Knowledge grows
from the seeds
of curiosity.
Kelly Houpt
Gifted and Talented Education Teacher
I am the GATE teacher at a Title I, intermediate school in western Maryland. Over 500 students in grades three through five enter our building every day. I have the honor of facilitating learning experiences for approximately 80 students throughout the week in what I affectionately refer to as the GATE Space. In addition, I work closely with my colleagues to identify resources and best practices to effectively differentiate instruction within grade level classrooms.
I begin each day with the same aspiration . . . to challenge all learners, including myself, to think creatively and critically when seeking answers and solving problems.
GATE
Concept-Focused Units
Each grade level focuses on a different concept. Each group's understandings of the concept are developed using Hilda Taba's Concept Development model. Throughout the year, learning experiences are developed and facilitated to allow students to think creatively and critically about the concepts.
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Third grade explores the concept of systems. Instruction leads to generalizations that all systems have parts that work together and systems can be parts of other systems.
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Fourth grade focuses on change and specifically explores change within systems including energy and government.
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Fifth grade's focus is on developing a deeper understanding of change and how the changes they make impact the world around them. Our explorations lead us to a variety of generalizations including how change can have positive and negative impacts, can create more change, and is inevitable.
While Taba's model is the framework for our learning, Dr. Sandra Kaplan's Depth and Complexity Model was the tool that allows us to dig in as we explore each concept.
Reading Enrichment
Concept-Focused Units
A variety of classic literature and poetry, as well as current events and primary source documents, are used to explore concepts within the context of the written world.
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Third grade students focus on relationships. We move from exploration of interpersonal relationships of the characters within, and eventually among, the stories. As their understandings become more sophisticated, we begin to explore the impact that abstract relationships such as cause and effect can have on the characters, the text's structure, and the reader's experience with the text.
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Fourth grade's focus is on conflict. Readers are able to identify conflict within the texts and define it as internal or external. Students also explore the impacts of conflict, identifying them as either positive or negative depending on the viewpoint of the characters in the story or participants in the current event. Our overall focus on having a growth mindset and changing your self-talk in order to be more successful is often revisited when we discuss internal conflict. Students explore the intrapersonal skills of the characters and how being mindful while shifting the language used inside can change the outcomes of conflict.
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Fifth grade focuses on a broader concept - the power within reading. Students look at the power shifts within stories and current events. They explore the power of the author's message as well as the power of the author's artistic decisions such as word choice, character development, event sequence, and more. As this unit progresses, students are able to apply a more critical lens to their own writing.
Math Enrichment
Critical and Creative Problem Solving
Students in these flexible groups have demonstrated mastery of the current content being explored in their general classrooms. The focus of our work in the GATE Space is on the processes used to critically examine a multi-step or real world problem in order to determine how to solve open-ended problems. Students are expected to struggle and persevere before finding creative ways to apply their skills to a solution pathway. Our focus is on accuracy within the steps taken, rather than having one correct answer at the end. By solving problems like this, students have to defend the reasonableness of their answers by using things such as context and range as evidence.
School-Wide Enrichment
A variety of school-wide enrichment opportunities are facilitated in the GATE Space. Several Destination Imaginations teams work collaboratively to develop their creative and critical thinking problem solving skills. Mental Math Monday is a thirty minute block in which students who have mastered their basic facts are invited to work on their mental math skills through the use of teacher facilitated Number Talks, Think Tank challenges, and the 24 Game. The WETV News Team visits the GATE Space daily to produce and record the morning news and other promotional videos. Students are able to use green screen technology as well as a variety of editing tools to create a product for an authentic audience. Other opportunities focus on game design, geography, author and genre studies, the maker movement, the school garden, and more. The GATE Space is always open!
Instruction in the
GATE Space
