This five week course will explore Emily Hollett and Anna Cassalia’s five Thinking for Advanced Learners books and equip educators with proven strategies to cultivate higher-level thinking in gifted students.
Each week, participants will complete independent work and meet online to focus on a different thinking skill for advanced thinking—evaluative, analytical, convergent, divergent, and visual-spatial—while modeling cohesive, focused, scaffolded lessons to teach target skills of competency.
By the end of the 5 weeks, participants will
- Understand the five dimensions of advanced thinking and their importance for gifted learners.
- Be equipped with scaffolded lessons, strategies, and authentic application activities from each book.
- Learn how to integrate these thinking skills into reading, writing, STEM, and interdisciplinary contexts.
- Develop a toolkit for nurturing evaluative, analytical, convergent, divergent, and visual-spatial thinking in grades 3–6.
This professional learning series, involving synchronous and asynchronous content and assignments, is designed for gifted educators, classroom teachers, and instructional leaders seeking to deepen students’ capacity for advanced, critical, and creative thinking.
The entire course will take 16 hours and these hours can count towards the Arizona Gifted Endorsement.
Copies of the five different Thinking for Advanced Learners books will be available for participants to borrow from Marianne Landrith, or can be purchased independently.
Date: Tuesdays: April 7, 14, 21, 28, and May 5
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Location: Virtual. Synchronous and Asynchronous
Cost: $50
Facilitator: Kari Sjursen, M.ED., NBCT
Tucson Values Teachers is providing limited scholarships for educators to attend PD opportunities, if you are interested, click here for more information
- For questions regarding this resource, please contact Pima County School Superintendent's Office (PCSSO).
- Contact Name: Marianne Landrith
- Phone No: 520-724-8451
- Email Address: marianne.landrith@pima.gov