The following is a commonly used list of characteristis that differentate bright children for those classified as Gifted and Talented. Take a look at the list.
The Bright Child The Gifted Child
Knows the answers Asks the questions
Is interested Is highly curiousIs attentive Is mentally and physically involved
Works hard Plays around, yet tests well
Answers the questions Discusses in detail, elaborates
Is in the top group Is beyond the group
Listens with interest Shows strong feelings and opinions
Learns with ease Already knows
Needs 6-8 repetitions for mastery Needs 1-2 repetitions
Understands ideas Constructs abstractions
Enjoys peers Prefers adults
Grasps the meaning Draws inferences
Completes assignments Initiates projects
Is receptive Is intense
Copies accurately Creates a new design
Which list do you fall in? What about the students in you classroom?
Has it been your experience that the students on the right need something different?
I definitely fall (or stumble) into the left category. I have had a few students who were highly into the right category and they drove most of their teachers crazy (including me sometimes)! They were always going off on their own ideas about how they could make some cool project with the information we were learning; or they already knew about it and would rather continue Isaac Asimov's Understanding Physics, thank you. It took some getting used to and I had to start working with them more as a mentor than a "teacher." I.e., I had to give ideas and be ready for feedback from them that was completely different than what I expected. I can't see how some of these kids stay in regular public school for so long without going crazy from the monotony and limits/boundaries.
ReplyDeleteI don't fit into either one of these categories. As a library media specialist sometimes I'm not so special. I do know and understand that these types of students are walking into the library all the time. I know that doing normal research projects won't cut it with these students. So I have been forced into playing around with new stuff that might perhaps motivate the above mentioned groups. One such example would be to create a template for blogging the research process. http://researchlogtemplate.edublogs.org/home
ReplyDeleteWhat should you do for a gifted child that is not being challenged in school? My son has always been beyond his peers in school. I have always asked his teachers to push him and give him harder work. Some do and some don't. I try to challenge him at home but it is different when I am the parent and not the teacher. Any great ideas?
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. As the parent of a severly gifted child, I want to be able to wear my Dad hat at home, and not be a teacher 24/7. One suggestion is to encourage your child to learn about whatever interests him. For example, let's say he loves space exploration. Show him how to find interesting things, and try to show interest with the fact that he wants you to know that the first stage of Apollo 11 burned for 2 minutes and 48 seconds. At school, make sure that when you ask for different work because your son is bored that the teacher does not just give him more of the same boring work. (He probably needs less.) Suggest that instead of doing the 40 math problems that he be allowed to just do the last 5. They are the hardest anyway. He will not be allowed to ask for help on the problems. If he can do the last 5 without help, he has demonstrated mastery. Perhaps you might want to purchase a book of more challenging type problems and let the teacher find some problems that are concept related to have him do after the 5. That will help the teacher because G&T students are not known for good behavior when they are done, bored, and wondering why everyone else is not done yet. By the way, there is a publisher by the name of Prufrock Press (or something like that) that deals with the needs of gifted children and parents of gifted children. You might want to check it out.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is sensational. I'm inspired to put more time into my own. I wanted to comment about this topic as well. Doing schedules and class changes as a counselor, I often hear from parents that their child, who is usually in trouble, is gifted or too smart for the programs offered at our school. First off, I believe that this is often the case. More often than not though, I am left wondering how to respond to a parent who seems disconnected from the fact that a small attention span does not always translate into rocket scientist material. I would never want to discourage a parent from believing in their child, but it puts me in a difficult spot when a parent wants his child to skip a prerequisite class when there have been no passing grades or evidence on an exam that the student is as bright as the parent claims. Just curious about your thoughts on the issue.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me if you have no data, it is somewhat pointless to even have the discussion with a parent. In our district our G&T program is for students in grades 3-6. After that there are honors classes and such. No one gets into the G&T program without testing, and after that there is still testing to see if they can be placed into something like pre-algebra. Without a test demonstating complete mastery of a prerequisite class, it would be foolish for a school to permit admittance. If there is a particular class a number of students are attempting to skip, perhaps there is such a test, and it would seem proper to give it. There would still need to be some criteria for that opportunity, such as a scoring 98 or above on the CRT, or 95 percentile on an Iowa. Personally, I would not let a student with a 99 on the Iowa skip a prerequisite without additional proof. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. It was great to see the differences.
ReplyDelete