Enhance your differentiation skills and ability to cater to gifted learners

GERRIC’s Mini-COGE courses are practical professional development for educators to support high potential and gifted students. High potential students are not necessarily high achievers; we focus on how to engage and support these students to reach their potential.

The Mini-COGE will help you to;

  • identify gifted, high potential and talented students;
  • differentiate the curriculum for high potential students;
  • implement ability grouping or acceleration;
  • understand gifted education research and best practices; and
  • develop an existing (or create a new) unit of work to best suit the needs of the differentiated classroom and gifted students.

The unit of work allows you to implement practical changes to curriculum, assessment and pedagogy, receive feedback from other educators and the GERRIC academic presenter, and provide ongoing impact to you and your students.

GERRIC also offers add-on courses, the Mini-COGE Advanced: More curriculum differentiation and the Mini-COGE Advanced: Gifted learners with disability for teachers who have completed the Mini-COGE.

Course details

  • Content areas:

    • Myths and stereotypes
    • Gagné’s differentiated model of giftedness and talent
    • Characteristics of intellectually gifted students
    • Identification of gifted students
    • Behavioural characteristics of gifted and talented students
    • Underachievement 
    • Ability grouping 
    • Acceleration 
    • Distinguishing myths from realities: research
    • Curriculum models: differentiation
    • Assessment
    • Instructional strategies 
    • Lesson plan: application
    • This course is NESA accredited and can be used for mandatory accreditation hours. 
  • Curriculum compacting is “a procedure used to streamline the regular curriculum for students who are capable of mastering it at a faster pace… [it] helps prevent our academically talented and high potential students from repeating academic content that they already learned…” (Reis, Renzulli & Burns, 2016)

    This type of differentiation and support gives students a voice in what they learn and how they learn. It is the only way to serve students with a variety of needs, aptitude, readiness and learning preferences in a mixed ability classroom (which is all classrooms). Differentiation allows teachers to adapt teaching strategies to provide relevant and engaging learning experiences for the broad range of students in their classroom.

    In this session, teachers will learn how to compact the curriculum for students who have mastered outcomes, supporting their development further. The session will also explore how to utilise the time saved by compacting the curriculum. Teachers will practice new curriculum models, write independent research projects and develop individual learning plans.

    Skills/competencies/knowledge gained:

    Teachers will:

    • expand their repertoire of teaching strategies to suit the intellectual development and characteristics of students
    • plan learning and teaching programs using contemporary knowledge and understanding of curriculum
    • support colleagues in selecting and applying effective teaching strategies
    • develop and apply a comprehensive range of assessment strategies to diagnose learning needs.

    Prerequisites:

    Attendees must have completed the Mini-COGE Day 1 & 2.

  • What is not often well-known or well-understood is that students who are gifted may also have a special need or disability— just as students with disabilities may also be gifted. The term “twice-exceptional,” also referred to as “Gifted Learners with Disability” (GLD), is used to describe gifted children who have the characteristics of gifted students with the potential for high achievement and give evidence of one or more disabilities as defined by federal or state eligibility criteria. These disabilities may include specific learning disabilities, speech and language disorders, physical disabilities, autism spectrum, or other impairments such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

    You can also add your details to the Expressions of Interest form here.

    How can we transform experiences for marginalised students so they can develop their potential? It is in everyone’s interest to support all students and not to neglect those who are intellectually gifted, sometimes with concurrent disability or disadvantage, which can result in lack of educational opportunity.

    This course builds on the knowledge learned on Mini-COGE. In this session, teachers will learn in greater detail what we mean by Gifted Learners with Disability (GLD), their most common strengths and challenges, identification, and classroom practice. Strategies that support the strengths of GLD students, whilst supporting their disability to enhance educational and socioemotional outcomes will be explored. Moreover, strategies that can increase the engagement of GLD students will be applied through the development of Individual Education Plans.

    Skills/competencies/knowledge gained:

    Teachers will:

    • expand their repertoire of teaching strategies that support the academic development and characteristics of GLD students
    • critically analyse what information is needed to create Individual Education Plans that support both the intellectual ability, the disabilities, and social-emotional development of a student
    • develop strategies that help with identification of GLD students.

    Prerequisites:

    Attendees must have completed the Mini-COGE Day 1 & 2

Professional development for your school

Our in-service sessions are delivered face to face or online to individual or clusters of schools in Australia.

Please contact the GERRIC office at gerric@unsw.edu.au to discuss the different options available for us to deliver a program to meet the needs of your school staff and student population. We will travel anywhere in Australia or the world.

Session dates 

Tickets for the Mini-COGE 2024 UNSW session are available now. Click on the dates below to register.

Sold out for your desired session? We recommend registering for a later course, so you have a place guaranteed and then emailing us to be added to the waitlist for an earlier session. If space becomes available in an earlier session, we can transfer your ticket. Contact us at gerric@unsw.edu.au.

  • 2024 On-campus dates

    Dates

    Format

    Registration

    6-7 March

    Face to Face

    Register (Sold out. Click register to add your name to the waitlist.)

    27 - 28 March

    Face to Face

    Register

    8-9 May

    Face to Face

    Register

    15-16 May

    Face to Face

    Register

    19 - 20 June

    Face to Face

    Register

    3 - 4 July

    Face to Face

    Register

    31 July - 1 August

    Face to Face

    Register

    28 - 29 August

    Face to Face

    Register

    4 -5 September

    Face to Face

    Register

    25 - 26 September

    Face to Face

    Register

    30 - 31 October

    Face to Face

    Register

    20 - 21 November

    Face to Face

    Register

     

    All sessions are 8:30am to 5:30pm for 2 days and held at UNSW Sydney in Kensington unless otherwise stated.

    Click the dates above to view the event information.

  • 2024 Online dates

    Dates

    Format

    Registration

    13 - 14 March

    Online

    Register

    10 - 11 April

    Online

    Register

    5 - 6 June

    Online

    Register

    21 - 22 August

    Online

    Register

    18 - 19 September

    Online

    Register

    16 - 17 October

    Online

    Register

    13 - 14 November

    Online

    Register

    4- 5 December

    Online

    Register

     

    Click the dates above to view the event information.

    All sessions are 8:30am to 5:30pm for 2 days and held online.

  • GERRIC offers the Mini-COGE in Western Australia a few times each year. To be notified of the next available dates, please add your name to the waitlist here.

  • GERRIC offers the Mini-COGE in Queensland a few times each year. To be notified of the next available dates, please add your name to the waitlist here

  • 2024 Dates

    Dates

    Format

    Registration

    February 19

    Face to Face

    Register
  • There are currently no scheduled dates for this course. Please sign up to be notified of upcoming dates for 2024. If your school is interested in providing this course as an in-service, please email us at gerric@unsw.edu.au.

  • With presenters based in NSW, WA and QLD, GERRIC is ready to bring the Mini-COGE all across Australia. In-service bookings are now open for all dates in 2024. When you book an in-service with GERRIC, we work with you to choose the best dates and format to meet your school's needs. Reserve your in-service now by contacting us.