Curriculum/Methodology
Academically Gifted Program at CSA
The Charyl Stockwell Academy is dedicated to providing
gifted children with a good and happy school experience.
Characteristics of the Gifted Child
Emotional Characteristics
w unusual emotional depth and intensity
w idealism & strong sense of justice
w innate perfectionis
w intuitive temperament
w keen sense of humor
Intellectual Characteristics
w thinks abstractly
w probing questions
w values precision
w has an exceptional memory
w generates original ideas solutions
w undeterred by conventional expectations
Academic Characteristics
w unusually varied interests and curiosity
w high level of language development
w learns rapidly
w seeks complex solutions
w heightened capacity for seeing unusual and diverse relationship
w may have learning differences
Needs of the Gifted Child
w A safe place to grow into an intelligent, responsible, compassionate contributor to
our world.
w A caring environment where the child is accepted and valued as a unique
individual; including receiving unconditional respect, appropriate challenge
and encouragement to be oneself.
w A community which fosters the understanding of the interdependent nature of our
existence through cooperation, respect and valuing diversity.
w Academic peers who share common interests and dispositions toward
learning/knowing; a basis for developing life long friendships.
w Teachers who are sensitive to the child's needs, who like them and are eager to
create a relationship that is supportive of their growth.
Charyl Stockwell Academy's Gifted Program Will Provide
w Acceleration of instruction in core mathematics and literacy study.
w Curriculum which moves beyond basic fact understanding and skills to complex
learning experiences that involve multiple ideas, uncertainties and abstractions
causing students to modify, combine and extend what they know.
w Opportunities for appropriate pacing; moving more rapidly when understanding
comes quickly or at a slower, more appropriate pace to allow for a depth or
breadth of investigation.
w Opportunities for in-depth learning and open-ended tasks that respond to the
child's curiosity and passions.
w Guidance in self assessing one's work.
Structure
w Within the multiage configuration of CSA, students identified as gifted will be
clustered. This allows the child to learn with and from academic peers while
being a part of a heterogeneous classroom and helps students to feel accepted
and “not alone.”
w Clusters allow a teacher to have a significant number of students to group
for learning experiences and to plan for differentiated instruction.
Placement
w The process of placement will occur in June for current CSA youngsters whose
parents have applied in their behalf and newly enrolled CSA youngsters whose
families have submitted ability and achievement documentation. Placement
will occur in September for summer enrolled youngsters with testing completed
by CSA staff.
w Placement criteria includes achievement testing in mathematics and reading in
the 90th percentile and ability testing in the 95th percentile.
w A Qualitative Assessment conducted by Susan Ryan, the Gifted Consultant,
may be used in lieu or in addition to the ability testing.
The work of Dr. Barbara Clark and Dr. Annemarie Roeper are infused into the
direction of the gifted programming.
Overview of Academically Gifted Programming at Charyl Stockwell Academy
Characteristics of High Achievers, Gifted Learners and Creative Thinkers
Common Characteristics of Gifted Learners
Forms and Expressions of Overexcitability
