Elementary School

Social acceptance by parents,

teachers, and peers is positively

connected to school achievement and

being smart

Middle School

Teachers approval is less important that peers’ approval,

which is often contingent on athletic prowess, rapidly

changing fads in clothing or music, or belonging to the right

clique

Gifted students may have a hard time finding compatible friends because they often need more than one group-age peers and

intellectual peers

Educating Gifted Students In Middle School, P. 6-7

HopkinsAutonomous Learner Model

• Levels of Service model; Level 3 services

• ALM (Autonomous Learner Model): ALM is a year-long course where a group of high-potential students meet using a holistic gifted curriculum to literally learn how to learn independently.

• FLEX Classes• Honors Courses

Autonomous Learner

ModelHopkins West High School

Hopkins, cont.

• Gifted Education: Autonomous Learner Model (ALM)

• Addresses the unique needs and interests of top-ability students and is offered by invitation only.

• Offered over all three years in the junior high — 7th, 8th, and 9th grades.

• Units of study include reading and analyzing high-level literature (examples: Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, Into Thin Air, Frankenstein) including literary analysis papers, Socratic seminars on controversial topics or literary works, philosophy and psychology seminars, and creativity/imagination challenges. All ALM students conclude each year with a long-term (4-7 month), research-based, in-depth project on a topic of their choosing. That project is the culmination of their work and illustrates their interests and ability to complete a high-level project.

ALM: First Year Highlights

Unit One: Orientation/Understanding Brain Styles• What is ALM? (orientation and review of

dimensions)• Brain styles (Right/Left, Abstract/Concrete,

Random/Sequential, etc.)• What is intelligence? Unit Two: Enrichment/Seminar Studies • Novel Study: Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s

Game– Socratic discussions: Violence, Personal

reflection in Ender’s struggles• Bloom’s Taxonomy explorations• Socratic Discussion Skills: Why do intelligent

students fear failure so much? Unit Three: Enrichment/Seminar Studies • Novel study: Everest Adventures (Into Thin

Air, The Climb, Dark Summit)– Socratic discussions: Is basic human

nature selfless or selfish?• Begin process/brainstorming work on 1st year

Advanced Project: What is it? What are the expectations? Project proposals and timelines

• Fun with Math investigationsUnit Four: In Depth Study Dimension • Development and implementation of in depth

study projects• Peer evaluation• Project Presentations to peers, teachers and

community• Grimm’s Fairy Tales: What is a fairy tale?

(Leading into summer reading.)

Hopkins West Junior High school

South Washing

ton County SchoolsClustering Model

http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/Departments/Gifted/documents/LevelofServiceSecondary.pdf

South Washington County• Gifted students are placed together into cluster

classrooms for their core classes: language arts, social studies, science & math with teachers who have been identified and specifically trained in areas

Cluster Classrooms

• Pre-assessments that guide learning activities• Enhanced problem solving• Project-based learning• Engagement and relevance• Responding to individual differences

Differentiated Instruction

• Core cluster classes will be formed with the following groupings to ensure a realistic instructional range:

• Gateway students• Identified gifted students• Non-identified high achieving students

Identification

http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/Departments/Gifted/documents/MiddleSchool_GT_Brochure.pdf