Welcome to Gifted Services at Gunston Middle School. My name is Elizabeth Fucella Burgos. I am the Resource Teacher for the Gifted. I have been a public school teacher for more than twenty five years in various positions in Arlington County, Department of Defense Schools and in Washington D.C.. Collaboration is a central tenet of the work of the resource teacher of the gifted; working with the classroom teachers to make learning meaningful, challenging and developmentally appropriate. Together the classroom teacher and I strive to make the learning environment cooperative and tolerant where students make choices, with an emphasis on critical and creative thinking. We work to encourage student independence. We use the Differentiation model developed by Carol Ann Tomlinson from the University of Virginia and the work of Mary Slade at James Madison University to address the needs of the gifted and talented students.Teachers work on advancing differentiation and higher level thinking strategies best practices in professional learning communities to meet the needs of all their learners. We read, discussed, and implemented strategies proposed by Richard Cash in his book, Advancing Differentiation.
Sixth grade students, in this photo gallery are engaged in a Socratic seminar about the text, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit. They show how the close reading of the novel can bring about an in-depth analysis of the literature. The English teacher, Danielle Schwartz, and I collaborate on the lesson preparation, delivery and grading.
I also work with small groups or individual students meeting their interests and needs through enrichment projects as described by Sally Reis and Joseph Renzulli at the University of Connecticut.  Supporting students' enrichment interests and passions is another tenet of the work of the resource teacher for the gifted. I have worked with students in the past to help them create National History Day projects that they submitted at the local level at George Mason University, continuing to support them as they advanced to the Virginia State Conference and finally when they advanced to the National History Day Competition at the University of Maryland. This was an awesome experience for student and teacher, doable with much hard work and effort.
Knowledge Masters is another additional opportunity students can challenge themselves with at Gunston Middle School after school in Computer lab G-49 on Tuesdays.
Our Knowledge Masters team placed 10th in the state of Virginia!! I also work with Harry Costner, Exemplary Project director in the Video Studio with eighth grade students to produce Good Morning Gunston, a live show aired throughout the school year. In addition to my work in the classroom, I am the adviser to the Virginia Academy of Science.
Eighth grade students submitted their science paper at the conference of the Virginia Junior Academy of Science held at Hampton University in May, 2008. Students since then have been invited every year to present at the annual conference held at different universities in Virginia. This year the Virginia Junior Academy of Science met at Norfolk State University May 22-24, 2012, 18 8th graders presented their papers. It is a formative experience for all who attend! You should consider the challenge.Please check out more information about Identification, the Gifted Services Blog, Anchor Activities, Debate, Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars, the Center for Talented Youth at John Hopkins, Literature Circles, Multicultural Literature, Multiple Intelligences, Services and Collaboration, Stock Market Game, the Folger Shakespeare Festival and more pictures from VJAS, in the left hand side purple banner. All these services, inside and outside our walls, are provided to students with support from my work here at Gunston Middle School. If there is an enrichment opportunity your student is interested in please contact me at elizabeth.burgos@apsva.us. |
