We are proud to announce the latest education innovation from Dr. Sally Reis and Dr. Joseph Renzulli: The Renzulli Learning System! Here Dr. Renzulli describes the RLS in his own words:
Every teacher has had the satisfaction of seeing a child "turn on" to a topic or school experience that demonstrates the true joy and excitement of both learning and teaching. We have sometimes wondered how and why these high points in teaching occur, why they don't occur more frequently, and why more students are not engaged in highly positive learning experiences. Teachers are also painfully aware of the boredom and lack of interest that so many of our young people express about so much of the work they do in school. Highly prescriptive curriculum guides, endless lists of standards to be covered, and relentless pressure to increase achievement test scores have often prevented us from doing the kind of teaching that results in those joyous but rare times when we have seen truly remarkable engagement in learning.If you want to know more about this exciting project, you can download a PowerPoint here:One teacher we interviewed as part of a research project dealing with high engagement in learning said, "I could easily improve student enthusiasm, enjoyment, and engagement if I had about a dozen teaching assistants in my classroom!" It was comments like this plus the almost infinite resources that are now available through the Internet that inspired the development of the Renzulli Learning System (RLS) at the University of Connecticut's Neag School of Education. This program is not another version of the popular e-learning or on-line courses that so many companies are offering. It is truly geared to enrichment resources, creative productivity, and the kind of high-end learning that has been the focus of The Enrichment Triad Model. With minimal skills in the use of the Internet, and only a small amount of the teacher's time, all schools can easily make use of a system that will give teachers the equivalent of "a dozen assistants" in their classrooms, every day, all day! The Renzulli Learning System is a three-step procedure that is based on more than thirty years of research and development dealing with the diagnosis and promotion of advanced level thinking skills, motivation, creativity, and engagement in learning.
The Home Team: All the News from UConn and the NRC/GTThis time around, our hats are off to Joe Renzulli, Sally Reis (with Lilia Rubin), and Alexinia Baldwin for their contributions to Theory into Practice, which devoted their Spring 2005 issue to gifted education. Other contributors include Joyce Van Tassel-Baska; Carolyn Callahan; guest editors Donna Ford and James L. Moore with Deborah Harmon; the late Dr. Mary Frasier with Tarek Grantham, Angie Roberts, and Eric Bridges; Carol Tomlinson, and H. Richard Milner.
Congratulations to all!
UConn Alumni Returns to His Roots!
Casey Handfield, a graduate of UConn's master's program, is returning to another of his alma maters: Auburn High School. Now, though, instead of walking the halls with fellow students, he's sitting behind a desk, as the school's new principal. He is excited to return to his old stomping grounds, and district officials are excited about his qualifications for the job—including the background in gifted education he gained here at UConn!
We send him our warmest congratulations and best wishes in his new endeavor!
