Project CHANGE Professional Development Conference is an online two-night evening program for Teachers, Coaches, Administrators, Psychologists, and Counselors. This program offers an alternative approach to identifying advanced + gifted learners. Introducing pedagogical tools + curriculum to uncover abilities and potential, emphasizing K-2 students of diversity. Additionally, participants will engage in conversations on how to promote “intellectual equity” to develop a curricular pathway for the identification of advanced + gifted learners across all populations.
This program is being offered for $145 and comes with a digital copy of the Project Change ebook.
Class Schedule
April 11, 18, 25, 2024
4:30pm – 7:30pm
Online via Zoom
Registration is open
For questions please email Sandra Kaplan at skaplan@usc.edu
For purchase orders and group registration please contact Marie Dacumos at dacumos@usc.edu
Project CHANGE is assessing four areas to determine their effectiveness as features of curriculum to recognize and respond to potential, advanced abilities, and interests in pre-kindergarten to second grade students of cultural, linguistic, economic, and academic diversity. A brief description of these areas follows:
Language Arts/Language Development
This domain focuses on the types of language development students experience. This includes areas such as the multiple meaning of words, decoding big ideas, and interpreting similes and metaphors. The purpose of Language Arts/Language Development task cards is to determine the students’ abilities to utilize language in ways that are not typically presented in the core curriculum or the Common Core State Standards.
Curiosity and Interest
This domain focuses on stimulating students’ curiosity and interest as evidenced by the asking of questions. Curriculum Task Cards in this domain provide students with an opportunity to ask their own questions in response to a pictorial representation of a situation. The purpose of this domain is to highlight students’ ability to ask questions rather than simply respond to questions.
Problem Solving
This domain provides students with an opportunity to engage in the skill-sets related to problem solving. Students are presented with a series of unfamiliar problems and are asked what they would do to solve the problem in a given context or situation. The purpose of this domain is to analyze how curricular tasks also can highlight students’ use of critical and creative thinking skills.
Creativity/Play
This domain targets creative thinking and the skills of visual and spatial thinking. Curriculum Task Cards in this domain ask students to interpret situations and make decisions about how to engage in these situations or contexts. The purpose of experiences in this domain provides students with an opportunity to see objects and ideas in new and different ways.