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Dabrowski’s Overexcitabilities Profile among Gifted Students - submitted by Krista Black

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Dabrowski’s Overexcitabilities Profile among Gifted Students - submitted by Krista Black

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J. McGaughey

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Common Sense Media: Age-Based Media Reviews for Families

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Common Sense Media is the leading source of entertainment and technology recommendations for families. Parents trust our expert reviews and objective advice.

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J. McGaughey

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Recommendations for Teachers working with gifted students.

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Recommendations for Teachers working with gifted students.

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J. McGaughey
https://www.education.udel.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/GiftedStudents.pdf

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Strategies for Challenging Gifted Students

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Strategies for Challenging Gifted Students

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J. McGaughey

http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/apr16/vol58/num04/Six-Strategies-for-Challenging-Gifted-Learners.aspx

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Gifted students-you may or may not spot them in your classroom. They may be highly visible, like the high achievers or straight- A students. But they may also be among those students who don't finish their work (it's never perfect enough), who zone out or act out in class (they're bored), or who test poorly because they overthink things ("Hmmm, this answer might be true in this case, but it might not be true in that case").

Some schools and districts have substantial resources to identify and support giftedness, wherever it shows up. Some offer pull-out programs. Others offer cluster grouping, in which gifted students are grouped in specific classes at each grade level.

Dina Brulles, director of gifted education in the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Phoenix, Ariz., believes gifted students need less grade-level work, faster-paced lessons, deeper and more advanced content, and opportunities to work with other gifted students. They also require a different kind of interaction with the teacher, who must be less of a "sage on the stage" and more of a "guide on the side."

M. René Islas, executive director of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), notes one persistent challenge to gifted education-a lack of uniformity in programming. A recent NAGC study found that 19 states don't monitor gifted programs at the local level, only seven require their districts to report on gifted student achievement, and fewer than half report on the race and ethnicity of their gifted students (minorities are significantly underrepresented in gifted programs, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights).

But there are promising signals as well, explains Islas. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires states and districts to track the progress of their highest-achieving students and allows schools to use Title I funds to identify and support gifted students. Plus, the law opens up the possibility for schools to use computer-adaptive assessments to recognize student mastery of content above grade level.

Then there are the challenges and opportunities at the school level. With the following strategies, teachers can tend to the complex needs of their high-ability students in the heterogeneous classroom.

"Gifted students don't need to do 25 problems in math when they can do the five most difficult first to demonstrate mastery," says Brulles. She offers this opportunity to all students, not just those identified as gifted. Students who successfully complete the five problems are excused from that night's homework. If classwork is involved, the teacher simply needs to have a few extension activities on hand-tasks that carry the concept to the next level-for students to work on quietly while others complete the regular assignment.

"Most Difficult First" is one manageable way for teachers to compact the curriculum for their high-ability students. With compacting, students get to "throw away" the part of the curriculum that they already know, while receiving full credit for those competencies. This frees up students to work on more challenging content.

Let's say a teacher is teaching two-digit multiplication. He might do some direct instruction for 10 minutes, then offer students the end-of-chapter test, saying, "If you get 90 percent or higher, you won't have to do the homework or practice work. You'll have different work to do." According to Brulles, some gifted students will take this option, whereas others may decide, "I don't know this; I need the practice work." Again, as in Most Difficult First, this strategy requires having extension work for students who test out of the material.

Susan Flores, a 2nd grade teacher in Paradise Valley, meets a range of student abilities by using the standard as her baseline. "My desk serves as a staging area. I have several piles of activities there that take a concept up or down."

For example, when the class is working on the distributive property in math, those "piles" might include differentiated worksheets, word problems, and task cards. Depending on how students grasp the concept, Flores can either reteach, offer practice, or enrich.

Flores also uses "choice boards." In math, she might offer nine ways that students can demonstrate learning of multiplication. "Students can [use] one of their iPad apps or create a game. They jump in where they want to jump in," she notes.

All students in Flores's class can choose whether they want to take their learning to the next level. "I don't say, 'Because you're gifted, you get choice, and because you're not gifted, you don't.'" Optional challenge work is available to anyone who wants to try it.

Janice Mak, a gifted cluster teacher and 7th and 8th grade STEM teacher in Paradise Valley, gives students a menu of options in her computer science class. After stu-dents learn the basics of programming-perhaps through an online course from Stanford University or work with Google CS First clubs-they work in teams to create a robot. Students choose the level of complexity, from designing dogs that bark to building miniature disco rooms in which a record plays and lights flash.

Students can also tailor a project to their interests. In a module on architecture, some students designed a playground for Egyptian students using Legos, Build with Chrome, or Minecraft. One student opted instead to recreate the White House using Minecraft.

The Ignite presentation format offers another way for Mak to differentiate work on the basis of student interest. The presenter has exactly 5 minutes and 20 slides, which auto-advance every 15 seconds, to discuss a topic of interest (aligned to the unit). This activity allows students to share their passion with their peers, be it nanotechnology and its role in medicine, the physics of roller coasters, or the latest advances in virtual reality.

According to education expert Jenny Grant Rankin, knowing a student's emotional intensities-what Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski called "overexcitabilities"-is also key to teaching gifted students. Dabrowski identified five areas of sensitivity that are strongly related to giftedness: psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional.

Overexcitabilities will often appear as quirks, such as compulsive talking or organizing, heightened sensitivity to smells or tastes, insatiable curiosity, or daydreaming. Knowing a student's overexcitabilities can help teachers shape engaging-and personalized-learning experiences. An imaginational student will benefit from an assignment that he's free to complete in a unique way. An intellectual student will prefer to investigate why certain areas of the world struggle with starvation rather than simply listing those areas. Although we tend to see overexcitabilities negatively, they are often accompanied by great creativity, imagination, and drive.

According to NAGC, research shows that enabling gifted students to work together in groups boosts their academic achievement and benefits other students in the classroom, as well. When gifted students work together, they challenge themselves in unexpected ways. They bounce ideas off one another and take a peer's idea to a new place. They also learn that as smart as they are, they, too, must exert effort with challenging content-and that they'll sometimes fail along the way.

That said, gifted kids need to work both in and out of their group. "As adults, we have to be able to work with everyone," explains Flores, "and gifted students might not learn this if they're always separated out." Teachers can provide multiple opportunities for heterogeneous groupings through Think-Pair-Shares, Clock Buddies, and Season Teams.

This approach relies on planning lessons or units at different tiers of difficulty. But does this require teachers to add to their already full plates?

"I don't see it as doing one more thing; I see it as being more strategic," explains Mak. Teachers have to plan for their lessons, so why not develop deep and complex activities for high-ability students at the same time? This one way of planning-providing work at the entry, advanced, and extension levels or at varying Depth of Knowledge Levels-offers a multiplicity of ways to learn. It may take more time in the planning stage, but it is ultimately more efficient because bored students aren't acting out or zoning out in class-they've got challenging work to do-and struggling students are getting support. Once teachers create these tiered resources, they can use them again and again.

Author Carol Ann Tomlinson advocates teaching up -"a practice of first planning a lesson that's challenging for high-end learners and then differentiating for other learners by providing supports that enable them to access that more sophisticated learning opportunity." It replaces "the more common practice of planning for mid-range performers, then extending that lesson for advanced students and watering it down for others." This approach, Tomlinson says, challenges advanced learners more than trying to pump up a "middling" idea-and serves other students better as well.

All students have the right to learn something new every day, whether they are in regular classrooms or in special education, language acquisition, or gifted programs. And every student will benefit from being pulled up to go beyond the curriculum at times.

But as Tomlinson points out, "Learning should be joyful or at least satisfying, rather than just hard."

Is this challenging for educators? Sure. But according to Flores, "Any good teacher can do these things well. It's just good teaching."

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Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners

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Find practical ways to tend to the complex needs of your high-ability students-without taking the joy out of learning.

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Cognitive Rigor and Depth of Knowledge (Dr. Hess)

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Cognitive Rigor and Depth of Knowledge (Dr. Hess)

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Cognitive Rigor & DOK Focus Area

The Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrices (CRMs)

and translated for use in many countries around the world!

See an excerpt from Rigor by Design, Not Chance (2023) - THE ACTIONABLE ASSESSMENT CYCLE

​

Did you miss my September 2021 webinar, sponsored by Mentoring Minds? Watch now on demand: Looking for Rigor in All the 'Right' Places

Module 1 of my Local Assessment Toolkit provides an in-depth approach to introducing cognitive rigor and using the Hess CRMs to plan instruction and design assessments.

To Download the Hess CRMs, click onto each TOOL below

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- Tool #1: Close Reading & Listening CRM

- Tool #2: Math & Science CRM

-Tool # 5A: Fine Arts CRM

SPANISH versions of Hess CRMs: Tools #1-5D

7 Common Misconceptions about Rigor & DOK

Some of the resources referencing Karin's work or have chapters by Karin:

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Ainsworth, L. & Donovan, K. (2019). Rigorous Curriculum Design. (second edition). The International Center for Leadership in Education.

Ainsworth, L. (2015) Common Formative Assessment 2.0. Corwin.

Ainsworth, L. (2014). "Unwrapping" the Common Core (second edition).

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Bailey, K. & Jakicic, C. (2016). Simplifying Common Assessment. Solution Tree Press.

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Blackburn, B. (2022) Rigor in your Classroom: A Toolkit for Teachers - Second Edition. Routledge.

Brulles, D., Brown, K., & Winebrenner, S. (2016). Differentiated Lessons for Every Learner. Prufrock Press.

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Center for Collaborative Education. (2012). Quality Performance Assessment: A Guide for Schools and Districts . Boston, MA: Author.

Colby, R. (2017). Competency-Based Education: A New Architecture for K-12 Schooling. Harvard Education Press.

Francis, E. (2021). Deconstructing Depth of Knowledge: A Method & Model for Deeper Teaching and Learning. Solution Tree.

Francis, E. (2016). Now That's a Good Question! ASCD.

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Gibson, V., Cárdenas-Hagan, E., & Hess, K. (2019). Ready to Advance: A New Comprehensive Early Learning Curriculum. Benchmark Education Company.

Hogan, M. & Smart, S. (2020). Fundamentals of Literacy Instruction and Assessment, PreK-6, Second Edition. Paul Brookes Pub.

Love, S. & Strobaugh, R. (2019-2021). Critical Thinking in the Classroom: A Practitioner's Guide. Tyler, TX:Mentoring Minds.

Pijanowski, L. (2018). Architects of Deeper Learning Intentional Design for High Impact Instruction. The International Center for Leadership in Education.

Sousa, D. (2022). How the Brain Learns, 6th edition. Corwin

Stack, B. & Vander Els, J. (2017). Breaking with Tradition: The Shift to Competency-Based Learning in PLCs. Solution Tree.

Vander Els, J. & Stack, B. (2022). Unpacking the Competency-Based Classroom: Equitable, Individualized Learning in a PLC at Work. Solution Tree.

Walsh, J.A. & Sattes, B. D. (2017). Quality questioning: Research-based practices to engage every learner. (2nd Ed). A Joint Publication: McREL International & Corwin.

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Winebrenner, S. & Kiss, L. (2014). Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in Today's Classrooms. Free Spirit Publishing.

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Cognitive Rigor and DoK | Karin Hess, PhD

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Cognitive Rigor & DOK Focus Area The Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrices (CRMs) and translated for use in many countries around the world! See an excerpt from Rigor by Design, Not Chance (2023) - THE ACTIONABLE ASSESSMENT CYCLE ​ Did you miss my September 2021 webinar, sponsored by Mentoring Minds?

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An enrichment activity that we do - O'Roark

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An enrichment activity that we do - O'Roark

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Future City is a program of DiscoverE. DiscoverE is a nonprofit dedicated to providing global resources, programs, and connections between K-12 students and engineers and STEM professionals. We have a special focus on reaching girls, and under-represented and under-served students. DiscoverE is the backbone organization behind some of the earliest and most broadly adopted STEM and engineering programs available.

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Twelve Traits of Giftedness: A Non-Biased Profile

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Twelve Traits of Giftedness: A Non-Biased Profile

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Supporting Your Gifted Child DuringCOVID-19

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Supporting Your Gifted Child DuringCOVID-19

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Every parent hopes for their child to be smart and to excel in school, but sometimes parents just don't know what to do with a child who is especially exceptional. Keeping him or her challenged, interested, and engaged can be tough, as can dealing with an educational system that doesn't always focus on helping out bright students. Parents of gifted children should know that they're not alone and that there are hundreds of resources on the Web that can help every step of the way. Here are some we think stand out from the crowd, offering advice, information, support, and educational resources to help you support and encourage your child's special abilities.

Organizations

These organizations help gifted students and their parents get the education, emotional support, and guidance they need to grow up happy and well-adjusted.

1. National Association for Gifted Children: The National Association for Gifted Children is one of the best places for parents of gifted children to find resources, reading, help, and advice on raising an exceptional child.

2. IAGC: The Illinois Association for Gifted Children is just one of many state-centered organizations for gifted kids. Parents can join, find other families, and even attend special events.

3. Gifted Child Society: The Gifted Child Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering the cause of gifted children. Through their website, parents can find helpful information and learn about seminars and workshops they can attend.

4. GPGC: The Governor's Program for Gifted Children is a seven-week residential summer enrichment program for gifted students. Parents can learn more about the program, held at McNeese State University, from their website.

5. SENG: SENG is short for Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted and is an organization that wants to help ensure that gifted children are understood, accepted, nurtured, and supported by their families, schools, and workplaces.

6. Mensa for Kids: Mensa embraces younger members through this fun website, offering up monthly themes to get kids reading and learning at an advanced level.

7. Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration: Find out more about the latest research being done into academic acceleration through this organization's site.

8. Center for Talented Youth: Located at Johns Hopkins, this organization engages gifted kids and their families through programs, summer classes, and even a bi-monthly magazine.

Twitter

Find quick 140-character-or-less quips and updates about working with, parenting, and helping gifted children from these excellent Twitter feeds.

1. @DeepWatersCoach: Lisa Lauffer works with the group Gifted Grownups & Parents of Gifted Children, offering support through her Twitter feed and beyond.

2. @gifted_guru: Head to this feed to hear from Lisa Van Gemert, a gifted youth specialist for Mensa.

3. @JeffcoGifted: This nonprofit group of parents, teachers, and community leaders tweets about advocacy and resources for gifted kids.

4. @HoagiesGifted: Head to this feed to get resources and articles aplenty about gifted education and parenting.

5. @laughingatchaos: Jen is a mom raising gifted kids. She shares her experiences, both the good and the bad, here and on her blog.

Blogs

These blogs offer excellent advice and resources to parents, teachers, or anyone working with gifted children.

1. About.com Gifted Children: Carol Bainbridge, an expert on gifted children, maintains this blog, which is chock full of learning ideas, information, and more.

2. Parenting Gifted Kids: Head to this blog, written by gifted educator Sarah Robbins, to learn more about how to challenge and help your gifted child.

3. Gifted Exchange: This blog focuses on gifted kids, touching on issues of schooling, parenting, education, and more, all written by the staff at the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.

4. The Prufrock Blog: Prufrock is one of the leading publishers of materials for gifted, advanced, and special needs students. On this blog, you'll find updates on their latest releases.

5. Unwrapping the Gifted: Head to this Education Week blog to hear from Tamara Fisher, a K-12 gifted education specialist. She gives great insights into gifted and talented education.

6. Parents of Gifted Children Resource Group: Here, parents can find resources and make connections with other parents of gifted children.

7. Gifted Parenting Support: This blog is an excellent place to read more about how to parent and educate children who are gifted and talented.

8. Gifted Guru: This blogger offers up resources, books, commentary, and more on the subject of gifted education.

9. Gifted Education Perspectives: Follow this blog to learn more about all things gifted, from what defines it to how to best educate bright students.

10. Creating Curriculum for Gifted Children: This blog approaches gifted kids from an educator's perspective, but parents can also learn new ways to challenge and interest their children.

11. Gifted Education Consultant: Sonia White, author and gifted education specialist, shares her passion for helping gifted children through this blog.

12. Gifted Phoenix: On this blog, parents can find some insights into giftedness issues, education, and parenting, from a New Zealand perspective.

13. Byrdseed: Focusing on creativity, accelerated learning, literature, and more, this blog offers resources and inspiration to gifted educators and parents of gifted kids.

Resources

If you're looking for resources to help you parent, choose a school, or just support your child, these sites are great places to start.

1. Hoagies' Gifted Education Page: On this site, you'll find a bit of everything, from conference listings to tips on understanding your gifted child, making it an excellent resource for any parent.

2. Gifted Development Center: Looking for information about giftedness and how to raise a gifted child? Dr. Linda Silverman provides both on this helpful site.

3. Gifted Child Today: This open-access journal is a great read for parents who want to learn more about how to cater to the needs of their gifted child.

4. Gifted Child Quarterly: Another open-access journal, this journal is a bit more scholarly, publishing research done on giftedness and talent development.

5. Summer Camps for Gifted Children: Looking for a great way to keep your child busy and learning over the summer? These summer camps could be a great choice.

6. Exquisite Minds: Parents and teachers who work with gifted children can find resources, online games, tips, tools, and more on this social site.

7. Royal Fireworks Press: Head to this publisher's website to find great reads for both you and your gifted child, especially if you're homeschooling.

8. BrightKids: BrightKids is a discussion group for parents of gifted children and is maintained through MENSA. You can join here and get tips and advice from other parents of bright kids.

9. Schools for the Gifted Child: Wondering where to send your gifted child? This site lists schools in six countries.

10. Educational Resources for Parents and Teachers of Gifted Youth: Mensa is a great place to look for help with a gifted child. Here, they offer up a collection of resources for parents and teachers that ranges from lesson places to fun activities.

11. Gifted Homeschoolers Forum: Even if you're not homeschooling your child, this site offers a chance to get resources and talk to parents who are also working to raise gifted children.

12. Genius Denied: This is the website for the book Genius Denied, an expose of the ways in which the American education system often ignores its brightest students.

13. Gifted Children's Bill of Rights: This resource will help you learn how to stand up for your kids and make sure that his or her rights are being respected.

14. Gifted Journey: This site is a great resource for learning about giftedness, touching on everything from bullying to IQ tests.

15. teachfine on gifted and ed tech: This site collects resources that combine gifted education and technology, creating a great list of articles and sites that parents and kids can use to learn.

Articles

These articles will help you stay informed and educated about issues relevant to your gifted child.

1. Gifted Students Go Dumb to Fit In: Is your child lowering his or her potential in order to fit in with peers? This article explores the stigma of being smart.

2. Gifted Children Need Help, Too: Many teachers and parents believe that smart kids don't need help; they'll do well on their own. This just isn't the case, as you'll learn here.

3. The Drama of the Gifted Child: Being a gifted child isn't easy, as you'll learn from this Psychology Today article.

4. Hey, Teacher, Get Help Somewhere Else: Make sure your child isn't working as a teacher's aide in his or her classroom, a common occurrence as this article explains.

5. Top 10 Myths in Gifted Education: Learn some of the biggest myths about teaching gifted kids from this great YouTube video.

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48 Essential Links for the Parents of Gifted Children | OEDB.org

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Every parent hopes for their child to be smart and to excel in school, but sometimes parents just don't know what to do with a child who is especially

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An online program that allows students to work at their own instructional level and pace in different subject areas.

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Submitted by Jennifer Kerr

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Because gifted children demonstrate greater maturity in some domains over others, they may be at greater risk for specific kinds of social-emotional difficulties if their needs are not met.

These aspects may include heightened awareness, anxiety, perfectionism, stress, issues with peer relationships, and concerns with identity and fit. Parents, adults, and caregivers in their lives need to stay in tune with their specific child's needs, and help shape a strong framework for social-emotional health.

Keep in mind:

A child gifted in one area does not mean gifted in all

Giftedness can lead to the masking and misunderstanding of problem signs

Not all gifted children are alike, including their own unique social-emotional profile

There is no single, definitive recipe for maintaining a child's emotional equilibrium

Parents need to model balance and set the tone to reduce stress/anxiety in the gifted child's life

We can teach our children strategies and provide tools for dealing with the ebb and flow of life

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Because gifted children demonstrate greater maturity in some domains over others, they may be at greater risk for specific kinds of social-emotional difficulties if their needs are not met. These aspects may include heightened awareness, anxiety, perfectionism, stress, issues with peer relationships, and concerns with identity and fit.

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Why High Achieving Students Aren't Always Gifted 

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Why High Achieving Students Aren't Always Gifted 

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Welcome to the Pear Deck Orchard! We invite you to explore our growing collection of templates, quick-start activities, and ready-to-teach lessons developed in collaboration with content partners.

Every template pack is editable and adaptable, allowing you to tailor each lesson for 100% student engagement. All Pear Deck templates for Google Slides can also be found in the new Content Orchard - an easy-to-access library located in Pear Deck Home. Just log in to get started or visit our Help Center to learn more.

EiE® by Boston Museum of Science

Engage students in a standards-aligned STEM curriculum with lessons from EiE®, The Boston Museum of Science's award-winning curricula division.

Newsela Daily Decks

Explore Newsela's adaptive news articles while building literacy and critical thinking skills, powered by Pear Deck.

ThinkCERCA

Spark courageous thinking with ThinkCERCA's collection of CERCA Slides, designed to improve literacy skill development.

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Welcome to the Pear Deck Orchard! We invite you to explore our growing collection of templates, quick-start activities, and ready-to-teach lessons developed in collaboration with content partners. Every template pack is editable and adaptable, allowing you to tailor each lesson for 100% student engagement.

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NHD is a great activity for gifted students in grades 7-12.  With five individual ways to enter (paper, display, website documentary, performance) and four group ways to enter (all the above but paper), there is something for many students strengths.  It has a local, state , and national competition.  I had a student spend 20 minutes of a scholarship interview talking about NHD projects that did not win anything on the colleges prompting.  She had NHD on her resume and they asked about it.  (She got the scholarship.)

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We are offering Coursera out to students for the fall semester to assit with enrichment since we will not be able to service our students as often as we usually do in a normal school year. The link is a review of the Coursera site.

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If you're thinking about taking an online course, you've probably read tons of glowing reviews about Coursera, followed by opportunities to sign up for your first class.

But does this online education site really deserve its good reputation, or is it all just hype?

Before you invest in a Coursera course - or any online class, for that matter - it's essential to know exactly how the platform works, and what you get for your money.

In this in-depth Coursera review, we'll take a close look at the following and more:

Finding the best Coursera courses

Registering for a Coursera course

How the Coursera learning platform works

Coursera Pricing

I take online courses regularly to learn new professional skills, including Coursera, Udemy, and Fiverr Learn. You name the online course platform and I've probably used it. Therefore, I think I'm in a good position to highlight the main benefits and drawbacks of Coursera.

By the end, you'll know if Coursera is a good choice for your next online course, or if you're better off looking somewhere else.

What Is Coursera?

Coursera is an online course platform that offers online learning in conjunction with some of the best universities around. The online training ranges from short courses (also known as Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs) to specializations in particular topics and online degrees, so there's a wide range to choose from.

Coursera's faculty are expert instructors from top universities, so the quality of instruction is high. Since some of the world's best-known firms use Coursera for employee training, you can be pretty sure you're getting the job skills you need, too. All courses are delivered completely online, with a combination of videos, text, downloads, and quizzes to test your knowledge.

Exploring the Coursera Course Catalog

Your starting point for finding a course of study on Coursera is the course catalog. This includes certificate and degree courses accredited by universities. Coursera divides its courses into five types:

Courses: Simple, auto and peer-graded courses with a Coursera certificate upon completion

Specializations: A group of courses designed to help you master a career skill, which incorporates practical projects

Professional Certificates: Training for job skills to help you get experience or prepare for industry certification

MasterTrack Certificates: Courses that give you career credentials and count toward an online degree, including real-world projects

Degrees: Modular degree learning, allowing you to earn your degree from the comfort of your home and at your own pace

There's a colored label on each listing to help you see at a glance which type a particular class falls under.

What Can You Study on Coursera?

When you delve into the Coursera course catalog, you'll immediately notice there's a lot on offer. The catalog includes courses in arts and humanities, sciences, business, IT, languages, personal development, and more.

Each main subject is broken into subtopics, giving dozens of possible course options. Whether you want to learn about health and wellbeing or computer algorithms, there's an online learning program for you.

Many of the subject areas offer both single courses and the option for full degrees, and you can see which courses are part of a degree program on the course listings page. Language courses are generally delivered by institutions based in the country of origin.

Course listing pages include trending and popular courses, certificates, and programs, just in case you're not sure where to start.

How to Find the Best Coursera Courses

One thing I like about Coursera is that it has excellent on-site filtering tools. These help you find your perfect course in just a couple of clicks. You can refine the courses shown by skills, job title, level, language, type, and creator.

Another great feature is that language isn't a barrier to taking a Coursera course. Many of the courses in English offer subtitles in multiple languages like Spanish, Arabic, and more. This information is available on the course description page, along with details on:

Duration

Level

Deadlines

Whether it's part of a specialization or a degree

Once you've found a course that interests you, click the link for more details. At the top of the page you'll see the partner institution (usually a university or corporation), the number of reviews, the number of students enrolled, the average time commitment required, and an overall course rating. All the courses I explored had a rating of at least 4.5 stars.

You can also explore the course schedule. This is broken down into weeks, with a suggested completion time for each section. It also shows which videos and resources will be covered each week. While there's a suggested start date, most courses are flexible, so you can adjust lessons and deadlines to suit your schedule.

Further down the page, you can click a link to check out the course instructor's profile. Personally, I thought this section could use a few more details, but there were links to check out for more information.

Course pages also include:

FAQs

Skills you'll learn

Stats on student success, including career benefits

Overall, Coursera does a good job of providing the details you need to make an informed decision about which course to choose. However, I found the course description page a little too long, and lost interest after a while.

How Much Does Coursera Cost?

One of the big questions - obviously - is how much this upscale online training is going to cost you. Well, the Coursera price varies considerably, depending on what you're studying and how you study.

You can audit tons of courses on Coursera for free. This gives you access to most course material, but you won't be graded or earn a certificate.

Alternatively, you can take the graded version of the course and get a certificate upon completion. Most courses we saw were for around $100, but pricing did vary.

Specializations, which include multiple courses, are available by monthly subscription, and can soon add up for courses that last several months (or depending how long it takes you to complete the materials).

There is some good news, though: Coursera offers a seven-day money-back guarantee. This lets you check out the full course experience, complete with grading, for free.

So far, so good. But what's it like when you actually sign up for a course?

How Does the Coursera Learning Platform Work?

To get started, I used the filtering features described earlier to search for a course on marketing. Though I was happy with the filters for language, course level, and topic, it would've been nice to have a filter for course duration, so I could match my choice to the time I had available.

Eventually, I found a course titled Marketing Strategy for Entrepreneurs. That course is part of the Value Creation Through Innovation specialization.

Signing Up - A Simple Process

Filling in the signup form was simple enough, and I appreciated the offer for a seven-day free trial. However, I wasn't thrilled about having to enter my credit card information to access the trial, so I opted to audit the course instead. That still left me with the option of paying later to get a certificate for the course, and to be credited for completing that part of the specialization.

After signing up, I got several emails from Coursera. In addition to an identity verification email, there were three welcome emails: one for the site, and two for the course. That seemed like overkill to me. I think post-signup email messaging could be streamlined.

Managing Your Time - Easy Calendar Integration

Once I was in the course, there was the option to add course deadlines to my calendar. It was also clear that I could choose to work at my own pace. One thing I really didn't enjoy was the excessive upselling, since I had literally just said no to that.

Course Organization - Handy Overview on Tap

Course content was pretty well organized, with a menu of lessons, grades, notes, and discussions down the left-hand column. The main course page had a welcome message from the course tutor, highlighting important features like where to get help.

The overview page included a handy guide to the expected duration of the course in a timeline interface with the weekly requirements. I liked the fact that the start and end date were clearly laid out.

There was also an inbox for on-site communication. I was surprised to see a message there, but it turned out to just be from the course tutor highlighting the first lesson video.

Navigating a Coursera Course

Marketing Strategy for Entrepreneurs started with a two-question practice quiz to assess your base knowledge. As well as being useful for instructors, this helps students get used to how quizzes work on Coursera.

Once you finish a quiz, you get an immediate grade, then there's a handy button to take you to whatever's next.

As you finish each section, you can mark it as complete, and rate it with a thumbs up or thumbs down. Then there's a prompt to move on to the next item.

This course was mostly video-based. One thing I liked was that course videos had transcripts. Coursera also allows you to highlight areas of those transcripts and save them as notes. Plus, you can create your own notes within the course interface. All notes are accessible from the main course menu.

Course videos are short and easy to follow. The discussion forums are a good place to get answers to the questions other students have asked in the past. However, some are more active than others. When I checked, it had been more than a month since the last message.

This course also included peer-graded assignments, where students help each other by assessing the work they've produced. This seems like a good way to improve engagement and create a learning community for each course.

Overall, I liked the interactive videos, the regular checks of what you've learned, and the immediate grading. And once you've earned a certificate, you can add it to your professional qualifications on LinkedIn with just a couple of clicks.

Coursera vs the Rest

It's always a good time to invest in your skills and education. So, how does Coursera compare with the other options that are out there?

If you're looking for expert-level courses, Udacity is the closest competitor, as it also offers degree courses. However, Coursera offers far more courses than Udacity's catalog of around 200. Udacity is also focused on technical topics, while Coursera covers a broader range.

If you're considering instructor expertise, Coursera is a better choice than Udemy, where anyone can be an instructor. Fiverr Learn also offers expert instructors, but the courses are focused on creativity and digital marketing for beginners, so Coursera is better for a wider range of skills for all levels.

In terms of the in-course experience, my main comparisons were with Udemy and Fiverr Learn. Each offers video-based courses, though I found Coursera's intuitive course dashboard and class notes to be big advantages for learners.

Is Coursera Worth It? When Should You Choose It?

So, is Coursera worth it for online education? It depends. You can't beat the price (i.e. free) to audit courses, but the cost of certification can be high depending on your course of study.

If you're a Fiverr seller looking to upgrade your marketing skills, using Fiverr Learn is likely more cost-effective and gives you a handy profile badge. And if you're just interested in learning and don't mind whether or not your instructors are experts in their respective fields, then Udemy is worth checking out. LinkedIn Learning is also a good Coursera alternative, as it's free if you have a Premium account.

However, Coursera's wide range of courses, low price, and interactive approach to teaching make it a great choice for online learning and upgrading your skills. If you want my opinion: go for it! What's there to lose?

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Coursera Review - So Popular, but Is It Any Good? [2020 UPDATE]

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If you're thinking about taking an online course, you've probably read tons of glowing reviews about Coursera, followed by opportunities to sign up for your first class. But does this online education site really deserve its good reputation, or is it all just hype?

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Gifted programming can be provided in a combination of ways, including pull-out programs; special classes in a subject or interest area; special state schools (e.g., Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities) or local magnet schools; afterschool, Saturday, or summer programs; Advanced Placement, International Baccaleaureate, or other dual-enrollment courses; distance learning; and other similar services.

In a study of four provisions for teaching mathematically talented students, one researcher found positive effects for using pull-out grouping to include good interaction between teachers and students, significant progress in level of skills, and increases in motivation. In a mathematics pull-out group with same-age peers, where the students were pulled from different classes other than their regular mathematics instruction, the teacher reported that the group met the needs of her students who showed more ability in mathematics, increased their motivation, and evidenced students' learning new knowledge. The students in the group shared positive attitudes toward the group and the chance to work with similar ability peers. In a second group, which included peers of different ages and abilities within their regular math class, all of the children progressed to the highest level of attainment on the math assessment by the end of the term. These children also reported positive feelings toward the group, and the teacher felt confident their needs had been met at the close of the service. [1]

Additionally, the students in a pull-out program in grades 3-6 in South Korea said they felt their pull-out classes had significantly higher levels of interest, challenge, and enjoyment in their pull-out classes than their regular classes. After a review of literature on pull-out programs, the researchers for this study noted that teachers knowledgeable about gifted education in combination with more advanced curricula resulted in students' satisfaction pull-out programs. [2]

A longitudinal study of identified gifted students reported that, at age 33, 70% of the students who had taken one or more AP courses or exams in high school had advanced degrees, compared to 43% of those who had not taken such courses. The students who took AP courses also appeared more satisfied with the intellectual caliber of their high school experience than their peers. [3] However, schools should note that AP and IB courses should not be considered the sole components of a gifted program. NAGC advises that the limitations of AP coursework mean that districts must offer additional curriculum options to be considered as having gifted and talented services. [4]

Students may also receive services in a specialized state or local magnet school. In one study of specialized math and science high schools, 99% of the students went on to earn a bachelor's degree or higher, with over 50% of the students continuing in challenging science or math fields. [5] Students who attend magnet schools are more likely to commit to succeeding in school, leading them to experience greater satisfaction and improved achievement. Magnet school programs also often work hard to keep their course offerings innovative and challenging to remain competitive among other offerings for advanced students. [6]

Out-of-school options for programming may include specialized courses or programs like the Catalyst Program, a special science course for adolescents with deep interests chemistry. The students in the course felt they improved their ability to present their scientific ideas more effectively and developed a better understanding of the creative process in science research. When surveyed, 18 of the 23 students in the course said it impacted their decision to study the sciences, particularly science research. Additionally 10 of the 23 students suggested the program increased their interest in pursuing research opportunities in general in college. The students also felt they benefited from the intense immersion in science research and the chance to receive mentorships and work with science professionals. [7] Other researchers have also found that students out-of-school enrichment programs such as Saturday programs have reported high levels of interest, challenge, choice, and enjoyment in these course offerings. [8]

Another out-of-school option may include enrolling gifted students in specialized distance learning courses (often provided through talent search programs). In a study of the distance learning programs offered through Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth, outcomes of the program for gifted students ages 5-17 were examined by looking at both student and parent evaluations and final grades for the courses. Overall, the students and their parents found the course an effective learning experience, suggesting that such programs can be an effective approach for enriching or accelerating in-school opportunities. [9]

[1] Dimitriadis, C. (2012b). Provision for mathematically gifted children in primary schools: An investigation of four different methods of organizational provision. Educational Review, 64, 241-260.
[2] Yang, Y., Gentry, M., & Choi, Y. O. (2012). Gifted students' perceptions of the regular classes and pull-out programs in South Korea. Journal of Advanced Academics, 23, 270-287.
[3] Bleske-Rechek, A., Lubinski, D., & Benbow, C. (2004). Meeting the educational needs of special populations: Advanced Placement's role in developing exceptional human capital. Psychological Science, 15, 217-224.
[4] National Association for Gifted Children. (2008). Common gifted education myths. Retrieved from http://www.nagc.org/commonmyths.aspx
?[5] Thomas, J. (2000). First year findings: NCSSSMST longitudinal study. NCSSSMST Journal, 5(2), 4-5. Retrieved from http://ncsssmst.org/conf/100033/JournalS00.pdf??
[6] Thompson, L. (2011). Magnet schools: Offering distinctive learning opportunities. Duke TIP Digest of Gifted Research. Retrieved from https://tip.duke.edu/node/790
[7] Subotnik, R. F., Edmiston, A. M., Cook, L., & Ross, M. D. (2010). Mentoring for talent development, creativity, social skills, and insider knowledge: The APA Catalyst Program. Journal of Advanced Academics, 21, 714-739.
[8] Pereira, N., Peters, S., & Gentry, M. (2010). The My Class Activities instrument as used in Saturday enrichment program evaluation. Journal of Advanced Academics, 21, 568-593.
[9] Wallace, P. (2009). Distance learning for gifted students: Outcomes for elementary, middle, and high school students. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 32, 295-320. Retrieved from http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articlesid10610.aspx

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Gifted programming can be provided in a combination of ways, including pull-out programs; special classes in a subject or interest area; special state schools (e.g., Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities) or local magnet schools; afterschool, Saturday, or summer programs; Advanced Placement, International Baccaleaureate, or other dual-enrollment courses;

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Relevant, rigorous, and real-life tasks, projects, and activities.

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Connect learning to the real world with NextLesson! NextLesson engages students in real world problem solving through topics they care about. Find thousands of lessons, worksheets and projects for math, ELA, science and social studies that are aligned to Common Core and state standards.

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SENG: Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted

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SENG: Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted

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SENG - Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted

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Supporting the social & emotional needs of the gifted, talented, and twice-exceptional since 1981.

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Tips for Teachers:  Successful Strategies for Teaching Gifted Learners

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Tips for Teachers:  Successful Strategies for Teaching Gifted Learners

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Tips for Teachers: Successful strategies for teaching gifted learners

This article by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development offers a list of tips for teachers. It focuses on suggestions any teacher can use in the classroom to aid their gifted students and promote their achievement in positive ways. Common blunders are also discussed as well as why they can be detrimental to the gifted student.

Being a regular classroom teacher can be both an exciting and overwhelming experience. There are so many curriculums to cover, so many standards to meet, and so many things to learn. It can seem as though you're being stretched in an infinite number of directions. And, the most challenging part generally isn't the teaching; it is managing student behavior. Without a doubt the most difficult student in your classroom is generally the one who finishes every assignment in less than five minutes and requires constant redirection. We hope you will find these tips helpful.

With areas of the curriculum that are sequential, such as mathematics and spelling, how about giving the end of the year test during the first week of school. If you have students who can demonstrate competency at 80 percent or higher, you will save them an entire year of frustration and boredom if you can determine exactly what their ability level is and then offer them curriculum that allows them to move forward. Formal assessments can be extremely helpful, however, they are expensive and there is generally a back log of students waiting to be tested. Conducting informal assessments is a useful and inexpensive tool that will offer a lot of information.

Piaget's Stage Theory of Development
Bloom's Taxonomy

Tip #6: Learn About Distance Learning Opportunities
The choices available to teachers and parents in this area have exploded in the past several years. Distance learning opportunities have dramatically increased options for meeting the needs of gifted students. Programs such as Art of Problem Solving math and the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth Online courses, as well as a myriad of online high school and college courses including online AP classes, are a great way to substitute more challenging curriculum for students who demonstrate proficiency with grade level material. Of course, these classes generally aren't free, but they are an option that many parents are willing to pay for. Search the free online Davidson Gifted Database to find resources recommended by students, parents and teachers.

Another reason that many teachers are afraid to try acceleration is that they are concerned about the student's level of social maturity. Research has demonstrated time and time again that acceleration is effective for many reasons and that social maturity is rarely an issue. Several studies have shown that social age is correlated with mental age -- not chronological age. So, not only is it generally in the student's best interest academically to accelerate, it is in his/her best social interest as well! The same goes for students in high school. If a student is ready for college work, encourage them to take college courses or to consider an early college entrance program. Indeed the student might need a bit of tutoring to get up to speed and/or may need some extra support initially, particularly with writing and/or organization, however, gifted students learn very quickly and my experience has been that these supports can generally be removed after a reasonable adjustment period.

Blunder Number One: Asking Your Gifted Students To Serve As Tutors For Students Who Are Struggling. Gifted children think and learn differently than other students. Asking them to serve as tutors can be a frustrating experience for all parties involved. This should also be remembered when putting together learning teams or group projects. Putting your strongest student with your students who are struggling is likely to be a painful experience for everyone. Imagine developing a cycling team with someone like Lance Armstrong as one member and then selecting other members who have either just learned to ride their bikes or are still relying on training wheels to help them gain their balance. It is unlikely that anyone in this group is going to have a positive experience.

Blunder Number Two: Giving Your Gifted Students More Work When They Finish Early. It is common practice to give students more work if they complete their assignments early. This is counterintuitive if you consider that if the student is completing his/her work in an efficient manner, it is likely that the work is too easy. Let's once again consider our cyclist. Would you have the cyclist who finished the race first continue to ride, on a stationary bike no less, until all of the other cyclists finished the race? What if that cyclist was given an opportunity to participate in more challenging races or had the opportunity to develop his/her talents in related areas -- wouldn't that be a better use of his/her time?

Blunder Number Three: Only Allowing Gifted Students To Move Ahead When They Complete The Grade/Age Designed Work Assignments With 100% Accuracy. It is important to remember that gifted students think and learn differently and can be extremely rebellious. No one -- not adults, not children and especially not gifted children -- likes to be bored! Gifted students, thanks to their ability to reason, will purposely choose not do something merely because they "must" do it, particularly if it seems pointless to them. They would rather spend their time thinking or reading than completing worksheets that are too easy. Focus on your students' strengths, not their shortcomings. Offer them opportunities that are consistent with their abilities -- lead them from where they are. Depending how long they have been in the system, it may take them a while to trust you. So, don't be surprised if there isn't a miraculous overnight change. Be consistent and positive and remember, you may be the first teacher who has offered them an opportunity to actually learn, rather than regurgitate and they may not know how to handle your responsiveness. Don't fall in to the trap of saying, "See, I told you he wasn't gifted, I gave him one tough assignment and he failed." Gifted students generally haven't had to work to succeed. Give them time to build their, often atrophied, wings in a safe environment.

Tip #9: Utilize Outside Resources
There is a lot of information in this article, and it is likely you're feeling a bit overwhelmed! Here is the best news so far . . . you are not alone and you don't have to come up with all of the answers by yourself. There are several national organizations devoted entirely to assisting gifted young people and the professionals who serve them. The three most notable organizations are the National Association for Gifted Children, University of Iowa's Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. As a first step, join the Davidson Institute's free Educator's Guild. Members have access to electronic mailing lists and a Facebook discussion group to exchange ideas, locate resources and discuss issues with other educators all over the country. The Davidson Institute also provides participants of the Davidson Young Scholars program and their parents, free services as well. In addition to these national organizations, you may also wish to find organizations at the state and local level that focus on meeting the needs of gifted students. It isn't necessary to turn your world upside down to be an effective teacher of gifted students, you just have to be flexible, knowledgeable, and be willing to try new things. Gifted students cannot fend for themselves and it is up to you to begin the exciting adventure of making a difference to the gifted students in your classroom (if you haven't already done so)! After all, one person can and does make a difference.

Comments

Educator on 1/22/2020

I find that I gravitate towards looking for projects that the students can connect with and/or learn life lessons.

Educator on 12/6/2019

I started conducting pre-assessments in my classroom prior to each math unit. Students scoring a 80% or above were given more challenging tasks. I noticed less off task behavior with higher level thinking activities. I was also able to given struggling students more attention with the new skill in the unit.

Educator on 10/2/2019

I'd like to hear more about your statement: "Several studies have shown that social age is correlated with mental age -- not chronological age." Anecdotally, I have not seen this play out with the gifted students in my sphere of influence. Yes, they thrive when given challenges and opportunities to learn at their mental age, but I've found that they are still socially at their chronological age. Would you provide the links to the studies you are referring to, as well as any further suggestions you have for providing socially age-appropriate educational environments for the exceptionally gifted student? Thank you!

Student on 10/2/2019

I completely agree with you that GATE students should be given access to curriculum that is above their current grade level if they are intellectually ready for it. In elementary and middle school, my school went by a "phase system" in language arts where students each had individual tracks and had to complete each assignment in a phase before moving on. Unfortunately, a lot of those phases were very similar to each other, so any GATE students quickly got bored and disheartened. Imagine swiftly completing a phase filled with apparently simple "busywork," only to be faced with phase after phase of the same paper types to write! Another problem was that the teacher could rarely teach students one collective lesson on the same topic. This was because some students (usually GATE students) would complete assignments quicker than others and would move on.

Educator on 10/2/2019

As a soon to be educator I find this article to be helpful. The information on the various ways gifted are often used in comparison to how effective it is in keeping them engaged in learning give great perspective on what you He student is experiencing. I see from this reading it is important to remember that gifted learners think differently. They may be ahead in knowledge but have different methods to how they arrive to their answers.

Educator on 10/2/2019

In the past, I have served as an instructional aid for a 4th grade class, and I noticed that this 4th grade teacher gave students pre-assessments on every subject. I understand that pre-assessments are used to let teacher's know where each individual stands with content knowledge and skill levels; however, I had not considered that this could also used as a form to determine who could be a gifted student. I will keep this in mind whenever I give my students pre-assessments, and use the data to implement differentiation in every class lesson.

Educator on 10/2/2019

I thought it was significant that gifted students think differently and need to be challenged, not just given extra busy work. It also seems that standards-based learning can sometimes restrict gifted students. Instead of extending their opportunities to learn and use higher-level thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation), general education classes can focus simply on covering the grade-level content that a student is required to learn based on their age. Because gifted students see the world differently, seek intellectual depth, and ask insightful questions, they need opportunities to use their creativity and analysis to stretch their intellectual capacity.

Educator on 10/2/2019

I really enjoyed reading your article. It is extremely helpful to have a variety of resources as a student in a Credential program. I think it's a great idea to have students take distance learning AP courses/college courses to meet their needs.

Educator on 10/2/2019

I found Tip#2 to be very insightful. The idea of letting go of what is to be considered 'normal'. As an educator it can be so easy to compare students who are struggling to the students who are meeting the standard of where they are supposed to be and thus considered normal. Similarly with gifted and talented students, we should meet them where they are at, and help them grow. I agree that instead we should meet all students where they are at and give them all the equal opportunity to succeed. Thank you for these helpful tips!

Educator on 10/2/2019

I really liked tip #8 about learning from others. It can be really easy to be tempted to use your GATE students as mini-teachers, but that's not their role; they are students still, whether profoundly gifted or sort of gifted. Understanding needs of GATE students and meeting is my desire just as much as our general population students.

Student on 10/2/2019

As a future educator, this article has been a great tool for future reference to work with GATE students. I certainly agree that gifted learners should be constantly challenged in order for them to be engaged in a classroom.

Student on 10/2/2019

I enjoyed this article and there were a couple things that stood out to me in particular! In regards to becoming a teacher, the idea of difficult, overbearing parents makes me extremely nervous. This article shifted my perspective because rather than seeing them as intimidating and overbearing, I now see them as parents that are involved and care for the improvement of their children, as educators should strive for also. It encouraged me to work together with these parents to maximize the learning experience for their children. Another thing that was interesting to me was blunder #2. As a future educator, I thought that giving students more work when they finish early was a way to assist them in more practice, in order to further improve and enrich what they have learned. Rather than giving them something that is too easy for them, why not challenge them to do problems that help expand their learning?

Educator on 10/2/2019

As a former GATE student, I know first hand the negative impact that forcing gifted students to complete extra busy work. I am encouraged and excited for the future of education based upon what I have read in this article!

Student on 10/2/2019

I enjoyed this article and there were a couple things that stood out to me in particular! In regards to becoming a teacher, the idea of difficult, overbearing parents makes me extremely nervous. This article shifted my perspective because rather than seeing them as intimidating and overbearing, I now see them as parents that are involved and care for the improvement of their children, as educators should strive for also. It encouraged me to work together with these parents to maximize the learning experience for their children. Another thing that was interesting to me was blunder #2. As a future educator, I thought that giving students more work when they finish early was a way to assist them in more practice, in order to further improve and enrich what they have learned. Rather than giving them something that is too easy for them, why not challenge them to do problems that help expand their learning?

Student on 10/2/2019

I found this article to be really helpful and applicative! As a student who was once a GATE student, I can see where my teacher performed a "blunder"- by having me tutor the failing students or just giving me a lot of extra problems. I would love to use some of these other methods when dealing with my own Gate students like informal assessment and even acceleration! I would've loved to be placed in an older math class instead of sitting in the class where I had completed all the work before my teacher had finished the lesson.

Educator on 10/2/2019

This article reminds us that being a teacher is not about teaching, its about managing student behavior. Students should grow from where they are are not where the teacher is at. It's so true that curriculum should be based on development and not on age which most if not all schools are based on. Thank you for the tips, thank you for reminding be to step out of the box and think outside of being "normal."

Educator on 3/21/2019

This was an interesting article that focused on a lot of things I see going on in my classroom. It is a fine line for a parent to walk if they want to push their child in to advanced classes that they didn't qualify for or have them going to tutoring to get ready for the next year state exams so they can be placed in a class. I feel it should be something they can do with out a tutor to get a passing score.

Educator on 2/21/2019

I found this article very useful and something I feel will be a tool that I can reach back to for some of my students focused on their pathway in life and career a I teach a law enforcement career pathway and most of the students who are in the class are the ones who I would consider to be of the gifted group who know what they want, have the intelligence and drive to make it happen.

Other on 1/3/2019

Thank you for your wonderful information. As a highly-gifted student, I agree that it is horrifying that we are treated like our average/below average classmates. Thank goodness I have an amazing TAG teacher who I can count on for brain stimulation! Thanks also for not layering on about all kids being gifted. Yes, all people are different, but only intelligent people are considered GIFTED!

Parent on 10/15/2018

My daughter is in GATE and was allowed to work ahead in math (4th Grade). She and 2 others worked ahead by 1 year. She went from saying that Math was her worst subject (her perception) to it being her favorite subject. Her confidence level has improved. The teacher told me that the three highest 5th Grade math students were 4th Graders.

Student on 9/2/2018

As a profoundly gifted 14 year-old, I would like to thank the author of this article. I took the SAT in 7th grade and scored a 1460, in the 99th percentile of all students. I still have to take the same classes as everyone else. Having more busywork shoved at gifted students is not helpful. Neither is "clustering-" putting one gifted student in a group of average or less than average students. I almost always complete group projects single-handedly. Last year, I was so bored in my Science class that I wrote a novel in my notebook to pass the time. Thank you so much for sharing this with the public.

Educator on 6/8/2018

Kudos for speaking out against heterogeneous grouping when it is often considered politically incorrect to do so. As one of those gifted students, I was always furious when asked to help someone who was on the low end of the scale. It felt like punishment.

Other on 5/6/2018

I was one of those gifted students - tested in the 98th percentile. Until reading this article, I never realized my rebellion choices in life were actually responses rooted in my intelligence. The education system would benefit the gifted far more if they were to concentrate on the social aspect of intelligence rather than trying to cram more "knowledge" into kids.

Parent on 10/20/2017

Actually, grandparent. When was this article written? My 7 year old grandson is so bored at school. I have shared this link with his parents and will urge them to advocate for him to be accelerated and challenged. Look at Beast Academy!

Educator on 1/30/2017

Although somewhat useful (I saw my sixty years ago self often in the article), I would find it more persuasive if it contained footnotes supporting some of its assertions. For example, the idea that one whose brain is more mature in its ability to absorb information and to reason from that information is also more advanced socially and can handle a two grade (or more) advancement seems suspect. The article states that studies back this assertion up, I would have liked to have a citation or two supporting this assertion which, in my experience, is usually not correct.

Educator on 9/8/2016

I am going to major in Business ed, and minor in Physical education. Is there any pointers to keep in mind with gifted/talented students in PE?

Educator on 8/11/2015

Pair up gifted students who "get along"and challenge them to a creative project of their interest that requires research and teamwork. Set a date for the project to be shared with the class.X: build a computer, write and act out a skit, make-up a song on the guitar or piano, create a poem or rap, design a basketball play, demonstrate the effects of gravity, conduct a survey on why some bullies don`t receive counseling at an early age, paint a picture expressing classical music emotion and meaning, invent a spelling game that students will love, study teachers of the year and discover why hands-on education is so successful, create a fun commercial of their favorite product, or make a video of a band!

Educator on 7/29/2015

This article should be mandatory reading for all teachers!! My sons are very gifted but tend to be on the rebellious side. Most teachers would say see they aren't gifted when they didn't get 100% on an exam. One of my boys is a distracted gifted learner. He has to do other things during instruction but is able to reiterate what was said. The other one chose to "dummy down" as I call it so he wouldn't be forced to tutor others or singled out. Teachers please watch for students who do well on exams (80% +) and don't turn in assignments, they are possibly gifted.

Educator on 5/10/2015

I found this to be a very eye-opening article. As I read the article there were many points discussed I felt guilty because I had used them. One of the points that stand out for me was, I had been giving a pre-test before each skill I taught; but I never thought about giving the whole year's test. I will implement this idea to check for understanding. Another thought I liked was to accelerate the students learning by putting them in a higher grade's learning on the skill. I think many teachers feel that if the students learn a higher grade's skill, what they will learn the next year. I see that I need to work on getting out of the box more often, thanks to this article. I thought the Individual instruction plan menu was very helpful to help me think of other ideas to accelerate the students' learning. There were so many great ideas in all areas of learning. The article has helped me to research activities that will broaden students thinking in all areas. The article gave me many activities ideas I could use to challenge the students.

Educator on 2/5/2015

Thanks for the information - a lot to read and understand.

Parent on 2/1/2015

My son is in a G&T program here in Texas--the sad part is that it is severely limited and not very challenging. He taught himself pre-algebra last summer, then last fall had a horrific time with his math teacher. Finally, the school gave him the 6th grade math TAKS, which he aced. Over the X-mas holidays he studied the first five chapters of the 7th grade pre-algebra, now, having been moved to 7th grade math, he is already at the head of the G&T section! He should be in algebra. Here is a potentially gifted mathematician/scientist being tortured by conformity and mediocre teaching.

Parent on 1/21/2015

Although magnet programs are a positive step, selecting 3-5% as Gifted and then treating them alike isn't a solution. Any two students with test scores 2 standard deviations apart will have different educational needs - whether (-2,0) or (0, +2) or (+2, +4). Profoundly gifted kids may have problems in a program aimed at the 95th percentile kids. Those kids become known as "difficult" since they are not thriving in the "gifted" classes. My daughter is quite bored by the math offered to her, but the teacher believes that all students in the classroom must follow the standard curriculum at the same pace.
Gifted kids have strengths and weaknesses, and shouldn't be expected to perform at the same level in all areas of the curriculum. My son leads his class in math and science. However he struggles with the language arts curriculum and would fit better into a class aimed at the 90th percentile than the top 2%. He could handle a much more difficult science curriculum, but the administration doesn't wish to outpace the language-oriented students who are the majority of the class.

Educator on 1/19/2015

Great article! This was very helpful and I especially like the resources provided.

Educator on 1/5/2015

Previous posters: You speak of "gifted" students as though they are a different species. I would challenge you to consider the studies of multiple intelligences and realize every child has strengths that could be addressed and developed in the same way we envision teaching gifted or special needs students. What a wonderful experience education could be if each student had her own IEP.

Educator on 12/4/2014

Thank you for this information! It is helpful in understanding gifted students.

Educator on 10/24/2014

I have to disagree with the last poster. The students I have seen "self-select" out of gifted class because they were incorrectly placed suffer a signficant blow to their self-esteem and self-confidence due to their being unable to succeed in the gifted class. How would you like to play tennis against a pro? Or a duet with a virtuoso? Or have a bicycle race against Lance Armstrong? Now imagine you're nine years old.

Educator on 8/21/2014

Allowing'normal' students to access gifted programs as a result of parent pressure is not harmful. My experience in this area has shown these students usually self select themselves out of the program and parents are happy for this to occur once they see the differences between their child and gifted students.

Educator on 4/20/2014

Very good article, it makes some excellent points. But I do miss one thing, though: Advice about how to detect it when ambitious parents wish to "pace" a child of normal intelligence, by requesting that he be placed among gifted children. Letting them have it their way would cause no harm to the gifted ones, but it will be a painful experience for the normal child!

Educator on 3/26/2013

All teachers would benefit from reading through these tips and putting them to work in their classroom. Teachers have such a huge impact on students lives and they can make such a positive difference with just a little extra effort and care.

Educator on 8/11/2010

Thanks for your article. Measurement of one's academic competence and advancement is certainly one lens through which to view "gifted." However, there is also the non-measurable and non-quantifiable observation that a gifted person sees the world and makes sense of the world differently and in surprising ways (which may or may not translate into expected academic performance). Also, in discussions of giftedness, I suggest adequate attention to areas of athletics, art, music, dance, et. al. (How do we value giftedness from the perspective of what it means to be human as opposed to what it means to succeed in and advance through school curriculum?)

The appearance of any information in the Davidson Institute's Database does not imply an endorsement by, or any affiliation with, the Davidson Institute. All information presented is for informational purposes only and is solely the opinion of and the responsibility of the author. Although reasonable effort is made to present accurate information, the Davidson Institute makes no guarantees of any kind, including as to accuracy or completeness. Use of such information is at the sole risk of the reader.

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Tips for Teachers: Successful strategies for teaching gifted learners

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This article by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development offers a list of tips for teachers. It focuses on suggestions any teacher can use in the classroom to aid their gifted students and promote their achievement in positive ways. Common blunders are also discussed as well as why they can be detrimental to the gifted student.

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National Association for Gifted Children

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Servicing gifted students in general education.

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Servicing gifted students in general education.

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This is more of a "do" and "don't". Not as helpful as I would have liked.

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Elissa F. Brown

Gifted students who are served in general education classrooms frequently finish their work sooner than other students. This can happen in one subject area, such as mathematics, or in all subject areas. Due to their rapidity of thought (VanTassel-Baska & Brown, 2007), they typically finish assignments before other children. Then they may act out because they are bored. What is really going on is a mismatch between the academic needs of the student and the pace and depth of the curricula and instructional program.

Following are suggestions for how to best serve these students -- and what not to do.

Don't. . .
1. Use these students, whether formally identified as gifted or not, as teacher assistants.
Using gifted students as tutors or teacher assistants for other students in the classroom is inappropriate and unethical, and it does not provide for their social-emotional or academic needs. When an appropriately differentiated education is not provided, gifted learners do not thrive in school, their potential is diminished, and they may even suffer from cognitive and affective harm.
2. Expect the gifted student to be well behaved.
Just because a student is smart does not mean that he or she is well behaved. Frequently, if there is a mismatch between classroom instruction and a gifted student's intellectual needs, that child may "act out" or misbehave. It's not because he or she is looking for attention, but because this student may be bored. Gifted students are developmentally asynchronous, meaning that their cognitive and emotional development are out of sync.
3. Give them more work because they finish early.
You are sending the implicit message, "Hey, you're smart, here are another 20 math problems," while everyone else is still working on the original set of 10. By giving gifted students more of the same type of work, you are penalizing them for being bright. If the child is intuitive, he or she will actually slow down and never finish early any more because that means getting more work. You want them to produce quality, not quantity.
4. Isolate them to work independently without oversight.
While independent research projects based on student interest may provide depth in an area, teachers assume that a gifted student is self-regulated and can work independently on a project without any guidance, oversight, or accountability. Sending them unsupervised to the computer lab, library, or back of the room to work independently may not produce the desired result.
5. Expect a gifted child to be gifted in every subject area.
Emerging research and new definitions of gifted speak to gifted students having an area or domain of high ability that generally is not across all areas. For example, even though a student is a gifted reader (able to read adult novels), he might not be a good writer -- reading and writing are different skills sets. Just because a student is highly precocious in math does not mean that she will be just as high in science.

Do...
1. Figure out in what area(s) students are gifted.
You can acquire this information through formal and informal assessments that will help you provide extension, enrichment, acceleration, and complexity in that student's specific area of strength. This may mean a different lesson plan or finding additional resources related to an area of study. You could collaborate with the technology specialist, explore related arts, or work with other teachers to find appropriate extensions. Often this can mean linking the assignment to the student's area of interest or giving him authentic problems.
2. Ensure that task demands and assessments are content rich.
Many teachers think that serving the gifted means providing them with thinking skills or creative activities in isolation. These are fine as long as they are linked to high-level content. Everyone thinks critically about something, and he or she can be creative as long as the work is built upon a solid content foundation.
3. Find other gifted students and create opportunities for them to work together.
Gifted students need intellectual peers to develop optimally. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, through ability grouping during school or supplemental programs, such as talent search programs like Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth, or Saturday or summer enrichment programs. These supplemental programs are imperative to the health and well-being each learner. Gifted students need to spend time with other gifted students.
4. Learn about this special diverse population of learners.
Take classes, get certified or licensed in gifted education, attend conferences, and become a life-long learner seeking out others who have a vested interest in gifted learners. You need to network with other people, who can converse with and support you so that you won't feel isolated in your attempts at meeting gifted students' needs in the classroom or at the school level. There are national and state gifted advocacy associations as well as partners available through university networks.
5. Implement research-based curriculum units.
These units, which have been found to be effective with gifted students while complementing state standards, can augment your curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and typically have efficacious results with different populations of gifted students. Seek out curriculum units that have been funded through the Javits program, the National Science Foundation, and other sources, because student learning results have to be documented. Moreover, there are additional methods and models that have been effective for use with gifted learners. Using these units of study will save you time that you might otherwise spend seeking resources, while ensuring that what you are using in the classroom is supported by research.

Gifted students need teacher advocates that care about them, understand them, and can provide differentiation in the classroom, as well as options and opportunities outside of the classroom that will help them achieve at levels commensurate with their abilities. By implementing these suggestions, you'll do more than meet their needs. You'll be setting them on a trajectory toward developing their talents.
Dr. Elissa F. Brown is director of the Hunter College Center for Gifted Studies and Education and program coordinator of Hunter College's Advanced Certificate Program in Gifted Education.
Editor's Note: Originally published in Edutopia, July 14, 2015.

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Serving Gifted Students in General Ed Classrooms

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Elissa F. Brown Gifted students who are served in general education classrooms frequently finish their work sooner than other students. This can happen in one subject area, such as mathematics, or in all subject areas. Due to their rapidity of thought (VanTassel-Baska & Brown, 2007), they typically finish assignments before other children.

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My growing list of free real world problem-based lessons for grades 2 through high school. Includes links to download multimedia and teacher guide.

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Great resource for math enrichment, either push-in or pull-out. Real world problem solving. All levels.

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My growing list of free real world problem-based lessons for grades 2 through high school. Includes links to download multimedia and teacher guide.

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Gifted students-you may or may not spot them in your classroom. They may be highly visible, like the high achievers or straight- A students. But they may also be among those students who don't finish their work (it's never perfect enough), who zone out or act out in class (they're bored), or who test poorly because they overthink things ("Hmmm, this answer might be true in this case, but it might not be true in that case").

Some schools and districts have substantial resources to identify and support giftedness, wherever it shows up. Some offer pull-out programs. Others offer cluster grouping, in which gifted students are grouped in specific classes at each grade level.

Dina Brulles, director of gifted education in the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Phoenix, Ariz., believes gifted students need less grade-level work, faster-paced lessons, deeper and more advanced content, and opportunities to work with other gifted students. They also require a different kind of interaction with the teacher, who must be less of a "sage on the stage" and more of a "guide on the side."

M. René Islas, executive director of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), notes one persistent challenge to gifted education-a lack of uniformity in programming. A recent NAGC study found that 19 states don't monitor gifted programs at the local level, only seven require their districts to report on gifted student achievement, and fewer than half report on the race and ethnicity of their gifted students (minorities are significantly underrepresented in gifted programs, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights).

But there are promising signals as well, explains Islas. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires states and districts to track the progress of their highest-achieving students and allows schools to use Title I funds to identify and support gifted students. Plus, the law opens up the possibility for schools to use computer-adaptive assessments to recognize student mastery of content above grade level.

Then there are the challenges and opportunities at the school level. With the following strategies, teachers can tend to the complex needs of their high-ability students in the heterogeneous classroom.

"Gifted students don't need to do 25 problems in math when they can do the five most difficult first to demonstrate mastery," says Brulles. She offers this opportunity to all students, not just those identified as gifted. Students who successfully complete the five problems are excused from that night's homework. If classwork is involved, the teacher simply needs to have a few extension activities on hand-tasks that carry the concept to the next level-for students to work on quietly while others complete the regular assignment.

"Most Difficult First" is one manageable way for teachers to compact the curriculum for their high-ability students. With compacting, students get to "throw away" the part of the curriculum that they already know, while receiving full credit for those competencies. This frees up students to work on more challenging content.

Let's say a teacher is teaching two-digit multiplication. He might do some direct instruction for 10 minutes, then offer students the end-of-chapter test, saying, "If you get 90 percent or higher, you won't have to do the homework or practice work. You'll have different work to do." According to Brulles, some gifted students will take this option, whereas others may decide, "I don't know this; I need the practice work." Again, as in Most Difficult First, this strategy requires having extension work for students who test out of the material.

Susan Flores, a 2nd grade teacher in Paradise Valley, meets a range of student abilities by using the standard as her baseline. "My desk serves as a staging area. I have several piles of activities there that take a concept up or down."

For example, when the class is working on the distributive property in math, those "piles" might include differentiated worksheets, word problems, and task cards. Depending on how students grasp the concept, Flores can either reteach, offer practice, or enrich.

Flores also uses "choice boards." In math, she might offer nine ways that students can demonstrate learning of multiplication. "Students can [use] one of their iPad apps or create a game. They jump in where they want to jump in," she notes.

All students in Flores's class can choose whether they want to take their learning to the next level. "I don't say, 'Because you're gifted, you get choice, and because you're not gifted, you don't.'" Optional challenge work is available to anyone who wants to try it.

Janice Mak, a gifted cluster teacher and 7th and 8th grade STEM teacher in Paradise Valley, gives students a menu of options in her computer science class. After stu-dents learn the basics of programming-perhaps through an online course from Stanford University or work with Google CS First clubs-they work in teams to create a robot. Students choose the level of complexity, from designing dogs that bark to building miniature disco rooms in which a record plays and lights flash.

Students can also tailor a project to their interests. In a module on architecture, some students designed a playground for Egyptian students using Legos, Build with Chrome, or Minecraft. One student opted instead to recreate the White House using Minecraft.

The Ignite presentation format offers another way for Mak to differentiate work on the basis of student interest. The presenter has exactly 5 minutes and 20 slides, which auto-advance every 15 seconds, to discuss a topic of interest (aligned to the unit). This activity allows students to share their passion with their peers, be it nanotechnology and its role in medicine, the physics of roller coasters, or the latest advances in virtual reality.

According to education expert Jenny Grant Rankin, knowing a student's emotional intensities-what Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski called "overexcitabilities"-is also key to teaching gifted students. Dabrowski identified five areas of sensitivity that are strongly related to giftedness: psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional.

Overexcitabilities will often appear as quirks, such as compulsive talking or organizing, heightened sensitivity to smells or tastes, insatiable curiosity, or daydreaming. Knowing a student's overexcitabilities can help teachers shape engaging-and personalized-learning experiences. An imaginational student will benefit from an assignment that he's free to complete in a unique way. An intellectual student will prefer to investigate why certain areas of the world struggle with starvation rather than simply listing those areas. Although we tend to see overexcitabilities negatively, they are often accompanied by great creativity, imagination, and drive.

According to NAGC, research shows that enabling gifted students to work together in groups boosts their academic achievement and benefits other students in the classroom, as well. When gifted students work together, they challenge themselves in unexpected ways. They bounce ideas off one another and take a peer's idea to a new place. They also learn that as smart as they are, they, too, must exert effort with challenging content-and that they'll sometimes fail along the way.

That said, gifted kids need to work both in and out of their group. "As adults, we have to be able to work with everyone," explains Flores, "and gifted students might not learn this if they're always separated out." Teachers can provide multiple opportunities for heterogeneous groupings through Think-Pair-Shares, Clock Buddies, and Season Teams.

This approach relies on planning lessons or units at different tiers of difficulty. But does this require teachers to add to their already full plates?

"I don't see it as doing one more thing; I see it as being more strategic," explains Mak. Teachers have to plan for their lessons, so why not develop deep and complex activities for high-ability students at the same time? This one way of planning-providing work at the entry, advanced, and extension levels or at varying Depth of Knowledge Levels-offers a multiplicity of ways to learn. It may take more time in the planning stage, but it is ultimately more efficient because bored students aren't acting out or zoning out in class-they've got challenging work to do-and struggling students are getting support. Once teachers create these tiered resources, they can use them again and again.

Author Carol Ann Tomlinson advocates teaching up -"a practice of first planning a lesson that's challenging for high-end learners and then differentiating for other learners by providing supports that enable them to access that more sophisticated learning opportunity." It replaces "the more common practice of planning for mid-range performers, then extending that lesson for advanced students and watering it down for others." This approach, Tomlinson says, challenges advanced learners more than trying to pump up a "middling" idea-and serves other students better as well.

All students have the right to learn something new every day, whether they are in regular classrooms or in special education, language acquisition, or gifted programs. And every student will benefit from being pulled up to go beyond the curriculum at times.

But as Tomlinson points out, "Learning should be joyful or at least satisfying, rather than just hard."

Is this challenging for educators? Sure. But according to Flores, "Any good teacher can do these things well. It's just good teaching."

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Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners

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Find practical ways to tend to the complex needs of your high-ability students-without taking the joy out of learning.

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Teaching the Gifted Student in General Education

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Teaching the Gifted Student in General Education

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A brief article containing suggestions that really act as reminders to the gen ed teachers.

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Teaching the gifted student in general education

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Spread the loveLook around the average general education classroom, and you'll see a variety of students with different learning abilities. Some of the most challenging students to teach, however, might not be the ones you think will be. The most challenging students are the ones who are identified as gifted.

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Students feel that they have to hid the fact that they don't know something.

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In a previous article, I thought about the definition of "smart" and how it becomes a synonym for "things are easy" at school. In this article, we'll look at the ramifications of believing that "smart" should mean "things are easy."

When "Smart" Becomes A Burden

I was "smart" in school starting from day one of Kindergarten. This means that "things were easy" for me early in school. Things were easy because my parents (who were both teachers) taught me a bunch of early school stuff before I entered school. So in school, I wasn't really learning. I was just showing what I already knew - and being rewarded with people telling me that I was "smart"

That's bad.

Of course, as I advanced through school, trying to maintain that image of "smart" became more and more of a burden. I had to continue making it all look easy. It got really hard to be perfect and fast and to never ask for help.

I had to hide the fact that I struggled. I thought working for an A was cheating. Because, after all, "smart" kids don't need to study. So I pretended that I didn't have to work. I pretended that I understood things that I didn't. And I never asked teachers for help, because "smart" kids don't need help (I call this the curse of the kidney table.

The irony is, I know now that all of the "smart" kids were frantically trying to appear smart by making it look easy. I know this because I've talked to my "smart" friends who are now adults. Each one of us was putting on a show to appear "smart."

What Happens When It Gets Hard?

If you've been "smart" from Kinder through 5th grade, it's an enormous identity crisis to realize you need to ask for help, start to study, re-do your work, or slow down in order to perform well.

Different students react in different ways:

Some aren't bothered by needing to increase their workload. I would imagine they were praised for effort, not just grades.

Some kids sandbag. They fail on purpose. Then they can always say "I didn't try." This option feels better to them then trying really hard, and ending up with a B+.

And others become teenage workaholics, putting hours and hours of work in at home to maintain the illusion that it's easy rather than just asking for help at school.

Into Adulthood

I've written before about the Impostor Syndrome I felt in college. I thought I didn't belong. I thought that, since school was now hard, it made me "not smart." And I needed to hide it! I was intensely embarrassed.

What did my parents say to cheer me up? "Oh Ian, but you're so smart! " Well-intentioned, but not what I needed to hear.

This feeling is incredibly common. Many gifted kids will eventually question whether they "deserved" the label. They'll wonder if they faked it, had a lucky day, or somehow tricked their teachers.

Try this: get in touch with the "smart" students you taught who are now adults. I think it's a huge blindspot in K-12 districts that we don't stay in touch with our top students after college and ask what we could have done better. You can also read other folks' work in this area. Here's a summary of some findings of what grown-up gifted kids say.

Careful Praise

Our "smart" praise needs to change. "Smart" (as our kids define it) becomes an impossible burden to live up to. And it can lead to both underperformance or stressful overachievement.

As I wrote last time, try to remove "smart" from your vocabulary and praise the thinking or action that actually impressed you. What did the student do that made them appear smart?

Finally, if you haven't read it, Carol Dweck's Mindsets is a great (and easy!) read about praising kids for specific effort rather than final results.

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In a previous article, I thought about the definition of "smart" and how it becomes a synonym for "things are easy" at school. In this article, we'll look at the ramifications of believing that "smart" should mean "things are easy." I was "smart" in school starting from day one of Kindergarten.

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Strategies for enriching gifted youngsters.

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Strategies for enriching gifted youngsters.

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Gifted and Talented Students: Teaching Strategies

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This article talks about the importance of training our teachers to work with gifted students.  Sometimes we just assume that teachers know how to enrich our gifted but that is not the case.  So possibly conducting some training throughout the year with the high school teachers would be a great start.

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73% of teachers agreed that, "Too often, the brightest students are bored and under-challenged in school - we're not giving them a sufficient chance to thrive." ¹

Top three ways gifted students receive services: Resource Room, Cluster Classroom, Regular Classroom 2

Just one state requires preservice training in GT for general education teachers 2

Every school and district should have an expert in gifted education available to provide services and advise colleagues. But because gifted and talented students often end up in the regular classroom or depend on regular classroom teachers for referrals for gifted education programs and services, it is crucial, that all teachers have a basic understanding of how to identify and work with gifted students. Unfortunately, most teachers do not receive any training in the needs of high-ability students or gifted education practices.

In schools with large minority and/or low-income populations, classroom teachers trained to recognize high-ability and in how to respond are especially important. Regular classroom teachers are the school's first line in the identification process for these high-potential, but not yet, high-achieving students.

Read the three knowledge and skill areas in gifted education NAGC says all teachers should have.

Learn more about teacher preparation and programming standards in gifted education

Read the Do's and Don'ts of good gifted education.

¹NAGC and CDGP (2013). 2012-2013 State of the states in gifted education. Washington, DC: Author.

²Farkas, S., & Duffett, A. (2008). High-achieving students in the era of NCLB: Results from a national teacher survey. Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

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73% of teachers agreed that, "Too often, the brightest students are bored and under-challenged in school - we're not giving them a sufficient chance to thrive." 1 Top three ways gifted students receive services: Resource Room, Cluster Classroom, Regular Classroom 2

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Six Strategies For Challenging Gifted Learners

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Six Strategies For Challenging Gifted Learners

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This gives six strategies for teachers to help teach gifted students.  I picked it because it made me think more about how to help the teachers I work with.

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Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners

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Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners

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I picked this article because it made me think about how I can support the teachers I work with and give them some ideas with working with Gifted students.

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Gifted students-you may or may not spot them in your classroom. They may be highly visible, like the high achievers or straight- A students. But they may also be among those students who don't finish their work (it's never perfect enough), who zone out or act out in class (they're bored), or who test poorly because they overthink things ("Hmmm, this answer might be true in this case, but it might not be true in that case").

Some schools and districts have substantial resources to identify and support giftedness, wherever it shows up. Some offer pull-out programs. Others offer cluster grouping, in which gifted students are grouped in specific classes at each grade level.

Dina Brulles, director of gifted education in the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Phoenix, Ariz., believes gifted students need less grade-level work, faster-paced lessons, deeper and more advanced content, and opportunities to work with other gifted students. They also require a different kind of interaction with the teacher, who must be less of a "sage on the stage" and more of a "guide on the side."

M. René Islas, executive director of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), notes one persistent challenge to gifted education-a lack of uniformity in programming. A recent NAGC study found that 19 states don't monitor gifted programs at the local level, only seven require their districts to report on gifted student achievement, and fewer than half report on the race and ethnicity of their gifted students (minorities are significantly underrepresented in gifted programs, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights).

But there are promising signals as well, explains Islas. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires states and districts to track the progress of their highest-achieving students and allows schools to use Title I funds to identify and support gifted students. Plus, the law opens up the possibility for schools to use computer-adaptive assessments to recognize student mastery of content above grade level.

Then there are the challenges and opportunities at the school level. With the following strategies, teachers can tend to the complex needs of their high-ability students in the heterogeneous classroom.

"Gifted students don't need to do 25 problems in math when they can do the five most difficult first to demonstrate mastery," says Brulles. She offers this opportunity to all students, not just those identified as gifted. Students who successfully complete the five problems are excused from that night's homework. If classwork is involved, the teacher simply needs to have a few extension activities on hand-tasks that carry the concept to the next level-for students to work on quietly while others complete the regular assignment.

"Most Difficult First" is one manageable way for teachers to compact the curriculum for their high-ability students. With compacting, students get to "throw away" the part of the curriculum that they already know, while receiving full credit for those competencies. This frees up students to work on more challenging content.

Let's say a teacher is teaching two-digit multiplication. He might do some direct instruction for 10 minutes, then offer students the end-of-chapter test, saying, "If you get 90 percent or higher, you won't have to do the homework or practice work. You'll have different work to do." According to Brulles, some gifted students will take this option, whereas others may decide, "I don't know this; I need the practice work." Again, as in Most Difficult First, this strategy requires having extension work for students who test out of the material.

Susan Flores, a 2nd grade teacher in Paradise Valley, meets a range of student abilities by using the standard as her baseline. "My desk serves as a staging area. I have several piles of activities there that take a concept up or down."

For example, when the class is working on the distributive property in math, those "piles" might include differentiated worksheets, word problems, and task cards. Depending on how students grasp the concept, Flores can either reteach, offer practice, or enrich.

Flores also uses "choice boards." In math, she might offer nine ways that students can demonstrate learning of multiplication. "Students can [use] one of their iPad apps or create a game. They jump in where they want to jump in," she notes.

All students in Flores's class can choose whether they want to take their learning to the next level. "I don't say, 'Because you're gifted, you get choice, and because you're not gifted, you don't.'" Optional challenge work is available to anyone who wants to try it.

Janice Mak, a gifted cluster teacher and 7th and 8th grade STEM teacher in Paradise Valley, gives students a menu of options in her computer science class. After stu-dents learn the basics of programming-perhaps through an online course from Stanford University or work with Google CS First clubs-they work in teams to create a robot. Students choose the level of complexity, from designing dogs that bark to building miniature disco rooms in which a record plays and lights flash.

Students can also tailor a project to their interests. In a module on architecture, some students designed a playground for Egyptian students using Legos, Build with Chrome, or Minecraft. One student opted instead to recreate the White House using Minecraft.

The Ignite presentation format offers another way for Mak to differentiate work on the basis of student interest. The presenter has exactly 5 minutes and 20 slides, which auto-advance every 15 seconds, to discuss a topic of interest (aligned to the unit). This activity allows students to share their passion with their peers, be it nanotechnology and its role in medicine, the physics of roller coasters, or the latest advances in virtual reality.

According to education expert Jenny Grant Rankin, knowing a student's emotional intensities-what Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski called "overexcitabilities"-is also key to teaching gifted students. Dabrowski identified five areas of sensitivity that are strongly related to giftedness: psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional.

Overexcitabilities will often appear as quirks, such as compulsive talking or organizing, heightened sensitivity to smells or tastes, insatiable curiosity, or daydreaming. Knowing a student's overexcitabilities can help teachers shape engaging-and personalized-learning experiences. An imaginational student will benefit from an assignment that he's free to complete in a unique way. An intellectual student will prefer to investigate why certain areas of the world struggle with starvation rather than simply listing those areas. Although we tend to see overexcitabilities negatively, they are often accompanied by great creativity, imagination, and drive.

According to NAGC, research shows that enabling gifted students to work together in groups boosts their academic achievement and benefits other students in the classroom, as well. When gifted students work together, they challenge themselves in unexpected ways. They bounce ideas off one another and take a peer's idea to a new place. They also learn that as smart as they are, they, too, must exert effort with challenging content-and that they'll sometimes fail along the way.

That said, gifted kids need to work both in and out of their group. "As adults, we have to be able to work with everyone," explains Flores, "and gifted students might not learn this if they're always separated out." Teachers can provide multiple opportunities for heterogeneous groupings through Think-Pair-Shares, Clock Buddies, and Season Teams.

This approach relies on planning lessons or units at different tiers of difficulty. But does this require teachers to add to their already full plates?

"I don't see it as doing one more thing; I see it as being more strategic," explains Mak. Teachers have to plan for their lessons, so why not develop deep and complex activities for high-ability students at the same time? This one way of planning-providing work at the entry, advanced, and extension levels or at varying Depth of Knowledge Levels-offers a multiplicity of ways to learn. It may take more time in the planning stage, but it is ultimately more efficient because bored students aren't acting out or zoning out in class-they've got challenging work to do-and struggling students are getting support. Once teachers create these tiered resources, they can use them again and again.

Author Carol Ann Tomlinson advocates teaching up -"a practice of first planning a lesson that's challenging for high-end learners and then differentiating for other learners by providing supports that enable them to access that more sophisticated learning opportunity." It replaces "the more common practice of planning for mid-range performers, then extending that lesson for advanced students and watering it down for others." This approach, Tomlinson says, challenges advanced learners more than trying to pump up a "middling" idea-and serves other students better as well.

All students have the right to learn something new every day, whether they are in regular classrooms or in special education, language acquisition, or gifted programs. And every student will benefit from being pulled up to go beyond the curriculum at times.

But as Tomlinson points out, "Learning should be joyful or at least satisfying, rather than just hard."

Is this challenging for educators? Sure. But according to Flores, "Any good teacher can do these things well. It's just good teaching."

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Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners

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Find practical ways to tend to the complex needs of your high-ability students-without taking the joy out of learning.

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https://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle

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shared by Tina Fuhrman

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One of my favorite guides to understanding our students is Bertie Kingore's breakdown of the traits of "gifted" and "high achieving" students. The traits in the "gifted" category always make me think of Calvin from Bill Watterson's wonderful Calvin and Hobbes.

Calvin and Gifted Characteristics

As a kid, I read Calvin and Hobbes religiously. Now, I read these same comics and see Calvin as the perfect introduction to the unexpected characteristics of many gifted students.

The tragedy of these traits is that, despite being rather common, they are often the very things that keep students from being identified and placed in a gifted program. And, yet, such a program is exactly what these children need.

This is why I love Calvin. He reminds us that when searching for gifted students, our criteria shouldn't necessarily be compliance, great grades, or a strong work ethic.

An Intelligent Behavior Problem

Calvin's intelligence is highly advanced, but, rather than being used for good, it supercharges typical bad behavior. This kind of "intelligent misbehavior" could be a sign of a kid who's bored when things are slow and simple. A fascinating, fast-paced classroom could make all the difference!

Loves Learning, Dislikes School

Calvin has intense interests in preferred subjects, but is absolutely uninterested in the topics taught in school. His research report on bats illustrates this perfectly.

Asynchrony

Calvin's development is strikingly uneven. His brain, emotions, and physical abilities are all out of whack. This is known as asynchrony and is common in our gifted learners.

Calvin's poor physical abilities are an ongoing theme: he doesn't like PE, he only enjoys the sport he invented, and endlessly struggles to ride a bike:

At the same time, Calvin displays his above-age-level intelligence in the realm of art (and experiences the resulting disdain from a "philistine").

Further, Calvin's sense of justice and morality is quite advanced, but he certainly can't be considered emotionally mature.

Don't expect gifted students' to develop at an even rate. A young genius may very well be emotionally immature.

Imaginational Overexcitability

Calvin is the poster boy for the imaginational overexcitability. He doesn't just like learning about insects or aliens, he becomes these things. Here's Calvin as a plane, a dinosaur, an ant, and the intrepid Spaceman Spiff:

Calvin's wild imagination gets him into endless trouble, especially since his "stories" are easily interpreted as lies.

In this series of strips, Calvin has "created" a duplicator which leads, in his mind, to several "Calvins" running around and causing havoc.

A vivid imaginary world and even a habit of stretching the truth might be unexpected clues that you're looking at a gifted kid.

Emotional Sensitivity

Despite his tendency for selfish behavior, Calvin has moments of surprising emotional depth. In this strip, he deals with deep moral issues:

But this could also lead to other emotional outbursts, such as frustration.

If you work with enough gifted kids, you're sure to run into a real-life Calvin. And you'll certainly see some of his characteristics in many of the students you work with. An authentic group of gifted students should have a wide mix of characteristics, not simply good grades and compliant behavior.
The Calvin and Hobbes search engine proved indispensable when finding these sample strips. All Calvin and Hobbes strips are available online at Go Comics or buy the ultimate collection on Amazon

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As a kid, I read Calvin and Hobbes religiously, checking out collections from the library and cutting out favorites from the newspaper. Now, I read these same comics and see Calvin in a different light: an example of all of the unexpected traits of gifted students.

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Gifted Teacher Instagram. She gives many many resources and ideas. Her Instagram is an amazing resource that I often use.

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Gifted Teacher Instagram. She gives many many resources and ideas. Her Instagram is an amazing resource that I often use.

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@giftedteacher305

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Supporting Regular Education Teachers with Gifted Students

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Supporting Regular Education Teachers with Gifted Students

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Every student has the right to learn something new every day, although, unfortunately we know that too many advanced students are simply marking time in the classroom until new material is presented to them. Worse, many underrepresented gifted students -- those who are limited English proficient, disabled, or from minority or low-income backgrounds -- have not been identified for advanced learner services or are in schools where no advanced classes or gifted education services are available, and where classroom teachers have not been trained to meet their needs. In practice, most gifted and talented students spend the majority of their time in the regular classroom. Therefore, it is imperative that schools and districts account for this reality in their instructional and professional development planning.

Four practices to promote equitable access and school success for underrepresented gifted students

Develop culturally sensitive identification protocols

Ensure early and continuous access to high-end curriculum for talent development

Provide essential supports, including helping students develop psycho-social strategies

Establish effective home, school and community connections

Download the full NAGC position statement on Identifying and Serving Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Gifted Students

Read more about identification practices with diverse learners.

Read best educational practices with low-income, high-ability students

Read Expanding the View of Giftedness in a special issue of AASA's School Administrator magazine.

Teacher Training

Because high ability and high achieving students are typically served in the regular classroom, it is critical that all teachers be trained to recognize and meet the needs of advanced students so that they may respond to individual student strengths and make referrals for further assessment where appropriate. It is also critical that school- or district-level staff with expertise in gifted and talented education be available to support regular classroom teachers in this work.

To develop the skills, identify advanced students from underserved populations and to create a learning environment that supports their needs, teachers and other school leaders need regular professional development that addresses the following

Learning characteristics and behaviors of underrepresented gifted populations

Awareness of cultural differences

Children with multiple exceptionalities

Developing positive peer culture in the classroom and school

Equitable and nonbiased assessments

Explore gifted education practices that that have been shown to increase student achievement.

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Classroom Instruction and Teacher Training for Gifted Students from Diverse Populations

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Every student has the right to learn something new every day, although, unfortunately we know that too many advanced students are simply marking time in the classroom until new material is presented to them.

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National Public Radio's Education Coverage

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National Public Radio's Education Coverage

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Student loan proposal targets accrued interest; Israel and Hamas war hits six months

A lot of kids got to see the last total eclipse. What they remember may surprise you

California colleges provide abortion pills but many fail to make students aware

Indiana lawmakers ban cellphones in class. Now it's up to schools to figure out how

New Indiana law requires professors to promote 'intellectual diversity' to keep tenure

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We've been to school. We know how education works. Right? In fact, many aspects of learning - in homes, at schools, at work and elsewhere - are evolving rapidly, along with our understanding of learning. Join us as we explore how learning happens.

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Recommendations for Classroom Teachers

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KIM Ursiny
this site offers several levels of coding lessons for students. I use it with my gifted students K-5th.  I also took a training at the AIU3 for using this in my classroom.  The students love it.

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Kim Ursiny

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Math Challenge program is a free school-wide math enrichment program for elementary students consisting of series of challenging and interesting math problems provided to each school.

The program provides 15 sets of challenges throughout the school year; each set is published every other week starting in late September and ending in May. These math challenges covers problem solving strategies such as draw a picture or model, make an organized list, look for a pattern, working backward, and guess and check. Each challenge presents 10 to 18 problems ordered by level of difficulties which enables students from various grades to participate.

​In 2007 school year, this program started at Norman Rockwell Elementary (Redmond, WA) with only 60 elementary students participated. We have now over 100 schools and more than 5,000 students participating at this program. We hope to reach thousands more students to enjoy the fun of problem solving.

The deadline to set up 2020 - 2021 Math Challenge for your school is extended to September 17, 2020

The first Math Challenge will be available on September 25, 2020

The purpose of this program is to entice, engage and challenge students to solve interesting math problems while along the way, strengthen their math fundamentals, critical thinking, problem solving skills and improve confidence in math. Students can also involve their families to help and engage in a fun discussion to solve math problems.

Problems are suitable for grade 1 through 6.

A chair person (parent/teacher/principal) can register the school.

The page will serve as a central location for the students/parents to get information about how to participate and to print the challenge. Parents, teachers, and students will be provided with this link through the school's website, school's newsletter or direct emails to participate and access the Math Challenge papers. Students may work on the challenge with the help of families and siblings at home.

Students submissions will be collected by the school chairperson. Instruction on how and when students can submit their solutions will be written in the school's page and on the school newsletter. The school chairperson will receive each Math Challenge and its solution before the published date.

Students may see the solution to each challenge after each due date.

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Math Challenge program is a free school-wide math enrichment program for elementary students consisting of series of challenging and interesting math problems provided to each school. The program provides 15 sets of challenges throughout the school year; each set is published every other week starting in late September and ending in May.

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Support for parents

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Support for parents

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Ways to Differentiate and Challenge Gifted Students

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Ways to Differentiate and Challenge Gifted Students

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Gifted students-you may or may not spot them in your classroom. They may be highly visible, like the high achievers or straight- A students. But they may also be among those students who don't finish their work (it's never perfect enough), who zone out or act out in class (they're bored), or who test poorly because they overthink things ("Hmmm, this answer might be true in this case, but it might not be true in that case").

Some schools and districts have substantial resources to identify and support giftedness, wherever it shows up. Some offer pull-out programs. Others offer cluster grouping, in which gifted students are grouped in specific classes at each grade level.

Dina Brulles, director of gifted education in the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Phoenix, Ariz., believes gifted students need less grade-level work, faster-paced lessons, deeper and more advanced content, and opportunities to work with other gifted students. They also require a different kind of interaction with the teacher, who must be less of a "sage on the stage" and more of a "guide on the side."

M. René Islas, executive director of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), notes one persistent challenge to gifted education-a lack of uniformity in programming. A recent NAGC study found that 19 states don't monitor gifted programs at the local level, only seven require their districts to report on gifted student achievement, and fewer than half report on the race and ethnicity of their gifted students (minorities are significantly underrepresented in gifted programs, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights).

But there are promising signals as well, explains Islas. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires states and districts to track the progress of their highest-achieving students and allows schools to use Title I funds to identify and support gifted students. Plus, the law opens up the possibility for schools to use computer-adaptive assessments to recognize student mastery of content above grade level.

Then there are the challenges and opportunities at the school level. With the following strategies, teachers can tend to the complex needs of their high-ability students in the heterogeneous classroom.

"Gifted students don't need to do 25 problems in math when they can do the five most difficult first to demonstrate mastery," says Brulles. She offers this opportunity to all students, not just those identified as gifted. Students who successfully complete the five problems are excused from that night's homework. If classwork is involved, the teacher simply needs to have a few extension activities on hand-tasks that carry the concept to the next level-for students to work on quietly while others complete the regular assignment.

"Most Difficult First" is one manageable way for teachers to compact the curriculum for their high-ability students. With compacting, students get to "throw away" the part of the curriculum that they already know, while receiving full credit for those competencies. This frees up students to work on more challenging content.

Let's say a teacher is teaching two-digit multiplication. He might do some direct instruction for 10 minutes, then offer students the end-of-chapter test, saying, "If you get 90 percent or higher, you won't have to do the homework or practice work. You'll have different work to do." According to Brulles, some gifted students will take this option, whereas others may decide, "I don't know this; I need the practice work." Again, as in Most Difficult First, this strategy requires having extension work for students who test out of the material.

Susan Flores, a 2nd grade teacher in Paradise Valley, meets a range of student abilities by using the standard as her baseline. "My desk serves as a staging area. I have several piles of activities there that take a concept up or down."

For example, when the class is working on the distributive property in math, those "piles" might include differentiated worksheets, word problems, and task cards. Depending on how students grasp the concept, Flores can either reteach, offer practice, or enrich.

Flores also uses "choice boards." In math, she might offer nine ways that students can demonstrate learning of multiplication. "Students can [use] one of their iPad apps or create a game. They jump in where they want to jump in," she notes.

All students in Flores's class can choose whether they want to take their learning to the next level. "I don't say, 'Because you're gifted, you get choice, and because you're not gifted, you don't.'" Optional challenge work is available to anyone who wants to try it.

Janice Mak, a gifted cluster teacher and 7th and 8th grade STEM teacher in Paradise Valley, gives students a menu of options in her computer science class. After stu-dents learn the basics of programming-perhaps through an online course from Stanford University or work with Google CS First clubs-they work in teams to create a robot. Students choose the level of complexity, from designing dogs that bark to building miniature disco rooms in which a record plays and lights flash.

Students can also tailor a project to their interests. In a module on architecture, some students designed a playground for Egyptian students using Legos, Build with Chrome, or Minecraft. One student opted instead to recreate the White House using Minecraft.

The Ignite presentation format offers another way for Mak to differentiate work on the basis of student interest. The presenter has exactly 5 minutes and 20 slides, which auto-advance every 15 seconds, to discuss a topic of interest (aligned to the unit). This activity allows students to share their passion with their peers, be it nanotechnology and its role in medicine, the physics of roller coasters, or the latest advances in virtual reality.

According to education expert Jenny Grant Rankin, knowing a student's emotional intensities-what Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski called "overexcitabilities"-is also key to teaching gifted students. Dabrowski identified five areas of sensitivity that are strongly related to giftedness: psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional.

Overexcitabilities will often appear as quirks, such as compulsive talking or organizing, heightened sensitivity to smells or tastes, insatiable curiosity, or daydreaming. Knowing a student's overexcitabilities can help teachers shape engaging-and personalized-learning experiences. An imaginational student will benefit from an assignment that he's free to complete in a unique way. An intellectual student will prefer to investigate why certain areas of the world struggle with starvation rather than simply listing those areas. Although we tend to see overexcitabilities negatively, they are often accompanied by great creativity, imagination, and drive.

According to NAGC, research shows that enabling gifted students to work together in groups boosts their academic achievement and benefits other students in the classroom, as well. When gifted students work together, they challenge themselves in unexpected ways. They bounce ideas off one another and take a peer's idea to a new place. They also learn that as smart as they are, they, too, must exert effort with challenging content-and that they'll sometimes fail along the way.

That said, gifted kids need to work both in and out of their group. "As adults, we have to be able to work with everyone," explains Flores, "and gifted students might not learn this if they're always separated out." Teachers can provide multiple opportunities for heterogeneous groupings through Think-Pair-Shares, Clock Buddies, and Season Teams.

This approach relies on planning lessons or units at different tiers of difficulty. But does this require teachers to add to their already full plates?

"I don't see it as doing one more thing; I see it as being more strategic," explains Mak. Teachers have to plan for their lessons, so why not develop deep and complex activities for high-ability students at the same time? This one way of planning-providing work at the entry, advanced, and extension levels or at varying Depth of Knowledge Levels-offers a multiplicity of ways to learn. It may take more time in the planning stage, but it is ultimately more efficient because bored students aren't acting out or zoning out in class-they've got challenging work to do-and struggling students are getting support. Once teachers create these tiered resources, they can use them again and again.

Author Carol Ann Tomlinson advocates teaching up -"a practice of first planning a lesson that's challenging for high-end learners and then differentiating for other learners by providing supports that enable them to access that more sophisticated learning opportunity." It replaces "the more common practice of planning for mid-range performers, then extending that lesson for advanced students and watering it down for others." This approach, Tomlinson says, challenges advanced learners more than trying to pump up a "middling" idea-and serves other students better as well.

All students have the right to learn something new every day, whether they are in regular classrooms or in special education, language acquisition, or gifted programs. And every student will benefit from being pulled up to go beyond the curriculum at times.

But as Tomlinson points out, "Learning should be joyful or at least satisfying, rather than just hard."

Is this challenging for educators? Sure. But according to Flores, "Any good teacher can do these things well. It's just good teaching."

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Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners

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Find practical ways to tend to the complex needs of your high-ability students-without taking the joy out of learning.

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Tiffany Ferguson has a Podcast called Previously Gifted.
In this YouTube video, The Curse of Being a Gifted Student, she shares her opinion on the downfalls of being a gifted student.

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Push-in vs. Pull out submitted by Valarie Loughnane

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Scott Willis

In today's schools, gifted students are increasingly likely to receive all, or nearly all, of their education in regular classrooms. In many school districts, separate programs for the gifted, including pullout programs, are being curtailed or phased out.

There are two main reasons for this trend, experts say. One is the spread of a philosophy that favors mixed-ability grouping; the other is the lack of funds for separate gifted programs. While supporters of inclusive classrooms find this trend admirable, some advocates for gifted children are raising concerns that it is harming high-ability students.

Among educators, there is "a big push" to meet gifted students' needs within the regular classroom, says Bob Glascock, coordinator of gifted and talented programs for the Howard County (Md.) public schools. Glascock sees this movement as parallel to the inclusion movement in special education.

This trend disturbs Linda Silverman, director of the Gifted Development Center in Denver, Colo. "Gifted education has been in serious trouble for the last four years," she says, because of the growing belief that "there's something terribly wrong with any child's being taught separately." The drive to keep gifted students in regular classes stems from "a social agenda that has nothing to do with the education of the population," she asserts.

Another expert who takes a more positive view is Joseph Renzulli, director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented at the University of Connecticut. Gifted students spend most of their time in regular classrooms, he says, and teachers can do many things to increase "the level of challenge" they experience there. But, Renzulli hastens to add, schools should still provide other options for gifted students. Extremely advanced children, for example, can benefit from mentor programs, special study groups, and classes outside their grade level.

In his district, Glascock says, high-achieving students spend 90 percent of their time in regular classrooms, so it makes sense to focus on ways to differentiate curriculum and instruction for them there. Classroom teachers can do this, he says, by using strategies such as flexible grouping, "tiered" assignments, ability-based reading and discussion groups, learning centers, student contracts, research projects, and mentorships.

"Teachers have to be more creative in their approach to instruction," Glascock says. Because teachers are trained at whole-group instruction and assessment, they often must struggle to "get out of that pattern."

According to Renzulli, curriculum compacting is "a minimal essential" for meeting gifted students' needs in regular classrooms. In this approach, teachers test students on upcoming units to avoid teaching them what they already know; students who demonstrate mastery either "accelerate" or pursue enrichment activities while the unit is being taught. Unless teachers make these kinds of adjustments to the prescribed curriculum, they will underchallenge some students, Renzulli says.

Another strategy that yields an extremely high payoff, Renzulli says, is allowing students of varying abilities to work together in areas of high interest, such as desktop publishing or social action research projects. When the "tie that binds" is a common interest, teachers can avoid "hardcore grouping" based on test scores yet allow students to stretch themselves.

Susan Jones, a 3rd grade teacher at James River Elementary School in Williamsburg, Va., uses several strategies to ensure that her gifted students are "not wandering the room, bored." For example, she makes language arts activities open-ended enough that they carry students "as far as their knowledge or interest allow them to go." She also gives "tiered" assignments, where all students explore the same topic, but the level of questioning or the expected product varies depending on students' abilities. And she allows many choices, so gifted students can "pick something more challenging that will hold their interest."

Too often, gifted students work with a specialist twice a week, and the rest of the time they're bored in the regular classroom, says Bessie Duncan, program supervisor for gifted and talented education for the Detroit (Mich.) public schools. To avoid this problem, classroom teachers should use techniques from gifted education (such as curriculum compacting) that will benefit all students, including the gifted, she advises. If the range of students' abilities is very wide, however, a continuum of services might still be required, she adds.

Classroom teachers need to identify and teach to their top students, Duncan believes. They should meet the needs of their brightest students and "bring the others along." Teaching to the top generates more excitement in the classroom and yields greater student success overall than does teaching to the middle, Duncan says. "I have not seen this fail."

What teachers do for gifted learners will be good for all learners, agrees Wanda Beavers-Looney, who teaches 2nd grade at Neinas Elementary School in Detroit, Mich. Teachers focus too much on students who need remediation and "leave the others out," she says. If they teach to their brightest students, "the other children will reach a higher level."

As a teacher with gifted students, "you have to challenge yourself," Beavers-Looney says. Besides helping children accelerate or pursue independent projects, she has worked one-on-one with students who were "really curious" about a certain subject. She has also tapped outside expertise when necessary to help children grow.

As teachers change their practices to accommodate gifted learners, the role of gifted-and-talented specialists is also changing: they are conducting fewer pullout sessions and providing more assistance to classroom teachers. "More and more, schools are looking at a `consulting teacher' model for the specialists," says Renzulli. Specialists are helping to "infuse high-end opportunities into the regular program" by providing instructional materials, showing teachers how to "compact" the curriculum, and working with small groups of students in the regular classroom.

De-emphasizing pullout programs spurs classroom teachers to do more for gifted students, Glascock maintains. "When our resource teachers had a pullout program, the regular classroom teachers' perception was that all the needs of the highly able students were being met," he says. Now these teachers feel more responsible for challenging gifted students.

Doubts and Fears

Some advocates for gifted children, however, doubt that teachers with diverse students will be able to meet the needs of the brightest among them. They fear that gifted students will be overlooked as teachers concentrate their efforts on students who are struggling, and that gifted students will be drafted to serve as tutors to their classmates rather than working to their own potential.

Schools need to match instruction to the ability levels of students, and it is "almost impossible" to do that for gifted students within a typical classroom, says William Gustin of the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University. Addressing all students' needs is "an overwhelming task" for a teacher with 30 or more diverse students, he says.

For gifted students placed in regular classrooms, "a continuous progress approach has the most potential," Gustin says. If the school is flexible enough, students can move ahead through out-of-grade scheduling. But "overcoming that lockstep" is very difficult, he warns. The worst thing educators can do, Gustin believes, is to lock gifted students into the typical "one-day-at-a-time" instructional approach, which they find "incredibly boring."

Whether a gifted child can be well served in a regular classroom depends on how gifted the child is, Silverman says. "It's an option for children who are mildly gifted and talented in specific domains, not for children who are highly gifted," she contends.

Like children with disabilities, gifted children need "a continuum of services," Silverman says. The top two percent of students need acceleration: Because these students can learn two years of knowledge and skills in one year, the regular classroom "wastes half their time." For students with I.Q. scores of 145 or higher, special classes are the best option to promote their academic, social, and emotional growth. The most advanced students need mentorships and acceleration opportunities such as taking college classes while in middle school.

To say we're meeting the needs of gifted students in regular classrooms is "really a joke," Silverman says. "It's very rare that that's happening." Teachers are not being given mandatory training in how to differentiate the curriculum, and gifted students are being denied opportunities to interact with peers with similar abilities, she says. For the most part, putting these students in regular classrooms is "an excuse for not serving them," Silverman charges.

Some gifted children's needs may be met in the regular classroom, if certain "nonnegotiables" are in place, says Joyce VanTassel-Baska, director of the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary. First, the curriculum must be high-powered. Second, the teacher must be willing to use flexible grouping so gifted students can work alone, with one another, and with the whole group. Third, the teacher must use good "diagnostic and prescriptive techniques" to ensure that advanced students aren't just marking time-allowing them to shorten the time they spend on core subjects, for example. These conditions are "absolutely essential," she says.

It's important to keep a continuum of programs and services for gifted students, VanTassel-Baska emphasizes. The regular classroom should not be the only option; pullout programs, special classes, and separate centers and schools are also "quite appropriate."

"The evidence is very sparse" that differentiating instruction is feasible for classroom teachers, VanTassel-Baska says. "I think it would be great if that were possible, but my optimism is tempered by the reality of past efforts" to individualize instruction, which did not prosper. "We shouldn't put all our eggs in the basket of teacher training," she asserts. Educators should also devote some of their energy to maintaining alternatives for gifted students.

Social Benefits?

Opinion is divided on whether gifted students derive social benefits from being placed in regular classrooms. Experts also disagree on where gifted students themselves would prefer to be educated.

In regular classrooms, gifted students see the importance of social skills and learn how to work with the nongifted, says Tina Anselmi, who teaches civics and world geography at Toano Middle School in Toano, Va. "That's going to be life for them in the workplace," she says. Almost all the gifted students at her school are "very satisfied" in regular classrooms, Anselmi says. They don't want to be put into separate classes: "They want to be part of the school."

According to surveys, gifted students like being with their nongifted peers, Duncan says. Although they enjoy special opportunities to develop their strengths, they feel uncomfortable when they are kept separate all the time. Being seen as "putting yourself above the group" makes students uncomfortable, Duncan says, especially in the African-American and Hispanic communities. If students can be smart and part of the group at the same time, they will not hide their abilities, she believes.

Gifted children sometimes aren't as willing as nongifted children to help others, says Beavers-Looney, and sometimes "they like to be with the smart group only." Being in the regular classroom helps them understand the "give-and-take" that is part of every community.

But Silverman vigorously disputes the claim that gifted students learn social skills in regular classrooms. "There is no evidence to support that," she says. Actually, the more that children differ from others in their play activities and vocabulary, the more they are ostracized by the group. "The social self-concept of gifted kids is abysmal when they're placed in regular classes," and much higher when they are in gifted classes, she says. Good social development stems from being with similar children. Gifted students who have experienced such settings "much prefer" them to regular classrooms, she adds.

VanTassel-Baska agrees. "Most gifted and talented children will not develop well socially and emotionally until they're with peers," she says. In regular classes, gifted students often don't feel safe; they are threatened for being who they are. Rather than learning how to relate well to others, they learn "how to mask who they are."

What matters is not where gifted students are taught, but the quality of instruction they receive, says James Gallagher of the University of North Carolina. He notes that the philosophy that diverse youngsters should be grouped together hasn't yet extended to encompass diverse age levels. Yet if it did, gifted students could more easily work at their own level.

"We have not perceived education as mandatory individual growth but as meeting a standard," says Carol Ann Tomlinson of the University of Virginia. Unfortunately, this standard is simply not suitable for a student who's advanced, she says. If educators look only at commonalities and deny differences, they will seek one-size-fits-all solutions that meet few students' needs. (Tomlinson has written a book on this topic for ASCD's "how-to" series, which will be published later this year.)

In the debate over gifted education, Gustin sees a clash of values. One side in the debate stresses the value of children's learning to understand human differences and to accept others who are different from themselves. "A certain amount of [emphasis on] this is good and honorable," he believes. But that value must be weighed against the importance of realizing each student's intellectual potential. The challenge facing educators is to determine where to strike the balance.

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Scott Willis In today's schools, gifted students are increasingly likely to receive all, or nearly all, of their education in regular classrooms. In many school districts, separate programs for the gifted, including pullout programs, are being curtailed or phased out. There are two main reasons for this trend, experts say.

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Bethany Sadler
This is a site that provides parent tip sheets, article and blogs, videos and podcasts, and resources and evidence based practices.

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Girls of Steel Robotics Carnegie Mellon University

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Girls of Steel Robotics Carnegie Mellon University

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N. Hand

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Teachers should not take the questioning of a gifted student as the student trying to be disrespectful. However, they need to teach students that there is a time and place for their questions and opinions.

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Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented

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Highly curious

Constant questioning, usually beginning early

Sophisticated sense of humor

Catches on to new ideas quickly

Unique way of looking at things

Outstanding memory

Idealism and sense of justice

A second important list comes from Dabrowski and his list of overexcitabilities. These characteristics can be even more challenging to deal with in a classroom.

A person's heightened response to stimuli

Intellectual

Imaginational

Emotional

Complex emotions

Intense feelings

Strong emotional attachments

Heightened concern for the environment

Compassion

Empathy

Psychomotor

Sensual

Not only are some, if not all of these seen but many will show what I call the "more so" effect. It is as if the "emotion dial" as been turned up slightly. Making these and other characteristics more intense. It is why a classroom filled with these students can seem more energetic, passionate, and often exhausting for the teacher.

The first step for those working with gifted students is to understand these unique characteristics and the needs that come with them. When a child is feeling overwhelmed because things don't seem "fair" in the classroom or on the playground, or is asking endless questions about a subject being studied, the adults around him/her must understand that he/she is not trying to be annoying or obstinate, but that is how he/she is "wired". Strategies and systems need to be put in place in the classroom to deal with these strong emotions. Possibly, a box or log to write the feeling down so that it can be looked at later or a time set aside when everyone can vent what is on his/her mind. Two things need to be kept in mind in order to maintain control of the learning environment. First, although issues should be addressed at some point, it is not always at the exact moment the child wants it. Teachers (and parents) must remember that they are the adult and therefore in charge of the situation. When and how the strategy is used depends on the age of the child. As long as the child understands that his/her needs are important, learning to table them until a later time is a good skill to have. This brings us to the second point, children with these emotional needs must be taught coping skills. As much as these traits are a part of them, these individuals need to be able to live in the "real world" and handle themselves appropriately. When a child feels the need to question everything, it can be seen as challenging authority in many situations. That child could keep a log and write down the questions, then at the end of the day, select two to ask the teacher privately, teaching him/her that there is a time and place to voice ones' opinions. A heightened concern for a specific issue in the world can be turned into a special project that the student, small group, or entire class can work on. This would show students that they can make a difference, no matter how young.

When a teacher is aware of these unique gifts of their students, along with their heightened intellectual capabilities, he/she can create a learning environment that enriches all areas of the students' lives.

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The Social Emotional Needs of the Gifted - Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented

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By Carolyn Ragatz, PhD AAGT Board of Directors As we head into another school year here in Arizona, I start to think of the unique social and emotional needs of gifted students. Whereas all students are special and their emotions certainly [...]

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Students enjoy videos, but virtual field trips are a great way to motivate all learners.

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Verifying direct content navigation | Discovery Education

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Gifted education supplies can range from literary materials to hands-on activity kits. Students who work at an advanced pace in academic subjects or who have a specific talent in the arts may wish to use these types of supplies during study periods or free time in the classroom. Teachers who routinely work with gifted students can help to foster intellectual growth and discourage boredom by keeping the classroom well-stocked with a variety of enrichment materials.

Reading Materials

Students who are gifted in certain academic areas often enjoy reading books that focus on their interests. Teachers can supply the classroom with these texts so that gifted students are encouraged to pursue learning about topics they enjoy. Ideas for supplementary reading materials include the following.

Poetry Books. Children who love literature and writing poetry can read books on famous poets, poetry analysis, and creative writing strategies.

History Books. History buffs can explore their favorite topics at school when reading books on subjects such as Ancient Civilizations, American History, or World History.

Science Books. Students with a keen interest in science can read through texts on oceanography, astronomy, life science, chemistry, and other scientific disciplines.

Foreign Language Books. Gifted children who are learning a foreign language will appreciate having access to multi-lingual stories and vocabulary books.

Puzzles and Games

Puzzles, games, and similar activities allow gifted students to exercise their minds in fun and creative ways. Teachers may wish to stock a classroom shelf with games that gifted children can enjoy individually or with their classmates. Examples include:

Math Puzzles. Teachers can stock their classrooms with a variety of addition and subtraction puzzles, fraction puzzles, and sequencing puzzles for math-oriented students to use.

Geography Puzzles. Students can assemble these puzzles to create countries, continents, and other land and water formations.

Science Games. Gifted children who love science will have a great time playing games such as Antigen Alley, the Healthy Hurdles Nutrition game, Whatever the Weather, and Amusement Park Physics.

Language Arts Games. Students with strong language skills can play classroom games such as the Analogies Game, the Word for Word Phonics Game, and the 200 Brain Games Game.

Art and Music Supplies

Students who are artistically or musically gifted may enjoy the opportunity to use classroom materials such as these:

Art Kits. Teachers can purchase classroom art kits containing paints, magnetic mosaic cubes, mat weaving materials, pattern beads, and other engaging manipulatives.

Art Activity Books. Gifted art students can work on projects found in books such as Art Projects From Around The World and Classroom Art.

Music Education CDs. Musically inclined students can listen to CDs of their favorite composers or genres during free time.

Music Resource Books. Teachers can provide their students with music theory books and activity books on composers, music symbols, and instruments.

By giving students access to gifted education supplies in the classroom, teachers can provide a positive learning atmosphere in which bright children are encouraged to explore their interests. These supplies can be stored in both gifted education classrooms and general education classrooms for students to use as opportunities allow during the school day.

Reference

HomeroomTeacher.com- https://www.homeroomteacher.com/giftedandtalentededucationsupplies.html

Image Credit

ChildGroup- https://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/131960

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Gifted Education Supplies for the Classroom: Ideas for Teachers

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Teachers can benefit from having gifted education supplies available in the classroom for academically advanced or creatively talented students to enjoy. Students who are gifted and talented often grow bored with grade-level classwork and thrive on intellectual stimulation provided by supplementary materials such as books geared toward specific interests, challenging games and puzzles, and art or music supplies.

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Classroom Supplies

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Gifted education supplies can range from literary materials to hands-on activity kits. Students who work at an advanced pace in academic subjects or who have a specific talent in the arts may wish to use these types of supplies during study periods or free time in the classroom. Teachers who routinely work with gifted students can help to foster intellectual growth and discourage boredom by keeping the classroom well-stocked with a variety of enrichment materials.

Reading Materials

Students who are gifted in certain academic areas often enjoy reading books that focus on their interests. Teachers can supply the classroom with these texts so that gifted students are encouraged to pursue learning about topics they enjoy. Ideas for supplementary reading materials include the following.

Poetry Books. Children who love literature and writing poetry can read books on famous poets, poetry analysis, and creative writing strategies.

History Books. History buffs can explore their favorite topics at school when reading books on subjects such as Ancient Civilizations, American History, or World History.

Science Books. Students with a keen interest in science can read through texts on oceanography, astronomy, life science, chemistry, and other scientific disciplines.

Foreign Language Books. Gifted children who are learning a foreign language will appreciate having access to multi-lingual stories and vocabulary books.

Puzzles and Games

Puzzles, games, and similar activities allow gifted students to exercise their minds in fun and creative ways. Teachers may wish to stock a classroom shelf with games that gifted children can enjoy individually or with their classmates. Examples include:

Math Puzzles. Teachers can stock their classrooms with a variety of addition and subtraction puzzles, fraction puzzles, and sequencing puzzles for math-oriented students to use.

Geography Puzzles. Students can assemble these puzzles to create countries, continents, and other land and water formations.

Science Games. Gifted children who love science will have a great time playing games such as Antigen Alley, the Healthy Hurdles Nutrition game, Whatever the Weather, and Amusement Park Physics.

Language Arts Games. Students with strong language skills can play classroom games such as the Analogies Game, the Word for Word Phonics Game, and the 200 Brain Games Game.

Art and Music Supplies

Students who are artistically or musically gifted may enjoy the opportunity to use classroom materials such as these:

Art Kits. Teachers can purchase classroom art kits containing paints, magnetic mosaic cubes, mat weaving materials, pattern beads, and other engaging manipulatives.

Art Activity Books. Gifted art students can work on projects found in books such as Art Projects From Around The World and Classroom Art.

Music Education CDs. Musically inclined students can listen to CDs of their favorite composers or genres during free time.

Music Resource Books. Teachers can provide their students with music theory books and activity books on composers, music symbols, and instruments.

By giving students access to gifted education supplies in the classroom, teachers can provide a positive learning atmosphere in which bright children are encouraged to explore their interests. These supplies can be stored in both gifted education classrooms and general education classrooms for students to use as opportunities allow during the school day.

Reference

HomeroomTeacher.com- https://www.homeroomteacher.com/giftedandtalentededucationsupplies.html

Image Credit

ChildGroup- https://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/131960

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Gifted Education Supplies for the Classroom: Ideas for Teachers

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Teachers can benefit from having gifted education supplies available in the classroom for academically advanced or creatively talented students to enjoy. Students who are gifted and talented often grow bored with grade-level classwork and thrive on intellectual stimulation provided by supplementary materials such as books geared toward specific interests, challenging games and puzzles, and art or music supplies.

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Exquisite Minds: Creative and Gifted Children

Exquisite Minds believes in the importance of cultivating creativity in bright and gifted children. We believe creativity can solve almost any problem; rather than why something can't be done, it's how it can be done. Exquisite Minds offers support to parents and educators who want to challenge children to find new and constructive ways to look at the world.

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Exquisite Minds: Creative and Gifted Children | Exquisite Minds offers free support and gifted resources to parents and educators who want to challenge creative and gifted children to find new and constructive ways to look at the world.

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Exquisite Minds offers free support and gifted resources to parents and educators who want to challenge creative and gifted children to find new and constructive ways to look at the world.

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Classroom Instruction and Teacher Training for Gifted Students

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Classroom Instruction and Teacher Training for Gifted Students

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Every student has the right to learn something new every day, although, unfortunately we know that too many advanced students are simply marking time in the classroom until new material is presented to them. Worse, many underrepresented gifted students -- those who are limited English proficient, disabled, or from minority or low-income backgrounds -- have not been identified for advanced learner services or are in schools where no advanced classes or gifted education services are available, and where classroom teachers have not been trained to meet their needs. In practice, most gifted and talented students spend the majority of their time in the regular classroom. Therefore, it is imperative that schools and districts account for this reality in their instructional and professional development planning.

Four practices to promote equitable access and school success for underrepresented gifted students

Develop culturally sensitive identification protocols

Ensure early and continuous access to high-end curriculum for talent development

Provide essential supports, including helping students develop psycho-social strategies

Establish effective home, school and community connections

Download the full NAGC position statement on Identifying and Serving Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Gifted Students

Read more about identification practices with diverse learners.

Read best educational practices with low-income, high-ability students

Read Expanding the View of Giftedness in a special issue of AASA's School Administrator magazine.

Teacher Training

Because high ability and high achieving students are typically served in the regular classroom, it is critical that all teachers be trained to recognize and meet the needs of advanced students so that they may respond to individual student strengths and make referrals for further assessment where appropriate. It is also critical that school- or district-level staff with expertise in gifted and talented education be available to support regular classroom teachers in this work.

To develop the skills, identify advanced students from underserved populations and to create a learning environment that supports their needs, teachers and other school leaders need regular professional development that addresses the following

Learning characteristics and behaviors of underrepresented gifted populations

Awareness of cultural differences

Children with multiple exceptionalities

Developing positive peer culture in the classroom and school

Equitable and nonbiased assessments

Explore gifted education practices that that have been shown to increase student achievement.

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Classroom Instruction and Teacher Training for Gifted Students from Diverse Populations

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Every student has the right to learn something new every day, although, unfortunately we know that too many advanced students are simply marking time in the classroom until new material is presented to them.

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Academic acceleration has no negative long-term effects on the psychological well-being of gifted youth

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Academic acceleration has no negative long-term effects on the psychological well-being of gifted youth

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https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2020/08/03/academic-acceleration-has-no-negative-long-term-effects-on-the-psychological-well-being-of-gifted-youth/?utm_source=Davidson+Newsletters&utm_campaign=abc5872f41-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_09_08_04_41&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c5a4a056ac-abc5872f41-384752117

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Tips for Teaching Gifted Students | Scholastic

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As Katy Kennedy was planning a unit on astronomy with her fourth graders at Harper Elementary School in suburban Chicago, she knew one of her students almost could have taught the lesson himself. "His area of intelligence was science. He knew everything already," recalls Kennedy, who works in Wilmette Public Schools, which disbanded its gifted program 20 years ago.

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By Tiombe Bisa Kendrick-Dunn.

When parents first learn of their child's disabling condition such as a learning disability in reading, Autism, or language impairment, it is often a very traumatic experience. In contrast, most parents are excited to learn they have an academically or intellectually gifted child. The average parents of a gifted child often find themselves in a state of bliss, as they are so proud of the human being they, after all, created. Many of these children will experience a life where their academic and social and emotional needs will be identified and addressed by their schools, society, communities, and families. As a result many of these children will mature into productive citizens and will go on to live satisfying lives.

As quiet as it's kept, many parents of gifted children from racially and culturally diverse backgrounds have a much different experience upon learning their child is gifted. Many parents of gifted children from culturally and racially diverse backgrounds often become what some may label as "overly concerned" about their child's future when they learn of their child's academic and intellectual giftedness. These parents often ponder about a variety of issues their children will be confronted with throughout their lives. For example, some parents often wonder if their children will be provided with the necessary services and exposure in a variety of areas to be able to reach their full potential in life. In addition, these parents have learned (most likely from their own life experiences) that their children will experience a qualitatively different life trajectory than their gifted peers from non-diverse backgrounds due to past and present historical events and societal treatment of people from racially and culturally diverse populations. Although the latter is factual, mainstream society often ignores and/or denies this fact! As a result, many of these parents struggle with how to ensure the protection and preservation of their child's culture from the cruel realities of the society and the world in general. These parents often worry about the following with their gifted children:

· the impact racism and discrimination will have on their child's educational experience

· how to help their children preserve their culture and values while assimilating into mainstream society

· how to deal with adult "bullies" in work, volunteer, and educational environments

· how to teach their children to advocate for themselves as adults

· how to detect and effectively address covert and overt racism and discrimination.

All of these issues are rarely acknowledged by mainstream society.

It is very important that parents of gifted children from racially and culturally diverse backgrounds understand that there is no shame in acknowledging their worries and anxiety. These parents will need to prepare their children very early in life about the societal experiences their children will likely experience, otherwise they risk their children experiencing distress that increases the risk of mental health disorders. Parents of these gifted children should also seek and/or create opportunities and resources in their schools and communities to help these children become resilient. If parents find their children are experiencing distress due to racism, discrimination, injustice, or unfair treatment among peers, it is imperative they seek support through a culturally responsive mental health professional, religious community, family, or other community contacts.

Being parents of gifted children from culturally and racially diverse backgrounds is often stressful for a variety of reasons. It is important these parents understand the importance of preparing their gifted children for the ills of mainstream society that will surely confront them despite their coveted "giftedness." Parents should become intimately familiar with the scholarly works of individuals who produce research with this population of children. Children in general are quite vulnerable to societal ways but those of culturally and racially diverse backgrounds are at increased risk of experiencing distress, injustice, racism, and discrimination and must be protected and informed.

________________________________________________________
Tiombe Bisa Kendrick-Dunn is a nationally certified school psychologist and is licensed to practice school psychology in the state of Florida. She has been employed with the Miami-Dade County Public School District as a school psychologist since 2005. Ms. Kendrick-Dunn has a very strong passion for addressing the needs of gifted students from culturally and linguistically diverse populations and has been instrumental in significantly increasing the numbers of culturally diverse students participating in the Gifted Program at her schools. In addition, she has many helped parents find services outside the school district to help address the needs of their gifted children. In 2006, Ms. Kendrick-Dunn was a member of Miami-Dade Public Schools Gifted Task Force Committee and was also awarded the Mary Frasier Scholarship sponsored by the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC). In 2007, she was both appointed to the NAGC Diversity/Equity Committee and was awarded a grant by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Children Fund Inc to establish a resource center specifically designed for gifted students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Ms. Kendrick-Dunn completed her undergraduate work at Miami Dade College and Florida State University and her graduate work at Barry University. Ms. Kendrick-Dunn has presented at numerous professional conventions on the topic of gifted children.

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Parenting the Culturally/Racially Diverse Gifted Child

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By Tiombe Bisa Kendrick-Dunn. When parents first learn of their child's disabling condition such as a learning disability in reading, Autism, or language impairment, it is often a very traumatic experience. In contrast, most parents are excited to learn they have an academically or intellectually gifted child.

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Teaches the basics of coding for all levels.

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Pull-Out Program for Gifted Students...The most recent research suggests pull-out programs may not work.

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Pull-Out Program for Gifted Students...The most recent research suggests pull-out programs may not work.

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A pull-out program is one in which a gifted child is taken out of their regular classroom for one or more hours a week and provided with enrichment activities and instruction among other gifted students.

When Pull-Out Programs Typically Start

Pull-out programs may begin as early as first grade, but more typically start in third grade. They are usually content specific; that is, they generally provide enrichment in language arts (particularly reading) or in math.﻿﻿

But the use of pull-out programs has not been shown to be universally successful, due in part to their duration. Some research has shown that gifted children should be grouped together for an entire school day instead of for a limited segment.﻿﻿ And most pull-out programs have not been tied to significant academic progress since they tend not to be standardized and stray from the curriculum that students' other classes are following.

How Do These Programs Impact Gifted Children?

There have also been questions about the social ramifications of pulling a child out of regular classes since it can create a perceived divide between gifted and traditional students. It can be a challenge for teachers to persuade students not selected for gifted enrichment that there isn't something wrong with them.﻿﻿ The same may be true for the gifted students, who may miss out on other class activities. If gifted students get the impression they're "better" than their classmates, this could lead to bullying or isolation.

When used for students who have learning disabilities, pull-out programs may tend to further stigmatize children who are already struggling in school.﻿﻿ An alternative approach is called a "push-in," which in special ed brings the student's therapist into the main classroom, and incorporating the instruction there. But push-ins can have similar isolating effects for special education children if not done with sensitivity.

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Are Pull-Out Programs Effective for Gifted Students?

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A pull-out program is one in which a gifted child is taken out of their regular classroom for one or more hours a week and provided with enrichment activities and instruction among other gifted students. Pull-out programs may begin as early as first grade, but more typically start in third grade.

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Every parent hopes for their child to be smart and to excel in school, but sometimes parents just don't know what to do with a child who is especially exceptional. Keeping him or her challenged, interested, and engaged can be tough, as can dealing with an educational system that doesn't always focus on helping out bright students. Parents of gifted children should know that they're not alone and that there are hundreds of resources on the Web that can help every step of the way. Here are some we think stand out from the crowd, offering advice, information, support, and educational resources to help you support and encourage your child's special abilities.

Organizations

These organizations help gifted students and their parents get the education, emotional support, and guidance they need to grow up happy and well-adjusted.

1. National Association for Gifted Children: The National Association for Gifted Children is one of the best places for parents of gifted children to find resources, reading, help, and advice on raising an exceptional child.

2. IAGC: The Illinois Association for Gifted Children is just one of many state-centered organizations for gifted kids. Parents can join, find other families, and even attend special events.

3. Gifted Child Society: The Gifted Child Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering the cause of gifted children. Through their website, parents can find helpful information and learn about seminars and workshops they can attend.

4. GPGC: The Governor's Program for Gifted Children is a seven-week residential summer enrichment program for gifted students. Parents can learn more about the program, held at McNeese State University, from their website.

5. SENG: SENG is short for Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted and is an organization that wants to help ensure that gifted children are understood, accepted, nurtured, and supported by their families, schools, and workplaces.

6. Mensa for Kids: Mensa embraces younger members through this fun website, offering up monthly themes to get kids reading and learning at an advanced level.

7. Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration: Find out more about the latest research being done into academic acceleration through this organization's site.

8. Center for Talented Youth: Located at Johns Hopkins, this organization engages gifted kids and their families through programs, summer classes, and even a bi-monthly magazine.

Twitter

Find quick 140-character-or-less quips and updates about working with, parenting, and helping gifted children from these excellent Twitter feeds.

1. @DeepWatersCoach: Lisa Lauffer works with the group Gifted Grownups & Parents of Gifted Children, offering support through her Twitter feed and beyond.

2. @gifted_guru: Head to this feed to hear from Lisa Van Gemert, a gifted youth specialist for Mensa.

3. @JeffcoGifted: This nonprofit group of parents, teachers, and community leaders tweets about advocacy and resources for gifted kids.

4. @HoagiesGifted: Head to this feed to get resources and articles aplenty about gifted education and parenting.

5. @laughingatchaos: Jen is a mom raising gifted kids. She shares her experiences, both the good and the bad, here and on her blog.

Blogs

These blogs offer excellent advice and resources to parents, teachers, or anyone working with gifted children.

1. About.com Gifted Children: Carol Bainbridge, an expert on gifted children, maintains this blog, which is chock full of learning ideas, information, and more.

2. Parenting Gifted Kids: Head to this blog, written by gifted educator Sarah Robbins, to learn more about how to challenge and help your gifted child.

3. Gifted Exchange: This blog focuses on gifted kids, touching on issues of schooling, parenting, education, and more, all written by the staff at the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.

4. The Prufrock Blog: Prufrock is one of the leading publishers of materials for gifted, advanced, and special needs students. On this blog, you'll find updates on their latest releases.

5. Unwrapping the Gifted: Head to this Education Week blog to hear from Tamara Fisher, a K-12 gifted education specialist. She gives great insights into gifted and talented education.

6. Parents of Gifted Children Resource Group: Here, parents can find resources and make connections with other parents of gifted children.

7. Gifted Parenting Support: This blog is an excellent place to read more about how to parent and educate children who are gifted and talented.

8. Gifted Guru: This blogger offers up resources, books, commentary, and more on the subject of gifted education.

9. Gifted Education Perspectives: Follow this blog to learn more about all things gifted, from what defines it to how to best educate bright students.

10. Creating Curriculum for Gifted Children: This blog approaches gifted kids from an educator's perspective, but parents can also learn new ways to challenge and interest their children.

11. Gifted Education Consultant: Sonia White, author and gifted education specialist, shares her passion for helping gifted children through this blog.

12. Gifted Phoenix: On this blog, parents can find some insights into giftedness issues, education, and parenting, from a New Zealand perspective.

13. Byrdseed: Focusing on creativity, accelerated learning, literature, and more, this blog offers resources and inspiration to gifted educators and parents of gifted kids.

Resources

If you're looking for resources to help you parent, choose a school, or just support your child, these sites are great places to start.

1. Hoagies' Gifted Education Page: On this site, you'll find a bit of everything, from conference listings to tips on understanding your gifted child, making it an excellent resource for any parent.

2. Gifted Development Center: Looking for information about giftedness and how to raise a gifted child? Dr. Linda Silverman provides both on this helpful site.

3. Gifted Child Today: This open-access journal is a great read for parents who want to learn more about how to cater to the needs of their gifted child.

4. Gifted Child Quarterly: Another open-access journal, this journal is a bit more scholarly, publishing research done on giftedness and talent development.

5. Summer Camps for Gifted Children: Looking for a great way to keep your child busy and learning over the summer? These summer camps could be a great choice.

6. Exquisite Minds: Parents and teachers who work with gifted children can find resources, online games, tips, tools, and more on this social site.

7. Royal Fireworks Press: Head to this publisher's website to find great reads for both you and your gifted child, especially if you're homeschooling.

8. BrightKids: BrightKids is a discussion group for parents of gifted children and is maintained through MENSA. You can join here and get tips and advice from other parents of bright kids.

9. Schools for the Gifted Child: Wondering where to send your gifted child? This site lists schools in six countries.

10. Educational Resources for Parents and Teachers of Gifted Youth: Mensa is a great place to look for help with a gifted child. Here, they offer up a collection of resources for parents and teachers that ranges from lesson places to fun activities.

11. Gifted Homeschoolers Forum: Even if you're not homeschooling your child, this site offers a chance to get resources and talk to parents who are also working to raise gifted children.

12. Genius Denied: This is the website for the book Genius Denied, an expose of the ways in which the American education system often ignores its brightest students.

13. Gifted Children's Bill of Rights: This resource will help you learn how to stand up for your kids and make sure that his or her rights are being respected.

14. Gifted Journey: This site is a great resource for learning about giftedness, touching on everything from bullying to IQ tests.

15. teachfine on gifted and ed tech: This site collects resources that combine gifted education and technology, creating a great list of articles and sites that parents and kids can use to learn.

Articles

These articles will help you stay informed and educated about issues relevant to your gifted child.

1. Gifted Students Go Dumb to Fit In: Is your child lowering his or her potential in order to fit in with peers? This article explores the stigma of being smart.

2. Gifted Children Need Help, Too: Many teachers and parents believe that smart kids don't need help; they'll do well on their own. This just isn't the case, as you'll learn here.

3. The Drama of the Gifted Child: Being a gifted child isn't easy, as you'll learn from this Psychology Today article.

4. Hey, Teacher, Get Help Somewhere Else: Make sure your child isn't working as a teacher's aide in his or her classroom, a common occurrence as this article explains.

5. Top 10 Myths in Gifted Education: Learn some of the biggest myths about teaching gifted kids from this great YouTube video.

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48 Essential Links for the Parents of Gifted Children | OEDB.org

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Every parent hopes for their child to be smart and to excel in school, but sometimes parents just don't know what to do with a child who is especially

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Cynthia Eddy

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Social Emotional Development of Gifted Children

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Social Emotional Development of Gifted Children

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Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children

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15 Ways to Help Gifted Kids Thrive in School

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15 Ways to Help Gifted Kids Thrive in School

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Lisa VanGemert

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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History Day has been the vehicle that creates an understanding and appreciation of history while developing the necessary 21st-century tools, skills and aptitudes for my diverse student population.

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picture exchange communication system cards

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Do2Learn: Educational Resources for Special Needs

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picture communication cards, songs, games and learning activities for autism, fetal alcohol syndrome and disabilities

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Reexamining the Role of Gifted Education and Talent Development for the 21st Century: A Four-Part Theoretical Approach

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Reexamining the Role of Gifted Education and Talent Development for the 21st Century: A Four-Part Theoretical Approach

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https://gifted.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/961/2015/01/Reexamining_Role_of_Gifted_Ed_and_Talent_Dev.pdf

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https://www.edx.org/school/harvardx -

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I use these problem solving games with my gifted students individually and in groups.  Sometimes they are geared toward specific subjects like math or ELA and sometimes it's just to improve team building skills.
https://www.breakoutedu.com/

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This website offers enrichment activities in both math and ELA. There are even opportunities to compete against other players.
https://www.sumdog.com/us/

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If you're going to try to differentiate instruction for you students, you will most definitely need to determine some important information about your students you start thinking of ideas for what you're teaching and how to approach your instruction! In the education world, we call this preassessment or pre-testing, and as the prefix implies, this is an assessment of a child that is to take place before the new learning is to occur. Today's post is the second in a series I'm writing about differentiated instruction. You can read the first post here.

What? Another TEST?!

When you hear the term preassessment or pre-test, your first thought is probably something to the effect of, "Ugh! I don't have time for that!" or, "How on earth am I supposed to add another thing to our already busy schedules?" Perhaps you're even thinking, "Another TEST?! Aren't these kids tested enough already?"

Let me tell you something. I HEAR you! It is difficult to add something new to your routine when you are already in the groove. It can be a lot of work to create new assessments for everything you plan to teach. But learning about your students before you teach them is SO important. There are three types of pre-assessments you can administer to learn more about your kiddos. You can learn about students' readiness for something, their learning style or preferences, or their attitudes about learning and/or areas of interest. Although all three types of assessment are important, the majority of this post today will focus on assessing student readiness to learn new skills and concepts.

Learning about what preexisting knowledge your students are coming to you with is just so, so, so important. Did you know that your gifted students come to your classroom already knowing up to 80% of the material you plan on presenting? And preassessment has actually been found to be beneficial to student learning, not just because it tells you what they know, but also because it acts as a sort of primer for the brain, helping to pave the road for future learning. Remember, this is assessment FOR learning, not assessment OF learning. You are giving your students another test of sorts, but it should be presented to them in a way that helps them to understand that it is NOT a graded assignment. It is meant to help you, the teacher, get to how much of the content you need to teach them. And here's the kicker--it doesn't have to be a test or feel like a test if you get creative about it.

It is not sufficient to just give a pre-test, then proceed with the regularly scheduled programming without adjusting your instruction (and sadly, many teachers do just that <---insert frowny face). It's what you DO with the information that is most critical in the education of those young people in your care.

{By the way, let's not blame the teachers for not always knowing what to do with this information. It is fairly customary for new teachers to have only one or two (if they're lucky) courses in assessment in undergraduate-level programs. Teachers really don't get enough training in the complexities of assessment and grading before they're expected to become the expert in their own classrooms. I've been a teacher for more than 10 years, and I am still learning about best practice in assessment. I'm not sure I'll ever be done! It is because of the reasons I listed above that I feel so strongly about sharing the things I have learned in this journey as an educator.}

My goal for this post today is to leave you with some ideas for how you can quickly and effectively assess your students before you teach. Then in the following posts, I'll provide some suggestions for what to do with all that great information! If you ever have any questions that pop up in your reading, please don't hesitate to leave a comment at the bottom of the post, or email me using the link in the sidebar of my blog!

Decide What You Want to Know

When you start your preassessment journey, you first need to think about what information you want your students to know at the END of the lesson, unit, year, etc. The pre-test should measure children's knowledge of the same objectives that you are responsible for teaching. I suggest starting by reading your standards closely or taking a peek at your school's curriculum map or assessment map. What is it that your students need to know or be able to do by the end of the instruction? It's important that you align the assessment to correspond in both content and difficulty--especially with the verbs you see in the standards. If they have to interpret products of whole numbers, (CCSS 3.OA.A.1) then the pre-test you give them should measure whether they can indeed, interpret the product, not just whether they can calculate the answer. For example, it's not enough that they can find the product of 5 x 7, they need to be able to describe the context in which they would need to express a problem like that. This can be tricky and takes practice if you're just starting out, but once you get the hang of it, aligning your problems to the standards gets easier. This practice will also help strengthen your understanding of the standards as well, so it's a win-win, right?

Decide How You're Going to Gather the Information You Need

Formal Preassessment

I think of these assessments as more traditional, a little less fun, but very helpful in the specificity of information that they can provide.

Chapter tests-- If you're lucky enough to be working in a district (or if you're homeschooling) and using curriculum that already has different versions of post-tests for each chapter, USE THEM! In my most recent teaching position, we used a math program that had three different levels of tests, and two versions of each test. I always used the form A test before we started the chapter, and then the form B test when we finished.

Quarterly tests/Benchmark tests-- These tests, again, are already part of what you use in your school to measure student progress toward learning grade level standards (I hope). If not, you may need to create your own or find one someone else has already created. If you use these for pre-tests, be sure you either have different versions of the test available for use or that you take time to create a test that mirrors the tests because you want to be sure you don't skew results of the end-of-quarter or benchmark tests)

Portfolios--If you use these, they are a great starting point for preassessment. These seem to me to be especially relevant for demonstrating a child's readiness in writing and visual arts, but I am sure they are helpful in other areas as well. The only reason I would caution the use of them as a standalone pre-test for other subjects (and even for writing) is the simple fact that you can't always guarantee that ALL of the child's previous learning is completely exemplified in the portfolio. It is hard to be sure that a work sample in a portfolio is a true example of all they can do. In other words, how do you know that the child reached the ceiling of his or her learning on that particular concept? Sure, they showed that they can multiply two-digit factors, but if they weren't prompted to do more, how can you be sure whether they can or cannot actually do more? Additionally, the use of portfolios requires having an accompanying rubric or checklist.

Checklists of skills the child has demonstrated--Go here for an AWESOME ebook of checklists you can use for grades 3-6. Seriously, check it out. You can see a sample on Google Books here. This is not an affiliate link, I just like this book. There are a TON of checklists on Teachers Pay Teachers, depending on what you need, I'm positive you can find something there.

Running Records--these are great for on-the-spot assessments of how your student is reading. To be sure it's VERY important that the child you are assessing is reading a book that is at or slightly above their instructional reading level so that you can get a true picture of their strengths and weaknesses. Here is a great article from ASCD summarizing how to conduct a running record, if you haven't done it before. You should also check to see whether your district has identified benchmarks or cut-scores in reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension when you use this as a pre-test so that you know where your student stands in comparison to his or her grade-level peers.

Audition-Teachers of performance arts, this is a great way to learn your students' limits. Using a checklist or rubric is also a must for this type of preassessment.

Informal Preassessment

These measures are a little more fun! Quick and easy to prepare and administer, they still provide valuable information, but I find them a little less accurate and/or thorough than the formal options.

Four Corners--This is a super quick way to gauge what your students know. There are a couple of different ways you can use this strategy. Using multiple choice questions you create or questions from your curriculum, label each corner of your classroom A, B, C, D. You pose the question, and students walk to the area of the room that matches with the answer they've selected. I would advise you to have students record their answers on a piece of paper, before allowing them to walk to the corners. This way, not only do you increase student accountability, you also have a physical copy of their pretest results. Further, having students record answers before moving creates an environment that decreases the likelihood of peer-pressure related answer selection.

Graffiti Wall-This strategy is quick and simple. The only supplies you need are large pieces of chart paper, markers, and concepts that you plan on studying soon. Post the chart paper on the wall, and challenge students to come to each page and record as much information as they possibly can about the topic. They can write phrases or ideas--they don't have to write complete sentences. They need to sign their work (so you know who wrote what, of course) and they should get started writing as soon as they get to the paper. Enforcing the write right away rule is helpful because it decreases the likelihood that a child is copying from another student. This activity is something students really enjoy because it feels a little taboo when you call it graffiti! They also like the novelty of writing on the big teacher paper, and if you reserve special markers for them to use, it makes the experience all that much better. Limitations to this strategy could be that a student simply doesn't recall quickly everything they truly know about a topic, which is why I would recommend having maybe a quick conversation about the topics you've chosen, without revealing too much information. This just helps get children's brains warmed up a bit and primed for expressing their knowledge. You can also provide so keywords on or near each sheet of chart paper to help jog students' memories a bit. If you were concerned about copying, you could allow each student to have his or her own piece of paper instead. Modifications of this strategy include having students making voice notes or recordings of their knowledge on a device, typing out their answers on google docs, or verbally telling you their thoughts.

Entrance Slips--Much like the commonly used exit slip, students can complete the task or problem you plan on giving at the end of the lesson before you teach them. Like I mentioned above, you need to make sure the question you provide is rigorous enough to capture your true learning objective for the day. After students complete the problem or task, you can quickly sort the slips (I frequently used sticky notes for this) into piles of students who either already know what you're planning to teach, or who don't know it. Of course, you need to have a plan already in place for what you'll do with students who already know the content. I actually found it helpful to give the entrance slips a day or two ahead of the lesson (but not much more that that) so that I had time to make a meaningful plan. More on that in a subsequent post!

Five Hardest, or Hardest First--Many times, traditional assignments for independent work in class or for homework are designed in a way that questions toward the beginning of the paper are easier, and the questions at the end are more challenging or complex. For gifted children, forcing them to complete the entire assignment can be grueling and create negative feelings toward your subject or class. Allowing students to voluntarily attempt the most difficult problems first is a great way of finding out whether they truly understand the concept. If they do demonstrate an understanding of the learning objective on the most difficult tasks, please, I'm urging you, don't make them do the rest of the page! It would be torture, I tell you! Torture!

Quick Write or One-Minute Paper-- Similar to the graffiti wall, this strategy encourages students to write down all they know about a particular topic. This time, though, unlike the graffiti wall, their writing should be a little more coherent. If you teach a subject in which writing conventions, overall cohesiveness, and quality of writing are not important, you can most certainly adjust this activity as you see fit (though it does provide a great opportunity for cross-curricular writing connections...). This is meant to be quick--but be careful! Gifted students (and others!) often feel extra pressure when a time element is involved, so it's important that you let children know ahead of time what your goal is, and feel free to loosen the time constraints if you see that your students are underperforming because of the time pressure. It would be counterproductive to give a preassessment on which students can't show you what they truly know because their brains aren't working properly under the pressure.

Interactive Games--Games like Kahoot allow students to show you what they know in a super fun, technological way. Limitations, of course, would include access to technology. If you haven't tried using a game like this in your classroom, I urge you to do so. You won't regret it!

A Final Note About Preassessment

The list above is most certainly not an exhaustive list of all of the preassessment strategies but the strategies I've included are what I found to be most helpful in my 10 years of teaching. Whatever you use to determine what your students know, DO NOT GRADE THESE ASSIGNMENTS! No matter how tempting it may be to jot their scores down in your grade book, remember these activities are intended to occur BEFORE you've taught the material. It's not fair (and really not ethical) to evaluate students on something they're not yet supposed to know. Each time I gave a pretest to my students, I always, always, always, let them know that they could completely fail the assignment F minus style and I would be happy to see their paper. After all, if they bomb it, I know exactly where to start teaching, right? It's the kids who already know the information that added a little more challenge to my planning (of course I didn't mention the last part to students--they don't need any extra pressure). What I DID do with the scores is have students record them on a graph. Particularly if I had given them a chapter post-test as a pre-test. Then I could confer with students and together, we'd set goals about how much growth to shoot for. We graphed post test results as well, and applauded successes along the way, or determined what work was left to do.

As always, thanks so much for reading this LONG post! I hope you found the information helpful.

Ready to read more on differentiation? Click here to read about what it means to differentiate content.

As a thank you for making it all the way to the bottom of this post, you can click to get free access to this Pre- and Post-test Growth Chart I made for my students. *Just to be clear, by clicking to get the freebie (and instant access to the growing collection of free resources in my library of subscriber exclusives), you're also agreeing to be added to my email list, where I'll send occasional messages with fresh ideas, tips, and other resources straight to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.*

If you have any questions or suggestions for other great preassessment tools, please feel free to email me (jen@soaringwithsnyder.com) or leave a comment below!

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Meeting the Needs of Your Gifted Student: Differentiated Instruction--Preassessment 2/6

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Did you know that your gifted students come to your classroom already knowing up to 80% of the material you're planning on teaching this year? Read about why you need to find out just how much they already know, and what to do with that information once you have it.

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Home  Most-Clicked  Five Strategies for Supporting Gifted Students

Most-Clicked

Five Strategies for Supporting Gifted Students

By

Laura Varlas, ASCD Newsletters & Publications

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October 17, 2011

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22284

Last week’s most-clicked ASCD SmartBrief article echoes a previous most-clicked report from the Fordham Foundation that claims policies focused exclusively on low achievers disserve high achievers, and as a result, top performers steadily lose ground as they transition through school.

“How to Support Gifted Students in Your Classroom” asks teachers to be mindful of how they can identify, recognize, accept, and utilize giftedness in your classroom beyond adding more work for gifted students or asking them to tutor less-proficient students.

An EL article from the archives, “Raising Expectations for the Gifted,” suggests five strategies for teaching gifted students in an inclusive classroom:

Curriculum Compacting: Streamlining what is taught to students by first assessing their prior knowledge and then modifying or eliminating work that has been partially or fully mastered.

Flexible Grouping: Grouping students according to strength, need, or interest, and groups change frequently, sometimes in the course of a single class session. (See Tomlinson for more on this topic.)

Product Choices: Allowing students some choice in what sort of culminating product they will produce.

Tiered Assignments: The entire class studies the same content, but individual students choose assignments at different levels of complexity, with the teacher’s assistance.

Multilevel Learning Stations: Providing meaningful independent work that extends and enriches class discussions.

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I love reading the Gifted Guru's newsletter. She shared this technique a few months ago. I have several students who like to "blend in" and this is great for that type of student.

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Looking for a quick differentiation technique any teacher can use?

I made this one up, and it's worked really well for me for years. I call it "Scholar Extension Opportunity."

Scholar Extension Opportunities (SEOs) are optional opportunities for students to extend their learning experience.

They may include creativity, product complexity, or audience expansion (including publishing).

SEOs allow students to show and showcase their true abilities in a way the standard assignment may not.

Essentially, they're something that is the same objective, but taken to an entirely different level from that which would be expected.

Interested? Let's get into it!

What a Scholar Extension Opportunity Looks Like

They're built right into the rubric, and they look like this:

EXAMPLE 1

Do you see how everyone's working on outlines, but the scholar extension allows the student to share something about outlines that's beyond just producing one?

EXAMPLE 2

In this one, the Presentation SEO is pretty vague, but the Accuracy one is really specific.

(Note: This one is from a really cool project-based geography lesson plan I wrote called "Connecting Africa." You can get it for free.)

EXAMPLE 3

For this example and the one below, I'm taking an existing rubric I didn't create (because I know you have to work with them sometimes), and I'm creating an SEO for it.

Possible SEO: The student took the information on the research fact sheet and created a brochure or foldable to share the information in a different way.

EXAMPLE 4

This is an elementary math center scoring rubric.

Possbile SEO: The student allowed another student to choose the mixture of activities to complete OR the student chose activities that he/she had done poorly on in the past OR the student created an additional choice other students could try.

(Note: This is from a freebie by Jennifer Findley on TeacherspayTeachers.)

How to Use Them

I use them for a fairly permanent differentiation technique. By "permanent" I mean that its always available.

They're a simple and straightforward. Once you start using them, you'll never go back.

It literally takes seconds to do when you're creating a rubric, and if the rubric was one you were given, adding them to it is simple as well.

Here are some guidelines:

Students must show mastery in requirements. You can't do a terrible job on your outline (or not do it at all) and then spend all of your energy on the SEO. I tell students not to even try the SEO unless they truly believe they are in the highest range of scoring on the rubric for that requirement.

They are never for a grade. The SEOs are not part of the grade. They're extensions. Sometimes I grant extra credit, sometimes I may give a late pass or some other token, and sometimes I give really full feedback alone. Shockingly, most kids like really good feedback most of all. Our gifted kids often get an "A" and nothing else.

Not every line of the rubric has to offer an SEO. I would suggest perhaps 25% of the rubric's criteria is a good guideline to use.

They may be student-suggested. If I am having trouble coming up with ideas, I will often ask students. This is sometimes done after the assignment. I may ask, "So, what SEO ideas could I include next time I teach this?"

SEOs are always optional. This isn't moreferentiation (you know how I feel about that). It's an opportunity, not a requirement (see "They are never for a grade" above).

Students can choose to do one or more of the SEOs. There is no connection between them, so they do not need to do more than one.

Why Would Students Do It?

You may be wondering why a student would choose to do something voluntarily for no guaranteed return.

You'd be shocked at how many students love them. They're not for everyone, so I don't feel badly if only a couple of students try one.

Here's what usually happens:
It catches on.
One student does one, and I showcase it like crazy. I write home to the parent. I display it in the class. I go crazy over it like I won some secret teacher lottery. And pretty soon, the teacher pleasers in the class are doing it. And then others want to try, too.

As with anything, you just need one kid to do it and have a good result to open the door. It's contagious. In a good way. Not like, you know, measles.

How Do I Come Up with Them?

Like anything else, the more you do it, the easier it gets. When I first started, I had to sit and really think. Now, they just appear in my head with Harry Potter-like magic.

I consider things like:

What would a really cool one look like? Could a student do this somehow much more creatively or involved than I'm asking for?

How could a student show deeper thinking?

How could a student show initiative?

How could I broaden the audience for this?

How could the student create something that could help others? (I try to use this quite frequently because gifted kids often care more about others earlier than their typical-learner peers, so it's a good opportunity for them to leverage that.)

Let me show you another rubric from my Connecting Africa project to show you what I mean.

In the Completeness section, having it all done is one thing. That earns full points. You want to really impress me? Figure out something that I missed. That's next level.

In the Quality of Analysis section, analyzing the sources you were given or directed to earns full points. Going and finding additional quality resources is something entirely different.

You can use the same one on different activities, so you really just need a toolbox of them that you can use over and over.

Here are some other examples of mine:

Student created a high-quality, half-sheet poster board to display results in hallway.

The student created another problem of slightly higher difficulty and had two people attempt to solve it.

Created a quiz on the material (including key) and had a parent take the quiz.

The presentation displayed some advanced PowerPoint technique that was used effectively.

Donated the project to a lower grade. (This one assumes the project would be useful to the lower grade. I've used this with alphabet books, etc.)

Gave presentation to multiple/different/unexpected audience. (Multiple classes, a group of adults, at a PTA meeting, in front of the administrators, during a walk-through, etc.)

Lab report created in form of peer-reviewed journal article, complete with at least two graphs or charts.

Essay was recorded in audio and shared.

Remember that you can also have students offer suggestions. They're a great resource for ideas!

Explaining Scholar Extension Opportunities (SEOs) to students

Here's exactly what I say, word for word:
On the internet, the most important thing for a website is being found by search engines like Google. Website developers spend a lot of time and money on what is called Search Engine Optimization to make it most likely their sites will appear at or near the top in web search. They are very careful about what words they use where, they use key words related to their topic, and they put descriptors on everything, including pictures, to make sure that they are not only on the internet but also visible there. On the internet, it doesn't matter how good your website is or how wonderful the information it contains if people cannot find it. The same is true to an extent in school. If you have a strong ability in an area, but you don't demonstrate it by optimizing your work, that ability may not show. In this class, we have SEO just like the internet. You will be offered optional Scholar Extension Opportunities. You are the website, and the evaluator is Google. Your completion of SEOs in this class enables the evaluator, usually the teacher, to see your true ability and value in that area. SEOs are always voluntary and optional. They are given no specific point value, as that is totally at the discretion of the evaluator. They may be extra credit on that assignment, or they may earn a bonus to be used later. They may not earn extra credit at all, but rather serve as an opportunity for you to show that you are a scholar. You may "get" nothing but a cool experience and strong feedback on your work. You know that's what we're about here, anyway.
Note: The last paragraph should be modified to teacher preference for how SEOs will be evaluated.

Another note: I have a poster about our attitude towards learning that is what I'm referencing in the last sentence. You can download a free copy for yourself. This is the attitude we're cultivating, and SEOs fit right in.

How to Get Started

1. Take an existing rubric.

2. Look at each criteria and think, "Could this be done any cooler?" (Look at the "How Do I Come Up with Them" section above.)

3. Add a column next to the highest level of the rubric and call it "Scholar Extension Opportunity."

4. Explain to students.

5. Prepare to either a) wait or b) be blown away. Both are possible.

Wrapping Up

I hope you like this idea and give it a shot. If you need help, please feel free to email me an example rubric and I'll create a couple for you.

One thing I love about these is that it brings the "my child is bored in your class" mantra to an abrupt halt. Kids who do them aren't bored, and kids who don't do them have no cause to complain.

When you integrate differentiation into your planning in this way, the amount of time it takes is negligible, but the results are astonishing.

You May Also Like:

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Quick Differentiation Technique: Scholar Extension Opportunities - Gifted Guru

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Looking for a quick differentiation technique any teacher can use? I made this one up, and it's worked really well for me for years. I call it "Scholar Extension Opportunity." Scholar Extension Opportunities (SEOs) are optional opportunities for students to extend their learning experience. They may include creativity, product complexity, or audience expansion (including publishing).

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Serving Gifted Students in General Ed ClassroomsWhile gifted students might excel in certain areas, we must differentiate their learning to address other academic areas along with their social and emotional needs.By Dr. Elissa F. BrownJuly 14, 2015Close up of girl at white board doing a math problemGifted students who are served in general education classrooms frequently finish their work sooner than other students. This can happen in one subject area, such as mathematics, or in all subject areas. Due to their rapidity of thought (VanTassel-Baska & Brown, 2007), they typically finish assignments before other children. Then they may act out because they are bored. What is really going on is a mismatch between the academic needs of the student and the pace and depth of the curricula and instructional program.Following are suggestions for how to best serve these students -- and what not to do.Don't. . .1. Use these students, whether formally identified as gifted or not, as teacher assistants.Using gifted students as tutors or teacher assistants for other students in the classroom is inappropriate and unethical, and it does not provide for their social-emotional or academic needs. When an appropriately differentiated education is not provided, gifted learners do not thrive in school, their potential is diminished, and they may even suffer from cognitive and affective harm.2. Expect the gifted student to be well behaved.Just because a student is smart does not mean that he or she is well behaved. Frequently, if there is a mismatch between classroom instruction and a gifted student's intellectual needs, that child may "act out" or misbehave. It's not because he or she is looking for attention, but because this student may be bored. Gifted students are developmentally asynchronous, meaning that their cognitive and emotional development are out of sync.3. Give them more work because they finish early.You are sending the implicit message, "Hey, you're smart, here are another 20 math problems," while everyone else is still working on the original set of 10. By giving gifted students more of the same type of work, you are penalizing them for being bright. If the child is intuitive, he or she will actually slow down and never finish early any more because that means getting more work. You want them to produce quality, not quantity.4. Isolate them to work independently without oversight.While independent research projects based on student interest may provide depth in an area, teachers assume that a gifted student is self-regulated and can work independently on a project without any guidance, oversight, or accountability. Sending them unsupervised to the computer lab, library, or back of the room to work independently may not produce the desired result.5. Expect a gifted child to be gifted in every subject area.Emerging research and new definitions of gifted speak to gifted students having an area or domain of high ability that generally is not across all areas. For example, even though a student is a gifted reader (able to read adult novels), he might not be a good writer -- reading and writing are different skills sets. Just because a student is highly precocious in math does not mean that she will be just as high in science.Do. . .1. Figure out in what area(s) students are gifted.You can acquire this information through formal and informal assessments that will help you provide extension, enrichment, acceleration, and complexity in that student's specific area of strength. This may mean a different lesson plan or finding additional resources related to an area of study. You could collaborate with the technology specialist, explore related arts, or work with other teachers to find appropriate extensions. Often this can mean linking the assignment to the student's area of interest or giving him authentic problems.2. Ensure that task demands and assessments are content rich.Many teachers think that serving the gifted means providing them with thinking skills or creative activities in isolation. These are fine as long as they are linked to high-level content. Everyone thinks critically about something, and he or she can be creative as long as the work is built upon a solid content foundation.3. Find other gifted students and create opportunities for them to work together.Gifted students need intellectual peers to develop optimally. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, through ability grouping during school or supplemental programs, such as talent search programs like Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth, or Saturday or summer enrichment programs. These supplemental programs are imperative to the health and well-being each learner. Gifted students need to spend time with other gifted students.4. Learn about this special diverse population of learners.Take classes, get certified or licensed in gifted education, attend conferences, and become a life-long learner seeking out others who have a vested interest in gifted learners. You need to network with other people, who can converse with and support you so that you won't feel isolated in your attempts at meeting gifted students' needs in the classroom or at the school level. There are national and state gifted advocacy associations as well as partners available through university networks.5. Implement research-based curriculum units.These units, which have been found to be effective with gifted students while complementing state standards, can augment your curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and typically have efficacious results with different populations of gifted students. Seek out curriculum units that have been funded through the Javits program, the National Science Foundation, and other sources, because student learning results have to be documented. Moreover, there are additional methods and models that have been effective for use with gifted learners. Using these units of study will save you time that you might otherwise spend seeking resources, while ensuring that what you are using in the classroom is supported by research.Gifted students need teacher advocates that care about them, understand them, and can provide differentiation in the classroom, as well as options and opportunities outside of the classroom that will help them achieve at levels commensurate with their abilities. By implementing these suggestions, you'll do more than meet their needs. You'll be setting them on a trajectory toward developing their talents.

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Serving Gifted Students in General Ed ClassroomsWhile gifted students might excel in certain areas, we must differentiate their learning to address other academic areas along with their social and emotional needs.By Dr. Elissa F. BrownJuly 14, 2015Close up of girl at white board doing a math problemGifted students who are served in general education classrooms frequently finish their work sooner than other students. This can happen in one subject area, such as mathematics, or in all subject areas. Due to their rapidity of thought (VanTassel-Baska & Brown, 2007), they typically finish assignments before other children. Then they may act out because they are bored. What is really going on is a mismatch between the academic needs of the student and the pace and depth of the curricula and instructional program.Following are suggestions for how to best serve these students -- and what not to do.Don't. . .1. Use these students, whether formally identified as gifted or not, as teacher assistants.Using gifted students as tutors or teacher assistants for other students in the classroom is inappropriate and unethical, and it does not provide for their social-emotional or academic needs. When an appropriately differentiated education is not provided, gifted learners do not thrive in school, their potential is diminished, and they may even suffer from cognitive and affective harm.2. Expect the gifted student to be well behaved.Just because a student is smart does not mean that he or she is well behaved. Frequently, if there is a mismatch between classroom instruction and a gifted student's intellectual needs, that child may "act out" or misbehave. It's not because he or she is looking for attention, but because this student may be bored. Gifted students are developmentally asynchronous, meaning that their cognitive and emotional development are out of sync.3. Give them more work because they finish early.You are sending the implicit message, "Hey, you're smart, here are another 20 math problems," while everyone else is still working on the original set of 10. By giving gifted students more of the same type of work, you are penalizing them for being bright. If the child is intuitive, he or she will actually slow down and never finish early any more because that means getting more work. You want them to produce quality, not quantity.4. Isolate them to work independently without oversight.While independent research projects based on student interest may provide depth in an area, teachers assume that a gifted student is self-regulated and can work independently on a project without any guidance, oversight, or accountability. Sending them unsupervised to the computer lab, library, or back of the room to work independently may not produce the desired result.5. Expect a gifted child to be gifted in every subject area.Emerging research and new definitions of gifted speak to gifted students having an area or domain of high ability that generally is not across all areas. For example, even though a student is a gifted reader (able to read adult novels), he might not be a good writer -- reading and writing are different skills sets. Just because a student is highly precocious in math does not mean that she will be just as high in science.Do. . .1. Figure out in what area(s) students are gifted.You can acquire this information through formal and informal assessments that will help you provide extension, enrichment, acceleration, and complexity in that student's specific area of strength. This may mean a different lesson plan or finding additional resources related to an area of study. You could collaborate with the technology specialist, explore related arts, or work with other teachers to find appropriate extensions. Often this can mean linking the assignment to the student's area of interest or giving him authentic problems.2. Ensure that task demands and assessments are content rich.Many teachers think that serving the gifted means providing them with thinking skills or creative activities in isolation. These are fine as long as they are linked to high-level content. Everyone thinks critically about something, and he or she can be creative as long as the work is built upon a solid content foundation.3. Find other gifted students and create opportunities for them to work together.Gifted students need intellectual peers to develop optimally. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, through ability grouping during school or supplemental programs, such as talent search programs like Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth, or Saturday or summer enrichment programs. These supplemental programs are imperative to the health and well-being each learner. Gifted students need to spend time with other gifted students.4. Learn about this special diverse population of learners.Take classes, get certified or licensed in gifted education, attend conferences, and become a life-long learner seeking out others who have a vested interest in gifted learners. You need to network with other people, who can converse with and support you so that you won't feel isolated in your attempts at meeting gifted students' needs in the classroom or at the school level. There are national and state gifted advocacy associations as well as partners available through university networks.5. Implement research-based curriculum units.These units, which have been found to be effective with gifted students while complementing state standards, can augment your curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and typically have efficacious results with different populations of gifted students. Seek out curriculum units that have been funded through the Javits program, the National Science Foundation, and other sources, because student learning results have to be documented. Moreover, there are additional methods and models that have been effective for use with gifted learners. Using these units of study will save you time that you might otherwise spend seeking resources, while ensuring that what you are using in the classroom is supported by research.Gifted students need teacher advocates that care about them, understand them, and can provide differentiation in the classroom, as well as options and opportunities outside of the classroom that will help them achieve at levels commensurate with their abilities. By implementing these suggestions, you'll do more than meet their needs. You'll be setting them on a trajectory toward developing their talents.

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Serving Gifted Students in General Ed Classrooms

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Serving Gifted Students in General Ed Classrooms

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Serving Gifted Students in General Ed Classrooms

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While gifted students might excel in certain areas, we must differentiate their learning to address other academic areas along with their social and emotional needs.

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Sally M. Reis
Professor, Educational Psychology
Neag School of Education
University Connecticut

Almost 24 years ago I returned home to my former school district to teach English in the junior high school I had attended. I began teaching, a veteran of two years of experience in another city, filled with excitement and a mission to improve my school, and worked with colleagues who had been my own teachers. After completing graduate courses in gifted and talented education, I faced the challenge of developing a comprehensive gifted program in my hometown. Almost twelve years later that program was in place, and comprehensive services were available to academically and artistically talented students at the elementary, middle and high school level. Nine full-time faculty, numerous grants, and opportunities for staff development all resulted in a gifted program that provided a wide range of services both in a resource setting and in classrooms, some self-contained and some with cluster groups of advanced learners. A theoretical model based on Renzulli's (1978) definition of giftedness and Enrichment Triad programming model (Renzulli, 1977) was the basis for our efforts, and within five years, an effective program and popular was implemented and continued for many more years. Parent and teacher support was demonstrated in annual evaluation reports, and achievement tests, college placements, and student productivity indicated that opportunities that had not previously existed were now available for students.

Given the same amount of time, effort, and love that created this program, I wonder if a similar program could be created in this district today. My friends who still teach there paint a changed portrait of my largely blue-collar hometown, one of remediation and lowered expectations from both parents and teachers. A close friend who teaches kindergarten recently told me that the majority of students starting the year in her class had never held a crayon. Most of her students had seldom, if ever, had the opportunity to listen to a much-loved children's book being read by a parent or grandparent. How does a program for gifted students fit into a community committed to remedial instruction and improving scores on the state mastery tests?

My reasons for becoming involved with the education of gifted students are tied to this city. As an advanced learner, I suffered from boredom for years. Never learning how to work, I coasted through high school as a National Honor Society member who did the absolute minimum necessary to achieve high, but not the highest, grades. Few teachers noticed, and the few who tried to get me to work were disappointed for I had learned the system and was rewarded with good grades, college scholarships and time to play. In college and graduate school, I encountered opportunities to learn the value of work and the rewards of doing one's best not experienced in elementary and secondary school. In this chapter, I argue that the current climate in America does not always encourage educators to create gifted programs. If we are to be successful at encouraging and providing appropriately high levels of instruction and curriculum for our most talented students, we must reconsider the ways general education has evolved in the last decade, and the relationship between gifted and general education.

This chapter discusses the ramifications of dumbing down of curriculum and textbooks, repetition of content, and the ease with which gifted and talented students learn to go to school. The reasons that so many students begin to underachieve are also discussed, as is underachievement in diverse groups. The chapter also discusses the dumbing down of some gifted programs and the need for new directions in our field. These directions include: a commitment to address issues such as underachievement, a commitment to investing in the identification and programming for culturally diverse gifted students; and a reconsideration of identification procedures for all gifted students. The crucial partnership between gifted program opportunities and classroom teachers' responsibilities in areas involving the regular curriculum are also highlighted.
Dumbing Down and Repetition of Regular Curriculum Content
The policy statements of almost every school district in the nation reflect a commitment to meeting students' individual needs, and yet, many districts lack the capacity to put these policies into practice. What has happened to general education in America to cause us to need gifted education? An almost unlimited amount of remedial curricular material has helped teachers make necessary adjustments for lower achieving students; however, most schools do not have either a method or a commitment to make comparable adjustments for students who are already achieving at well above average levels. It is clear that a major problem facing our schools is the lack of curricular differentiation and academic challenge for many of the most able students. Research also supports this claim. In a recent study dealing with average and above-average readers, Taylor and Frye (1988) found that 78% to 88% of fifth and sixth grade average readers could pass pretests on basal comprehension skills before they were covered in the basal reader. The average readers were performing at approximately 92% accuracy while the better readers were performing at 93% accuracy on the comprehension skill pretests.

One reason that so many average and above average students demonstrate mastery of the curriculum is because contemporary textbooks have been "dumbed down," a phrase used in 1984 by Terrel Bell, former secretary of education. Chall and Conard (1991) concur with Bell's assessment, documenting a trend of decreasing difficulty in the most widely used textbooks over a thirty-year period from 1945-1975. "On the whole, the later the copyright dates of the textbooks for the same grade, the easier they were, as measured by indices of readability level, maturity level, difficulty of questions and extent of illustration" (p. 2). Kirst (1982) also believed that textbooks have dropped by two grade levels in difficulty over the previous 10-15 years. Most recently, Philip G. Altbach (1991), noted scholar and author on textbooks in America, suggests that textbooks, as evaluated across a spectrum of assessment measures, have declined in rigor.

Textbooks are a central part of any educational system. . . . American textbooks, according to the critics, are boring and designed for the lowest common denominator. They have been "dumbed down" so that content is diluted and "readability" is stressed. Textbooks have evolved over the past several decades into "products" often assembled by committees in response to external pressures rather than a coherent approach to education. Most important to many of the critics, textbooks do not provide the knowledge base for American schools in a period of reform, renewal and improvement (p. 2).

Researchers have discussed the particular problems encountered by high ability students when textbooks are "dumbed down" because of readability formulas or the politics of textbook adoption. Bernstein (1985) summarized the particular problem with current textbooks used for high achieving students, "Even if there were good rules of thumb about the touchy subject of textbook adoption, the issue becomes moot when a school district buys only one textbook, usually at 'grade level,' for all students in a subject or grade. Such a purchasing policy pressures adoption committees to buy books that the least-able students can read. As a result, the needs of more advanced students are sacrificed" (p. 465). Chall and Conard (1991) also cite particular difficulties for the above-average student with regard to less difficult textbooks.

Another group not adequately served was those who read about two grades or more above the norm. Their reading textbooks, especially, provided little or no challenge, since they were matched to students' grade placement, not their reading levels. (p. 111)

Further, Chall and Conard stress the importance of the match between a learner's abilities and the difficulty of the instructional task, stating that the optimal match should be slightly above the learner's current level of functioning. When the match is optimal, learning is enhanced. However, "if the match is not optimal [i.e., the match is below or above the child's level of understanding/knowledge], learning is less efficient and development may be halted" (p. 19). It is clear that the current trend of selecting textbooks that the majority of students can read is a problem for high ability students.

Findings by Usiskin (1987) and Flanders (1987) indicate that not only have textbooks decreased in difficulty, but also that they incorporate a large percentage of repetition to facilitate learning. Usiskin argues that even average eighth grade students should study algebra since only 25% of the pages in typical seventh and eighth grade mathematics texts contain new content. Flanders corroborated this finding by investigating the mathematics textbook series of three popular publishers. Students in grades 2-5 who used these math textbooks encountered approximately 40 to 65% new content over the course of the school year, which equates to new material two to three days a week. By eighth grade, the amount of new content had dropped to 30% which translates to encountering new material once every one and one half days a week. Flanders (1987) suggests that these estimates are conservative because days for review and testing were not included in his analysis, and concludes, "There should be little wonder why good students get bored: they do the same thing year after year" (p. 22).

In light of the findings by recent researchers, a mismatch seems to exist between the difficulty of textbooks, the repetition of curricular material in these texts, and the needs of our high ability learners. These students spend much of their time in school practicing skills and "learning" content they already know. All of these factors may cause our most capable children to learn less and slow their development, thereby creating or at a minimum, encouraging their underachievement. Many of these bright students learn at an early age that if they do their best in school, they will be rewarded with endless more pages of the same kind of practice materials.

In many schools, the "underachieving" curriculum causes classrooms to be places in which students learn to expend minimum effort, causing a perpetual cycle of underachievement to take place. Students identified as gifted learn less, and gifted programs are directly affected as many talented students have not learned to do challenging work. Many are lacking content that might be considered core knowledge at an earlier time. In a study of high ability students in an urban high school, many students knew that were leaving high school without having been exposed to challenging literature, major historical trends or themes, and opportunities for advanced discussions in an academically challenging environment (Reis, Hébert, Díaz, Ratley, & Maxfield, 1995).

My experiences as a gifted program coordinator convinced me that some gifted programs actually serve a remedial purpose, when one considers what students must know in order to complete rudimentary research projects. Time spent in acquisition of basic skills such as finding information, taking notes, understanding the difference between primary and secondary sources results in less time to do advanced content or research in gifted programs. This might be referred to as the "Dumbing Down of Gifted Programs" in which teachers of talented students spend hours providing instruction in content and research skills that would have been considered a common core of knowledge twenty years ago. Coupled with the work habits and self-regulation skills that many of these talented students have not gained, this absence of knowledge leads to lower acquisition of skills and less advanced content than what may have been possible twenty years ago. McCall, Evahn and Kratzer (1992) explain:

The very fact that underachievers do not learn as much in school as would be expected will mean that their mental ability may decline to match their grades, at which point they will no longer be underachieving. Prolonged underachievement, then, may be unusual, not because of lack of stability in the psychological characteristics of such students, but because their mental ability has not been nurtured by effort in school (p. 18).

It is interesting to note that the issue of dumbing down may be fairly easy to address, given the current explosion of technology, and the use of technology in instruction and curriculum. A variety of books, lessons, and interactive web sites currently offer a wide variety of options beyond those available only a few years ago to enable classroom teachers to address the learning needs of advanced students.
Underachievement of High Potential Students
Student performance that falls noticeably short of potential, especially for young people with high ability, is bewildering and perhaps the most frustrating of all challenges facing teachers. The literature describing the problem of academic underachievement among high ability students dates back to Conklin (1940) who conducted research about students with high IQ scores who were failing. In spite of over five decades of research, underachievement among high ability students is still considered a major problem. As early as 1955, John Gowan described the gifted underachiever as "one of the greatest social wastes of our culture" (Gowan, 1955, p. 247). According to a 1990 national needs assessment survey conducted by the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, the problem of underachievement was identified as the number one concern among educators of high ability students (Renzulli, Reid, & Gubbins, n.d.).

The conceptual and operational definitions of underachievement are complicated and problematic. Essentially, most people agree on a generic commonplace definition of underachievement as it applies to education such as the following: "the underachiever is a young person who performs more poorly in school than one would expect on the basis of his mental abilities" (McCall, Evahn, & Kratzer, 1992, p. 2). This conceptual definition represents a discrepancy between the actual and expected performance, but categorizing different types of underachievers continues to be problematic.

Since the Soviet launching of Sputnik in 1957, and the resulting concern over our country's technological ability, both public and educational critics alleged that we were not doing enough educationally for its most capable students, many of whom were performing at mediocre levels in school. Social, political, and educational attention began to be focused on the gifted underachiever-the student of superior ability who performed academically much more poorly than was expected (McCall et al., 1992). Shaw and McCuen (1960) provided educators with an early definition, stating that "the underachiever with superior ability is one whose performance as judged either by grades or achievement test scores, is significantly below his high measured or demonstrated aptitudes or potential for academic achievement" (p. 15).

The label "gifted underachiever" implies that it is important to recognize a learner's level of potential. A belief in this need provides a rationale for considering that appropriate academic performance constitutes fulfillment of potential. Although there appears to be no agreement on a definition of gifted underachievement, most researchers would agree that a general description involves a discrepancy between intellectual potential and academic performance.

Even more difficult than assessing a learner's potential is the task of evaluating at what level of academic performance students should be identified as underachieving. Simply performing below average for the current grade level appeared to be the most commonly applied standard (Finney & Van Dalsem, 1969; Fitzpatrick, 1978; Morrow & Wilson, 1961; Perkins, 1976). Rather than targeting a particular school year, some researchers regard gifted underachievers as students who evidence a long standing, and therefore chronic, pattern of academic underachievement (Lukasic, Gorski, Lea, & Culross, 1992).

It is commonly reported that underachievement begins during the late elementary grades, certainly by middle or high school, and that it begins earlier for males than for females (McCall et al., 1992; Shaw & McCuen, 1960). The problem of underachievement may not really begin in adolescence; rather, it may simply become more visible in middle or secondary schools. For example, homework increases during these years, and students who refuse to complete homework or do so with little care or effort are easily identified. Some gifted students may achieve easily and without effort through the early years in school, but falter when they meet the challenge of strenuous effort, real production, or increased homework, and are labeled underachievers. The identification of smart students who underachieve raises an important question regarding the stability of underachievement and the resulting problem in defining it.

Causes and Contributors to Underachievement
Underachievement results in behaviors that would cause a capable learner to mask his/her ability? No definitive answers exist to this perplexing question, but theories discuss a variety of possible causes: biology, environment, self pressure, school pressure, peer pressure, parental pressure, boredom with school, and inappropriate teaching methods (Lukasic, et al., 1992).

Many researchers believe that school environments may cause bright students to lose their interest and drive. Some teachers may be too easily satisfied with good work, and their low expectations and unchallenging curriculum may have a negative impact on the academic achievement of bright youngsters (Pirozzo, 1982). In educational settings in which conformity is valued, classroom teachers may reward rote learning rather than critical or creative thinking and problem solving.

Inappropriate curriculum clearly contributed to underachievement in culturally diverse high ability urban high school students in a recent study (Reis, et al., 1995). The high school students who underachieved in school believed their school problems began because of particularly easy elementary school experiences. Our research indicated that these young people perceived that they never learned to work primarily because their elementary and middle school experiences had been too easy, which had a direct impact on their high school experiences. They believed that their daily elementary, non-challenging academic experiences played a dramatic role in the emergence of their underachievement in high school. Their classes and academic tasks were often "too easy," and participants in our study recalled "breezing" through elementary school, indicating that schoolwork required no major effort. These students did not acquire appropriate opportunities to develop important academic skills or sophisticated study skills. Both students' school work habits and self-discipline, in their classrooms and at home, were improperly developed, according to data gathered in this study. Students did not have early access to appropriate levels of challenge and educational services either within the regular classroom or in gifted programs. By the time the limited gifted program available in their urban district was offered in fifth grade, many of these students would not have been identified to participate, despite high scores on a number of aptitude and achievement tests.

During upper elementary, middle, and high school, the participants in our study encountered new situations requiring different amounts of effort and more efficient study skills. Consequently, opportunities to acquire new study skills and/or to improve students' work habits were necessary, but few students received assistance in developing or improving their work habits. Few students gained self-discipline in their school experiences, and their underachievement intensified. Many of the culturally diverse underachieving participants in this study believed that if they had been identified as having a potential talent in the earlier grades, and challenged through appropriate programming options, their subsequent underachievement could have been avoided.
Experiences of High Ability Students in Regular Classrooms
Recently, three studies conducted by the University of Connecticut site of The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented have analyzed what occurs in American classrooms for high ability students and the results portray a disturbing pattern. The Classroom Practices Survey (Archambault, Westberg, Brown, Hallmark, Emmons, & Zhang, 1993) was conducted to determine the extent to which gifted and talented students receive differentiated education in regular classrooms. Approximately 7300 third and fourth grade teachers in public and private schools were randomly selected to participate in this research and over 51% of this national sample of classroom teachers responded to the survey. Sixty-one percent of public school teachers and 54% of private school teachers reported that they had never had any training in teaching gifted students. The major finding of this study is that classroom teachers made only minor modifications in the regular curriculum to meet the needs of gifted students. This result was consistent for all types of schools sampled and for classrooms in various parts of the country and for all types of communities.

The Classroom Practices Observational Study (Westberg, Archambault, Dobyns, & Salvin, 1993) examined the instructional and curricular practices used with gifted and talented students in regular elementary classrooms throughout the United States. Systematic observations were conducted in 46 third or fourth grade classrooms identified by school superintendents and principals. The observations were designed to determine if and how classroom teachers meet the needs of gifted students in the regular classroom. Two students, one high ability student and one average ability student, were selected as target students for each observation day and the types and frequencies of instruction that both students receive through modifications in curricular activities, materials, and teacher-student verbal interactions were documented by trained observers. The results indicated little differentiation in the instructional and curricular practices, including grouping arrangements and verbal interactions, for gifted students in the regular classroom. In all content areas in 92 observation days, gifted students rarely received instruction in homogeneous groups (only 21% of the time), and more alarmingly, the target gifted students experienced no instructional or curricular differentiation in 84% of the instructional activities in which they participated.

The daily summaries of these observations completed by the trained observers were also examined. The most dominant theme in this content analysis involved the use of identical practices for all targeted students. For example, phrases such as "no purposeful differentiation" appeared on 51 of the 92 daily summaries. Anecdotal summaries such as the following provided poignant glimpses into the daily experiences of high ability students: "It should be noted that the targeted gifted student was inattentive during all of her classes. She appeared to be sleepy, never volunteered, and was visibly unenthusiastic about all activities. No attempt was made to direct higher order thinking skills questions to her or to engage her in more challenging work. She never acted out in any way."

A third study, The Curriculum Compacting Study (Reis, et al., 1993) examined the effects of using curriculum compacting to modify the curriculum and eliminate previously mastered work for high ability students. The work that is eliminated is content that is repeated from previous textbooks or content that may be new in the curriculum, which some students already know. Over 400 teachers participated in this study, identifying 783 students as gifted and in need of curriculum differentiation. Students took the next chronological grade level Iowa Test of Basic Skills in both October and May. When classroom teachers in the group eliminated between 40-50% of the previously mastered regular curriculum for high ability students, no differences were found between students whose work was compacted and students who did all the work in reading, math computation, social studies and spelling. In science and math concepts, students whose curriculum was compacted scored significantly higher than their counterparts in the control group. Accordingly teachers could eliminate as much as 40-50% of material without detrimental effects to achievement scores. And in some content areas, scores were actually higher when this elimination of previous mastered content took place. Teachers also identified additional students who had not been identified as gifted in their classrooms who could benefit from curriculum compacting.
Extending Gifted Education Pedagogy
The application of gifted program know-how to general education is supported by a variety of research on human abilities (Bloom, 1985; Gardner, 1983; Renzulli, 1986; Sternberg, 1984). This research provides a clear justification for much broader conceptions of talent development, and argues against the restrictive student selection practices that guided identification procedures in the past.

Tomlinson and Callahan (1992) cited several contributions of gifted education to general education including: expanded views of intelligence (Gardner, 1983; Reis & Renzulli, 1982; Renzulli, 1978; Sternberg, 1991); attention to underserved populations (Baldwin, 1985; Frasier, 1989; Whitmore, 1980); instructional techniques (Brandwein, 1981; Maker, 1982; Passow, 1982; Renzulli, 1977; Renzulli & Reis, 1985; 1997); differentiation of content, process, and product as well as theme-based learning (Kaplan, 1986), self-directed learning (Treffinger, 1986), and student productivity (Renzulli, 1977); individualization (Renzulli & Smith, 1979); teaching models (Feldhusen & Kolloff, 1986; Kaplan, 1986; Renzulli, 1977; Renzulli & Reis, 1997).

Some of the pedagogy used in gifted education programs can be extended to students who are not usually included in special programs for talented students. In a recent study, enrichment clusters (Renzulli, 1994; Renzulli & Reis, 1997) were implemented in two culturally diverse urban school districts during specially designated times each week (Reis, Gentry, & Park, 1995). During these cluster programs, everything in the school changed. Students left their classrooms and in a minute or two sped joyfully down the hallways to another room and another adult, to a cluster they had selected because of the topic being covered and the adult facilitating the cluster. Clusters are open-ended opportunities for students to work with an adult facilitator to learn new material and produce a service or product. Enrichment clusters in this study were offered in areas such as creative writing, inventions, historical studies, scientific studies, drama, and the arts. The implementation of enrichment clusters affected teachers' use of differentiation, enrichment strategies and the use of advanced content. The use of advanced content in their enrichment clusters was a byproduct of the nature of clusters, the opportunity to delve into advanced issues and content based on the mutual interests of both children and adults.

The study investigated the use of advanced content and the application of advanced opportunities in the cluster facilitator's regular classroom in two urban schools. The introduction of new concepts and advanced content by 95 % of the cluster facilitators was both gratifying and somewhat expected, given the design of the clusters, but the addition of a number of other strategies for providing advanced opportunities was higher than we had hoped for or expected. These included (in decreasing frequency of use): the development of a product or service by the facilitators; the teaching of specific, authentic methodologies; the use of advanced vocabulary; the use of authentic "tools" related to the topic; the use of advanced resources and reference materials; the use of advanced thinking and problem solving strategies; the integration of creative thinking and historical perspectives; and the development of presentations or performances.

The frequency with which these advanced strategies were used within the clusters indicated that some transference would occur from cluster to classroom. Many teachers reported that they began using the strategies used in their cluster in their classrooms. It appears that classroom teachers who have received appropriate professional development can implement differentiation strategies suggested in gifted education. The more time that teachers had to work on their clusters and to experiment with this more inductive way to teach, the more advanced the content and the more diverse the products and services became.

Based on previous findings of classroom practices studies by Archambault et al. (l993); and Westberg, et al. (1993), it would appear that the opportunity to teach in an enrichment cluster may result in much higher levels of use of differentiation strategies by classroom teachers in their own classroom teaching situations. The implementation of enrichment clusters may then provide a dual opportunity: high end learning (Renzulli, 1994), more advanced opportunities for all children, and professional development for teachers in differentiation strategies.
Reexamining Gifted Education Practices Related to Identification, Curriculum Issues, and the Underachievement of Students with High Potential
Reconsidering basic premises within our field results in a series of beliefs emerging from my more than two decades of work in gifted education. The following propositions have emerged from my thoughts regarding these issues.

Proposition One. We must systematically overhaul the ways we define and identify high potential students, and question whether formal identification is warranted if current systems continue to fail to identify so many students.
In the past, the general approach to the study of giftedness has led some observers to believe that giftedness is an absolute condition that is magically bestowed upon a person in much the same way that nature endows us with blue eyes, red hair, or a dark complexion (Renzulli, 1980). This position is simply not supported by current research. Multiple lists of traits exist and characteristics-some for girls and some for boys; some for students from the majority culture, others for students from diverse cultural and economically disadvantaged backgrounds (Borland & Wright, 1994; . For too many years we have pretended that we can identify THE traits of gifted children in an absolute and unequivocal fashion. Too many lists provide these traits and "the Termanology" by which we define "truly" gifted students.

Many people have been led to believe that certain individuals have been endowed with a golden chromosome (Renzulli, 1980) that makes him or her "a gifted person." This belief has further led to the mistaken idea that all we need to do is find the right combination of traits that prove the existence of this "gift." The further use of terms such as "the truly gifted," "the highly gifted," the "moderately gifted," "the profoundly gifted" and the "borderline gifted" only serve to confound the issue. The misuse of the concept of giftedness has given rise to both criticism and confusion about identification and programming. The result of this criticism has been mixed messages sent to educators and the public at large, resulting in a justifiable skepticism about the credibility of gifted education and the inability of some educators of gifted students to offer services that are qualitatively different from those offered in general education.

Most of the confusion and controversy surrounding characteristics of giftedness can be placed into proper perspective if we examine a few key questions. Do we use specific characteristics of one group of people to identify another group? Are the characteristics of giftedness reflected in high ability Puerto Rican students in Willimantic, Connecticut the same characteristics of giftedness as those demonstrated by above average Mexican students in Texas? Do common characteristics exist within each group? If so, how are they exhibited? What happens to a child who consistently manifests these characteristics in the primary grades but who learns to underachieve in school because of an unchallenging curriculum? What curriculum adjustments can be made for an intelligent child with a learning disability whose disability masks the talents? Are characteristics of giftedness static (i.e., you have or you don't have them) or are they dynamic (i.e., they vary within persons and among learning/performance situations) (Renzulli & Reis, 1985; 1997)?

A fundamental change should be considered in the ways the characteristics and traits of giftedness are viewed in the future. The characteristics of any group of advanced learners must be identified within the specific population group. That is, we should attempt to identify the characteristics of talented students in both the educational context and within the population group, and use this information to help us differentiate between all students and those who need different levels of service in school to realize their potential. These different levels of services may result in a wider range of students being served by a continuum of services that is broader and much more inclusive. This shift has implications for our considerations of the characteristics of giftedness and the ways in which we should structure our programming endeavors. This change may also provide the flexibility in both identification and programming endeavors that will encourage the inclusion of diverse students in our programs, therefore addressing the critical issue of widespread underachievement of high potential, economically disadvantaged, and culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

Proposition Two: The lines between gifted programs and regular education must become less defined and gifted education specialists should serve a dual role, providing direct service to students and professional development and consultation services to classroom teachers. In this way, we can apply some of what has been the pedagogy of "gifted" education to the development of talents in all students.
The widespread issues relating to dumbing down and a lower degree of challenge both in gifted programs and in regular education programs provides a superb rationale for why some gifted education practices and principles should be infused into regular education to upgrade the challenge level for all students. To some extent, this has already begun.

Renzulli (l994) believes that two reasons explain why practices that have been a mainstay of gifted programs are being absorbed into general education to upgrade the performance of all students. The first reason concerns the limited success of remedial-oriented compensatory education programs and practices, and the second reason is the success of practices developed in gifted programs and the need for these practices to be included in the regular curriculum. All students should have the opportunities to develop higher order thinking skills and to pursue more Not all students can, of course, participate in all advanced opportunities but many can work far beyond what they are currently asked to do. It is clear that our most advanced students need different types of educational experiences than they are currently receiving and that without these services, talents may not be nurtured in many American students, especially those who attend schools in which survival is a major daily goal. What is seldom discussed is whether and how these different types of educational experiences can help improve education for all students.

Efforts to change and improve education have been around for decades, but many of them ignore talent development in our schools. Time must be provided in school to enable students who want to work to be able to learn at an appropriate and challenging pace. Unless proactively addressed, the result of the dumbing down of the curriculum and the proliferation of basic skills practice material may result in the creation of the largest percentage of high ability underachievers in the history of public schools in

Our field's pedagogy and innovative programs admittedly will not provide quick-fix solutions to issues such as these, but they can offer numerous creative alternatives regarding instruction and curriculum. In our relatively short history we have achieved a rather impressive menu of exciting curricular adaptations, thinking skills applications, methods for teaching independent study and numerous other innovations. Specialists in the area of education of the gifted have concentrated on identifying student interests and learning styles and providing relevant and challenging curricular experiences to individual students instead of identical experiences to 30 students in a classroom without consideration of their previous knowledge or background.

Specialists in the area of gifted education have also gained expertise in adjusting the regular curriculum to meet the needs of advanced students in a variety of ways including: accelerating content, incorporating a thematic approach, and substituting more challenging textbooks or assignments. The range of instructional techniques used in most classrooms observed by Goodlad (1984) and his colleagues is vastly different than what is currently recommended in gifted programs. It seems clear that gifted education can help to bring creativity and innovation to regular education by challenging conventional practices and offering stimulating alternatives. The flexibility in grouping encouraged in many gifted programs might also be helpful in other types of educational settings. For example, interest groups, achievement groups, grouping based on preferred styles of learning are often used in gifted education programs, and could be used in regular education programming efforts.

We can, therefore, make every attempt to share with other educators the technology we have gained in teaching students process and thinking skills, modifying and differentiating the regular curriculum, and helping students learn advanced reference skills, and independent self-directed work. We can extend enrichment activities and provide staff development in the many principles that guide our programming models. Yet, without the changes at the local, state and national policy making levels that will alter the current emphasis on raising test scores and purchasing unchallenging, flat and downright sterile textbooks, our efforts may appear insignificant.

Proposition Three: We must maintain our identity as a field while continuing to ask difficult questions causing us to reexamine and reconsider basic tenets in gifted education.
Because of fiscal constraints in many geographical areas, gifted programs are being eliminated (Purcell, 1993) and many above average students remain unchallenged by the regular curriculum encounter each day. While sharing our technology is, indeed, one of our goals, we must continue to create and maintain exemplary programs and practices that serve as models of what can be accomplished for high ability students. Through our professional organizations we must continue to advocate for the different needs of high ability students. We must argue logically and forcefully to maintain the programs, appropriate grouping practices, and the differentiated learning experiences that the students we represent need. To simply allow these youngsters to be placed in classrooms in which no provisions are made for their special needs is an enormous step backwards for our field. To lose our quest for excellence in the current move to guarantee equity will undoubtedly result in a disappointing education for our most potentially able children.

Although the use of gifted program pedagogy has been suggested as a way to improve the challenge level of content for all children, very little research exists on the extent to which this suggestion can actually be implemented. Which strategies used in gifted programs can be extended to benefit more students? Can students who are not traditionally identified as gifted benefit from some of the innovative curriculum being developed for gifted students in Javits projects such as those developed by Susan Baum, Steven Owen and Barry Oreck (1997); Joyce Van Tassel-Baska, (1996), James Borland and Lisa Wright (1994) and Sandra Kaplan (1986)? Can we make adaptations to gifted program strategies or instructional materials to make them more meaningful and appropriate for all children? How much advanced content can be introduced when these opportunities to participate in these classes are made available to all interested students? Do the use of gifted education teaching strategies have an impact on all children's love of learning and interests in schools? Can parental attitudes about school be changed by the implementation of strategies advocated by gifted education specialists, such as differentiation of content and instruction? And most important, can we develop a plan for implementing these strategies that can be used with ethnically diverse populations as well as economically disadvantaged students? If so, then the potential significance of further research in this area may be far-reaching. As the federal report National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent (U. S. Department of Education, 1993) stated: "Over the past 20 years, while the regular school program focused on basic skills and minimum standards, programs for gifted and talented students served as laboratories for innovative and experimental approaches to teaching and learning" (p. 23).

Longitudinal studies of participants in these programs may also provide information for future program innovations (Subotnik & Arnold, 1994). We seldom ask how gifted program participants benefit from their experiences, and we rarely ask what else we should have been doing for gifted students who had some program involvement. It is clear that a continuum of services should be made available representing a variety of different approaches, including acceleration, counseling, regular curriculum modification and differentiation, separate classes, and a pull-out or resource room component. Longitudinal studies should also investigate the acquisition of self-regulated, self-directed learning, given the current explosion of knowledge available on the web. We must start to investigate how gifted students can gain access to this information while also learning the skills of synthesis, analysis, and evaluation necessary to understand how to interpret the large body of information they encounter.

The new millennium is causing us to ask questions about every area of our personal and professional lives. The explosion of knowledge has yet to be completely explored in the area of education. If we could imagine a perfect learning situation for every advanced learner, it might include some of the following: opportunities for advancement through the regular curriculum at an appropriately challenging rate and pace; depth and advanced content; independent, self-directed learning challenges; independent study; and varied learning opportunities based on interest, learning styles, product preferences and modality preferences. What must also be asked is what learning situation would we want for other students? Is what we might want for them so different?

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Reconsidering Regular Curriculum for High Achieving Students, Gifted Underachievers, and Relationship between Gifted and Regular Education | Renzulli Center for Creativity, Gifted Education, and Talent Development

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Sally M. Reis Professor, Educational Psychology Neag School of Education University Connecticut Almost 24 years ago I returned home to my former school district to teach English in the junior high school I had attended. I began teaching, a veteran of two years of experience in another city, fill ...

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I remember being very young and looking up at leafless branches against a cold autumn sky and wondering why they looked like the arteries I'd seen laced around the outside of the heart diagram we'd labeled in Biology class. I thought there must be a connection. I also remember the sinking feeling in my own heart that something was wrong with me. I absolutely could not focus singularly on whatever subject was in front of me. I was constantly making connections and inferences inspired by whatever information was being presented to me. I was told over and over again that this compulsive thought process, as well as the need to share it, would be my downfall...and for a long time, I believed it. I was well into adulthood when another gifted educator pointed it out to me. I'm a divergent thinker.

Divergent thinking, a topic that has received a lot of coverage lately, is a thought process in which the thinker thinks up as many different related ideas or solutions on any given topic or problem as possible. Gifted children are known for it. They are the ones raising their hands asking if the Greek letter Omega looks like a penguin to anyone else, demanding to know when the next zoology class is during electronics class, and suggesting we build a robotic penguin as our next class project. This process is creative, rebellious, chaotic... and beautiful.

Now you may be wondering: How can I know if divergent thinking is valued in my gifted child's classroom? If you answer "yes" to at least two of these questions, it probably is.

Is there a dedicated time, each school day, for your child to pursue her own interests in a constructive, safe, supportive environment?

It saddens me to think most of the parents with their gifted children in traditional school will answer "no" to most of these questions. A conformist classroom is not designed to appreciate the gifts a divergent thinker brings to the table. For a sensitive, gifted child this lack of appreciation hurts and can leave a mark. The best medicine is a chance to feel heard and acknowledged. The next time your gifted child makes an unusual connection, try responding and saying "I really enjoy the way you think." And if you can get them to slow down long enough for it, follow it up with a hug. See what happens.

I'd love to hear the results! Try it out and let everyone know how it went in the comments below.

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Is Divergent Thinking Valued in Your Gifted Child's Classroom? - Jade Rivera

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I remember being very young and looking up at leafless branches against a cold autumn sky and wondering why they looked like the arteries I'd seen laced around the outside of the heart diagram we'd labeled in Biology class. I thought there must be a connection.

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10 TED-Ed Lessons to get students thinking

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10 TED-Ed Lessons to get students thinking

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School days might seem as if they move at a glacial pace after winter break. The spring and summer breaks seem too far away, and whether students are learning in-person or online, they could use a bit of fun. Teachers can use TED-Ed Lessons to liven up long days and highlight students' different personal interests.

The TED-Ed platform is especially cool because educators can build lessons around any TED-Ed Original, TED Talk, or YouTube video.

Once you find the video you want to use, you can use the TED-Ed Lessons editor to add questions, discussion prompts, and additional resources.

Use these TED-Ed Lessons for brain breaks, to introduce new lessons, or to inject some fun and engaging conversation into your class.

1. The strange history of the world's most stolen painting
Throughout six centuries, the Ghent Altarpiece, also called "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb," has been burned, forged, and raided in three different wars. It is, in fact, the world's most stolen artwork- and is considered one of the most influential paintings ever made. What exactly makes the piece so special? Noah Charney digs into Jan van Eyck's masterpiece.

2. These squids can fly... no, really
In 1947, explorers noticed a strange phenomenon while crossing the Pacific Ocean. Somehow, small squid known to live deep beneath the waves kept appearing on the roof of their boat. The crew was mystified- until they saw the squids soaring above the sea for roughly 50 meters. How and why do these marine creatures take to the sky? Robert Siddall explores the high-flying capabilities of cephalopods.

3. The life cycle of a cup of coffee
How many people does it take to make a cup of coffee? For many of us, all it takes is a short walk and a quick pour. But this simple staple is the result of a globe-spanning process whose cost and complexity are far greater than you might imagine. AJ Jacobs traces the journey of this caffeinated elixir from seed to cup.

4. The most colorful gemstones on Earth
In November 1986, Australian miners climbed Lunatic Hill and bored 20 meters into the Earth. They were rewarded with a fist-sized, record breaking gemstone, which they named the Hailey's Comet opal. Thanks to a characteristic called "play of color," no two opals look the same. So what causes these vibrant displays? Jeff Dekofsky digs into the rock's shimmering, dancing displays of light.

5. Why the ancient Greeks couldn't see blue
Why is the color "blue" barely mentioned in ancient writings and texts? Did ancient civilizations just see color differently? Were they all color blind? AsapSCIENCE digs into the neuroscience of how we see different colors.

6. Which type of milk is best for you?
If you go to the store in search of milk, there are a dizzying number of products to choose from. There's dairy milk, but also plant-based products such as almond, soy, and oat milks. So which milk is actually best for you? And which uses the fewest resources and produces the least pollution? Jonathan J. O'Sullivan and Grace E. Cunningham dive into some of the most popular milks to find out.

10 TED-Ed Lessons to get students thinking

7. Can we create the "perfect" farm?
About 10,000 years ago, humans began to farm. This agricultural revolution was a turning point in our history and enabled the existence of civilization. Today, nearly 40% of our planet is farmland. Spread all over the world, these lands are the pieces to a global puzzle we're all facing: in the future, how can we feed every member of a growing population a healthy diet? Brent Loken investigates.

8. Who owns the "wilderness?"
In 1903, US President Theodore Roosevelt took a camping trip in California's Yosemite Valley with conservationist John Muir. Roosevelt famously loved the outdoors, but Muir had invited him for more than just camping: Yosemite was in danger. It was part of a struggle to set aside land for both preservation and public use. Elyse Cox details the delicate balancing act of creating a national park.

9. The myth of the stolen eyeballs
Deep in the Amazon rainforest in the river Nea'ocoyá lived a school of particularly big and tasty fish. When the rains came and the water rose the fish appeared, and swam away as the waters fell. Villagers along the river followed them to a lagoon and set up camp. But their young shaman soon sensed they might not be completely alone. Nathan D. Horowitz details the Siekopai myth of the air goblins.

10. A brief history of plastic
For centuries, billiard balls were made of ivory from elephant tusks. But when excessive hunting caused elephant populations to decline, they began to look for alternatives. John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge. In five years, he invented a new material called celluloid, which would become known as the first plastic. Trace the history of the material that ushered in the "plastics century."

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10 TED-Ed Lessons to get students thinking

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School days might seem as if they move at a glacial pace after winter break. The spring and summer breaks seem too far away, and whether students are learning in-person or online, they could use a bit of fun. Teachers can use TED-Ed Lessons to liven up long days and highlight students' different personal interests.

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8 Virtual Field Trips for STEM Engagement

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8 Virtual Field Trips for STEM Engagement

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8 virtual field trips for STEM engagement

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It's January. Winter break is over, and the rest of the school year-whether in person, hybrid, or virtual-seems never-ending. And while traditional field trips are on pause while ...

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Push-in vs. Pull-out Gifted instruction within a Mathematics Curriculum

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Push-in vs. Pull-out Gifted instruction within a Mathematics Curriculum

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The pull out model of gifted education is when there is a specialized teacher that pulls the gifted students out of the regular classroom for instruction.

This model has many advantages: (Easton, 2005)

1.Gifted students have the opportunity to interact with other gifted students in other grades as well as with their regular

classmates.

2.Gifted students do not have to fear peer disapproval of their knowledge and talents

3.Those students not in the gifted program are given an opportunity to shine when not overshadowed by the often very verbal

gifted students.

4.The teacher of the gifted pull-out sessions is free to focus on critical and creative thinking skills andextend the regular

curriculum in ways that are more appropriate for gifted students.

5.Students have access to a gifted teacher with specialized training.

It also has weaknesses: (Easton, 2005)

1.Periodic departure of the gifted students can cause disruption in the classroom

2.Students not in the gifted program can resent the absence of their classmates.

3.Students may miss introduction of new material if the teacher does not adjust her lesson plan.

4.The combination of regular homework, make-up of missed assignments, plus the special pull-out class projects may become

overwhelming.

The push in model of gifted education is when gifted students stay in the regular classroom and are visited by a gifted teacher.

This model has many advantages: (Van Tassel-Baska & Reis, 2011)

1. The instruction is integrated into the regular classroom.

2. There is flexibility to group and regroup based on changing instructional needs.

This model also has weaknesses: (Van Tassel-Baska & Reis, 2011)
1. Students are limited to interaction only with other gifted students in their class.

2. Students have limited contact time with the teacher.

According to the NAGC the results from several studies on the pull out model have shown positive effects for variables of achievement, critical thinking and creativity. "The achievement level of high ability students falls dramatically when they are required to do routine work at a routine pace," (Kulik, 1993).

Easton, W. R. (2005). Pull Out Programs. Retrieved from http://www.newkentschools.org/sites/gifted/documents/resources/pull_out_programs.pdf

Kulik, J. A. (1993). An Analysis of the Research on Ability Grouping. Retrieved from http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/newsletter/spring93/sprng935.html

Van Tassel-Baska, J., & Reis, S. (2011). Program Delivery Models for the Gifted. Retrieved from http://tip.duke.edu/node/725

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C. Pull Out vs. Push In - Mathematics Learning for Gifted Students

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The pull out model of gifted education is when there is a specialized teacher that pulls the gifted students out of the regular classroom for instruction. This model has many advantages: (Easton, 2005) 1.Gifted students have the opportunity to interact with other gifted students in other grades as well as with their regular classmates.

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Lots of great resources and activities found on this page.

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Gifted kids are praised for their smarts but rarely get reps practicing their grit and/or persistence. Here is an article I share with parents and students to help reframe challenge as an opportunity to practice grit rather than a threat to their giftedness. It always leads to great discussions! (It is originally from NPR.)

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Five districts share a mission to develop underrepresented students on the cusp of excellence

By Jane Clarenbach/ School Administrator, September 2015

"Now I view myself as a talent scout, always thinking of how I can challenge my students so that I can see what they are capable of."

-Lisa Rogers, gifted education specialist, Marietta, Ga.

With what seem to be ever-increasing demands on educators and limited resources, turning all teachers into trained talent scouts would appear to be a lofty ideal in K-12 education.

Students in the Young Scholars program at Hybla Valley Elementary School in Fairfax County, Va., doing scientific observation in the "Budding Botanists" lesson. Photo courtesy of Fairfax County Public Schools

But absent such a commitment to proactively identify talent by knowing what to look for and nurturing it to the point of excellence, countless students go unidentified for advanced learner services. This results in a significant amount of talent going undeveloped or underdeveloped, which is a loss not only for the students but also for their communities and our nation.

Fortunately, school districts in various communities are putting in place effective programs to develop the talents and abilities of students who have high ability but who may not be demonstrating high achievement. These places, while somewhat limited in number, deliver challenging curriculum commensurate with the students' abilities.

Some district initiatives stem from an effort to close the "excellence gaps," or disparities among students reaching advanced achievement levels. Other districts want to ensure their gifted education programs fully reflect the districts' diversity.

Talent Searches

Districts are addressing this need by expanding the view of giftedness, systematically searching for students with the potential to achieve at high levels and creating programs and services that emphasize identifying students from culturally, linguistically and ethnically diverse and/or economically disadvantaged populations.

Some operate as gateway initiatives intending to identify and develop talented students who can be moved on to traditional gifted and talented programs and other advanced coursework, while some provide standalone services.

Three fundamental elements found in each of these programs include:

Use of Multiple Identification Criteria. Each program uses multiple criteria to assess students for services, including observation checklists, student work samples and nonverbal ability tests to identify students from traditionally underrepresented populations.

A Staff of Appropriately Trained and Committed Professionals. Each program employs willing educators trained to identify and serve gifted learners: These staff provide professional development to participating teachers.

Commitment of District Leadership. Of particular importance, each program director described the support of district-level and building-level leaders as essential.

Exemplary Programs

Second graders at Forest Hills Elementary School in Eden Prairie, Minn., work on an experiment in the interdisciplinary KEY program, in which students meet with the gifted resource teacher twice a week. Photo courtesy of Eden Prairie Schools.

When it comes to an exemplary school-based program to identify and develop students on the cusp of excellence, a promising district-based initiative is the Young Scholars Program in Fairfax County, Va.

Launched 15 years ago with 35 students in one school, the program now operates in 84 of 139 elementary schools and reaches more than 5,700 students. The program reflects the ethnic and cultural diversity of the school district and has nearly twice the percentage of students (54 percent) who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch compared to the district as a whole.

Beginning in kindergarten, educators observe students and create portfolios of work to identify children with gifted potential. "Ongoing assessments by teachers who have been trained to provide instruction designed to elicit higher-level thinking may be the most powerful means of identifying advanced learners from low economic and minority populations," says Carol Horn, K-12 coordinator of advanced academic programs in Fairfax County.

Each Young Scholars school has a half-time resource teacher with credentials in gifted education who implements the program. The scholars are clustered with teachers who provide challenging and engaging learning experiences. Summer school, after-school sessions and field trips provide further enrichment.

The program's long-term goal is to nurture participants so they can be prepared for gifted education and other rigorous programming in upper elementary, middle and high school. Twenty-seven percent of scholars in grades 3-8 are served in full-time gifted programs, and another 23 percent receive part-time services in elementary grades or honors classes in the middle school. And 95 percent of the scholars take Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or honors classes in high school.

Demonstrating Skills

While a fraction of the size of Fairfax, the 9,000-student Eden Prairie, Minn., school district launched a similar Young Scholars program in 2011, serving about 55 students each year in grades 1 and 2.

According to Sue Feigal-Hitch, coordinator of gifted services, the district identifies students based on four demonstration lessons conducted by the gifted education resource teacher while the classroom teacher observes to spot signs of higher-level creative and critical thinking. Identified students gather in a resource room once a week to build background knowledge and vocabulary and to develop study skills.

During the first two years of the program's operation, 29 percent of the Young Scholars have been admitted to the grades 2-6 pullout gifted education program, and the number of students from underrepresented groups has increased in a new full-time program for highly gifted students.

In nearby Bloomington, Minn., the district launched its Alfred Nobel program targeting creatively gifted students in 2013 at the most diverse middle school in the district. The program tries to develop talent in high-ability students through a rigorous humanities approach focused on critical thinking and creativity.

"We found that many students with innovative ideas and creative skills may not be the rule followers or the highest achievers and that they often approach tasks in a more nontraditional way," says Erin Boltik, director of gifted programs and services. "We had to do something a little different and have seen that teachers are beginning to understand that there are different ways to be gifted."

Students who score at the 80th percentile or above on Northwest Evaluation Association's Measures of Academic Progress are given the Torrance Test of Creativity before being accepted into the program. Two of seven classes a day are spent in the Nobel courses; Bloomington hopes to increase this to three classes per day.

The school district has 20 students per grade in each Nobel class, but interest has resulted in a waiting list.

Multiple Assessments

The Paradise Valley Unified School District in suburban Phoenix, Ariz., serves about 32,000 students with 37 percent eligible for free or reduced-price lunch; and about 30 percent are of Hispanic descent.

Arizona's gifted education mandate requires districts to assess students three times each year and establishes statewide criteria for identifying gifted students.

"A comprehensive process that strives to identify all students with high ability, even if they are not yet high achievers, is necessary if they are to have consistent opportunities to make academic progress every day, month and year," says Dina Brulles, Paradise Valley's director of gifted education.

The district begins by learning as much about the students as possible, beginning with an identification process that uses a range of instruments. A gifted specialist at every elementary school provides site-based training to help staff recognize characteristics and behaviors of gifted students, including those from diverse populations. Thirty-two percent of the students receiving gifted education services are nonwhite compared to 45 percent in the overall student population.

Once students are identified as gifted, they are placed in the program regardless of their previous achievement levels. Students are clustered with other high-ability peers, a grouping tactic Paradise Valley discovered helps them develop advanced skills as a group.

In grades 4-6, gifted students are placed in a daily pullout program with enriched mathematics and language arts content, and highly gifted students are accelerated in a self-contained program with content at least two years above grade level. After elementary school, students can access an array of options, including an honors program designed for culturally and linguistically diverse learners.

A Watch List

Like the other districts, Englewood, Colo., with 3,000 students, relies on multiple criteria to identify approximately 250 students for gifted education services. Leaders in this high-poverty district with a large percentage of English language learners have made increasing the diversity of students receiving gifted education services a priority.

The district maintains a talent pool watch list of students who demonstrate potential but whose performance is not yet strong enough for gifted program placement, and teachers are encouraged to actively track these students' progress.

"We have some work to do on increasing our program's diversity," says Gail Stine, Englewood's gifted and talented coordinator. "But we're making progress, largely because of increased teacher awareness of what students are capable of."

Each school has a gifted education teacher and mental health liaison who are committed to becoming the experts in gifted education for their building.

Tailored Programs

These five district-level programs demonstrate that a focused commitment to high-ability students from disadvantaged and underrepresented populations pays off with increased high-order skills and achievement. While every program must be tailored to fit the goals and needs of each district, evidence-based strategies can be replicated and customized to deliver results.

Administrators can - and must - play a role in such programs if they are to succeed. This involvement and commitment must come at all levels, from district mission statements and priorities on down, to ensure building-level professionals have the training and resources they need to identify and develop such learners.

Jane Clarenbach is the director of public education at the National Association for Gifted Children in Washington, D.C. E-mail: janec@nagc.org. Twitter: @nagcgifted

Additional Resources

Jane Clarenbach of the National Association for Gifted Children suggested these informational resources related to her article:

A short teacher guide for understanding children who may have disabilities along with gifts and talents. Access "The Twice Exceptional Dilemma" at www.nea.org/assets/docs/twiceexceptional.pdf.

An overview of the impact of poverty on high ability and the factors behind successful programs. Access "Unlocking Emergent Talent" at http://bit.ly/unlocking-talent.

A handbook for educators, "Identifying Gifted and Talented English Language Learners, Grades K-12," covers such issues as addressing bias in assessment instruments. Access at http://bit.ly/identifying-gifted-talent.

A three-hour online professional development course on the Young Scholars program in Fairfax County, Va., is available through CaseNex at www3.casenex.com.

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Five districts share a mission to develop underrepresented students on the cusp of excellence By Jane Clarenbach/ School Administrator, September 2015 "Now I view myself as a talent scout, always thinking of how I can challenge my students so that I can see what they are capable of."

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Gifted Children & How Trauma Impacts Them

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Gifted Children & How Trauma Impacts Them

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If you get the chance to hear Dr. Sadin speak, do it.  She is not only entertaining, but has some knowledge of how gifted students react to trauma that I really believe everyone needs to hear.

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gifted children & how trauma impacts them 20 things gifted children wish their teachers and parents understood"

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Gifted Children & How Trauma Impacts Them 20 Things Gifted Children Wish Their Teachers and Parents Understood"

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Gifted Children & How Trauma Impacts Them 20 Things Gifted Children Wish Their Teachers and Parents Understood [Adam C. Laningham, Dr. Melissa Sadin, Nathan Levy, Dallin Orr, Dallin Orr] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.

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Supporting Gifted Education in Rural Schools.

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Supporting Gifted Education in Rural Schools.

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Jen Johnston

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This is a great linguistic competition to get upper MS and HS students involved with. The free challenge resources on the website are great for stretch/enrichment in the gifted classroom.

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NACLO is a contest in which high-school students solve linguistic puzzles. In solving these puzzles, students learn about the diversity and consistency of language, while exercising logic skills. No prior knowledge of linguistics or second languages is necessary. Professionals in linguistics, computational linguistics and language technologies use dozens of languages to create engaging problems that represent cutting edge issues in their fields. The competition has attracted top students to study and work in those same fields. It is truly an opportunity for young people to experience a taste of natural-language processing in the 21st century.

The list of submitted booklets for the Invitational Round is now available. If you don't see your number here, please contact naclo20org@umich.edu asap

Grading is over (with a few exceptions). See the results. If your score is missing or if you notice any other problem, please contact naclo20org@umich.edu asap.

The list of submitted booklets for the Open Round is now available. If you don't see your number here, please contact naclo20org@umich.edu asap

On-site registration is open now for the sites that allow walk-ins. The registration site will be closed for good after the end of the contest later today

Regular registration ends today (January 22) at 3 PM EST (12 noon PST). It will reopen for walk-in registration tomorrow (January 23) morning and close again for good after the end of the contest. If you are a student, you can check if your site allows walk-ins. All participants have to register in order to compete.

Announcement about the new name of this competition.

Registration for 2020 has started.
Student registrations are not carried over from one year to the next. If you are a student and had registered prior to September 15, you will need to register again from scratch.

Site registrations (high school and university sites) are automatically copied from one year to the next.

The dates for the 2020 contest are January 23 (open round) and March 5, 2020 (invitational round).

The NACLO 2020 Student Handbook

The NACLO 2020 Coordinator Handbook

The NACLO 2020 Appendix

You can help support NACLO either by mailing a check or giving online. For more information on both, please see our donations page. We thank you for your support!

We're looking for new sites and problem contributors. Please contact us at naclo20org@umich.edu.

Student Registration

Register for the next competition

Practice Problems

Challenge yourself online with practice problems

Handbook

All you need to know about NACLO in one place

NACLO Resources

Suggested reading, links, etc.

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North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition

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NACLO is a contest in which high-school students solve linguistic puzzles. In solving these puzzles, students learn about the diversity and consistency of language, while exercising logic skills. No prior knowledge of linguistics or second languages is necessary. Professionals in linguistics, computational linguistics and language technologies use dozens of languages to create engaging problems that represent cutting edge issues in their fields.

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40  Sites To Bookmark if Your Child is Gifted

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40  Sites To Bookmark if Your Child is Gifted

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Parenting a gifted or twice-exceptional child can be a challenge. I wouldn't change our journey for the world, but parenting and educating our PG/2E son has been one of our life's greatest challenges. I have learned so much from him and I always tell folks that he is my wisest teacher.

If you are new to the gifted/2E parenting journey, welcome! Hang on to your hat, because you are in for one wild ride! Today, I'm sharing some of my favorite gifted resources and I hope that they help you on this journey.

Here are some of my absolute favorite gifted sites, from web pages to support groups, to blogs written by parents and educators. I am hoping I didn't miss anyone. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments so that we can grow our communities!

Recommended Websites:

I am eternally grateful for the following websites. They were instrumental early on, when we were first learning about giftedness, but they continue to be sources of resources and comfort.

Gifted Blogs:

Parenting and educating gifted children can be a lonely venture. I always say to my gifted friends, "What did folks do before the internet!?" Thankfully, nowadays we have a gifted world right at our fingertips! Here are some of my favorite gifted blogs.

Readers favorite My Little Poppies Gifted/2E Posts:

Here are your favorite MLP posts on all things gifted and twice-exceptional. Did I miss one of your favorites here?

Wondering if your child is gifted/2e?

What do you think? Did I miss anyone? Share your favorite resource here!

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40 Sites To Bookmark if Your Child is Gifted

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Parenting a gifted or twice-exceptional child can be a challenge. I wouldn't change our journey for the world, but parenting and educating our PG/2E son has been one of our life's greatest challenges. I have learned so much from him and I always tell folks that he is my wisest teacher.

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Excellent book recommendations for high school gifted students.

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Excellent book recommendations for high school gifted students.

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Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

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The OBCB list is developed every five years as a tool for various audiences (students preparing for college, educators, librarians, and parents). It offers opportunities for independent reading and lifelong learning. From the list, readers are bound to find something that will expand their worldview and help them gain an understanding of the ever-changing world.

There is something for everyone within these lists. Adults new and old will find something to expand their worldview and gain understanding of the ever-changing world we call home. The list is divided into the following five categories:
Literature and Language Arts Science and Technology
The 2019 Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners Committee members are: Yolanda Hood, chair, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada; Donna Steel Cook, Central ISD, Pollok, Texas; Kelsey Hughes, South Bowie Branch, Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Bowie, MD; Jane Nichols, Oregon State University Libraries and Press, Corvallis, OR; Jennifer Powell, Tarrant High School, Tarrant, AL. Jamie Watson, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD.

The 2018 Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners Committee members are: Joy Millam, chair, Valencia High School, Placentia, CA; Ava Brillat, Otto G. Richter Library, Coral Gables, FL; Donna Cook, Central High School/Independent School District, Pollok, TX; Vilia Garcia, Harlingen High School South, Harlingen, TX; Yolanda Hood, University Of Wyoming Libraries, Laramie, WY; Kelsey Hughes, Crownsville, MD; Carrie Jacquin, St.Teresa's Academy, Kansas City, MO; Stacey McKenna, The Ohio State University/Central Ohio Technical, Pataskala, OH; Cate Merlin, Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, MA; Jane Nichols, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR; Jeremiah Paschke-Wood, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ; Beth Pelayo, St. Charles East High School, St. Charles, IL; Jennifer Powell, Tarrant High School, Birmingham, AL; Sarah E. Sheehan, Mary Alice & Tom O'Malley Library, Riverdale, NY; Jamie Watson, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD; and Lizz Zitron, Pierce College, Puyallup, WA.

YALSA's portfolio of book and media awards helps strengthen library services for and with teens by identifying quality, age appropriate resources for librarians and library workers to share with the teens in their communities. Learn more about YALSA's other book and media lists.

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2019 Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners

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The OBCB list is developed every five years as a tool for various audiences (students preparing for college, educators, librarians, and parents). It offers opportunities for independent reading and lifelong learning. From the list, readers are bound to find something that will expand their worldview and help them gain an understanding of the ever-changing world.

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Advice for New Gifted Education Specialists 

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Advice for New Gifted Education Specialists 

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Welcome to the best job on Earth! Whatever route you took to land here, I'm glad you've landed. Some of us aimed to be here. Others were re-routed. Still others have turned a detour into a permanent location. I predict that you will soon discover this to be a delightfully thought-provoking, fascinating, engaging, enlightening, and fulfilling job. I love it dearly. But it does come with many challenges unique to the job. The difficult parts of this job are ones that others won't see and/or won't understand. My aim here is to offer some insights from my many years as a Gifted Education Specialist. Perhaps lessons from my experiences can save you a bit of the heartache! :o)

...in no particular order:

1) Connect with others who do what you do. Being a Gifted Education Specialist is an often lonely, misunderstood undertaking. We are frequently the only one in our school, district, town, or (as in my case) county who do what we do. You will need a support network of others who "get it" and speak the same language, and you may have to look farther than locally to find it. Join your local, state, and national gifted education associations. Attend gifted education conferences where you can meet people who will become a part of your network. Utilize social networking. On the days when you have a question or need to vent or want to share a success, it will be immeasurably helpful to have even a small handful of people to call upon.

2) Start small. Then celebrate your successes, no matter how small. The job of a Gifted Specialist is incredibly complex, with facets that others (yes, even others in Education) don't realize and don't understand. If you start off expecting yourself to be able to "do it all" right away, you will drown. Determine a few goals and focus on those. Evaluate, revise, celebrate, and then decide on the next goal. Step by step the mountain is climbed, but you still have to take it one step at a time.

3) Be flexible when it comes to the location where you work with your students. In my 17 years, I have worked with my students in the teacher's lounge, at a table in the hallway, on a fold-up plastic table in the Music room, on an old (*old*) cafeteria table in the lobby of the gym, in a classroom shared with Title I aides, in other teachers' classrooms, in the Library, in the back of the Library during other classes' Library times, in the computer lab, and in my own classroom (at our middle school) which is also used by three other teachers during the day when I'm at other buildings. I've learned that it's kind of like that Sunday School lesson - the one about "the church" not being the building but rather the people in it, together. Your "classroom" is you and your students - and the locations where you gather may change and will certainly have advantages and disadvantages, but it is your time together with these kids that is most important.

4) Get really good at Plan B... for yourself, and for the kids. A couple times a year, I go to a classroom - either to pick up my students or with a lesson for the whole class prepared - and the room is dark and empty. Whether a field trip or an assembly or some other opportunity, the teacher has forgotten to tell me (or just overlooked) that it conflicted with my time with her students. Roll with it. Like you, they are busy people and if you get bent out of joint every time this happens, you'll be sour a lot and they'll be sour about you being so sour. The silver lining is you were just granted a surprise half hour or so of time to work on something else. Also, when it comes to those well-laid lessons plans, there will be days that you realize what you need is at your other school building, or another teacher borrowed it and left a note that you just now discovered, or the copy machine is broken down. You may only have one minute to decide what Plan B is, but there sure better be a Plan B. These kids have high expectations of you and they're on their way, ready to be challenged and engaged. Quick, what's it going to be?!

5) Be okay with not being popular. You won't be everyone's favorite person, and some will dislike or be cynical about you simply because of your job title and without ever taking a chance to get to know you. People will assume all sorts of things about you simply because of what your job is (some perhaps true, others perhaps not). Some will cringe or roll their eyes (literally or internally) when you speak up at meetings: "There she goes again, asking 'what about the advanced kids'..." For some, you will be a thorn in their sides because what you are advocating for means they will have to change a three decade pattern. When you ask how the newly adopted textbook will be adapted/supplemented/replaced for gifted learners who've already mastered much of what it contains, others will think you are just plain annoying for always asking those questions when there are so many other kids to worry about. Yes, being an advocate for your students will often mean others won't be keen on you. So be it. *shrug* Now you know who your (& your students') allies are - and are not. Now you can commiserate with your students when they talk about how the other kids don't understand why something is so important to them or how the other kids get annoyed when they ask questions in class. Now you know who needs to be the object of further efforts on your part to educate them about the needs of gifted learners. Now you can model for your students how to be okay with doing the right thing even when it means you're not popular for doing it.

6) Balance. A good working relationship with your colleagues (i.e. the regular classroom teachers) will often involve you walking a tightrope, balancing the needs of your gifted students with the patience, talents, willingness, open-mindedness, stubbornness, and needs of their teachers. Maintaining a great working relationship with your fellow teachers is really important because it increases opportunities for them to understand where you're coming from and means they are more likely to implement your suggestions for the gifted and advanced learners in their classrooms. But advocating for these kids while not stepping on a fellow teacher's toes is a delicate balance of trust, timing, temerity, humility, and bridge-building. Burning bridges, though occasionally tempting, doesn't do the kids any good and is definitely best avoided. Take advantage of opportunities to get to know your colleagues. Join a committee. Go to the staff Christmas party. Bring treats for the teacher's lounge. Stop to chat in the hallway. It all works toward building and nurturing those relationships.

7) Allow yourself to shine. Let your students know about your current and past honors, awards, successes, accomplishments, etc. Obviously I don't mean brag about them, but I do mean they are good things to drop from time to time into conversations with your students or to use as examples. Sometimes gifted kids feel like freaks of nature because they realize how much they stand out or stick out compared to others. Sometimes they hide their abilities or successes so they won't feel like such a freak. But if they can see you humbly, casually, honestly, and comfortably acknowledge your own shining moments, it provides them an example of how they can do the same. And it inspires them to be all they can be.

8) Cloak yourself in humility. These are REALLY smart kids. They will best you at every turn. You must be comfortable with high intelligence, not knowing the answers to some (many!) of their questions, conversations about chaos theory and Shakespeare and computer programming languages, and being stumped or beaten. If you have insecurities about your own intelligence and abilities, this is not the job for you. They will amaze and outshine you daily - and you must be able to be comfortable with that. I have been beaten at chess by a Kindergartener. One of my 7th grade students scored better on the SAT than I did as a junior in high school (and I did pretty darn well on it). My students often have conversations about topics I don't understand (the difference between PHP and JavaScript, for example). And that's okay. My particular job is not necessarily to know more than them. My job, primarily, is to open doors for them. "Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master." (Leonardo da Vinci)

9) Embrace your inner geek. Whether it's always been a big part of you or whether you hid it away in high school, now would be a great time to polish up your nerdiness. Bring out that old Star Trek costume. Dust off your reading glasses. Start using big words again. These kids need to know the ways in which you are one of them - because smart, nerdy role models who are comfortable in their own skin are hard to come by for these youngsters (particularly the ones whose demographics or locations mean they are much less likely to cross paths with such individuals). You may be their best or only chance to see what an intelligent, dorky life "looks" like and how to be comfortable embracing it. So embrace it!

10) Be ready to commit to committees. If you're not at the table, you're on the menu. Even if others in your school or district understand the needs of gifted and advanced learners, that doesn't mean they are as prepared and as willing and as mindful to be a voice for these kids as you are. For you, these kids are your first thought and first priority. For someone else, they may be third or tenth on the list. Don't trust that someone else will have the needs of these kids in mind. They might, they might not. The only way to be sure that the needs of the gifted and advanced learners are considered is for you to be at the table and to be a part of the conversation as often as you are able. This year, my district is reviewing (and in many cases revising) all of our district policies. ALL of them. That means I volunteered for the committee and I'm there at every meeting with an eye for how each policy may impact my students and their teachers' opportunities to meet their needs. It's quite a time commitment, but it has already paid off for my students.

11) Nurture and support your students' parents. Just as being a Gifted Specialist is a lonely road, so is parenting these off-the-charts kiddos. You may be the only person outside the family who understands the challenges of raising an intense, quirky, highly sensitive, unendingly curious, exhausting - and yet inspiring - child. Helping the parents, whether it's to better understand their kids or with parenting strategies or with a commiserating ear, indirectly helps the kids.

12) Nurture and support positive working relationships with your administrators and school board members. They are often the final deciders, and whether or not they have some understanding of the needs of gifted learners (and therefore how those needs are impacted by their decisions) may depend on whether or not you've made or taken advantage of opportunities to educate them about those needs. Be positive. Be proactive. Be persistent. Be subtle when necessary and blunt when necessary. But above all, put in the effort - with small and big steps over time - to communicate to them who gifted learners are and what they need in school. Never assume they already understand - because, frankly, they often don't. At least not initially. It will be up to you to help them develop understanding.

13) Sometimes "Doing Right by Your Students" and "Being a Good Employee" will be in conflict. (*sigh* Okay, more times than I care to admit.) I know it doesn't make sense. It's perfectly illogical that doing right by your students might mean having to be an incorrigible employee - or that being a model employee might mean having to sacrifice the needs of your students. It shouldn't be that way. But it sometimes is. I can't profess to have any answers for you on this, either. These are incredibly difficult situations fraught with complexity and emotion. Sometimes I choose one way, sometimes I choose the other (circumstance dependent). Sometimes it turns out I chose wisely, and sometimes not. Either way, it always eats me up inside and I've had to re-build some bridges and apologize - and yet, try again. Being the rope in a tug-of-war (in this and, as you may have noticed here, so many other ways) brings with it a lot of stress. So, while I'm at it, having good stress-coping-strategies (or developing them if you don't already have them) is imperative. The level of stress that comes with this job is much higher than others will notice or understand. (Don't let that scare you away! It's still the best job ever!)

14) Know your stuff. You must become the local expert on these kids. There's a lot of misinformation out there regarding what is and is not best for advanced learners. It will frequently fall to you to clear up the confusion or to set someone straight (politely, of course) or to make the distinction between research-based best practice and long-held mythology. Read as much as you can in the field... books, journals, research articles, blogs, debates, etc. Join local, state, and national gifted education associations. Attend as many gifted education conferences as your district is able to send you to. Take graduate coursework in gifted education. Even though there may always be some who will doubt you or don't believe you, someone locally still needs to be highly knowledgeable about gifted kids. Soak up as much as you can as often as you can because you will be the one they come to.

15) And finally, be proactive. Gifted students are (among) the most misunderstood, overlooked, inadequately taught learners in our classrooms... because others think they are okay on their own or where they are. But okay isn't good enough. ("One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar!" Helen Keller) The needs of gifted students stem from their strengths, and helping others to understand this counterintuitive reality is now part of your aim. It's a never-ending process of two steps forward, one step back. You will have to be comfortable and confident in what you do - and yet never let your guard down. You will need to be an advocate, a warrior, a confidant, a subversive, a leader, a researcher, an expert, an ally, a burr in someone's saddle, a little voice in the back of everyone's minds, a steady presence, a humble inspiration, an invaluable resource, and one who can bounce back time and time again. Yes, it's exhausting. But it's mostly exhilarating. Come... thrive with me!

Now, take a deep breath and go back and read #2 again. :o)

(What advice would you like to pass on for new gifted education specialists?)

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Advice for New Gifted Education Specialists (Opinion)

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Welcome to the best job on Earth! Whatever route you took to land here, I'm glad you've landed. Some of us aimed to be here. Others were re-routed. Still others have turned a detour into a permanent location. I predict that you will soon discover this to be a delightfully thought-provoking, fascinating, engaging, enlightening, and fulfilling job.

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Differentiation Strategies for Gifted and Talented Learners

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Differentiation Strategies for Gifted and Talented Learners

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Some great STEAM and ELA Resources for Enrichment with gifted students.

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Hour of Innovation Archive - Inventionland Institute

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Please take a moment to complete this anonymous 3-question survey that will help us select upcoming topics for our Hour...

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AP Courses: Explore instructional resources available from College Board

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AP Courses: Explore instructional resources available from College Board

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Explore by Course - AP Course Audit | AP Central - The College Board

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Get course-specific sample syllabi, curricular requirements, and more.

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Cyber Skyline is a cloud-based hands-on cybersecurity skills evaluation platform. Measure technical skills by pentesting servers or analyzing forensic evidence rather than answering multiple choice questions.

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Ideas for Regular Education Teachers to support gifted students 

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Ideas for Regular Education Teachers to support gifted students 

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When you're new to the world of gifted children, it can be daunting. Whether you've just found out your child is gifted, you've just been made a teacher of the gifted, or you are a gifted student who is just accepting that you are in a slightly different world than you expected, you may be seeking advice from people who have been there.

After sharing my best advice to parents, teachers, gifted students (and even politicians), I solicited advice from other teachers and parents.

Here's what they said. I identified them just by initials to protect their privacy. Some of it brought me to tears. I hope you find meaning in it, too. Thank you to those willing to share.

Advice for Gifted Youth

Your brain is a wonderful, fabulous thing. And while I have no doubt that that big brain of yours will take you far, developing compassion and having empathy for others combined with that big brain will take you even farther.

Challenge yourself. Don't be afraid to fail. The saying in my classroom is if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you! Don't compare yourself to others- the only person you are competing with it YOU.

The sky's the limit, so don't just settle for the mountaintop. Challenge yourself to fly, to soar... knowing that you're going to crash before you master flying. That's ok. In fact, that's awesome. You can't fail if you don't try! So try. Challenge. Explore. Then soar.

Two things I try to convey to my 7th and 8th graders every year:

You'll never regret doing your best.

2. Become the most educated ______________ you can be. (person, ditch-digger, CEO, office worker, teacher, bus driver.....)
~ P.C.

Find your teacher. Even if they are not your teacher right now. Find that teacher who "gets" you. That teacher who will be on your side. That teacher who will call you out when you need to be called out, but who will do it in private and kindly.

Find that teacher who will have your back when you need it. They are there, waiting for you to ask. Once you find him/her, know that you have found a supporter for life, not just for 6th grade.
~ M.B.

Advice from Lisa

I had so much advice for Gifted Students that I wrote an entire book about it.

In Living Gifted, I share 52 tips for gifted youth to help them survive and thrive in Giftedland.

In this image, you can see the way the book is laid out. On one side of the page, there is a tip. On the other side of the page, there is some kind of exercise or action to take to apply, explore, or implement the tip.

NOTE: You can hear this tip read aloud here.

Even though it's not the most popular of my books, it holds a very special place in my heart. I poured out all of what I wish I'd known when I was a gifted kid. It's a cognitive love letter to the gifted kids of the world.

If you would like a copy, it's available in paperback on Amazon.

If you would like an ebook (much cheaper), you can get it here. Use the code "reader" to make the price just $3.95!

I also recommend that you read the Interview with a Gifted Kid series.

Advice for Parents of Gifted Children

Grades are not important. They aren't. They are arbitrary ways of measuring information that, in all reality, your child has often already mastered OR- and here's a big one- they may not even need. Y

our child may be gifted, but believe me when I say that the highest honor is not achieving straight As. Because for gifted kids, achieving straight As is often effortless and means nothing. It means they can play the game. It doesn't mean they have mastered the subject, and it doesn't mean that meaningful learning has occurred.

Conversely, a low grade does not mean that they fail to grasp the subject, or that they are incapable of doing so. Often it means they lack organization, or study skills, or time management. Those ARE skills that they will need throughout life, so if that is the case work with them to develop those skills. NOT so that they can get the A, but so that they can learn the necessary executive functioning skills.

Encourage your child to look beyond the letter grade. This is truly freeing. For one, it gives them a chance to fail, which means that they have tried something new. Secondly, it encourages them to measure themselves not in relation to a predetermined level of achievement but rather in relation to their own abilities... did they really push themselves, or did they simply do what was necessary to get the A?

So often our gifted kids are so afraid to fail that they actually fail to push themselves. Don't let settling, even if it's settling for an easy A, be an option. Failure to try is the only true failure!

That means that we as parents have to look beyond the letter grade, too. This can be hard, especially because we are used to our children being at the top of the totem pole. But when our children miss an assignment, or fail to study, or actually come across content that they don't immediately understand for the first time, it's ok to let them bear the consequences.

Don't rush to "save" them, particularly at a younger age. Remember, elementary and middle school report cards aren't part of the college or job application process. Let your children learn from their mistakes and help them to develop the tools to avoid repeating them- that will go farther then blaming a teacher for not preparing them for a test or reminding you that your child has missing work. It gives the student ownership, lets them know we all mess up, and encourages them to want to do better.
~ T.H.

The best parenting advice I've been given is to remember that parenting is a long game. It helps me so much to keep this in mind when I make difficult decisions on behalf of my children, provide discipline, or watch them struggle through a hardship. I remember that immediate happiness or comfort is not my goal for them. Teaching them to be productive, self-disciplined, compassionate, resilient, generous humans, however, IS the goal...and that often requires them to be uncomfortable in the present.
~ R.M.

Parents: Be the ocean - make waves. Be that voice that is always asking about gifted kids. Those waves will make a difference, slowly wearing away the boulders in your way. Ask for exceptions. Ask for alternatives. Ask, ask, ask. The worse thing they can do is say no. The best thing is that they say yes, and the system is changed for you and those who follow you.

As a teacher, parents are my best friends! They can get things done that I can't. Find the teacher who supports your child and partner with him/her - they need your help!
~ M.B.

Advice from Lisa:

You can read everything I've written on parenting gifted children here.

A few of my favorite articles are:

Advice for Gifted Teachers

Teachers: Ask for help. Find that gifted "expert" in your district/region. Ask for help. That "expert" is more than willing to talk about gifted learners with you! Ask for help. If that person can't/won't help, keep asking. Ask for help. Find Facebook groups or in-person groups - make connections.
~ M.B.

Advice from Lisa:

I didn't receive as much advice for teachers, but that's okay because I've got advice for days!

You can read everything I've written for teachers here, if you have a few days.

A few of my favorites are:

Other Advice

Advice to Gifted Consultants

Advice to Politicians about Gifted Education

Politicians: PLEASE remember our small, rural gifted kids. They are usually the only gifted kids in their class. They usually don't have teachers trained in gifted education. The districts don't/choose-not-to use general education funds for that one student. They need funding specific to gifted students in order to provide adequately for them. Be brave. Be the voice our students need.
~ M.B.

Wrapping Up:

I loved reading this advice. I appreciated how many people took the time to share their thoughts.
Giftedland can feel lonely, but these generous readers prove that it's not. There is support and understanding.
If you've got advice, feel free to leave it in the comments below!

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Readers' Best Advice to Gifted Kids, Parents, and Teachers - Gifted Guru

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When you're new to the world of gifted children, it can be daunting. Whether you've just found out your child is gifted, you've just been made a teacher of the gifted, or you are a gifted student who is just accepting that you are in a slightly different world than you expected, you may be seeking advice from people who have been there.