The Seminar Program

Gifted Education at G-FHS is composed of two mutually supporting elements: acceleration and enrichment.  Acceleration is provided by the MYP, IB and AP course offerings which may be chosen by any motivated student. Enrichment is provided through both the IB curriculum and the Seminar Program which employs ability grouping several times a year. The Seminar Program at G-F HS serves several distinct yet complimentary functions.

  First, an endorsed Gifted Education resource teacher provides 16 seminars a year, including 2 field trips, to Non-IB participating Gifted students in grades 9-11 in an effort to meet the state mandate and student need to experience a differentiated enrichment curriculum in a small group of intellectual peers where seminar skills of discourse, listening, and analytical, critical, and creative thinking are reinforced and evaluated.  Gifted twelfth graders who are not in TOK receive 8 seminars including 2 field trips encapsulating many TOK topics.  This program is titled the Gifted Education Seminar Program.

Second, MYP and IB Gifted students, grades 9-11, meet with the Gifted Ed. resource teacher eight times a year to augment, enrich and extend the MYP and IB curriculum in a non-threatening, non-graded small group seminar environment with the same objectives as previously mentioned for the Non-IB group, but with the added objective of preparing the IB students with the Gifted designation for the listening, oral discourse, intellectual risk–taking, and multidisciplinary thinking required in TOK their senior year.  This program is titled the Pre-Theory of Knowledge Seminar Program.

Third, all non-Gifted IB and MYP students, grades 9-11, also meet with their IB-trained classroom teachers for enrichment seminars twice a nine weeks or eight times a year, to augment, enrich and extend the MYP and IB curriculum in a non-threatening, non-graded small group seminar environment with the same objectives as previously mentioned for the Gifted IB/MYP groups . Gifted IB/MYP students do not miss class time because the non-Gifted portion of the class is also receiving enrichment in their small group during the Pre-TOK Seminars.

 These twenty-four, 90 minute seminars, in grades 9-11 are intended to prepare the IB students for the listening, oral discourse, intellectual risk–taking, and multidisciplinary thinking required in TOK their senior year.

Questions or comments?  Please contact Bruce Snyder, Gifted Education Resource, 703-730-7000, ext. 7164, snyderbx@pwcs.edu

See the Gifted Education Website:

http://giftededucation.gar.groupfusion.net/modules/groups/integrated_home.phtml?gid=94104&sessionid=941175f48802c99c6c200ae42a4f56c5