GIFTED AND TALENTED

What is giftedness? What is talented? Are these two terms synonymous?

DEVELOPMENT AND REFINEMENT OF THE DEFINITION OF GIFTEDNESS

Terman in 1930 defined gifted as learners who scored in the top one per cent of the population.

Renzulli’s in 1978 gave a three ring definition.

BETT’S AND NEIHART’S PROFILE OF GIFTED UNDERACHIEVERS

Successful (Bright, pleasers, steady helpers, learn holistically, user of front end analysis)

Challengers (Bored, angry, independent learners, tactless, resentful)

Underground gifted (Value peer acceptance, deliberate underperformer, prefer front end analysis)

Dropouts (resentful, angry, depressed, secondary school students and passions outside the school, find revision tedious)

Double labeled (physically disabled, emotionally disabled, learning disabilities, confused, often repeat)

Autonomous (self directed, strong locus of control, natural learning style)

IDENTIFICATION PROCESS

SUBJECTIVE Teacher nomination Nomination by parent/caregiver Peer nomination Self-nomination OBJECTIVE Standardised tests Individual IQ and other culturally appropriate measures of ability Group IQ School assessment – Product/performance Rating scales Creative tests Competitions

IMPORTANT FACTS OF IDENTIFICATION

the teacher identification process is part of a school-wide identification program

multiple criteria are used a mix of subjective and objective strategies are employed IQ tests are used in the context of other indicators and measures the expectation is avoided that all students will perform equally

well on all measures students in the following categories should not be overlooked: the

underachieving, the exceptionally gifted, students with disabilities and those with learning difficulties or from culturally diverse populations.

THINGS TO CONSIDERo Issues with identifying children as gifted and/or talented

• Should we identify (and label) children as such? Who should?

• Where do we go to from here?• What are the options?

o Gifted children with disabilities

o Funding

o Social intelligence• Impacts of various methods.• Age cohort versus those with similar level of ability.• Consequences of separating children based on level

of ability.• Achieving balance in other areas of life.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS

What can teachers do to cater for the needs of gifted children?

Differentiation: understanding individual differences and devising institutional strategies to cater for students’ needs.

For differentiation to thrive, appropriate strategies must be systematically implemented at both the school and classroom levels (Robinson, 2002).

AT A SCHOOL LEVEL. Each school has its focus and priorities Differentiation for the gifted and talented student is

more likely to happen where:

The school leadership emphasises giftedness as part of educational provision.

A detailed knowledge of educational opportunities is available for gifted students, high expectations for student achievement are displayed and recognition is given for teachers’ efforts in curriculum differentiation.

AT THE CLASSROOM LEVEL Important components of teachers’ craft

knowledge in gifted education include:

1. the recognition of students who require a more challenging curriculum,

2. the development of appropriate programs for them and

3. the use of effective teaching strategies (Croft, 2003).

PROGRAMMING FOR GIFTED STUDENTS

Curriculum and instructional strategies form the cornerstone of programs for gifted and talented students

CURRICULUM DIFFERENTIATION Curriculum differentiation : range from slight

to major modifications of the curriculum through adjustments to content, processes and skills. It provides a planned, documented and challenging curriculum that matches the ability of gifted students to:

learn at faster rates find, solve and act on problems

more readily manipulate abstract ideas and

make connections to an advanced degree

PROGRAMMING FOR GIFTED STUDENTS

Instructional strategies1. management (how the students will be organised)2. delivery (the forms of the instruction)3. process modifications (how the teacher will teach and thestudents will learn).

Examples

Individualisation: Individualisation is one form of instructional management to consider to determine how either an individual or a group or class can proceed through the curriculum.

Grouping by ability or achievement (Students of high ability or high achievement levels are put into a separate group for differentiating their instruction. Can be full or part-time, permanent or flexible sorting).

Department of Education and Training (2004)

TIPS FOR TEACHERS Familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the Gifted. Offer the opportunity for students to grow from where they are,

not from where the course says they should be. Conduct informal assessment. Re-familiarize yourself with Piaget and Bloom . Gifted children in Piaget’s “formal operations” stage when their peers are

still in his “pre-operational” or “concrete operations Students in the “formal operations” need learning experiences at the

upper end of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Involve parents as resource locators.