Dispelling Myths: Gifted Students
Gifted Students Will Be Successful No Matter What. WRONG!
Gifted Students Need to Be Challenged
Ontario teachers need to make aconcientious effort to create Individual Education Programs (IEPs) that engage, motivate and stretch their gifted students. This will help students reach their full potential, which can be much higher than other students in your classrooms! Too often in Ontario schools, teachers feel that their gifted students will succeed without any special programming or attention. When teachers feel this way, gifted students experience boredom, underachievement and neagative behaviours. Gifted students need to be challenged.
Learning Contracts: Great Teaching Practice
Many gifted students require assistance with organizational skills. Learning contracts are a fantastic teaching practice that helps gifted students realize their potential and improves their organizational skills. Learning contracts are an excellent way for students to work alongside teachers to meet speciific goals including organization of learning materials, notes and completing modified expectations. Learning contracts encourage gifted students to set personal goals and monitor their own progress towards achieving them. This requires gifted students keep their assignments and learning activities well organized so that they can determine if they fullfiled the contract.
Set the Interpersonal Stage: Carefully Selected Groupings
Teachers need to further develop their gifted student’s interpersonal skills while at the same time supporting them in mastering expectations. Both can be done when teachers carefully select groups during collaborative learning activities. Teachers are often good at providing gifted students with opportunities to mentor other students as this helps them master expectations and further develops their social skills. This is called heterogeneous grouping. Gifted students also require time with other like-minded students so that they can dig deeper on topics of interest. This type of grouping is called homogeneous grouping. It is also important to place your gifted student with other high achieving students. This allows them to spend time applying their knowledge rather than spending time aquiring it.
Gifted Students- Challenges & Tips
Time Management: The Freedom of Choice
Lastly, When teachers compact curriculum, they need to allow gifted students some choice of the activities they complete or the topics they inquire about. Teachers NEED to provide gifted student with time and attention. Gifted students require an challenging and well planned program that helps them reach for the stars!