Introduction

Barry Meatyard, BM Consultancy 2011 1

Maximizing the Potential of Gifted and High Ability Children:

What Schools and Parents Can Do

Dr Barry Meatyard

December 12, 2011


This presentation is adapted from a lecture given by Dr Barry Meatyard organized by the Connecticut Association for the Gifted at Bedford Middle School, Westport CT on 12th December 2011.

Barry Meatyard has worked in education for nearly forty years in a career spanning teaching in high performing schools, teacher training and 5 years as a Director of England’s National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth.

He currently works as an independent international consultant – with recent projects in UK, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Germany and Holland.

All information and materials in this presentation are the intellectual property of Barry Meatyard unless otherwise referenced. Non-commercial use of the materials for

educational purposes is acceptable.

Introduction


1. To provide an overview of G+T education in England

2. To share international approaches to understanding giftedness3. To consider how the definition of giftedness impacts on provision4. To provide examples of creative thinking exercises and activities.

Objectives


G&T Education in England – a recent history

In 1998 a national governmental approach to G&T education was formalised and a ‘National Programme’ was established.

This led in 2002 to the formation of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY) at the University of Warwick, the role of which was to act as a strategic partner with Government to support the National Programme.

A change in policy in 2007 led to the dismantling of NAGTY, although some components of its work were transferred to other agencies, and much of its legacy is reflected in current programmes for both teachers and students.

A ‘National Programme’ as such no longer exists and the responsibility for provision for ‘more able’ students rests with individual schools. This provision is inspected against national guidelines by The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted).


G&T Education in England – the current landscape

Responsibility for provision lies primarily in schools, although schools can, and do, procure provision from independent agencies, and from the university sector (outreach and summer programmes).

A number of advocacy and support (both commercial and charitable) groups exist, including London Gifted and Talented (www.londongt.org), The National Association for Gifted Children (www.nagcbritain.org.uk), and The National Association for Able Children in Education (www.nace.co.uk) . More recently a network of interested individuals and organisations has been established as ‘G&T Voice’ (www.gtvoice.org.uk)

http://www.londongt.org/

http://www.nagcbritain.org.uk/

http://www.nace.co.uk/

http://www.gtvoice.org.uk/

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NAGTY 2002-07 – Strategic Plan

• To work in partnership with the English Government to develop Gifted and Talented (G&T) education within national policy.

• To identify and track the G&T population that makes up the national top 5%.

• To secure high quality core education for all G&T young people.

• To secure access to high quality opportunities within and beyond school for all G&T young people in the national top 5%.

Barry Meatyard, BM Consultancy 2011

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The NAGTY ‘English Model’(Eyre, 2008)

national provision

local or regional targeted provision

cross-school and extra-curricular provision

local or regional enrichment activity

classroom provision

Increased sophistication of provision

Increased access to adult expertise



The English Model of Gifted Education - 1

The NAGTY ‘pyramid’ has come to represent the ‘English Model’ of gifted education and has been conceptualised and defined as a strategic framework by Prof. Deborah Eyre (2008). However, in practicemany individual schools that have long traditions of preparing their students for high tariff universitiessuch as Oxford and Cambridge have been operating this system for many years.

The essential feature of the Eyre model is that it is systemic, and inclusive, encompassing all schools irrespective of socio-economic context.



The 4 principles that underpin this model are:

1. Enables extension and support for those students already identified as ‘gifted’;

2. It provides opportunities in the classroom for students to respond to stimuli in a way which indicates their potential for high achievement, i.e. to promote the identification of gifted individuals;

3. A focus on the needs of more able students is a powerful lever for whole school improvement, and

4. Schools are inspected on the provision they make for ALL students.



Implications of this approach are:1. All teachers are teachers of the gifted;2. All teachers need to be able to provide for the

gifted;3. All teachers need to be able to recognize a

response by students to provision that is indicative of the potential for further high achievement, and

4. Teachers / schools need to recognize the needs of gifted students and to be able to broker additional provision and support.



Therefore:

1. Teacher training programmes need to reflect these implications;

2. On-going professional development should be available and accessible to all teachers.The second of these is becoming internationally recognized in countries as diverse as Malaysia, Holland and Saudi Arabia.

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What do we mean by ‘gifted’? Important question and defines different approaches to provision. However there is no international ‘one size fits all’ definition.

• Students whose performance is significantly above that of the average of their peer group and who have the potential for high achievement in adult life;

• Students who show the early signs of behaviours that are considered ‘expert’ in adults. The Sternberg model – the expertise journey. Howard Gardner ‘Multiple Intelligences’;

• The Eyre equation: Potential + Opportunity (+ Support +Motivation ) = High Achievement (Eyre, 2008);

• Renzulli (Renzulli, 1986) – ‘Three Ring’ components.Barry Meatyard, BM Consultancy 2011


‘The English Model’ (Eyre, 2008)


Three Ring Concept (Renzulli, 1986)

Potentialfor HighIntellect Creativity

TaskCommitment

Gifted

AnalysePlan creativelyImplement

Problem solve regarding

• Context• Role• Audience

Metacognitive skillsAlternative Thinking/Learning strategiesStrategies for coping


Giftedness as an expertise journey (Sternberg)

• What do adult experts do?• Think of an ‘expert’ in your subject area• What characterizes their ‘expertness’?

E.g. Nobel Prize winners : • Saul Perlmutter; Fred Sanger; Kary Mullis; John

Steinbeck; Al Gore.

Others:• Aldo Leopold; Rachel Carson; Maya Angelou; Steve Jobs.


What characterizes adult expertise?

In our work with teachers from a wide range of countries and cultures we have asked this question. The answers are remarkably uniform and the common responses are shown in the next slide:


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The next question is then:

What about Students?

• Think of the brightest / most ‘gifted’ students you have ever taught or known.

• Why do you think they were the brightest / most ‘gifted’ ?

• Would you add / subtract anything from this list?

• Do our assessment instruments recognize and reward these characteristics?


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The responses are remarkably uniform and the great majority (of 2500 teachers) agree that the adult descriptors are also applicable to their ‘best’ students.

Interestingly only two have responded ‘because they got good marks in tests’


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It therefore follows that our curricula and classroom practice (plus the way that extra-curricular programmes are structured) should provide opportunities for the rehearsal of ‘expert behaviours’.

This requires a clearer focus on opportunities for ‘HOT’ (Higher Order Thinking). A simple way of envisaging this is to refer to ‘Bloom’s Taxonomy’ (see following slides)


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The following three slides give a brief over-view of differing approaches to thinking skills relevant to the G&T agenda. However teachers will also be aware of de Bono’s ‘Thinking Hats’, Gardener’s ‘Multiple Intelligences’s , Renzulli’s ‘Learning Lab’ which are in use in many schools; and additional program opportunities such as ‘Future Problem Solving’ and ‘Odyssey of the Mind’. These are beyond the scope of this presentation.



‘HOTs and LOTs’Higher Order Thinking Skills

vs Lower Order Thinking Skills

Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom et al 1956)

EvaluationSynthesisAnalysisApplicationComprehensionKnowledge

In unfamiliar situations these are HOTS

In familiar situations these are LOTS

It is wrong to assume that ‘Bloom’ is a hierarchy – i.e. that it is necessary to top up the ‘LOTS’ before proceeding to the ‘HOTS’. Knowledge and comprehension can be created and stimulated by starting with observation and thinking exercises.


‘Revised Bloom’

Anderson, L., & Krathwohl, D. E. (2001).



Why does all this matter?

The World’s Top Universities are more interested in how Students Think than what they Know.

At interview at institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge candidates will be given scenarios and problems to consider that may be unfamiliar to them.

Sufficient factual knowledge is assumed since all candidates will have top grades in school leaving exams.


Implications for the Everyday Classroom and Parent / Child Conversations

How can we encourage ‘HOT’ skills? The following 7 ideas illustrate some strategies that have been devised by teachers for teachers and are in use in many schools in the UK, Europe and beyond. They are mainly short thinking exercises that can be incorporated into normal lesson time.


For Parent-Child conversations they may help to frame dialogues that stimulate and progress learning.

(It may be worth referring to the work of Vygotsky (1978 – or ‘Google’) and the value of conversation)


G&T Provision - 1: Questioning Skills Why do we ask questions?

• To engage/control pupils;• To check prior learning/recall;• To lead into new learning;• To focus thinking / check understanding;• To extend thinking;• To lead pupils though a reasoned sequence;• To promote problem solving or reflection.


1. What percentage of teachers’ questions is concerned with recalling facts?

2. What percentage of teachers’ questions is concerned with managing the class?

3. What percentage of questions do you think demand higher cognitive demands of pupils? (Bloom’s categories 3/4 – 6)

4. Who do you think asks the greatest proportion of higher order questions – primary or secondary teachers?

5. How many questions does the ‘average’ teacher ask in their working lifetime (40 years)?


How does questioning work?A simple math example

Low threshold – high ceiling – high impact task• How many solutions can you find?• How do you know you have all the solutions?• Make up one that is more difficult• Why is it more difficult?

T W O+ T W O

= F O U R

7 3 4+ 7 3 41 4 6 8

Specimen solution:

G&T Provision - 2: 6 Degrees of Separation

A creative thinking game

You will be shown 2 pictures

Link the two pictures together by six sentences

The end of one sentence must form the start of the next

Time for the task is 2 minutes

Caterpillar Candle

In 6 steps…

1. A caterpillar is the larva of a butterfly2. Butterflies are insects which are classified as animals3. Animals respire in order to provide themselves with energy4. Energy can exist in many forms5. One form of energy is thermal energy6. Thermal energy and light energy are produced when a

candle burns

A response from a 15 year old pupil

DNA Ballot boxArroz HuevosBeethoven Electric guitarMountain Coral reefIsosceles triangle CylinderCat BicycleRomeo JulietFreedom Fireworks Christianity Islam

In 6 steps

Summary: 6 Degrees of Separation• Can be used in the everyday classroom • Stimulates thinking, creativity, analytical and evaluation skills, and discussion• Low threshold – high ceiling tasks, but:• Level of difficulty can be adjusted • Can be converted into a research task• Low maintenance for teachers

Remember: there is no ‘right’ answer!But what constitutes a ‘good’ answer? Engaging students in deciding this can develop their analytical and evaluation skills.

• And it’s fun!!


G&T Provision - 3: ‘Big’ or ‘Rich’ Questions

Explain:

• How Color Changing Pens (e.g. Crayola ‘Switchables’™) work• Where religion came from• How mountains are formed• How many matches you need to play in a tennis tournament• The plot of a Shakespearean play in a modern context• Why the sea is blue and not green• The origin of language• Why we haven’t found a cure for the common cold.

N.b. these cannot be answered in a single step. There may also bemore than one solution or answer which can be further explored , discussed and evaluated.


G&T Provision - 4: ‘Jeopardy’

If this is the answer what could the question(s) be?

• New York, carbon dioxide, Lincoln, inflation, tea, water, cotton, limestone etc.

• Can we group the answers?

• What patterns might be discerned?


G&T Provision - 5: Tell the Story

• Of a graph

• Of a picture

• Of a year in the life of a barn swallow


G&T Provision - 6: Draw a Graph

To represent:

• How you eat a Hershey Bar

• The pressure in a balloon as it deflates

• Your journey to school


G&T Provision - 8: Thought Experiments

What if:• The density of water was greater / lesser?• We used decimal time?• Pigs could fly?• Gravity on earth was greater / lesser?• We didn’t have verbs / nouns?


These ideas are developed as ‘low threshold – high ceiling – high impact’ tasks. This means that most students can engage with them at a basic level, but they allow G&T students a blank canvas on which to express their creativity and wider knowledge.

Feedback suggests that teachers use them to extend the thinking of ALL students (not just G&T) and this enables them to identify potential.

Advice is given to teachers on professional development programs as to how best to incorporate these activities.


International LinksInternational Gateway for Gifted Youth (IGGY)www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/iggy

Junior Commission, Forums, ‘The Why Files’, Math Problems, Summer Schools.

London international Youth Science Forumwww.liysf.org.uk/participation-at-liysf

Summer Schools, Forums


nrichmaths http://nrich.maths.org/1854

Nine squares with side lengths 1,4,7,8,9,10,14,15 and 18 cm can be fitted together with no gaps and no overlaps, to form a rectangle.

What are the dimensions of the rectangle?

Once you've had a chance to think about it, click below to see how three different pupils began working on the task.

• This is how Anna started: hyperlink

• Here is what Brendan tried: hyperlink

• Here is Chandra's initial approach to the problem: hyperlink

Can you take each of these starting ideas and develop them into a solution? To discuss your methods for answering these questions, visit the blog

Fitted Stage: 2 Challenge Level:

http://nrich.maths.org/z/node/6770


Concluding Thoughts – what I have learned

• Teachers from a wide range of educational cultures have similar views of giftedness

• A more inclusive approach aids recognition of potential

• Sustainable G+T education can only be achieved by embedding it as a right within schools

• Teachers need access to high quality professional development opportunities

• Learning should be fun! For Students, Teachers and Parents

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