Teaching Gifted Students

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Teaching Gifted Students

• NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS

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Definition

• Giftedness Refers to children and youth with
  outstanding talent who perform or show the
  potential for performing at remarkably high
  levels of accomplishment when compared with
  others their age, experience or environment.

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Overview

• Gifted students exhibit high performance
  capability in intellectual, creative, musical
  and/or artistic areas, possess an unusual
  leadership capacity or excel in specific academic
  fields.
• They require services not ordinarily provided by
  schools

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Prevalence

• It has been assumed in Federal reports and
  legislation that approximately 3-5 of the school
  population can be considered gifted or talented.

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Prevalence

• Since each state establishes its own definition
  of giftedness, percentages of children identified
  as gifted and talented vary from state to state.
• In general, children are not identified and
  placed into gifted programs until at least the
  3rd grade

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Overview Bright Versus Gifted Students

• If you ask the teacher who the gifted kids are,
  they are likely to point out the ones that are
  bright.
• Bright kids are a normally a joy to teach. In
  general, they listen well, rarely question the
  teacher, work hard, and answer questions. They
  don't challenge the teacher's competence or stray
  off the curriculum.

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• The gifted student on the other hand may be
  spending almost all of the school day thinking or
  doing something other than what the teacher
  wants.
• Gifted students find the constant repetition so
  boring that they often don't shine in the
  classroom. You might find the gifted student day
  dreaming, looking out of the window, reading a
  book instead of listening.

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student....
• Knows the answer

• A Gifted student....
• Asks the questions - sometimes deep probing
  questions of an abstract nature.

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student....
• Enjoys group projects

• A Gifted student....
• Has a preference for individualized work

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student....
• Is interested

• A Gifted student....
• Is very curious

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student....
• Carries out school assignments and follows
  procedures very well

• A Gifted student....
• Is very creative-Likes to play her own way
• Creativeness and inventiveness-highest form of
  giftedness
• Creativity is the production of new and original
  ideas
• 
  
  

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student....
• Answers the questions

• A Gifted student....
• Discusses in detail, elaborates

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student....
• Is in the Top academic Group(s) in school

• A Gifted student....
• Is beyond
• the group

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• Listens with interest

• A Gifted student....
• Shows strong feelings and opinions

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• Learns with ease

• A Gifted student....
• Already knows

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• 6-8 repetitions for mastery

• A Gifted student....
• 1-2 repetitions for mastery

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• Enjoys peers

• A Gifted student....
• Prefers adults, older children or seeks out
  other very bright or gifted peers.

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• Completes assignments

• A Gifted student....
• Initiates projects

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• Copies accurately

• A Gifted student....
• Creates a new design

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• Enjoys school

• A Gifted student....
• Enjoys learning - but may hate school.

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• Good Memorizer

• A Gifted student....
• Outstanding Memorizer, often doing so without
  even trying

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• Is alert

• A Gifted student....
• Is keenly observant - seems to remember fine
  details.

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• Is pleased with own learning

• A Gifted student....
• Is highly self-critical - can be perfectionistic
  to the point of tantrums when young.

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Bright Versus Gifted Students

• A Bright student...
• Enjoys straight-forward and/or sequential
  presentation

• A Gifted student....
• Thrives on complexity - needs the whole picture.

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Teaching Strategies for Gifted Students

• Quicken the pace of learning. Gifted students
  need their academic curriculum to move at a more
  rapid pace to keep them interested and motivated
  in school.-After a while will not distinguish
  work from play

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Teaching Strategies for Gifted Students

• Broaden the range of experiences. Give the
  student more opportunities to expand his horizons.

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Teaching Strategies for Gifted Students

• Give them challenging problems. Gifted students
  enjoy complex and challenging situations. They
  take great pride in being able to figure out
  complex and detailed types of problems.

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Teaching Strategies for Gifted Students

• Create projects that involve more creative
  thought. One of the qualities of gifted students
  is that they tend to be very creative.

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Teaching Strategies for Gifted Students

• Challenge them with questions where there is no
  correct answer. One of the beauties of working
  with gifted students is that they enjoy trying to
  solve problems for which there are no solutions
  i.e. If you were on a boat with your family and
  could only save one of them, whom would you save.

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Teaching Strategies for Gifted Students

• Allow the student to pursue individual projects
  that require sophisticated levels of thinking.
  Gifted students enjoy working on their own and
  should be encouraged to do so. Do not make the
  assignments easy either-Challenge them and try to
  avoid giving away answers.

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Teaching Strategies for Gifted Students

• Teach them how to play chess. Chess requires
  great skill, concentration, and strategic
  planning. This is an ideal game for gifted
  students to learn how to play.