Sammie Napierala

EPSY 7710: Masters Practicum in Gifted Education

Proposal for Practicum

A. Sponsoring Agency Info

Oconee County Schools

Dove Creek Elementary School
7921 Hog Mountain Rd, Statham, GA 30666

B. Sponsor Info

Name: Barrie Davis Phone#: 706.310.2019

Sponsor email: bpdavis@oconeeschools.org

Sponsor Role: I worked as a paraprofessional in Barrie’s class last year, and got to see
how her 18 years of kindergarten teaching experience really helped bring the curriculum
standards to life. I’m hoping that Barrie can help me find the connections between
standards and content areas as well as provide feedback on my concept-based unit as it
develops.

C. Description of Experience

a. Practicum/Internship Title: Interdisciplinary Curriculum Unit for Bright Early

Childhood Learners
b. Goals
1. Provide curriculum enrichment and acceleration for bright early childhood
(kindergarten) learners that goes beyond what’s covered in the general classroom.
2. Develop and implement an interdisciplinary, thematic curriculum unit covering
science and math topics; the unit will occur over 10-12 forty-minute periods
during an extended learning time.
3. I will be able to measure or gauge student understanding and impact by taking
anecdotal notes during and after each lesson, and collecting student work samples
when appropriate.

c. Duties/Responsibilities

Before I do anything else, I need to determine what content areas I want to

focus on for my curriculum unit. This will include speaking with the
kindergarten lead teachers and consulting standards and curriculum maps. A
question I’ll need to ask myself is: how do I take that content to the next level
and make it meaningful for these students, who more than likely may already
have mastered the basics? Once I have an idea of what I’m going to be
teaching and how I can enrich and accelerate that content, I’ll need to identify
which students that would qualify as “bright” in this context. Next, I can
 actually start designing and planning my curriculum unit, collaborating with
other kindergarten teachers as to how in depth the regular curriculum will go
and how I can expand upon that for my students. Planning will also involve
research into best practice and lesson ideas as I decide what kinds of
enrichment will be best for the students I’m pulling. Then I can actually
implement the unit itself and teach the students. I will also be constantly
checking for student progress and understanding by making notes of their
verbal and nonverbal actions through methods such as questioning and
collecting student work samples. During this time I may also have to make
small adjustments to what I teach or the pace based on these small, formative
assessments I’m taking throughout the implementation of the unit itself. These
pieces of evidence of student understanding will also be useful when I’m
finished teaching the unit and I try to gauge the overall impact of my unit.

d. Location and Time Frame

This experience will require identifying students that would benefit from
enrichment instruction from my class as well as other kindergarten classes, as
well as research and planning that will take place both on and off site. I will
need to spend time collaborating with other teachers in identifying the
students I want to pull, then deciding exactly what content areas I should
focus on for the unit. The unit itself will be conducted over 10-12 different
forty minute periods; each of these periods are an extended learning time in
which students receive specific services based on their learning needs. This
time takes place towards the end of the school day. The physical location in
which this unit will be taken place has not been determined.

e. Products/Portfolio

For my final portfolio, I plan on creating a narrative synopsis of the process of

designing, implementing, and gauging the impact of my curriculum unit. This
narrative will include anecdotes and pictures of student responses and actions
during implementation of the lessons as well as work samples in addition to
the written part I write following each stage of the process.

D. Developmental Statement

I chose to focus on gifted instruction for my practicum experience this semester because
this time next year I plan to have my own classroom and will hopefully be teaching gifted
learners. Planning an entire curriculum unit, as opposed to just one lesson or even a short series
of lessons as I’ve done in the past, will allow me to really practice the planning and designing
aspect of teaching gifted learners. As it is now, I don’t think that too many curriculum standards
are designed with gifted learners in mind; the goal is typically proficiency. At my school, which
is where I hope to get a teaching job after this school year, this is definitely true. Gifted learners
are often swept under the rug by administration and most teachers at my school, and I want to

 
make sure I know how I can go beyond proficiency for gifted students. I think it’s important for
me to practice taking these standards and expanding upon them in order to challenge and enrich
the instruction gifted students get, as that will be what I will need to do for my future students.
More specifically, I will be making this unit an integrated curriculum unit, where I will
be using an overall guiding concept (or concepts) to teach students using multiple content areas.
This is a teaching strategy that I think is super useful and very meaningful for students, but I
have not had the chance or the time to plan and implement a whole unit until this practicum
experience. I am also looking forward to digging into the kindergarten curriculum and deciding
which content areas and concepts I want to focus on for my unit. The curriculum isn’t
necessarily designed in this way; it’s very separate, and our students don’t get a lot of Social
Studies or Science instruction. I definitely want to include at least one of those content areas in
my unit, if not both, in order to enrich the very brief and basic instruction students are getting in
these areas in the regular classroom. Gifted students typically already possess basic content
knowledge and skills presented in regular curriculum standards, so finding a way to tie these
standards together and presenting them in a new and meaningful light will help gifted students
begin to make those connections for themselves.

E. Courses Pursued and Work-related Duties During Practicum Term

This semester, I am taking EPSY 6800 (Cognition), EPSY 6990 (Gifted Masters
Seminar), and this practicum course. I am completing my practicum at the school where I work
as a kindergarten paraprofessional. I will be at the site every day, but not necessarily working on
my project each day.