“People without information cannot act. People with
information cannot help but act.”
Ken Blanchard
Author and Leadership Trainer
The Twice Exceptional Student
Teachers in the Willoughby-Eastlake City School District have had the honor and the privilege of
working with all different types of learners. There is a specific group of learners referred to by
educators as "Twice Exceptional," but what does that mean?
A student identified as gifted/talented in one or more areas while also possessing a disability in the area
of a learning, physical, sensory, emotional, and/or developmental disability is a student who might be considered Twice
Exceptional. Some possible characteristics of a Twice Exceptional student could be a discrepancy between measured
academic potential and actual classroom performance. These students can find themselves not prepared to handle the
difficulties they face in the areas of their disability. This could lead to frustration, aggression and/or careless behavior.
All of this could result in these students having a poor academic self-concept and/or having a feeling of "not fitting in."
Quite often, these students are very creative, able to conceptualize quickly, reason abstractly, and yet they have auditory
processing or visual perception difficulties. When working with these students teachers might find that their giftedness
often masks their learning disabilities and their learning disabilities often mask their giftedness.
Coach’s
Throughout history, people who have been recognized as "Twice Exceptional" have made very impactful contributions to
our society: Albert Einstein - Nobel Prize in Physics, Peter Jennings - Canadian American Journalist and News Anchor,
Anthony Hopkins - Welsh Actor (Hannibal), Ty Pennington - Extreme Home Makeover, Charles Schwab - American
Businessman/Investor, Michael Phelps - Most decorated Olympian of all time (22 medals), Amelia Earhart - First woman
to fly the Atlantic. As you can see, this is a fascinating group of people. It's our privilege to be able to serve these
students.
Corner
Mathematics by Nick Leskiewicz
Located in the shared S: drive are the mathematics pacing guides for each grade level in an
expanded form. These pacing guides are organized by sections and are viewed in a weekly
format. This format lends itself to better unit and long-term planning, as well content
integration. Included in the pacing guide is an “Assessment and Performance Task” section
that will keep you informed about common assessments that should be administered for
each chapter. With the emphasis on consistent instruction and assessment in all courses across the district, it is
important that we administer the same assessments. This will enable us to become more proficient at analyzing data
for the purpose of adjusting instruction, and conduct more productive TBTs because we are talking about similar
instructional issues, teaching practices and data results. We are all new at this and as we become more proficient at
making connections between how we teach, what the students are learning and how they will be expected to apply
these skills and strategies in this new era of pe rformance-based assessment, so will the students.
[email protected]
Science Rocks by Beth Frabotta
What an exciting time for Science! The elementary schools have new Pearson Interactive Science materials and are using
them to create “student scientists.” The middle schools have adopted Science Fusion materials beginning in 2014-2015,
but they are already incorporating the new lessons into their plans. The middle school science teachers also met and
created the draft of their new instructional guide for grades 6-8. At the high schools, science
teachers are using Ohio’s New Learning Standards for Science to engage students and are
converting lessons to be inquiry-based. College Board has also changed the AP Physics course
into an AP Physics A and AP Physics B course, with each being a year long, and we are adjusting
our offerings accordingly. If you would like me to stop by your classroom, please do not hesitate
to contact me. [email protected]