Mission: Gifted & Talented at Steck
In guiding students to reach their full potential, the gifted and talented department at Steck emphasizes critical thinking across all subject areas. We seek to provide a continuum of services designed to broaden and extend learning experiences that include creative problem solving, collaboration, compassion and innovative techniques. Students, teachers and parents work together to help cultivate a community of compassionate, thoughtful, persistent, creative learners with an essential layer of joy and curiosity.
What is Giftedness?
In the Denver Public Schools, “gifted and talented children” are students whose demonstrated abilities, talents and/or potential for accomplishment are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they require special provisions to meet their educational needs. These students perform, or show the potential of performing, at remarkably high levels in general intellectual ability, specific academic aptitude or specific talent aptitude when compared with others of their age and experience. Gifted and talented children are present in all student groups, regardless of gender, disability, English language proficiency, economic status, ethnic or cultural background.
More information regarding specific areas of gifted identification is available on our Identification page at gt.dpsk12.org/identification/
Programming at Steck:
Each student possesses a unique set of strengths and needs, and it is the goal of GT at Steck to come alongside classroom teachers, students, and parents to challenge all students at an appropriate level. This can mean a variety of instructional and extracurricular options designed to enrich or extend classroom curriculum.
In addition to the excellent classroom instruction already in place, the continuum of GT programming for your student may include:
The following focuses will guide our differentiation:
Content
In guiding students to reach their full potential, the gifted and talented department at Steck emphasizes critical thinking across all subject areas. We seek to provide a continuum of services designed to broaden and extend learning experiences that include creative problem solving, collaboration, compassion and innovative techniques. Students, teachers and parents work together to help cultivate a community of compassionate, thoughtful, persistent, creative learners with an essential layer of joy and curiosity.
What is Giftedness?
In the Denver Public Schools, “gifted and talented children” are students whose demonstrated abilities, talents and/or potential for accomplishment are so exceptional or developmentally advanced that they require special provisions to meet their educational needs. These students perform, or show the potential of performing, at remarkably high levels in general intellectual ability, specific academic aptitude or specific talent aptitude when compared with others of their age and experience. Gifted and talented children are present in all student groups, regardless of gender, disability, English language proficiency, economic status, ethnic or cultural background.
More information regarding specific areas of gifted identification is available on our Identification page at gt.dpsk12.org/identification/
Programming at Steck:
Each student possesses a unique set of strengths and needs, and it is the goal of GT at Steck to come alongside classroom teachers, students, and parents to challenge all students at an appropriate level. This can mean a variety of instructional and extracurricular options designed to enrich or extend classroom curriculum.
In addition to the excellent classroom instruction already in place, the continuum of GT programming for your student may include:
- independent or small group projects/research in or outside of the regular classroom
- accelerated or compacted curriculum (working in conjunction with the classroom teacher)
- opportunities for extension work within or outside of the classroom
- participation in academic competitions such as Destination Imagination, Denver Public Schools' (DPS) Shakespeare Festival, Math Olympiad (new this year!), and the DPS Spelling Bee (click here to learn more).
The following focuses will guide our differentiation:
Content
- address broad-based issues, themes, or problems incorporating a variety of subject areas
- provide advanced texts or above-grade level skills as appropriate
- encourage logical reasoning, critical and divergent thinking, and creative problem-solving strategies
- participate in research and communicate findings
- consider affective development and cultivate collaboration
- emphasize persistence, excellence, and curiosity
- refine/challenge existing ideas or our own previous work
- integrate concepts and subjects
- use techniques, materials, forms, and knowledge in innovative ways