The Enrichment Triad Model

Joseph Renzulli, Professor, University of Connecticut, Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development and Director, National Research Center on Gifted and Talented.

His later model, the school wide enrichment model, became popular because it is inclusive, affecting many students in the school, while being highly effective with gifted students. It provides gifted students with an enhanced educational model.

Renzulli describes an organisational and service delivery model, which has three components: Type I enrichment (general exploratory experiences), Type II enrichment (group training activities), and Type III enrichment (individual and small-group investigations of real problems).

Organisational elements include enrichment-planning teams, needs assessments, staff development, materials selection, and program evaluation. Some of the service delivery components are lessons to promote development of thinking processes, procedures to modify the regular curriculum, and curriculum compacting.

Joseph Renzulli (Renzulli, Sand and Reis, 1986) created this model specifically for the education of gifted students so that teachers could provide programs that are qualitatively different.

The Enrichment Triad Model consists of three types of enrichment:

TYPE I - General Interest / Exploratory Activities
These activities are designed to provide students with as wide a range of experiences as possible, and include excursions, club, interest centres, visiting speakers and brainstorming sessions.

TYPE II - Group Training Activities / Skills Development
These activities are designed to develop thinking and feeling skills and students are involved in designing, experimenting, comparing, analysing, recording and classifying. Skills to be developed include creative and critical thinking, learning how to learn, using advanced level reference materials and communicating effectively.

TYPE III - Individual and Small Group Investigation of Real Problems
Students apply the knowledge and skills they have developed while working through Type I and Type II activities. They become investigators of real problems, working on specific areas of study towards presentation to a real audience. Activities include researching, debating, surveying, making a presentation, writing a journal article or producing a book or play.

A significant feature of Renzulli's Enrichment Triad model is that all students can work at the first two levels, and the activities generated within these levels support the third level. Type III activities are more appropriate for gifted students, as they allow for the generation of creativity.

Edited from: http://www2.greenhouse.wa.edu.au/gh/gt/provision/teachlearnmodels/enrichmenttriad

How teachers can develop self concept and self esteem?

Teachers can help students develop these skills through four primary strategies:

1. Greeting another student directly (“Hi! What’s your name?”)
2. Asking appropriate questions (“What’s your favorite TV show?”)
3. Giving information (“I like to play checkers.”)
4. Trying to include the new friend in their activities (“Do you want to play tag at recess?”)

Students need to know that it is important to keep trying even when rejected. Teachers should recognize that the willingness to keep trying depends on self-confidence.

Through daily classroom activities, teachers can effectively coach students in social skills that help them begin and continue satisfying friendships. Coaching involves telling or showing students how to use a specific social skill. This includes giving students opportunities to practice the skill and giving feedback with suggestions for improving the use of the skill. Among the skills that are effectively taught are asking questions, learning to give positive reinforcement to others (such as smiles), making good eye contact, and taking turns (Kostelnik et al., 2002). Once a friendship has begun, many skills can contribute to its continuation:

• Rewarding a friend by smiling at him or her
• Imitating the friend’s actions
• Paying attention to the friend
• Approving of what the friend does
• Complying with the friend’s wishes
• Sharing things with the friend
• Communicating well
• Being a good listener
• Giving information needed by the listener
• Judging whether your own actions have shown or not shown respect for others’ rights and welfare (Hartup, Glazer, & Charlesworth, 1987)

Edited from:

http://www.education.com/reference/article/development-self-concept-diverse/?page=4

Developing Your Emotional Intelligence

Top Ten Suggestions

1. Become emotionally literate. Label your feelings, rather than labeling people or situations.	Use three word sentences beginning with "I feel". Start labeling feelings; stop labeling people & situations "I feel impatient." vs "This is ridiculous." I feel hurt and bitter". vs. "You are an insensitive jerk." "I feel afraid." vs. "You are driving like an idiot."
2. Distinguish between thoughts and feelings.	Thoughts: I feel like...& I feel as if.... & I feel that Feelings: I feel: (feeling word)
3. Take more responsibility for your feelings.	"I feel jealous." vs. "You are making me jealous." Analyze your own feelings rather than the action or motives of other people. Let your feelings help you identify your unmet emotional needs.
4. Use your feelings to help make decisions	"How will I feel if I do this?" "How will I feel if I don't?" "How do I feel?" "What would help me feel better?" Ask others "How do you feel?" and "What would help you feel better?"
5. Use feelings to set and achieve goals	- Set feeling goals. Think about how you want to feel or how you want others to feel. (your employees, your clients, your students, your children, your partner) - Get feedback and track progress towards the feeling goals by periodically measuring feelings from 0-10. For example, ask clients, students, teenagers how much they feel respected from 0 to 10.
6. Feel energized, not angry.	Use what others call "anger" to help feel energized to take productive action.
7. Validate other people's feelings.	Show empathy, understanding, and acceptance of other people's feelings.
8. Use feelings to help show respect for others.	How will you feel if I do this? How will you feel if I don't? Then listen and take their feelings into consideration.
9. Don't advise, command, control, criticize, judge or lecture to others.	Instead, try to just listen with empathy and non-judgment.
10. Avoid people who invalidate you.	While this is not always possible, at least try to spend less time with them, or try not to let them have psychological power over you.

Edited from: EQI.org

http://eqi.org/summary.htm

What is Personality?

The first step is to understand exactly what is meant by the term personality. A brief definition would be that personality is made up the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique. In addition to this, personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.

Some of the fundamental characteristics of personality include:

· Consistency - There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors. Essentially, people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations.

· Psychological and physiological - Personality is a psychological construct, but research suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs.

· Impact behaviors and actions - Personality does not just influence how we move and respond in our environment; it also causes us to act in certain ways.

· Multiple expressions - Personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can also be seen in out thoughts, feelings, close relationships, and other social interactions.

Edited from: http://psychology.about.com/od/overviewofpersonality/a/persondef.htm