The gifted student in the regular classroom

1. The gifted student in the regular classroom Julie Nelson- COE 8173

2. The Gifted Student in the Regular Classroom • Tyler daydreams in class, doesn’t do his homework, yet always aces the tests. • Ashley reads eight books a day in school. • Samuel’s constant refrain is, “I’m done! Now what can I do?” • Danika has a learning disability, yet she is two grades ahead in math. What do you do? (Winebrenner, 2001)

3. Where to Start • Learn to design learning tasks that are responsive to different styles of learning and different levels of ability. • Learn to manage a classroom in which students are working on different tasks simultaneously. Gifted students learn the same standards, themes, units and/or concepts as the rest of the class. The simply require regular opportunities to become engaged with learning activities that require more depth and complexity. (Winebrenner, 2001)

4. Planning “To set the stage for high achievement, it is essential that the academically advanced student be afforded an appropriate pace and level of instruction in the domains of talent.” (Stanley, 1991; Stanley & Benbow, 1982)

5. Questioning 5 • Gifted students • “When human beings are not allowed to move beyond what they have previously accomplished, they often become bored, discouraged, frustrated, and angry and feel diminished as persons” (Clark, 2008) • All students • Renzulli (1977) “School-wide Enrichment Model” • All students should be given opportunity to challenge their minds and think critically

6. Questioning 6 • Literal Questions that focus on recalling information • Should be minority not majority • Skill/Concept/Inference Questions • These questions “require readers to infer answers by using clues in the text and their prior knowledge” (Miller, 2002) Also, “because the content is difficult, there will be opportunities for teaching children to actively listen and learn from each other” (Miller, 2002).

7. Questioning (ctd.) 7 • Critical/Extended/Strategic Thinking questions • Higher DOK levels • Way for teacher to know student is really comprehending material • Allows students to “really think”

8. One Way to Help • For content where it’s likely that some students have learned and mastered the material at an earlier time, compacting means: • Finding the students’ areas of strength • Pretesting to determine which of the concepts they already know • Giving them full credit for that content • Allowing them to work on more challenging activities instead of the grade-level work • Known as “compacting” (Winebrenner, 2001)

9. “Compacting” • Gifted students do not benefit from extra work • As soon as they figure out their “prize” for showing what they know is more work, they might stop demonstrating what they can do. • “Compacting” is remarkably successful with students who have become behavior problems and may be refusing to do their work. • Many behavior problems are caused by boredom and frustration. (Winebrenner, 2001)

10. Gifted students usually prefer a reading program that offers choices about what they read and the activities they do. • Gifted students probably already know most of the writing skills/math skills you’re planning to teach. • Pre-test first. See who needs to move ahead. • They will benefit most from contracts and alternate activities. (Winebrenner, 2001)

11. How can I create these alternative activities when I hardly have time for everything I already have to do? • By using methods such as “cluster grouping.” In teams, a few of the teachers are primarily responsible for differentiating the curriculum for gifted students. The other teachers plan remediation activities. Each team gets together to discuss plans and then you decide which activities fit the learners in your classroom. • Ultimately, it is our job as teachers to make sure students will still be mastering all standards while being challenged in our classrooms. (Winebrenner, 2001)

12. Contracts • Contracts are a great way to hold students responsible if the would like to work ahead, read ahead. • Example: what if the student wants to read ahead? • They can complete a contract stating that they will not tell other students what happens in the story and that they will not participate in predicting activities. • Pass out contracts. (Winebrenner, 2001)

13. Mini-Centers and Contracts • Mini-Centers can be a “go-to” thing for students to do if work is finished early. These should be based on an interest inventory done by students. • Students must fill out a “student-contract” for each activity they sign up for. This decreases a lot of projects that are started and never finished. It also teaches responsibility.

14. Self-Evaluations • After students complete activities, they must evaluate themselves before the teacher does.

15. How do I know what they want to learn? • Interest Inventories • A way to hold a student’s attention by focusing instruction on what students find interesting • “Because he knows so much about the topic and his motivation is high, he’s able to read a book of greater difficulty than a traditional assessment might indicate” (Miller, 2002) • A way to show students you care

16. Interest Inventories • An example of making use of information from interest inventories: • Get an index card, and then “jot down their answers and align them side-by-side on the bulletin board.” (Beers, 2003) • She also “takes a Polaroid of each student and places it on the other side of the bulletin board” (Beers, 2003). • Teacher and students work throughout the year on determining which card goes with each student • Shows students that their interests matter and will be incorporated in instruction • Will remind teacher throughout the year of individual interests “I haven’t thought a teacher cared who I was since the second grade” (Beers, 2003).

17. Challenge of the Week • Each week there is a “challenge.” The teacher gives a prize to the students that complete the entire challenge correctly each week.

18. Games • “Geogame” is a game where the students are given clues about where in the world they are and it is up to them to research and figure it out • Other games that are for “Logic Game” days are chess, Blokus, and Cranium to name a few

19. Creative Expression • An example of a “creative expression” activity is when the students had to draw half of their face with the paper folded in half. They had to draw the other half afterward without consulting the first side. These were the winners.

20. More Enrichment Tools for the Regular Classroom “Thinkies” • Thinkies” are labeled Rubbermaid containers in the cabinet that students know they can grab if they have extra time. These tubs can range from Sudoku puzzles to riddles to mind-teasers. These activities usually take from about five to fifteen minutes to complete. • Something quick!

21. Conclusion “Gifted children are expensive and time-consuming. They usually need less sleep than you do, ask more questions than you can answer, want 100 percent of your attention 24 hours a day, have obsessive hobbies, are unstimulated by the school curriculum, react intensely to everything, endlessly long for a best friend who understands them completely, and hold perfectionist standards for themselves and you. But don’t despair. They have a great sense of humor and their development is so remarkable that they’re exciting to watch grow.” (Winebrenner, 2001)

22. Conclusion • Challenge all of your students. • Give your students opportunities to demonstrate that they already know what you’re about to teach, or can learn it in much less time than you have allotted. • Use compacting. • Create instructional groups that are flexible and change their composition depending on the content. • Offer meaningful choices whenever possible. • Focus on open-ended tasks and questions. • Encourage independent research based on topics in which the students are passionately interested. • Be sensitive to what gifted kids need. • Take advantage to learn more about gifted kids and their exceptional learning needs. (Winebrenner, 2001)

23. References Beers, K. (2003). When kids can't read. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Clark, B. (2008). Growing up gifted. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, Merrill Prentice Hall. Miller, D. (2002). Reading with meaning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers. Stanley, J.C. (1991). An academic model for educating the mathematically talented. Gifted Child Quarterly, 35, 36-42. Winebrenner, Susan.(2001). Teaching gifted kids in the regular classroom. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Free Spirit Publishing.