Chapter 7: Students Who Are Gifted & Talented

acceleration

-a process in which students work through materials at a quicker pace or earlier than other students -may also mean that a student skips a grade in school

self-contained classrooms

-all students have similar needs -a teacher who is familiar with specializing instruction for gifted students provides accelerated and differentiated instruction for the classroom

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

-also useful to gifted students -the principles of UDL encourage teachers to present content in different ways, allow students to present what they have learned in different ways, and engage in the content in different ways, which is fairly similar to differentiation

visual or performing arts

-creates -observes -has a visual memory -displays exceptional ability in art, dance, drama, or music -reasons well spatially -solves puzzles and mazes easily

the exceptional abilities that gifted students display tend to fall into these categories

-creative or productive thinking -general intellectual ability -leadership ability -psychomotor ability -specific academic aptitude -visual or performing arts

general intellectual ability

-displays advanced vocabulary -engages in tasks independently -gets excited about new ideas and information -picks up new material quickly -remembers information easily -asks engaging questions -processes information in complex ways

specific academic aptitude

-eagerly participates in readings -reads widely in an area -comprehends difficult material -reads advanced material -accurately recalls facts -discovers patterns in mathematics -solves problems abstractly or creatively -uses a variety of representations

Gifted Individualized Education Program (GIEP)

-functions similar to an IEP for students with disabilities -helps the school staff understand what specialized programs or accommodations are available to provide enriched experiences for a gifted student

definition from a federal statute

-gifted and talented students demonstrate higher performance or are capable of higher performance in intellectual, creative, or leadership domains -need specialized instruction, activities, or services in order to develop their exceptional abilities above and beyond general classroom instruction

definition from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)

-gifted individuals are those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude or competence in one or more domains -domains include any structured area of activity with its own symbol system and/or set of sensorimotor skills -gifted and talented students demonstrate or have the potential for exceptional abilities in one or more areas

pull-out programs

-group similar students together and provide them with instruction outside the general classroom -all gifted students are pulled from their general classroom to participate in gifted programs for the time period

differentiated instruction

-probably the most mentioned approach for teaching gifted students -the content, process, and product are differentiated by student -curriculum is adapted based on the student's readiness, interest, and learning profile

magnet schools

-public institutions that organize instruction around a particular skill or interest or academic excellence -often require students to apply, and the selection process can be competitive -most prevalent at the secondary level, since they focus on developing skills to prepare students for careers in specific fields

creative or productive thinking

-pursues opportunities to work and create with technology -enjoys working with hands-on materials -invents and creates -writes and speaks in creative ways -provides several solutions to problems -challenged by creative tasks -displays mature sense of humor and understands sarcasm -grasps metaphors and analogies

achievement tests

-schools may use scores to determine whether students are significantly above average, range in the top 1-5% percent, and/or meet their school's designated criteria for intellectual ability -provides a score related to what a student knows. Achievement tests usually provide scores in the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics

cluster groups

-several gifted students are placed together within a general classroom -the clustering enables the classroom teacher to tailor the content, products, and learning environment to meet the needs of the gifted students while the rest of the classroom participates in the general curriculum

leadership ability

-sought out by peers as a leader -works well with others -expresses ideas fluently -acts confidently -makes sound judgments and thinks through consequences of decisions -is organized -likes structure

independent studies

-students investigate a topic in depth with monitoring and guidance from a teacher or mentor -work well when students decide about what they would like to learn and investigate -students can also be provided with open-ended tasks that allow them to decide which approach to use to solve a problem

enrichment

-teachers provide extension activities for gifted students -enrichment activities go into more depth than typical classroom activities

differentiated instruction

-the services above and beyond the typical educational programs -students participate in classroom activities & assignments that are tailored to the strengths of the individual student

compacting

-the teacher assesses what a student already knows about a topic and then allows the student to skip known material and move to learning new material -without compacting, many gifted students are bored because they are reviewing material they already have learned

twice-exceptional students

-those who are gifted and also have a disability -have been recognized since the 1970s -these students have above-average intelligence, but their disability prohibits them from reaching their full potential -twice-exceptional students represent a small percentage of students with disabilities

talented students

demonstrate exceptional performance related to their ability

gifted students

demonstrate innate abilities that are exceptional

process

how students will access and interact with material

content

the material covered during instruction

product

the ways that students demonstration their knowledge or understanding of the material