Navigating the Information Highway: Strategies for Teaching Informational Text in the Content Areas 

This session explores a variety of strategies for implementing instruction and developing performance tasks that incorporate informational text in the high-ability classroom. During this session, participants will explore the benefits of infusing divergent thinking, collaborative behaviors, and critical thinking to build a deeper understanding of informational text for today’s diverse group of high-ability learners. They will discover how instructional approaches such as arts integration, problem-based learning, and a variety of discussion protocols support the needs of high-ability learners and align with desired learning outcomes. Participants will learn how to identify informational text resources in the content areas that are appropriately complex and support rigorous instruction, and they will participate in learning tasks that demonstrate how active, learner-centered approaches promote a deeper engagement with and understanding of informational text. There will be an emphasis on the integration of technology to effectively support differentiation of content, process, and product for gifted learners, so participants should bring along their favorite electronic device. Lesson plans, materials, and resources will be provided. 

Magdalena Fitzsimmons is currently an instructional coach at Carver Center for Arts and Technology as part of the Baltimore County Public Schools S.T.A.T. Program in Baltimore, MD. She is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, the City University of New York, Brooklyn College, and the University of Calgary, Canada. Ms. Fitzsimmons has presented at numerous national and state conferences on the topics of arts integration, problem-based learning, curriculum for gifted students, creativity, and technology integration. Ms. Fitzsimmons has also written and edited reading language arts curriculum for gifted and talented students for Baltimore County Public Schools, the Maryland State Department of Education, and is the author of Challenging Common Core Language Arts Lessons: Activities and Extensions for Gifted and Advanced Learners in Grade 5 published by Prufrock Press.