Our purpose is to provide a developmentally appropriate program designed for children to obtain a level of independence by helping them identify and develop their individual academic and non-academic talents. Our ECE3-5th grade program is centered around universal gifted and talented teaching practices which has been made into our Talent Development model. When Greenlee Elementary was closed and restarted at CTD we built that Talent Development model off of the 5 recommendations as detailed in the seminal US Department of Education report National Excellence: The Case for Developing America’s Talent.
As we’ve had success implementing the Talent Development model we’ve seen the need to improve the human side (think social-emotional learning) of our work. As a result we’ve used Maria Montessori’s on addressing and meeting the needs of childhood (elementary level) and adolescence (middle and high school level) which we call the Identity Development (iD) framework. Through the iD framework we have identified 3 virtues at each stage of development.
Elementary Virtues: In the area of childhood development there are 3 characteristics that mark this period of time:
Self-Awareness: where students start to form their own identity and an understanding of the society around them.
Self-Management: where students transition from doing what is socially acceptable, to what they believe is the right or wrong thing to do.
Concentration and Love of Work: where students learn how to stay engaged for longer periods of time. They also learn how to take pride and a sense of accomplishment in their work.
Middle School Virtues: In the area of early adolescent development there are 3 characteristics that mark this period of time:
Reflection: look inwards to the thoughts, behaviors and actions of yourself and others.
Empathy: an understanding of other people’s perspectives (for both peers and adults)
Wonder: our natural, inborn curiosity about life, increasing our capacity to be enthusiastic explorers of the outer physical world through our senses.
High School Virtues: In the area of late adolescent development there are 3 characteristics that mark this period of time:
Networking: is the process of making connections and building relationships.
Adaptability: is a person’s ability to adjust to different conditions or circumstances.
Systems Thinking: is a way of making sense of the complexity of the world by looking at it in terms of past and present conditions to anticipate the future state of things.
It is our belief that if we can excel at developing the identity and talent of our students in a prepared learning environment we give them the best chance to express their agency and have an impact on society.