Teachers Who Make a Difference in Gifted Children

1
Teachers Who Make a Difference in Gifted
Childrens Lives

• Professor Karen B. Rogers
• College of Applied Professional Studies
• University of St. Thomas
• kbrogers_at_stthomas.edu

2
Can Teachers Make a Difference?

• Common sense tells us so
• Our history as a field tells us so
• Termans Termites
• MacArthur Fellows (genius grants)
• Nobel Prize winners - Australia
• Emericks turn-arounds

3
What are the Differences Teachers Can Make?

• Academic
• Career/ Life Direction
• Psychological
• Social
• Role Model

4
Reflections on Your Best Teacher

• Gender
• Age
• Personal Characteristics
• What was taught to you
• How teaching took place
• How your learning took place
• What this teacher did NOT do

5
My Best Teachers

• Mrs. Hanson
• Tested
• Candy sales
• Individualized reading
• Independent study
• Was glad to have me in class
• High energy
• Creative ideas
• Humor
• Loved to teach

• Mr. Tarentinp
• Left me to learn German on my own
• 4 years in 1 year
• Made me a part of his family
• Pushed me about where I would go to college
• Treated me as an individual equal
• Felt I was smart
• Humor, high energy
• Loved to teach

6
My Best Teacher Did NOT

• Yell at anyone in the class
• Pay more attention to 1 or 2 students, nor ignore
  some
• Spend a lot of time managing administrative
  details
• Give grades when they were not deserved
• Go off on tangents
• Play a starring role in class - things were
  collaborative
• Teach in a disorganized fashion
• Repeat a lesson to the whole group when just a
  few didnt get it

7
Good Resources on Teacher Effectiveness

• GT Teachers
• Personal Characteristics (Approach)
• Vialle Quigley (2002)
• Bernal (1994)
• Chan (2001)
• Intellectual/Cognitive Traits
• Landvogt (2001)
• Bishop (1980)
• Bernal (1994)
• Professional/Teaching Strategies
• Nelson Prindle (1992)
• Whitlock DuCette (1989)
• Zimmerman (1990)

• Regular Teachers
• Personal Characteristics (Approach)
• Ayres, Sawyer, Dinham (2004)
• Batten, Martin, Khamis (1993)
• Brown McIntyre (1993)
• Intellectual/Cognitive
• Berliner (1986)
• Professional/Teaching Strategies
• Borko Livingston (1989)
• Cooper McIntyre (1996)
• Ayres Dinham (2003)

8
A Simple (and Single) Study

• Professional and intellectual traits of effective
  teachers of the gifted are the most important
  characteristics to gifted learners, (Rogers,
  2007).
• Gave students grades 7-12 (a whole school of
  gifted learners) a questionnaire on what they
  think are important characteristics of a best
  teacher
• 81 characteristics that the research literature
  has found to be important
• Two open-ended questions
• Think of the best teacher you ever had. In
  short phrases or using descriptive words,
  describe this person
• Think of the worst teacher you ever had. In
  short phrases or using descriptive words,
  describe this person

9
The Most Important Professional and Intellectual
Traits of the Best Teacher

• Covering the material that is supposed to be
  covered
• Eliminating excess drill and review
• Compacting the curriculum through pre-assessment
• Adjusting instructional pace appropriate to
  subject matter
• Providing immediate corrective feedback
• Providing scaffold (whole of the concept) up
  front, followed by chance to analyze and reflect
  on its parts
• Making individual accommodations for some
  learners
• Is organized and clear in presentations

10
The Most Important Personal Traits of the Best
Teacher

• Seeing the gifted learner as a unique individual
• Liking able students in general
• Being patient and even-tempered in nature
• Having a sense of humor in line with the
  subject matter
• Exhibiting enthusiasm for subject, continuing to
  learn in that area along with students
• Showing no overt biases toward race or gender in
  the treatment of students
• Trusting students to make good learning choices
  and providing opportunities for independent
  learning

11
So How Generalizable is a Single Study?

• Australian
• A selective school - all gifted in potential
  and performance
• High school students
• National Exams a big deal
• One school
• Places in top 1-2 coed schools in state for
  national exam scores
• Students commute a fair distance to attend this
  school

12
Differences in Intellectual Characteristics of
Effectiveness

• Effective Teachers of GT Learners
• Expertise in specific academic or talent area
• Self-directed in own learning, love for new,
  advanced learning
• Strong belief in individual differences and
  individualization
• High degree of intelligence

• Effective Teachers of Regular Learners
• Mastery of content knowledge, enthusiasm for
  subject taught
• Self-directed in own learning, love for new,
  advanced learning
• Focus on development of learner, view learner as
  person
• Slightly above average - 110-115 IQ

13
Differences in Professional Characteristics of
Effectiveness

• Effective Teachers of GT Learners
• Not a sage on the stage, but a guide on the
  side
• Variable pacing of learning experiences
• Consistent, accurate feedback
• Recognition of importance of intellectual
  development in GT learners
• Highly developed teaching skill and knowledge

• Effective Teachers of Regular Learners
• Facilitation of learning through applications and
  problem solving
• Use of equipment, materials in new, creative ways
• Expectation for order, purpose in classroom
• Commitment to hard work, effort as measure of
  student success
• Broad repertoire of instructional media,
  strategies

14
Differences in Personal Characteristics of
Effectiveness

• Effective Teachers of Gifted Learners
• Genuine interest in, liking of GT learners
• Equanimity, level-headedness, emotional stability
• Possess high degree of intellectual honesty
• Sense of humor in line with the subject matter

• Effective Teachers of Regular Learners
• Show respect for students
• Are themselves with students, approachable
• Network and collaborate with other teachers, are
  sought out by colleagues for teaching advice (an
  air of competence)

15
What Do GT Learners Say Makes an Effective
Teacher?

• Patience
• Sense of humor
• Treats each student as individual
• Is not a performer, but a facilitator
• Gives regular, accurate feedback
• Provides new material regularly with less
  repetition of old stuff
• Moves quickly through material

16
What Does the Research Say About GT Instructional
Delivery/ Differentiation?

• Acknowledgement of Differences in Learning
  Preferences of GT Learners
• Independent study
• Self-instructional materials
• Self-structured projects
• Discussion
• Lecture
• Games and simulations as benchmarks of progress
• Hands on new learning

17
What Does the Research Say About GT Instructional
Delivery/Differentiation?

• Qualitative Differences in Learning That Require
  Differences in Delivery are acknowledged
• Pacing (2-3 times faster than normal class
  pace)
• Elimination of excess drill kill (2-3
  repetitions beyond mastery)
• Teaching of complex concepts, generalizations,
  principles
• Whole-to-part concept teaching
• Opportunity for individual reflection and
  analysis of learning
• Opportunity to study topics in depth
• Acquisition of knowledge and skills in specific
  talent area(s) on a daily basis

18
What Does the Research Say About the Curriculum
the Effective Teacher of Gifted Learners Delivers?

• The curriculum content is modified to
• Be abstract
• Be complex
• Connect with other disciplines
• Be organised whole -to-part
• Relate to human issues, social problems
• Teach methods practicing professionals use

19
What Does the Research Say About the Curriculum
the Effective Teacher of Gifted Learners Delivers?

• Processes Required for Student Thinking and
  Learning or the Way in Which the Teacher teaches
  focus on
• HOTS not MOTS
• Open-endedness
• Proof and Reasoning
• Discovery, Shared Inquiry, Problem-Based Learning
• Value of Group Production
• Freedom of Choice

20
What Does the Research Say About the Way Teachers
Organize Group Learning Experiences?

• Options for grouping by ability level
• Full-time grouping .49, .33
• Cluster grouping .62
• Pull-out program .45,.44,.32
• Cooperative grouping .28
• Cooperative dyads .26

21
What Does the Research Say About the Way Teachers
Organize Group Learning Experiences?

• Options for grouping by performance
• Regrouping for specific instruction .79
• Cluster grouping by performance .44
• Within class grouping .34
• Pull-out programs .45
• Cross-graded classes .45, .46
• Cooperative grouping .28
• Cooperative dyads .26
• Grade telescoping .40

22
What Does the Research Say About the Way Teachers
Organize Accelerated Learning Experiences?

• Academic Effect Sizes
• Early Entrance (8) .35
• Grade Skipping .37
• Grade Telescoping .45
• Concurrent Enrollment .28
• Subject Acceleration .59
• International Baccalaureate .54
• Advanced Placement .62
• Mentorship .47
• Credit by Examination .59
• Early University Admission .39

23
What Does the Research Say About the Way Teachers
Organize Learning Experiences?

• Individualization Options
• Compacting .83, .28
• Non-graded, multi-age .38
• Credit by testing out/prior learning .57
• Mentorships .47
• On-line learning/distance learning .74
• Independent study 0

24
What Does the Research Say About the Curriculum
the Effective Teacher of Gifted Learners Delivers?

• Room is found in the program offered to GT
  learners for
• The classics of literature, the great ideas of
  philosophy, science, history, the arts
• Infusion of the arts in all areas of the
  curriculum (aesthetics, criticism, history)
• Divergent production training
• Organization, planning, time management training
• Communication and group skills training
• Affective awareness and support
• Social issues, ethical dilemmas, conflict
  resolution discussion
• Service learning, social action

25
Can One Teacher Do It All?

• Its a daunting task, being an educator, bearing
  the responsibility for shaping both academics and
  attitudes. Accountability, as defined in todays
  schools, often measures the easy stuff the math
  facts memorized, the commas placed correctly, the
  historical events sequenced. But the true measure
  of an educators teaching performance is not so
  readily determined. No computer scanned bubble
  sheet measures how our students feel about
  learning, or their biases toward self and others.
  These indexes, the true value of learning and
  education, elude detection and measurement,
  sometimes for yearsSo brave educators wishing to
  enhance both students self-concepts and their
  achievements must be content with not knowing the
  immediate or long-term impacts of their actions.
• Delisle, J.R. (1992). Guiding the social and
  emotional development of gifted youth A
  practical guide for educators and counselors. New
  York Longman (pp.49-50).