Middle School Horizons Program

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The Middle School Gifted Education Program is designed to provide challenge and enrichment to identified 6th-8th grade gifted students. A differentiated curriculum emphasizing complex reasoning, creative thinking, and affective processing skills is provided through interdisciplinary instruction. Students explore areas of personal interest and aptitude not typically provided in the general education program. In addition, social and emotional aspects of each student are recognized, considered, and nurtured as students are directed toward 21st-century skills. 

Students are assigned a Horizons class during their team's Student Success time and meet one period every other day in an A/B schedule. This course is not graded.

Units focus on the four gifted strands of Critical Thinking, Divergent Thinking, Citizenship, and Communication. Some topics include the World Hunger Issue, Epidemiology, Architecture, the Engineering Design Process, Independent Research, and Public Speaking. In addition to multidisciplinary units, word stems and vocabulary development are introduced to improve and support gifted learners at higher reading levels. Vocabulary also supports future learning in AP English classes they might take in high school, as well as prepare students for ACT and SAT testing. 

Group activities will be focused on social skills, creativity, and problem-solving. Affective Processing lessons might include gifted topics and issues of concern such as perfectionism, twice exceptionalities (2E), anxiety, imposter syndrome, executive functioning skills, how to partner with peers of differing ability levels, more effective ways to address concerns with adults, relationship-building, self-esteem, having/setting realistic expectations of self and others, etc. 

In addition to working on social skills and allowing for time to work on organization and work completion, Horizons will offer opportunities for students to engage with like-minded peers in discussions and creative problem-solving activities, as well as offer time for logic puzzles and games without the pressure of additional homework or an additional grade. 

Additional Middle School Enrichment Opportunity: Guided Enrichment 

The Guided Enrichment class will be set up in an independent learning format focused on critical and creative thinking. In general, students will be responsible for an independent project of choice from a variety of topics (these projects may also be partner or small group projects by student choice), and an oral presentation. Other activities might include logic puzzles and games, creative problem-solving challenges, and projects/lessons that encourage creative expression in the form of writing or the visual arts. 

Students will receive a grade in this elective and may choose to take this semester-long course multiple times. In order to be eligible for this course, students must be recommended by a teacher and meet specific criteria.