Curriculum Committee Minutes Galileo School for Gifted Learning UCF Teaching Academy, TA 420B March 12, 2013 Members Present: Stephanie Gaudio, Jennifer Dunbar (ex officio), Gillian Eriksson, Carolyn Rethwisch, Michelle Nunez, Michele Gill Guests: Jana Spitalnick, Clary Kirts

1. Informational Items

a. Dr. Eriksson notified everyone about the Gifted World Conference to be held in Kentucky the second week of August this year. She encouraged us to submit proposals before May.

2. Professional Development update

a. Dr. Gill has spent two weeks working with teachers to help provide greater understanding of the school’s mission and vision.

b. Study Island training is set for April 10.

c. April 3—teachers will work on Creative Productivity planning.

d. Teachers will be able to demo a potential new foreign language program for the school on March 20. Mrs. Nunez discussed the program with the committee. The committee voted unanimously in support of adopting the Middlebury foreign language program for Galileo School students.

3. Old Business

a. Motivation theme update: Parents have been completing the survey questions.. Dr. Gill has presented this year’s theme of providing students with greater voices and choices in their learning to the Board and to the faculty at Galileo. b. Dr. Gill shared with the new graphic depicting Galileo School’s Guiding Principles with the committee. Dr. Eriksson reminded us that we need to think about how we are going to formulate, package, and communicate these principles.

c. Instructional Coach update: Dr. Gill has been providing PD to teachers after school and will be assisting Ms. Rethwisch on a poetry unit later this month. She will continue to work with teachers on an as-needed basis.

4. New Business

a. New “tagline” for Galileo proposed: Galileo School: Nurturing the unique gifts of every child. The discussion was quite lively, with multiple ideas generated. The top ideas for consideration are:

a.i. Galileo School: Cultivating the unique potential of every child.

a.ii. Galileo School: Nurturing, challenging, and motivating students through their passionate interests in service to others.

a.iii. Galileo School: Illuminating and inspiring students to innovate and serve others.

The committee will fine tune these suggestions to present to the Board at a future date. We will also look at other school’s taglines to ensure we are not copying theirs.

b. Strategic Planning

b.i. We discussed some things we can do to help us everyone at Galileo towards greater implementation of our mission, vision, and curriculum, including creating a clear, well-defined plan for accelerating students and having teacher meet this summer, both before and after Confratute, to discuss changes for next year.

b.ii. We opened the floor to allow everyone to add items for the Strategic Planning Committee to consider this weekend. These items include: b.ii.1. More Creative Productivity time

b.ii.2. Provide lunch and recess time with a greater group of students so that same age peers can eat and play together.

b.ii.3. Provide foreign language instruction and other specials to students.

b.ii.4. Address the K-2/3-5 divide.

b.ii.5. Create clear standards for student acceleration. Create a consistent plan to monitor student progress on their PEPs and in their core subject areas, particularly in math, reading, and writing.

b.ii.6. Make sure the plan is communicated to parents so that they are comfortable with it.

b.ii.7. Plan for greater focus on Design and Technology classes.

c. Acceleration Plan

c.i. Mrs. Nunez presented two different plans for student acceleration at Galileo, one representing the Lower Division (K-2); other representing Upper Division classes (3-5). The committee tabled this issue until after the teachers had time to discuss the plan with Dr. Gill tomorrow and after the strategic planning group tackled this issue.

5. Next meeting: May 7, 2013, 6 pm, UCF Location TBD

Upcoming Tasks

1. Work on a Parent Guide to Galileo School Mission, Vision, and Curriculum. (We also recommend that the School create a “Welcome Guide” for new parents, esp. for navigating our technology and all the log ins.)

2. Create a Teacher Guide for the Mission, Vision, and Curriculum. 3. Make time this summer to create these guides and to host teacher and parent workshops to better communicate the curriculum at Galileo School.