Gifted Services / 7th/8th Advanced Placement

Middle School Advanced Classes

Program Philosophy

Gifted middle school students require a bridge from elementary content replacement (SAGE) and Cluster grouping classrooms in order to lay a foundation to high school Honors, IB, and AP classes. The advanced content classes provide a revised curriculum that draws on cognitive and affective learning outcomes.

Overview

Advanced content classes in English language arts, science and social studies place gifted identified students and high achieving students in a classroom that is designed with the Parallel Curriculum model.

This curriculum uses four parallels and Ascending Intellectual Demand (AID):

 Core Curriculum (What are the key content standards and learning outcomes?)

 The Curriculum of Connections (How does this content connect across disciplines, time, place, and so on?)

 The Curriculum of Practice (How is this content implemented and applied in the real world?)

 The Curriculum of Identity (What relationship does this content have to an individual learner?)

 AID (How do instruction and curriculumchallenge and engage learners and move them from their present understanding toward expertise in a subject matter?)

Goals

Academic goals- Students will…

1. develop skills to connect content to a personal and global perspective

2. engage in content as a practitioner and scholar in the discipline

3. grapple with ideas and questions using both critical and creative thinking

Cognitive and affective goals- Students will …

1. have confidence in their own abilities and ideas

2. embrace responsibility as self-reliant learners

3. successfully transition to advanced high school courses

Grade Level

Gifted Services Provided at Gavilan Peak

Description Of Services