One of the more effective ways to challenge students is by asking the right questions. These questions must be purposeful and designed to get them thinking. They can be used not just on assessments or during discussions, but in every day interactions and activities. Exposure to these things of questions will all students to show the depth of their learning.

We want all students to be working to their potential which for some means not just providing the surface level response, but getting a deeper, richer response which shows a multi-layered understanding. The question is how do we get students there when they are used to just providing what’s on top? We must create a culture of digging deeper.

Learning has no bounds…except when it does. As educators we can sometime unintentionally put barriers on learning when we ask students to master a skill but then stop there. What if we designed our lessons to allow students to take it as far as they are capable? What if there actually were no bounds?

A way to differentiate in the heterogenous as well as the homogenous gifted classroom would be to puts students in groups not only according to ability, but also to skillset. The question becomes how to we appropriately identify students and place them in the group that is going to make them and the group most successful? That is what this session will show teachers how to do.

We must be intentional about meeting the needs of all students in our classroom. This requires planning for the differences in your classroom rather than reacting to them. What does it look like to plan for the various levels of students in your classroom and how do you do it without creating 30 different lesson plans?