Talent Development, Academic Challenge & Gifted Support (TAG)

Rigorous and enriching opportunities are provided for all students. 

The TAG specialist supports classroom teachers as they differentiate instruction to provide all students with challenging learning opportunities that help them discover their unique interests and strengths.

All students are placed in heterogeneous classrooms. “Clustering” is used to create instructional groups in each third through fifth grade classroom. This practice will reduce the range of the instructional groups within a classroom, allowing the teacher to better provide a differentiated learning experience for each student. This “clustering” approach is based upon the Total School Clustering Model developed by Marcia Gentry at Purdue University.

English Language Arts: A flexible group of students will be identified for additional support based on progress towards MN ELA Standards, observation, and formative assessments.

Math: A compilation of challenging mathematical tasks aligned with Bridges in Mathematics will provide an opportunity for students to be mathematically challenged every day. Students will self-select these tasks when a challenge is desired.

Concept Quests are compilations of challenging mathematical tasks that align with the units in Bridges in Mathematics. Each unit consists of 12 problem solving tasks and puzzles, including:

1. 6 Excursions to apply and deepen students’ understanding of essential concepts. Excursion tasks often ask students to apply the mathematics they are currently working on in novel ways and/or authentic contexts.
2. 6 Adventures to extend students’ thinking and provide opportunities for them to make important mathematical connections. Adventure tasks are often significantly more challenging than Excursion tasks.

These additional curriculum resources provide an opportunity for all students to be mathematically challenged. The tasks are available in every classroom, for all students. Students may self-select a task when they are ready for a challenge. Students can work on their own, or collaborate with others.

How can you support your child with Concept Quests? You may ask them:

1. Have you tried a Concept Quests task? Why or why not?
2. How did you solve the task?
3. What did you find challenging or easy about the task?
4. How did the task ask you to think differently than you have been thinking in math?
5. Did a classmate solve the problem in a different way?
6. How does it feel to complete a task? To leave a task unfinished?
   

Encouragement is important to this process, as well as an understanding that your child may take a long time or not use the most efficient strategy to solve a problem. All too often, students come away from math thinking that if they do not solve problems quickly, easily, and in a particular way, they are not mathematicians. Instead, we need to provide opportunities for students to discover that really good math problems can be solved in multiple ways, and take time and exceptional effort. The challenge makes the feeling of success so much more powerful when the task has been conquered.

The Talent Development, Academic Challenge and Gifted Support teacher will connect weekly with students who are attempting Concept Quest tasks.

Students may be involved in independent investigations which are designed to provide opportunities to investigate a special area of interest. Students will develop a project and share their findings. These independent study projects will be facilitated by the TAG Specialist. In addition to independent investigations, the following may be an option for some students:

• Early entrance to kindergarten
• Full grade acceleration
• Participation in advanced coursework through university partners or other agencies

Additional after-school enrichment opportunities are available at many sites, including:

• Math Masters
• Destination Imagination
• District 279 Children’s Chorus
• WordMasters
• Community Education classes

Differentiating instruction means that teachers vary the delivery of curriculum to address the specific needs of learners. State standards and benchmarks tell us what students need to know. Through pre-assessment, the classroom teacher looks at each student’s readiness, interest and learner profile to determine each learner’s needs.

Offering rigorous curriculum means providing depth, flexible pacing, complexity, choice and increased student engagement and self-directed learning. The more challenging materials allow high-achieving students to go deeper with their learning than before. In every core class (English/language arts, math, social studies and science), teachers differentiate instruction so that students continue to go deeper to extend their mastery of the content they are expected to learn. Teachers identify students who can and should tackle more challenging work within a course.

Math

Students may qualify and elect to participate in the accelerated math course offerings. Students participating in some courses (Algebra I, Non-Linear Algebra, Geometry) may choose to earn high school credit.

World Language

Students who elect to participate in Spanish 1 or French 1 may choose to earn high school credit. Students should consult with their middle school counselor for more information about earning high school credit in middle school.