Leonardo Gifted School is partner or member of: ECHA - European Council for High Ability, WCGTC - World Council for Gifted and Talented Children, AERO - Alternative Education Resource Organization, BPLUSA - Big Picture Learning Design USA, University of Bucharest - Faculty of Phychology and Educational Sciences, University of Connecticut - Neag School of Education, Simon Fraser University - Faculty of Education

Curriculum

High Quality Curriculum for Gifted Learners

schite leonardo 5 copy 2-02 

„In the ways and to the extent students are similar, their curriculum should be similar.
In the ways and to the extent that they are different, their curriculum should be different”
Kanevsky, Lennie (1999). Tool Kit for Curriculum Differentiation

“Curriculum studies suggest that gifted learners can enhance their learning of higher order
skills in content areas by being exposed to differentiated units of study, designed to elevate their learning level” What Works in Curriculum for the Gifted, Joyce Van Tassel-Baska, EdD., College of William and Mary, USA

Leonardo-Gifted-School-Curriculum
We teach in Romanian and English an individualized curriculum which we create choosing as we suit best from the Cambridge Curriculum, the National Curriculum of England and Wales, College William & Marry, Mensa for kids lessons, with our core subjects of English/EAL (English as an Additional Language), Math and Science in our Primary division. In the first place, the English curriculum has a large, global vision and shows an incredible flexibility in bringing hands-on experiences for children, which enables us to develop the curriculum suitable for gifted children. The curriculum develops competencies of the child and more than that we have a specific way of customizing the curriculum through gifted education so that each student can excel in the learning process. You can read more about Enrichment and Gifted Education on our website.

Our beliefs

We believe (just like Sir Ken Robinson states) that “every subject in a school deserves the right attention”. When we read „The Element”, we find out, for example, how important was for a kinesthetic learner like Gillian Lynne to learn by moving, so that she could grow into one of the most accomplished dancer of all times (choreographing The Phantom of the Opera, premiered in 1986). Basically, children need a diverse curriculum, and the importance in their life of one subject can be tremendous – but that cannot be probed on the spot, it needs time. So that is why we are here, to be sensitive to what makes them passionate, or interested about, and offer them an environment where they can really thrive, where they can pursue a subject, full hearted.

Colceag

Our role is to facilitate children to find their area of passion. This is key for a gifted child. Finding children’s area of passion makes them avid learners, which will then direct them to other and other areas of passion, which could even stem one from another. It is in their area of passion where they construct in fact their abilities, their moral and ethics, their thinking and feeling skills. This transforms the young child into a passionate, with a solid set of values, task-commited, dedicated, vertical adult.  Dr. Florian Colceag, international Expert in Gifted Education.

How we understand Leonardo curriculum based on children needs

How we understand Leonardo curriculum based on children needs

Differentiated Curriculum

CONTENT

  • Complexity
  • Imagination
  • Real life topics
  • Abstractness
  • Other people‘s lives and living
  • Going into Depth and Breadth
  • Systems of thought
  • Mentorship
  • Spiral curriculum around essential concepts
  • Self-selected content
Differentiated Curriculum

PROCESS

  • Complex thinking (HOTS)
  • Q-matrix of questions
  • Reflective
  • Expert methods of Inquiry
  • Diversity
  • Variety
  • Hands-on
  • Trial & error
  • Mentors’ support
  • International approach
  • Neuroscience applied in education
  • Individual trials
  • Open-ended
  • Self-Selected Process
  • SOLE – Self-Organized Learning Environment
  • Discovering through Outdoor activities / teambuilding
  • Project work in group and/or individual
Differentiated Curriculum

PRODUCT

  • Authentic Audiences
  • Self selected format
  • Understanding value of output
  • Innovations
  • Expert Panels
  • Exhibitions
  • Mind-maps
  • Essays
  • Debates in Public
  • Articles
  • Shows
Differentiated Curriculum

ENVIRONMENT

  • Supportive
  • Challenging
  • Stimulating
  • Nurturing
  • Healthy boundaries
  • Self-containing
  • Democratic rules
  • Flexible
  • Complex
  • Engaging
  • Encouraging Creative Productive Behaviour
  • Warm
  • Encouraging self-expression
  • Accepting
  • Highly Mobile (Moving places)
  • Independent & Varied Groupings
  • Non-Judgemental
  • Using Non-violent communication (Marshal Rosenberg)
  • Empowering kids to self-study
  • Leadership
  • Stimulating freedom to think, to acuire knowledge and skills
  • Providing Autonomy for personal development
  • Promoting an Open World
  • In connection with the real world and real audiences
  • In connection with the nature
Differentiated objectives
  • Confrunting theory with practice
  • Diversity
  • Discovering
  • Research
  • Presentation
  • Debate

Differentiated

learning activities

  • Attached resources
  • Flipped classroom
  • External links
  • Renzulli Learning
  • Documentation
  • Checking with mentors (individual sessions)
  • Peer talks
  • Doing it by her/his self
  • Asking for feedback
  • Giving Feedback
Evaluation
  • Feedback
  • Reflection
  • Extra-connections
  • Tests
  • Projects
  • Debates
  • Final products of learning
  • Team work