The Alpha / School Partnership
Professional Development Opportunity

Gifted Educational Provision

The Alpha Educational Consultancy offers schools a year long professional development course in meeting the needs of gifted students.

The Professional development consists of four modules:

• Identifying and Meeting the Emotional, Social and Cognitive Needs of Gifted Students
• Recognising Gifted Underachievers and Providing Differentiated Programmes
• Creating Intervention Programmes for Gifted Students who Experience Specific Learning Difficulties
• Digital Literacy and Global Learning Opportunities for Gifted Students

Each of the four modules consists of:

• An initial face to face seminar , delivered in the school locality
• Modular support via five on line tutorials which are delivered via the Alpha Audio Conferencing Facility during the course of each term
• Regular meetings in the Alpha Audio Conferencing Facility for discussions and troubleshooting of any problems
• Email/forum support between tutorials

Who Delivers the Professional Development?

The programme has been created and is delivered by Frances Hill, author of the Teaching Gifted Learners books for teachers.

Frances is a former principal, an advisor, educational consultant and conference presenter who has an in-depth knowledge of the needs of gifted students and a passionate interest in their educational well being.

Frances is the creator of the Alpha Plus Thinking Skills programmes. She currently teaches gifted students online via the Alpha Digital Facility, writes articles for educational magazine and delivers professional development to schools.

What is the Cost of the Professional Development Course?

It is offered free of cost to schools / small school clusters which participate in the Alpha Plus Gold Thinking Skills programme by facilitating a tutorial group of 10-14 Alpha Plus Gold students. The cost of participation in the Alpha Plus Gold thinking skills programme is met by parental contribution.

Below are bullet point outlines of the key information about the Alpha Thinking Skills studies and our proposed school partnership. For full details of the Alpha Plus Gold programme and our other services please visit our website.

If you wish to explore further the professional development opportunities which are delivered by The Alpha Educational Consultancy, please contact us by email or phone.

Website: www.alphaed.org.nz Email: info@alphaed.co.nz
Phone: (03) 685 6163 Fax: (03) 685 6052

What is the Alpha Digital Facility?

• An extensive state of the art audio conferencing interactive digital environment where teachers, mentors and students interact in synchronous real time
• A connected but protected portal to the international gifted students’ community
• The repository of 320 advanced thinking skills studies for gifted students, ranging form level 1- level 4
• An audio conferencing centre for professional development courses
• A forum for national and international interaction within the gifted community

What Are the Thinking Skills Studies?

The Alpha Plus Thinking Skills Studies have been delivered to the gifted students’ community since 2005. The programme was further trialled in Auckland schools during 2006. The Alpha Plus Gold Thinking Studies are the product of that trial.

Each study in The Alpha Plus Programme covers the key areas of:

• Inquiry
• Data Management
• Conceptual Thinking
• Critical Thinking Skills
• Analytic Thinking Skills
• Critical Thinking Skills

Alpha Plus delivers:

• Differentiated programmes to your gifted and talented students via a series of carefully balanced studies at curriculum levels 1-4.
• Regular tutorials with experienced teachers of gifted students
• Access to mentors via the global gifted community network
• Audio conferencing suites for national and international collaborative learning
• A password protected facility for social interaction.
• A wiki facility for collaborative learning and authorship
• Advanced tuition in Digital Literacy and Digital Productivity
• A Social and Emotional Literacy Programme
• Five studies per term – each study consist of five thinking areas. Each thinking area contains of a range of optional tasks.

How Do The Studies Work?

• Alpha Teachers work with the school staff
• A new study is launched every two weeks
• Alpha teachers and mentors meet with students in weekly tutorials
• Ongoing support is available via the Alpha Digital Facility
• Students select one task option from each of the Thinking Domains
• Students select one task option from each of the Thinking Domains
• Students produce digital products which express their new learning.

What Will Students Learn/Enjoy?

• Advanced thinking skills
• Advance inquiry skills - navigationism
• Advanced digital literacy
• Social and emotional literacy
• Metacognition via The Brain Licence Programme
• Interaction on an international scale
• Access to international collaborative learning
• A protected forum to publish in the international arena
  

How Does the Alpha School Partnership Work?

• Alpha Teachers work with the school staff
• A new study is launched every two weeks
• Alpha teachers and mentors meet with students in weekly tutorials
• Ongoing support is available via the Alpha Digital Facility
• Students select one task option from each of the Thinking Domains
• Students select one task option from each of the Thinking Domains
• Students produce digital products which express their new learning.

What Will Students Learn/Enjoy?

• Alpha teachers work in partnership with school teachers.
• Alpha teachers run weekly tutorials with the school’s gifted students.
• Alpha teachers send copies of work covered ad expected outcomes to class teachers and parents.
• Ongoing support for students is available via the Alpha Digital Facility.
• Assessment is via the Success Criteria.

How Does the School Community Benefit from the Alpha Partnership?

• All gifted students’ within the school/cluster are identified.
• Gifted students social, emotional, and cognitive needs are fully met.
• Gifted students are trained in leadership and metacognition
• Gifted students pass their digital literacy skills on to classmates.
• Alpha teachers are happy to work with teachers, RTLB’s, parents and ERO.
• School reputation is enhanced by comprehensive provision of gifted programmes.
• Free in-service training is available for nominated teachers from each participating school.

What Technology is Required?

• Broadband connection
• PC computers
• Microphone headsets

Full details of the Alpha Plus Gold Thinking Skills programmes are available on our website. Information is also available on the Beyond School: Provisions for Gifted and Talented Students website.