Gifted Education: The Basics plus How to be most effective in the mixed ability classroom

1. Gifted Education: The BasicsplusHow to be most effective in the mixed ability classroom Genny Jenkins Rowan County Schools Gifted and Talented Coordinator Gifted and Talented Instructor

2. What’s your mindset?

3. Mindset • Football is football and talent is talent. But the mindset of your team makes all the difference. ~Robert Griffin III (Heisman Trophy winner, pro football player) • To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail. ~Giorgio Armani (iconic Italian fashion designer) • No matter what, people grow. If you chose not to grow, you're staying in a small box with a small mindset. People who win go outside of that box. It's very simple when you look at it. ~Kevin Hart (actor/comedian)

4. Implications for Teaching It's complicated! Do we gravitate toward what we're good at already? Nature vs. Nurture Bottom Line... *Are we learning for the sake of learning and growth or are we just job training? *Can students have a growth mindset if the adults in their life do not? The goal for a student (and their teacher) must be the learning and not the performance. Education must begin to move toward reflection and away from task completion.

5. Food for thought If during the first five or six years of school, a child earns good grades and high praise without having to put forth much effort, what are all the things he doesn’t learn that most children learn by third grade?

6. From the Legislative Research Commission’s study on KEES money: Given that KEES earners represent almost 90 percent of high school graduates, they include students with a wide range of ability and preparation for college. Despite higher college-going and retention rates, many KEES earners nevertheless struggle to make the transition to college-level courses. Between academic years 2000 and 2006, 61 percent of those who earned KEES awards went on to use their awards in the first year after graduating from high school, but only 38 percent were enrolled in the second year. No data are available on the reasons for nonuse, which include foregoing college, attending out-of-state or other non-eligible institutions, felony convictions, or death.

7. Consider this… “It is no more fair to require every child in one grade to wear the same size of shoe than it is to provide one set of lesson plans for children who read at various levels.” What if we measured everyone's height with a ruler that is five feet tall?

9. Gifted students don’t need help; they’ll do fine on their own. Would you send a star athlete to train for the Olympics without a coach? Gifted students need guidance from well-trained teachers who challenge and support them in order to fully develop their abilities. Many gifted students may be so far ahead of their same-age peers that they know more than half of the grade-level curriculum before the school year begins. Their resulting boredom and frustration can lead to low achievement, despondency, or unhealthy work habits. The role of the teacher is crucial for spotting and nurturing talents in school.

11. Gifted students make everyone else in the class smarter by providing a role model or a challenge. In reality, average or below-average students do not look to the gifted students in the class as role models. They are more likely to model their behavior on those who have similar capabilities and are coping well in school. Seeing a student at a similar performance level succeed motivates students because it adds to their own sense of ability. Watching or relying on someone who is expected to succeed does little to increase a struggling student’s sense of self-confidence. Similarly, gifted students benefit from classroom interactions with peers at similar performance levels.

13. All Children are Gifted All children have strengths and positive attributes, but not all children are gifted in the educational sense of the word.  The label “gifted” in a school setting means that when compared to others his or her age or grade, a child has an advanced capacity to learn and apply what is learned in one or more subject areas, or in the performing or fine arts.  This advanced capacity requires modifications to the regular curriculum to ensure these children are challenged and learn new material. Gifted does not connote good or better; it is a term that allows students to be identified for services that meet their unique learning needs.

15. That student can’t be gifted; he’s receiving poor grades. Underachievement describes a discrepancy between a student’s performance and his actual ability.  The roots of this problem differ, based on each child’s experiences.  Gifted students may become bored or frustrated in an unchallenging classroom situation causing them to lose interest, learn bad study habits, or distrust the school environment.  Other students may mask their abilities to try to fit in socially with their same-age peers.  No matter the cause, it is imperative that a caring and perceptive adult help gifted learners break the cycle of underachievement in order to achieve their full potential.

17. Gifted students are happy, popular, and well adjusted in school. Many gifted students flourish in their community and school environment.  However, some gifted children differ in terms of their emotional and moral intensity, sensitivity to expectations and feelings, perfectionism, and deep concerns about societal problems. Others do not share interests with their classmates, resulting in isolation or being labeled unfavorably as a “nerd.” Because of these difficulties, the school experience is one to be endured rather than celebrated.  It is estimated that 20 to 25% of gifted children have social and emotional difficulties, about twice as many as in the general population of students. 

18. What Does the Law Say? • http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/kar/704/003/285.htm • Personnel Issues… • How much does the federal government spend on gifted education? • The federal government does not provide funding directly to local school districts for programs and services for gifted and talented students. • http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=37 • Funding…

19. So, basically, YOU’RE IT!

20. Make a list of some of the things teachers are being asked to do today in addition to classroom instruction.

21. We’re going to need a bigger plate… Quality Classroom Instruction Common Core Standards MAP Testing Extra- Curricular assignments Common Assessments Student Growth Goals Work on Classroom Environment EOC Testing State Testing Requirements Lesson Planning Summative Assessments Data Teams PLC meetings Program Review Progress Monitoring TPGES Parent Conferences Formative Assessments RTI ARC Meetings Behold…the teacher’s plate!

22. Resources and Suggestions • Differentiation… • Planning Tiered lessons • Pre-Assessment • Use data to plan…don’t assume anything • KNOW YOUR STUDENTS • Let students work without guidance (inquiry) • Development = practice + feedback • Don’t reinvent the wheel! • Take time for yourself. • Read.

23. RESOURCES: Go to Rowan County Schools page www.rowan.kyschools.us Click on any of the elementary school pages. Click on Teacher Websites. Find Genny Jenkins Link is called “General Gifted Resources”