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Wicomico County Gifted and Talented Program
Thinking and Doing
T.A.D.
Grades 3 - 5

T.A.D. Mission Statement

Successful T.A.D. students will develop the skills and attitudes necessary to become productive, independent learners and effective leaders.

The Thinking and Doing ( T.A.D. ) program is a differentiated instructional program for academically gifted students in the third through fifth grades. Identified students meet for one class period per six-day cycle in study groups of five to ten students with an itinerant T.A.D. teacher. The units of study provide opportunities for the students to develop proficiency in concepts and skills of the regular curriculum while also providing content, instructional strategies, and settings for learning that may be unique for gifted students. Students experience depth of content and experiences beyond that which is normally introduced at this level.

T.A.D. entrance criteria include a standardized cognitive ability score, standardized reading and math achievement scores, and measures of classroom academic performance. Teachers and parents may nominate a student for further examination using a gifted behavior rating scale. A profile which includes a standard intelligence test score, achievement test scores, behavioral characteristics, teacher recommendation, and grade point average are evaluated in order to determine eligibility for the program. Screening for the T.A.D. program occurs during the first week of school in the fall for students who were in our county and have qualifying scores. New students will be evaluated at the end of the first marking period in order to obtain the required data, grades, and teacher evaluation using the behavior rating scale.

Units are interdisciplinary in nature. Units incorporate ideas from the fields of mathematics, biology, physics, communication, technology, history, zoology, and literature. Students make use of local experts and resources as they analyze, interpret, and organize information. They select, define, analyze, and propose solutions for local problems with the assistance of departments, institutions, and agencies at the city, county and state level. Students use the methodology of experts as they investigate careers available in each of the fields studied. Units of study include Aeronautics, Economics, Conserving Animal Resources, Greek Mythology, Introduction to Law, Introduction to Shakespeare, Regional Planning, Architecture, and Genetics.

Students will:

  1. Develop critical thinking, reasoning, problem solving, and logic skills.
  2. Develop creative thinking skills.
  3. Develop communication skills.
  4. Develop personal growth and social development skills.
  5. Develop the ability to become an independent and self-directed learner.
  6. Develop the ability to use advance technologies as a resource and communication tool.

Creativity

  1. Demonstrate the ability to use fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration.
  2. Demonstrate the use of the brainstorming process in creative problem solving.
  3. Show knowledge of various creative thinking strategies by using convergent and divergent thinking processes to complete an original product.

Problem Solving

  1. Demonstrate a basic understanding of creative problem solving skills.
  2. Participate in small group activities to generate solutions and ideas through brainstorming.
  3. Develop problem solving techniques by participating in groups to generate  solutions to ill-structured problems.

Research Skills

  1. Develop the skills needed for independent study by defining a topic or issue and by participating in group brainstorming sessions to develop ideas related to the topic.
  2. Devise a plan for research.
  3. Use appropriate levels of resources such as videos, maps, dictionary, atlas, books, computers, surveys, interviews, graphs, magazines, and newspapers.
  4. Determine the relevancy of research materials found by collecting and sorting data and materials related to the topic.
  5. Develop note-taking skills.
  6. Analyze and organize notes into a meaningful format.
  7. Prepare a product to show research findings.

Communication Skills

  1. Participate effectively in a group discussion.
  2. Communicate verbally by recognizing and practicing techniques of public speaking.
  3. Give visual presentations ( posters, bulletin board, videos, electronic media, etc. )
  4. Communicate in written format.

Thinking Skills

  1. Implement techniques for logical thinking by solving deductive reasoning problems.
  2. Develop techniques for critical thinking.
  3. Develop techniques for inductive inquiry.
  4. Strengthen visual thinking techniques.
  5. Apply techniques for making analogies.

Affective Skills

  1. Assess and clarify feelings about giftedness.
  2. Assess feelings about themselves and their peers.
  3. Assess feelings about issues.