Talented and Gifted (TAG)

Welcome TAG Families

Welcome to Glenarden Woods Elementary School's Talented and Gifted (TAG) Center Program! We are so excited that you have taken the time to visit our TAG website to get to know us.

Instructional Curriculum | Curriculum Resources | TAG Student Characteristics | Twice Exceptional Students | EGATE

Excellence in Gifted and Talented Education (EGATE)

Glenarden Woods Elementary is an EGATE (Excellence in Gifted and Talented Education) TAG Center. This prestigious Maryland State Award is given to schools that service gifted students. In 2018/2019 we submitted a comprehensive portfolio that provided documented evidence of 22 different criteria directly related to gifted best practices. As an EGATE school, we serve as a model for other schools seeking to achieve EGATE and/or improving their TAG programs and services.

Glenarden Woods TAG Center

Our TAG Center program offers a full day advanced, enriched, and intensive instructional program to meet the unique and specialized needs of highly able students. Our teachers are specially selected and trained to provide TAG specific instruction. Students who meet PGCPS criteria for TAG identification may choose to apply through the lottery process on a space available basis in accordance with lottery guidelines (see our Lottery Page).

At Glenarden Woods, our mission is to meet the needs of our gifted students. It is our belief that our TAG students will be given opportunities to engage in authentic research, participate in hands-on activities, and utilize their critical thinking skills on a daily basis. Our program provides an enriched and accelerated approach to Language Arts by utilizing reading materials such as The College of William and Mary Language Arts Curriculum for Highly-able learners and Junior Great Books Shared Inquiry. All students receive ICAL (Introduction to Culture and Language). Each grade level in grades 2-5 receive an introduction to a different culture each quarter.

Our website is just a snapshot of what we have to offer at Glenarden Woods Elementary. If you are considering our TAG Program, please feel free to contact the school. We look forward to hearing from you!

Understanding Gifted Characteristics

General Characteristics

Source: Clark, B. (2008). Growing up gifted (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Cognitive

• Keen power of abstraction
• Interest in problem-solving and applying concepts
• Voracious and early reader
• Large vocabulary
• Intellectual curiosity
• Power of critical thinking, skepticism, self-criticism
• Persistent, goal-directed behavior
• Independence in work and study
• Diversity of interests and abilities

Creative

• Creativeness and inventiveness
• Keen sense of humor
• Ability for fantasy
• Openness to stimuli, wide interests
• Intuitiveness
• Flexibility
• Independence in attitude and social behavior
• Self-acceptance and unconcern for social norms
• Radicalism
• Aesthetic and moral commitment to self-selected work

Affective

• Unusual emotional depth and intensity
• Sensitivity or empathy to the feelings of others
• High expectations of self and others, often leading to feelings of frustration
• Heightened self-awareness, accompanied by feelings of being different
• Easily wounded, need for emotional support
• Need for consistency between abstract values and personal actions
• Advanced levels of moral judgment
• Idealism and sense of justice

Behavioral

• Spontaneity
• Boundless enthusiasm
• Intensely focused on passions—resists changing activities when engrossed in own interests
• Highly energetic—needs little sleep or down time
• Constantly questions
• Insatiable curiosity
• Impulsive, eager and spirited
• Perseverance—strong determination in areas of importance
• High levels of frustration—particularly when having difficulty meeting standards of performance (either imposed by self or others)
• Volatile temper, especially related to perceptions of failure
• Non-stop talking/chattering

TAG Center School Curriculum Overview

Reading/English/Language Arts

• English Core Curriculum
• 1st and 2nd Quarter PGCPS RELA Curriculum Framework Guide – compacted – differentiated instruction
• Curriculum Compacting
• Pre-assessment
• Enrichment
• Acceleration (pacing and instructional level)

William and Mary Language Arts Curriculum

• Lesson 1 – Pre-assessment
• Lesson 2 – Concept Lesson (Change or Utopia)
• Incorporate William and Mary Instructional Models with Houghton Mifflin/Language of Literature Anthology when appropriate
• Concept of Change
• Paul’s Reasoning Model
• Hamburger Writing Model
• Literature Web – analysis
• Vocabulary Web – analysis

William and Mary Language Arts Textbooks

• Grade 2 - Beyond Words
• Grade 3 - Journeys
• Grade 4 - Literature Reflections
• Grade 5 - Autobiographies

Instructional Models

• Paul’s Reasoning Model
• Hamburger Writing Model
• Research Model
• Literature Web – analysis
• Vocabulary – analysis

Supplemental Curriculum Resources/Opportunities (optional)

• Junior Great Books (shared inquiry/high level thinking strategies) -trained teachers
• Novel and Author Studies (advanced/accelerated reading materials)
• Independent Study/Research

Additional Resources Related to TAG Curriculum

• Renzulli Learning - Renzulli's Three Ring Conception of Giftedness
• William and Mary Teaching Language Arts Curriculum Resources
• The Big 6 Model