Thursday, April 30, 2009

Renzulli !!!!!

Isaiah is a seventh grade student who has special interests and abilities in school. He described his grades as below average in math, average in science, above average in reading, and below average in social studies. He seems to have several areas of interest. His primary interest appears to be in technology, as he seems to like activities that involve technology and computers, multimedia equipment, and communication.

Isaiah's second area of interest appears to be in fine arts. He seems to like color, texture, and creating products, by drawing, painting, or participating in set and costume design, or graphic layouts. He may also be interested in photography.

Isaiah's third area of interest appears to be in video/photography, as he seems to enjoy photography, making a movie, or creating a video.

Isaiah also has specific preferred instructional styles. Learning or instructional styles are the ways students like to learn and the strategies parents and teachers use to help them learn. Isaiah has very clearly defined learning preferences. His preferred instructional style is through simulations that help him to learn content and skills through role-playing people or events. Isaiah also likes acting, or pretending to be a character, and may like to study history by participating in simulations. For example, he may want to role-play Thomas Jefferson in the signing of the Declaration of Independence or Eleanor Roosevelt during World War II. His second choice of learning style is independent study in a topic of choice. Although he does like working independently, Isaiah may be interested in sharing some responsibilities for this project with a small group of other interested students. It may be necessary for his teachers or other adults to help him with this independent work, as the final work may result in an advanced product, such as an experiment, a video, a service, a technology product such as a powerpoint, or an oral presentation. Isaiah also enjoys peer tutoring that happens when a student or friend who knows a good deal about something helps or works with him to really understand the topic or material being studied in school.

Isaiah also has a preferred product style. That is, he has certain kinds of products that he likes to complete. His first product choice is artistic as he likes to draw, paint, or sculpt, and may also enjoy choosing colors and working with design or texture. His second choice of product style is audio-visual/display. He enjoys organizing attractive arrangements of objects, and/or likes to work on displaying information on boards or posters. He also may enjoy organizing materials and designing diagrams to visually display information. Isaiah's third choice of product style is oral, as he enjoys speaking and discussing things. He may also like debates or speeches, or talking about things in his class.

As Isaiah has a chance to consider some of his choices and think about what he really enjoys doing, it is our hope that these opportunities will enable him to fully develop his interests through the variety of exploratory activities in the Renzulli Learning System database. When he takes a virtual field trip to a museum, interviews a favorite author on the web, or explores an historical site on-line, he will be learning to further explore his interests and learning styles. These kinds of exploratory activities can introduce Isaiah to new ideas and experiences and let him explore many possible interests.

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