Chapter #13:Teaching Students with Special Gifts and Talents

Rose AldanED315-01May 2nd 2013

BELL WORK

What is your special gift or talent?

Be ready and willing to share

• Explain the basic concepts of giftedness

• Outline effective inclusive practices for students with special gifts and talents

• Describe appropriate classroom adaptations for students with special gifts and talents

Student Learning Outcome’s (SLO’s)

Warm Up

Draw and Share

What comes to mind when you hear talented and gifted?

• Often used to refer to the heterogeneous spectrum of students with exceptional abilities, although some professionals restrict the use of terms such as talented and creative, which are used to differentiate subgroups of gifted people. (p. 407)

• Gagne (1995) described the relationship of gifts and talents in the following way: “gifts” which are natural abilities that the person displays, have to be developed tobecome “talents”. These talents are the result of proficiency that occurs through training and practice.

Gifted Defined

Gifted Defined Cont.

• Federal Definition by Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act of 1988:

Children and youth with outstanding talent perform or

show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment. These children and youth exhibit high performance capability in intellectual, creative, and/or artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership capacity, or excel in specific academic fields.

Other Conceptualizations of Giftedness

Renzulli’s Three-Ring Approach

Sternberg’s Theory

Howard Gardner

Activity Time

Multiple Intelligence Test

Basic Concepts about Students with Special Gifts

and TalentsMisguided Beliefs• People with special intellectual gifts are physically weak,

socially inept, narrow in interests, and prone to emotional stability or early decline.

• Children with special gifts or talents are usually bored with school and antagonistic towards those who are responsible for their education.

• Students who have a true gift or talent for something will excel without special education. They need only the incentives and instruction that are appropriate for all students.

Public Perceptions of Giftedness

• Gifted in Movies• Gifted in T.V. Shows• Movies like: A

Beautiful Mind, Good will Hunting, Little Man Tate, the Nutty Professor or Searching for Bobby Fischer.

• Various terms describing children, adolescents and even adults who are gifted and talented are referred to as “nerd” and “geek”.

Media Images Technological Fields

Common Barriers• Teachers lack knowledge• Problems with classroom management when

trying to differentiate instruction.• Misguided attitudes and beliefs about learning.• Inability to modify curriculum appropriate for

high-ability students.• The reality that differentiation is needed for an

array of students with diverse learning needs (Multiple Intelligences).

• Obtaining and using appropriate instructional resources.

• Lack of time to do adequate planning• Teachers who were not taught how to

provide the type of instruction• No support from the administration

• National Association for Gifted Children and Council for Exceptional Children (2006) made some suggestions to prepare teachers who will handle students who are gifted and talented:

• Ability to differentiate curriculum and instruction to meet the needs and interests of these students, including selection of appropriate methods materials.

• Ability to create an environment in which gifted and talented students can feel challenged, encouraged, and safe.

• Knowledge and skills to promote thinking skills, develop creative problem-solving abilities of students, and facilitate independent research.

Removing the Common Barriers

Promoting Effective Inclusive Practices for

Gifted Students• Differentiated Programming (Instruction that matches the

needs of students and that typically does differ from the regular education curriculum) Example: Pull-Out Program

• Continuum-of-Placement Options: (Having child spend time in mentoring, internships, special tutorials, independent study, and resource rooms) instead of in the general classroom.

• Programming Approaches for General Education Settings:Working in the Pull-Out Program or AP course which implement acceleration, enrichment and special grouping.

Programming approaches for general education settings

• Acceleration which refers to practice that introduces content, concepts, and educational experiences to gifted students sooner than for other students. (examples: early entrance to school, skipping grades, mentorship, credit by exam, etc.)

• Enrichment which refers to techniques that provide topics, skill development, materials, or experiences that extend the depth of coverage beyond the typical curriculum. (example: Classroom Strategies)

• Special grouping refers to the practice whereby gifted students of similar ability levels or interests are grouped together for at least part of the instructional day. (example: Cluster Grouping)

Addressing the needs of Special Populations

• Nurture student development:-Create a supportive, caring, nurturing classroom

environment.-Establish high expectations for all students in the

general classroom.-Encourage students to do their best.-Emphasize that everyone has strengths and areas

needing improvement.-Identify areas of students interest. This effort

leads to recognition of areas where a students finds some degree of success.

Addressing the needs of Special Populations

• Recognize hidden giftedness:-Regularly examine the qualitative aspects of students’

performance on academic tasks.-Make sure that certain factors, such as a specific learning-

related problem (Memory Problems) do not mask strengths in a variety of areas.

-Use a variety of assessment techniques for screening and eligibility determination purposes.

-Seek parent input in student who are very shy and passivein class activities—these students are often overlooked.

Addressing the needs of Special Populations

• Provide appropriate services:-Consider a student’s personal style and cultural

background in the selection of various programming options—for instance, heavy reliance on special ability group work may not be the best first choice for some students.

-Be aware that some enrichment-related activities, while perhaps engaging, may be in conflict with a student’s family or personal beliefs.

Classroom adaptations for gifted students

• Creating a favorable classroom environment

• Managing & organizing effective classrooms

• Career Development

• Curricular & Instructional considerations

Activity Time (Be Creative!)

• Creating a favorable classroom environment (Group #1/ Page 426)

• Managing & organizing effective classrooms (Group #2/ Page 426)

• Career Development (Group #3/ Page 430)

• Curricular & Instructional considerations (Group #4/ Page 427)

Student Learning Outcome’s (SLO’s)

• Explain the basic concepts of giftedness

• Outline effective inclusive practices for students with special gifts and talents

• Describe appropriate classroom adaptations for students with special gifts and talents

THANK YOU