifted students in the arts, including the following areas: defining artistic giftedness; the relationship of arts education to brain development and the development of critical and creative thinking skills; characteristics of the artistically gifted; identifying and evaluating artistic talent and creativity; arts program planning; developing activities for students in the visual arts, performing arts, and musical arts.

Develop ways to provide parents with suggestions for working with school personnel to provide appropriate support services and resources. Discuss the parental challenges of raising a gifted child and learn about GATE-related books, organizations, journals, and conferences.

Teachers will adapt and modify lesson plans using the multiple intelligences theory as a differentiated instruction strategy to enhance student achievement using data collection, aligning state standards, and providing authentic assessment tools. The differentiated instruction multiple intelligence model will provide an optimum learning environment.

This course is designed for teachers who are interested in learning how to incorporate available technological tools effectively into gifted and talented programs. Through the use of free tools, educators provide opportunities to lift the ceiling and remove the walls of the classroom. Technology allows for opportunities to empower and engage students in deep and complex thinking on a wide variety of topics. The goals of this course are to provide the teacher with the tools and an understanding of how to implement technology into their classrooms. The teacher can then transform the classroom into a student-centered, problem-based, content-rich academic environment appropriate for gifted and talented students.