S'More From The AP
Week Ending January 16, 2015
Teaching The Gifted -- With Mrs. Van Meter
I venture to say when you were little and thought “I want to be a teacher when I grow up”, your idea of what that meant and what it actually looks like, are two very different things! I’m not suggesting that you would do anything otherwise. We are all in this job because we care about children, value education, and want to make a difference. But being an elementary school teacher is truly a challenging job.
Gone are the days of straight rows, no talking, packets, and books all on the same level. Having diverse learners in our classrooms hasn’t changed. However, how we strive to meet their abilities and needs has. There was a time when it was actually encouraged your high ability or GT students help your struggling learners. This was a win-win for the student needing help and for the teacher, but didn’t do much to challenge the GT child! Fortunately, we have come a long way in education. As an advocate and educator of GT students, I’m very excited to see the higher level teaching and learning that our GT students are receiving at Old Settlers.
Gifted Education has seen some big changes the past few years. In LISD, we used to serve GT identified students exclusively through a pull out service model. In the past two years we have implemented various service models depending on the child’s abilities and strengths. Some identified students are not pulled out at all- their service model is enrichment in a GT cluster trained homeroom. Others are pulled for a Thinking Skills class 45 minutes a week, while others are pulled out for more rigorous study several hours a week. A child can have one or up to 4 different service models.
Identification was easier also. If a student scored 6 out 8 indicators in the 96th percentile or above they qualified as full placement “LEAP” (we don’t call it LEAP any more because the “P” stands for “program” and we are no longer considered a program, but rather a service). If the student had less than 6 indicators the committee decided if a provisional placement was warranted. Our identified gifted students were much less, 4% compared to 12% now. However, a few years ago, the definition of a “gifted student” changed. According to the Texas Administrative Code 29.121, “A gifted and talented student is a child who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment and who exhibits high performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area; possesses an unusual capacity for leadership; or excels in a specific academic field.”
Change is never easy. But with a new identification process, a one size fits all pullout program just doesn’t work. Differentiating through individualized service models is the best way we can strive to meet the needs of the GT and the child with GT potential.
If you have a GT student in your class, you ARE one of their service models, and for some, you may be the ONLY service model. That means you have the responsibility of providing these students with more complex and innovative lessons. Part of my job is to provide you support to help differentiate their learning. I regularly share activities, ideas and resources on Google. I know you can’t always stop what you’re doing to read it, but I encourage you to make a folder and drag my things into it so when you start planning you will have viable resources at your fingertips. I also go old school and put hard copies in your box- so keep a physical file folder handy as well! Sometimes, it’s even easier than searching your computer.
I am impressed with the caliber of activities that OSE teachers provide in their classrooms. I see meaningful, enrichment options available to motivate these students to think deeper. Menus of higher level activity choices, Genius Hour, Independent Study Contracts and the Envision gifted program are commonly used in learning stations. In 5th grade Mrs. Cohen’s GT students know that they are to work on their “Travel Passport” project whenever they have stations or extra time. I have these Envision projects for ALL grade levels, 3-5 and am happy to share and explain them to you. I will even do the checkpoints/rubrics for you. It is an independent and challenging real world project that incorporates research and all subject areas.
Thank you for fulfilling your dream to be a teacher and for wearing so many hats each day to meet the needs of your students. I’m here to help you any way I can. Below is a link to a slide show of many ideas, resources and links for differentiating GT in your classroom. Some of these I recently discovered at the TAGT conference in Ft. Worth, others are some of my personal favorites.
“All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talent”. – John F. Kennedy
The Principal Ponders
As previously mentioned by our ROCK STAR GT teacher, Mrs. Van Meter, one size does NOT fit all for GT students, or any student for that matter. Making instruction as individualized as possible is the best way to meet the needs of every learner. Mrs. Van Meter has embraced the new service model that allows students a more individualized plan to address their unique areas of giftedness and has spent countless hours determining which model is the best fit for each student. OSE is one of only a few schools that is offering this option at this time so our students are extremely fortunate to have Mrs. Van Meter as their advocate for success!
With that being said, there are many things that we, as educators, need to know about gifted children that will hopefully enable us to understand them just that much better! Keep these in mind the next time your GT student(s) walk through your classroom door:
- Gifted students are not all alike.They vary in respect to generalability, specific aptitude, interests, motivation, and personality; making the one-size fits all approach ineffective to meet their range of needs.
- Gifted students benefit from interaction with peers. Intellectual peer groups contribute to important growth patterns in all subject areas (Kulik & Kulik)
- Gifted students need various forms of acceleration throughout their school years, such as content acceleration, Advanced Placement or dual enrollment to mentorships.
- Gifted students are capable of producing high level products in specific areas of learning at the level of a competent adult (NAGC).
- Gifted students at elementary level required differentiated staffing and flexible scheduling to accommodate their needs (Feldhusen).
- Gifted students have affective characteristics that render them vulnerable in school settings such as perfectionism, sensitivity, and intensity (Lovecky, Robinson).
- Gifted students in general have healthy social relationships and adjust well to new situations (Robinson).
- Gifted students need to be challenged and stimulated by an advanced and enriched curriculum that is above their current level of functioning (VanTassel-Baska).
With a staff that is always seeking to learn more about best practices, along with the resources Mrs. Van Meter provides, we do a great job of addressing these bullet points. In addition, being aware of these researched facts will serve us well when working with our gifted population. As always, keep doing what you’re doing, what’s best for kids, and you can’t go wrong.