Additional resources for classroom use

Renzulli, Applying Gifted Education Pedagogy to Total Talent Development For All Students (pp. 80-89)

1. Renzulli, J. S. & Reis, S. M. (1997). The schoolwide enrichment model: A how-to guide for educational excellence. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press.

www.creativelearningpress.com

In its second edition, The Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) contains updated information about how to achieve educational excellence in today's schools. Drs. Renzulli and Reis offer practical, step-by-step advice for implementing successful SEM programs in the K-12 school setting, discuss schoolwide enrichment, and provide information about the model's school structures, organizational components, and service delivery. It also includes a collection of useful instruments, checklists, charts, taxonomies, assessment tools, forms, and planning guides that are designed to help educators find effective ways to organize, administer, maintain, and evaluate different aspects of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model.

2. Purcell, J. H., & Renzulli, J. S. (1998). Total talent portfolio: A systematic plan to identify and nurture gifts and talents. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press.

A component of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model, this book presents a systematic vehicle, the Total Talent Portfolio, for gathering, recording, and acting on the best information about students. Portfolios assist teachers as they analyze each student's unique talent profile and decide which types of enrichment and acceleration options will be most likely to develop each young person's talents and abilities. Sample portfolios are included as well as suggestions for developing your own.

VanTassel-Baska, Gifted Program and Services: What Are the Nonnegotiables? (pp. 90-97)

1. VanTassel-Baska, J. (2003). Planning and designing curriculum experiences for gifted students with special needs. Denver, CO: Love.

This book provides a blueprint for designing a differentiated curriculum for gifted learners at the level of lesson plans and units as well as frameworks and scope and sequence documents. The book provides important guidance on aligning gifted practice with the content standards in each subject area through providing differentiated task and product demands.

2. Center for Gifted Education Units of Study in Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies Web site

www.kendallhunt.com/giftedtalented.html

This Web site provides annotated descriptions of units of study designed for gifted learners, using the content standards as a basis for design. Each unit is aligned with relevant standards, focuses on the use of advanced topics, issues, and problems, the use of higher level thinking and problem-solving, and the use of intra- and interdisciplinary concepts. A research project is also embedded within each unit. Pre- and postassessments are provided for teachers along with rubrics and student exemplars.

Callahan, Identifying Gifted Students From Underrepresented Populations (pp. 98-104)

1. Callahan, C. M., Tomlinson, C. A., & Pizzat, P. M. (1994). Context for promise: Noteworthy practices and innovations in the identification of gifted students. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.

A monograph that presents descriptions of 11 innovative strategies for identifying gifted and talented students, Contexts for Promise, includes suggestions and instruments used in identifying minority and underachieving gifted students, gifted handicapped students, and underachievers, as well as an overall analysis of what has made these practices successful.

2. Renzulli, J. S., Gentry, M., & Reis, S. M. (2003). Enrichment clusters: A practical plan for real-world, student-driven learning. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press.

The Enrichment Clusters model is a whole-school effort to create student-centered learning modules. The focus is on determining and responding to student interests in the creation of learning tasks that lead to the development of authentic products for real (outside of the teacher) audiences. Step-by-step processes for administering and teaching in this model are provided.

3. Tomlinson, C. A., Kaplan, S. N., Renzulli, J. S., Purcell, J., Leppien, J., & Burns, D. (2002). The parallel curriculum: A design to develop high potential and challenge in high ability learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

The authors offer a comprehensive strategy for modifying standards-based curriculum (core curriculum) to stretch the depth and complexity of thinking in the classroom. The book contains practical examples for planning units of instruction.

Baldwin, Identification Concerns and Promises For Gifted Students of Diverse Populations (pp. 105-114)

1. Johnsen, S. (Ed.). (2004). Identifying gifted students: A practical guide. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.

This book is a good resource for teachers because it includes very practical ways in which teachers can see and understand gifted behaviors that might exist in the students they are teaching. It is relevant and can be used with a diverse population. It gives an explanation of the various terms used when referring to methods and procedures for gifted students. It also includes information on how decisions can be made regarding the placement of students using various identifying techniques.