Gifted, Talented, Creative, and Advanced Learners

Having spent more than twenty-five years in the field of gifted, talented, and creative education as a teacher, curriculum specialist, and program administrator, I can offer your team practical, evidence-based strategies for enhancing the programs, services, and curriculum for advanced learners.

Workshops Include:

  • Differentiating learning for advanced learners in the regular classroom
  • Designing honors/advanced courses at the middle- and high-school levels
  • Articulating a spectrum of gifted education services from elementary to high school
  • Using appropriate teaching strategies for advanced learners
  • Implementing social and emotional supports that enhance advanced learners’ school experiences
  • Generating, evaluating, and acting on suggestions for improvement of gifted programs, services, and practices
  • Identifying and nurturing underserved and underrepresented populations of high-potential students
  • Working constructively with parents of gifted, talented, creative, and advanced learners

Student Motivation and Engagement 

All people want to be competent at meaningful tasks. We need to help our students find the meaning in the tasks we ask them to perform. I offer workshops on how to develop students’ intrinsic desire to learn through practical, evidence-based strategies, techniques, and lesson designs.

Workshops Include:

  • Infusing practices to increase motivation and engagement
  • Using practical strategies that develop intrinsic and sustainable motivation
  • Incorporating student interests in content and learning
  • Employing Successful Intelligence to motivate and engage learners
  • Developing common assessments that builds confidence, motivation, and engagement

Self-Regulation: The Foundation for Learning Autonomy

For students to achieve their potential and be successful, they must be competent in balancing Affect (how they feel), Behavior (what they do) and Cognition (what they are thinking) to achieve academic goals. The ABCs of self-regulation FOR learning involves the beliefs and determination that students need to accomplish tasks, both dependently and independently

Workshops Include:

  • Applying the ABCs of self-regulation model in today’s classroom
  • Closing the achievement gap through self-regulated learning
  • Building self-regulation by developing a growth mindset
  • Creating a student-centered classroom that promotes self-regulation
  • Using the TLC (Teaching and Learning Continuum) to achieve success through learner autonomy

Brain-Compatible Learning

With my extensive knowledge base of the latest research in neuroscience and education, I can offer your team a solid foundation for understanding how the brain learns. Using this foundation, you will be ready to implement numerous ideas for kindling student passions and making learning environments more brain-compatible.

Workshops Include:

  • Gaining a basic knowledge of how we learn
  • Exploring gender issues in learning
  • Learning how boys learn
  • Understanding the schooling effects of poverty and opportunity
  • Recognizing how race, ethnicity, and culture can impact learning
  • Structuring a brain-compatible learning setting

Differentiated Curriculum and Instruction

Whether you are a beginner or an advanced practitioner, my workshops on differentiated instruction can be tailored to meet your needs. I can offer your team various models, strategies, and techniques to enhance the achievement of all your students. From introductory tips and ideas to sophisticated curriculum and unit designs, my workshops have been very successful in building a greater understanding of differentiation and an ability to differentiate curriculum and instruction for all students.

Workshops Include:

  • Gaining a general overview of differentiation in the era of new standards
  • Designing rigorous curriculum for the 21st century
  • Understanding the teaching and learning process
  • Creating a differentiated learning environment
  • Assessing student readiness
  • Achieving relevance through student interests
  • Exploring learning styles, modes, and preferences
  • Assisting students in constructing authentic products
  • Incorporating RtI/MTSS

Thinking and Learning for the 21st Century

Our students must be proficient not only in the content standards, but also in the thinking and learning modes essential for success in the 21st century. All students can think at higher levels. Some will need more scaffolding, while others will need greater degrees of sophistication. My workshops on thinking and learning methods are applicable to all content areas and all grade levels.

Workshops Include:

  • Building a thinking classroom of the 21st century
  • Higher level thinking and learning in the era of new standards
  • Using creative thinking tools
  • Employing critical reasoning strategies
  • Improving skills in problem finding, problem solving, and decision making
  • Mining the depth and complexity of student learning beyond Bloom’s Taxonomy​
  • Encouraging the development of intellectual capital for college and career readiness

Contact nRich Consulting