W O R K S H O P S

As part of its work in supporting both teachers and parents, REACH Education provides a wide range of workshops on various aspects of catering for gifted learners.

REACH workshops focus very directly on effective practical strategies. All are grounded in the research in this field and draw on years of intensive practical experience. They reflect an in-depth understanding of gifted learners and how to cater for their needs. They are realistic in their awareness of the available time and energies of both educators and parents.

REACH Education will deliver workshops to individual schools, to groups of teachers from schools within a district or region, to teachers’ associations, to school parent evenings, to parent groups and to other relevant groups.

The descriptors given below indicate the range of topics we can cover. They can be delivered individually or combined in different ways to meet your needs. We are open to discussing with you other topics relevant for you.

NB [1]: REACH Education also works with schools who are in the process of reviewing their existing provisions or who are entering this field for the first time, to help you assess your needs and construct procedures and programmes that are appropriate for you.

NB [2]: Please note that workshops generally do need to be booked well ahead of time. Booking information is at the end of this website page, following the descriptors.

NB [3]: Suggested time frames are those most usually used. Most workshops can be extended to provide more opportunity for practical work and discussion.

Workshop Index

For educators

1. Who are they? Identifying gifted learners.
2. The REACH model: keys to understanding the needs of gifted learners
3. Making it different… differentiation made sensible
4. The gifted learner as researcher
5. Getting gifted boys to write!
6. Comprehension as it’s never been before!
7. Planning for the ethical dimension
8. The first day
9. What’s in a classroom?
10. Coping with the parents of your gifted learners.
11. Bring your questions! Workshop or clinic day.

For parents

1. How do I know if my child is gifted?
2. What can I do at home to help my child?
3. Choosing a school.
4. The school, your gifted child, and you.
5. Bring your questions!

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Workshop descriptors

For educators

[1] Who are they? Identifying gifted learners

Research tells us that even though we may feel confident we can always spot the gifted learner, in reality many, many gifted children remain unidentified at school. Their learning potential may be lost or muted as a result, and they may suffer years of unhappiness, with permanent damage to self-confidence and relationship skills. This should be unacceptable for any child as an outcome of going to school, and as a teaching community, we need to get very much better at recognising our gifted learners.

This workshop introduces participants to a range of straightforward practical tools that can be used by any classroom teacher. It draws on anecdotal material to demonstrate exactly how and why these tools work, and to help teachers examine their existing perceptions. It provides a basis for building effective schoolwide procedures.

Target audience: Adaptable for different levels of schooling.
Suggested time frame: 2 hours.

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[2] The REACH Model Keys to understanding the needs of gifted learners

The REACH model presents four key concepts, each of which represents a crucial area of need for the gifted learner. Collectively they give us an insight into the world of the gifted child, and a framework for building an effective learning programme for them, whether in the classroom or in a specialised group situation. This is essential material for all teachers who seek to understand the gifted students they work with.

The REACH model was developed in New Zealand in the 1980’s by Rosemary Cathcart as a response to the overwhelming lack of available material she found when first asked to provide a programme for gifted learners. Working from her experience as both a teacher and a parent, she was concerned to go beyond a product-based programme and to develop a more holistic approach which recognised that giftedness affected every aspect of a child’s perception of experience, and then to translate that into a practical structure teachers could use as a guide in working with these children. The REACH model was the result.

The model subsequently became the basis of both the teachers’ manual, They’re Not Bringing My Brain Out and of the One Day School programme run by the George Parkyn Centre for Gifted Education in many venues throughout New Zealand, and has been taught in numerous workshops for both in-service and pre-service teachers.

This workshop takes you step by step through the four key concepts, with examples for you to try of how to implement it in your planning.

Target audience: Adaptable from school entry up to junior secondary
Suggested time frame: 3.5 hours.

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[3] Making it different… Differentiation made sensible

Adapt your planning for gifted learners – and change the learning experience for everyone – including you!

We’re told that “differentiation” is the key to providing for gifted learners, but what exactly does this mean? How do we know if we’re doing it properly? How can we avoid the old traps of “more of the same” and “more of the same sooner”? (Neil Reid’s famous description of what happens all too often with enrichment and acceleration). Does it involve completely separate planning for the gifted, and if so, how are we supposed to fit it in? Unless we can find answers to questions like these, differentiation seems a daunting task, one we may not feel we can tackle. As in so many instances in life, the best solutions are often surprisingly simple. This workshop presents a strategy developed as a complement to the REACH model and known as the “conceptual approach to curriculum”. Drawing both on the research into how gifted children think and learn and on intensive experience with gifted learners in the One Day School, the workshop demonstrates a way of constructing effective differentiation based on just three questions – questions which will give you new insight into your own perception of what you are teaching and then lead you into a fresh and high-interest approach to almost any topic, with intriguing outcomes for everyone involved, children of all levels of ability and the teacher.

Target audience: Adaptable from school entry up to junior secondary.
Suggested time frame: 3.5 hours.
Can be a whole-day workshop.
Can be a 1.5 hour introductory workshop.

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[4] The gifted learner as researcher

How can we turn the boundless natural curiosity of the gifted learner into the sophisticated research skills needed for advanced independent study?

Curiosity, the desire to know, the passion for finding out and understanding, is one of the characteristics most strongly associated with giftedness. For these children, it is a powerful driving force in their response to the world around them. All children are curious to a greater or lesser extent, but for the gifted child, it is an insistent inner demand which can take them through to deeper levels of understanding – or, at times, bring them into conflict with the more routine expectations of others.

If we can capitalise on this natural drive, we have in our hands an extremely effective tool for making learning satisfying and fulfilling for the gifted learner at any age level.

We also have a valuable opportunity to prepare gifted learners for the advanced study many of them will undertake in later years, and for their future life roles. The desire to know is the foundation of all research activity, in whatever sphere it occurs.

Thus this workshop takes a highly practical look at how to teach advanced research skills to our future doctors, scientists, journalists, historians, novelists (etc, etc!) from the earliest years of schooling onwards.

Target audience: Primary and intermediate teachers.
Suggested time frame: 1.5 hours.

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[5] Getting gifted boys to write!

How often have you heard it? One of the commonest cries from the teachers of gifted boys – great ideas, won’t write them down, hates writing, never finishes, his book looks like he ate his breakfast on it! When so many of the world’s most famous writers are men, why is it that so many gifted boys shy away from writing like a dog shying away from a bath?

This workshop suggests some thought-provoking reasons for this common experience, and then focusses on tackling the problem with a range of high-interest strategies to get boys writing before they even notice what they’re doing…

PS: These strategies work with other reluctant writers too!

Target audience: Primary and intermediate teachers.
Suggested time frame: 1.5 hours.

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[6] Comprehension as it’s never been before!

Comprehension work is a significant learning tool, used by teachers at almost every level of schooling to check children’s understanding of what they’ve read. That’s true for gifted learners too – despite their ability, teachers still need to check their grasp of what’s been read.

But for gifted learners, usually way ahead of their peers in reading and understanding and often in knowledge of the topic, comprehension work is all too often boring and pointless, yet another turn-off from schoolwork.

This workshop recognises that we need to use less traditional strategies if we are to make comprehension meaningful and productive for gifted learners. It presents “unconventional comprehension”, a strategy which takes a thoroughly different look at this age-old tool, demonstrates along the way that comprehension work can be relevant in many more curriculum areas than we sometimes realise – and has a lot of fun in the process!

And as is so often the case with material developed for gifted learners, some of this can also be used to add more interest for children of more average ability – and undoubtedly it can make life more interesting for the teacher too!

Target audience: Primary and intermediate teachers.
Suggested time frame: 1.5 hours.

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[7] Planning for the ethical dimension

Ethical awareness and sensitivity is very frequently a strong characteristic of the gifted learner. These are the children who protest passionately about what is “not fair” in life and who have a strong sense of justice and injustice. These are the children who simply cannot bear to hear about cruelty to animals or people, who may be deeply disturbed by what they see and hear on television, who take up causes and argue fearlessly for what they believe is right, regardless of the cost to themselves. They are inherently compassionate and caring, even when their own social skills can sometimes lack the finesse needed to express their feelings effectively.

These are powerful emotions, profoundly significant for the individual, and ultimately highly valuable for our whole community. They can also be emotions which distance the gifted child from his or her peers, making the child seem odd or weird to others who don’t share such intensity of feeling.

How can we protect the gifted child from being too damaged by others’ lack of perception? How can we nurture and encourage that blossoming ethical maturity? How can we guide the child towards his or her possible future role in the struggle for a better and fairer world for all? Is this, in fact, something teachers should be concerned with, or is it solely the responsibility of parents?

This workshop engages teachers in a discussion of this challenging and very important issue and presents some practical strategies for bringing an ethical dimension into planning in a non-partisan way.

Target audience: Primary and intermediate teachers.
Suggested time frame: 1.5 hours.

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[8] The first day

So you’ve been given the gifted group to teach, and next Monday is your first day! Where do you start? What will the kids expect? What should you expect? How can you make sure of getting things off on the right footing? What should you cover on this first day? What should you not do? Help!

This down-to-earth workshop provides some sensible answers to these and related questions, including your own queries, whether your group is a part-time withdrawal option or a full-time class.

Target audience: Primary and intermediate teachers.
Suggested time frame: 1.5 hours.

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[9] What’s in a classroom?

Have you ever considered your classroom as one of your key teaching resources? How can four walls, one floor, one ceiling and assorted windows and doors make a difference to learning?

Change your perspective and discover what happens! The classroom as a learning resource in itself is often under-utilised. We do not always adequately consider the emotional impact and physical implications for the children of classroom design, nor how learning can be positively or negatively affected. This is significant for all children, but especially so for gifted learners with their heightened sensitivities. It has an impact on us too, on our comfort and effectiveness. We need to give as much thought and care to the interior design of our classrooms as we do to our homes. This workshop explores this idea and looks at some simple ideas that can make a remarkable difference to achieving this.

Target audience: Adaptable for all levels of schooling.
Suggested time frame: 1 to 1.5 hours.

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[10] Coping with the parents of your gifted learners

How do you deal with the parent who insists their child is gifted when the classroom evidence says they’re not? Why do some parents of gifted children seem so pushy? How should you handle a parent like this? Conversely, why do some parents of genuinely gifted children not want their children to be identified? If a child is gifted, what can a parent reasonably expect the school to do for the child? Do parents of gifted children need any specific help or support themselves? What about the other way round – can the parents of gifted learners help teachers in any significant way? This workshop is presented by a tutor who has lived on both sides of the fence and draws on both experience and research to give some sound and practical answers on this sensitive and tricky issue.

Target audience: Adaptable for all levels of schooling.
Suggested time frame: 1 to 1.5 hours.

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[11] Bring your questions! Workshop or clinic day

As the title indicates, this is an open-forum opportunity for teachers to raise questions which may not have been covered in other workshops. It can be presented in one of two ways, either as a workshop for a group of staff or as a clinic day.

If it is presented as a workshop, it can take place independently of any other workshop, or it can be incorporated as part of a day focussing on gifted education and combining two or three of the above sessions. If it’s presented independently, we suggest keeping numbers to about 25, to allow room for everyone’s questions to be raised and considered. In a larger school, this may mean working separately with individual departments or syndicates.

Alternatively, a clinic day can provide very specific help for individual teachers. The tutor visits the school for the day and has access to an interview room or other suitable space. Teachers who wish to do so are timetabled for 20-minute slots with the tutor, either one at a time or in groups of two or three, depending on what is possible for the school.

Target audience: Adaptable for all levels of schooling.
Suggested time frame: Variable, depending on chosen option.

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For parents

[1] How do I know if my child is gifted?

This has to be one of the most difficult questions for parents. Sometimes, of course, it’s obvious. If your child is reading stories for him or herself at 2½ or has happily discovered multiplication of numbers by that time, the conclusion is rather unavoidable. But it’s not always that straightforward. Most of us just think of our children as being what children are expected to be, until we come up against other people’s children and realise ours are not quite the same. Even then, being “gifted” might not occur to us as an explanation – and when it does, we come slap bang up against all the taboos in our society against suggesting anyone, even a child, is better, brighter or more advanced than others. And those taboos affect ourselves even before we start to think about talking to relatives, friends or teachers.

For all these reasons, it’s very important for parents to feel well-informed and sure of what they are talking about before they approach anyone else who may need to know about the child’s potential abilities. This workshop won’t turn you into a qualified educational psychologist, but it will help you to recognise genuine indicators of giftedness, and to feel more comfortable about discussing these with others, as a starting point for your long and interesting journey with your child through into adulthood. It may also be helpful for you if in the end you conclude your child does not belong in this category: there can be positive outcomes from this too.

Target audience: Suitable for parents of children of all ages.
Suggested time frame: 1.5 hours.

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[2] What can I do at home to help my child?

Starting from infancy, parents of gifted children generally find themselves faced with a high-energy bundle of inquisitiveness, alertness and need for action. How does one keep such a child satisfyingly occupied and still have time to breathe (let alone do the housework)? Then along comes school, and with it, a whole new raft of questions about how to support your child’s learning and make sure it’s effective.

This workshop offers some practical ideas with the dual aim of helping your child’s learning and maintaining parent sanity!

Target audience: Suitable for parents of pre-school and primary and intermediate age children.
Suggested time frame: 1.5 hours.

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[3] Choosing a school.

How can I choose the best school for my child? How do I know whether a school will meet my child’s needs?

These are questions that concern many parents as their children either approach school for the first time or face the transition to intermediate or secondary, or perhaps move with the family from one district to another. For parents of gifted children, it is a particularly important issue. While schools are increasingly becoming more aware of the different needs of gifted learners and are seeking to respond to those needs, there are still many schools and many individual teachers who have not yet reached that level of understanding. The impact of an unsympathetic or uninformed teacher on a child’s learning and self esteem can be devastating, so this remains a crucially important decision for the families of gifted children.

We do not always have a choice of schools, but where we do, what can guide us in making that choice? This workshop looks at factors parents have found helpful in dealing with this question.

Target audience: Suitable for parents of children of all ages.
Suggested time frame: 1.5 hours.

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[4] The school, your gifted child, and you.

How do you tell the school you think your child is gifted without them thinking you’re a pushy parent? What can you do if they won’t listen? How can you deal with a teacher who is not giving your child sufficiently challenging work? What can you reasonably and realistically expect the school to do for your child? Should you ask for your child to be accelerated? Where can you find help in coping with the school?

This workshop acknowledges honestly that difficult situations like these can occur, suggests some effective ways of dealing with them, and offers some guidance on building constructive relationships with the school. As in all our workshops, there is time for your questions too.

Target audience: Most suitable for parents of primary age children, but can be of use for parents of older children.
Suggested time frame: 1.5 hours.

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[5] Bring your questions!

An open-forum opportunity for parents to raise their own questions and issues in a secure situation with a tutor who knows the situation from both sides, as a parent and as a teacher. Also an opportunity for parents to share experiences and solutions and to support each other in acknowledging the issues that parents of gifted children can be faced with.

Target audience: Suitable for parents of children of all ages.
Suggested time frame: 1.5 hours – but does depend on how many questions are generated!

• For more information on any of these workshops:
• To book any of these workshops:
• To discuss costs:

For any of the above, email our director, Rosemary Cathcart, at reacheducation@xtra.co.nz, or phone her on 07 357 4232.

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