ET Australia Magazine Issue #4 January 2020

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Lowdown on ET Australia Secondary College’s Gifted and Talented Program What is it and What do Students at ET Australia Secondary College (ETASC) get out of it? Did you know gifted and talented children make up about 10% of the student population in Australia?* Did you also know that in 2019, ETASC exceeded this national benchmark with just under 20% of its student population identified as gifted and talented? “When we first started ETASC, we always had the idea of creating and implementing a gifted and talented program (GAT) for students on the Coast who wanted to focus on expanding their academic talents without distractions” Lachlan Scott, ET Australia Secondary College Assistant Principal said. “What’s great to see is some students are now coming to ETASC to take up the opportunity to expand their academic ability via our program”. Gifted and talented students have specific learning needs that may require positive adjustments to the pace, level and content of the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA) high school curriculum. Generally, gifted and talented students demonstrate the following characteristics: • The capacity to learn at faster rates. • The capacity to find and solve problems. • The capacity to make connections and manipulate abstract ideas. For ETASC gifted and talented students, their curriculum is adjusted to include: • Differentiation: modifying the pace, level and content of teaching, learning and assessment activities. • Acceleration: promoting students to a level of study beyond their age group. • Curriculum Compacting: assessing a student’s current level of learning and addressing aspects of the curriculum they have not yet mastered. *References: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-22/how-to-tell-if-you-have-a-gifted-child-explainer/10393244 Elissa (bottom left), providing guidance and support to the Mathematics Ability Group. 18
Gifted and Talented Program Background ETASC’s gifted and talented program started in February 2018. Identified students are given a one hour session per week to focus on their individual learning need with gifted and talented teachers, Jaclyn and Elissa. “We limit GAT sessions to one per week complimenting core, in class learning” said Elissa. Jaclyn has a Masters Degree in Special Education, has attained her Bachelors of Fine Art and Secondary Education and has a Certificate of Gifted Education. While Elissa has a double Degree in Secondary Teaching and Science, and has recently taught overseas learning how other countries nurture their gifted and talented students. Student Outcomes With the introduction of the GAT program at ETASC, students can push themselves further academically by entering academic competitions, which allows them to compete against other gifted and talented students across the country. Elissa (top) instructing students in the Year 8 Mathematics Ability group. Elissa (right) helping Darcy with her Engineering challenge. Darcy – Year 8 Darcy sees Elissa once per week in the Mathematics Ability Group. This group extends upon the core course content Darcy is currently learning in Mathematics class by applying her core learning to real life scenarios. Being a part of the Mathematics Ability Group provides Darcy Montana (middle), working with Elissa (top) on her novella. Montana – Year 9 Montana is a part of the Creative Writing Group and works with Elissa once per week. Like Darcy, Montana is also presented with the opportunity to gain an understanding of the core course content taught in Year 10 English the opportunity to gain an understanding of the core course content taught in Year 9 and 10 Mathematics classes. This extends and tests Darcy’s Mathematical abilities in a safe and supportive environment with Elissa. In 2019, Darcy competed in an Engineering Design Challenge and the Australian Mathematics Competition. When asked about what she enjoys the most from the gifted and talented program, Darcy said “Even though I’m only in Year 8, I really like how I’m allowed to start looking at Year 9 and 10 class work. It kind of feels like it won’t be such a shock when I start looking at Year 9 and 10 Maths problems in the next few years”. class in a safe and supportive environment. In 2019, Montana focused on developing an eight thousand word novella to be submitted into the 2020 Somerset Storyfest writing competition. Montana was also invited to present her creative writing work at the Central Coast Council Seniors Festival in 2019 and submitted creative pieces into the Write 4 Fun – Poetry, Short Story and Arts Competition for Australian Schools. “Being able to enter competitions and see how my creative writing stacks up against other students across the country gives me an understanding of the level I need to get to, to be the best” Montana said. What New Opportunities Are There for Students This Year “We want to expand the opportunities our students have to enter competitions as we believe this gives them an insight into the academic benchmarks they need to be at, to be considered among the top students in the country for their identified talent” Elissa said. “This year, students will have the opportunity to enter Youth 4 Youth, a Central Coast Council leadership and skills development program. Students will also enter the UN Youth Australia debating competition. We are expanding our focus and supporting students to enter monthly and annual photographic competitions put on by Australian Photography” she said. 19
Page 1 and 2: ET Australia’s annual student & c
Page 3 and 4: ET Australia Creates a Framework to
Page 5 and 6: It felt like it was the next step i
Page 7 and 8: “I was told I would be in a wheel
Page 9 and 10: students and have strict policies r
Page 11 and 12: chose a position with a large Austr
Page 13 and 14: Upcoming 2020 Training Programs Enq
Page 15 and 16: Gavi Duncan, from the Darkinjung Lo
Page 17: Melanie ( left), guiding students t
Page 21 and 22: Zoosnooz In Term 4, ET Australia Se
Page 23 and 24: Enrolling Now for 2021 and Beyond E

ET Australia Magazine Issue #4 January 2020

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?