Gifted and Talent Development Program
New this year to the Albert Lea Area School District is the redesigned Gifted and Talent Development program. Several changes and additions have occurred across grade levels. Focusing on goals set out by the National Association for Gifted Children, our program is integrally connected to our district mission of equipping all students to think, achieve, and care. The opportunities created for our students are intended to meet the needs of our students with unique academic needs by providing challenging educational programs and services to help them reach their full potential.
Prior to this year, several opportunities were offered to our students. Math Masters, Spelling Bee, Science Fair, and Young Authors/Young Artists gave elementary students options for enrichment and extension. At the middle school, Geography Bee, Math League, and History Day were some of the opportunities, with the high school offering such options as Robotics, Honor Choir and Band, SuperMileage, Mock Trial, Career Day, State Capitol and History Days.
New to our program this year was DestiNation Imagination, an international program for kindergarten through university students with its purpose being to teach creative problem solving strategies. Teams of students met for several months prior to competition, working on challenges involving technical, scientific, fine arts, improvisational, structural or service-learning themes. Our district had 10 teams, from the four elementary schools, middle school and high school, and were coached by volunteers who committed an incredible amount of time to collaborating, researching, designing and building. Nine teams participated in the regional tournament, with seven of those teams progressing to the state competition. Student and leader enthusiasm was apparent, as indicated by students’ comments. “Participation in the DI tournament was the best thing I have ever done!” “It stretched my mind”, “I didn’t know that I could be so smart,” “Now, I think that I want to be engineer”, were some of the comments heard from involved students.
This year approximately 75 students were involved in Chess Clubs. The opportunity to learn and play chess as well as develop strategies was an exciting focus for these after-school meetings. Clubs at each of the four elementary buildings, Southwest Middle School, and Albert Lea High School were coached by staff and volunteers. Elementary students had the opportunity to compete in a tournament held at the Albert Lea Family Y on Apr. 14. The response of students to the Chess Clubs was overwhelming, as indicated by the large number of students pursuing their interest in chess.
Students identified as having specific academic strength in grades three through five had the opportunity this year to receive additional instruction during the school day. These pull-out groups were instructed by the Gifted and Talent Development Coordinator using materials and activities that foster the development of critical thinking, abstract thinking, creative thinking and problem-solving.
The Gifted and Talent Development program is evolving with plans to continue the current offerings while adding additional opportunities over the next years. At the forefront of all programming is our district’s focus on student learning and providing resources with a strong research-base that will best meet the needs of our students.
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