Characteristics of Gifted Students
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Artifact/Evidence #1This is a video I made highlighting the characteristics of gifted children. I purposely chose a poem written by a young gifted student to highlight student voice. The unique cat "reciting" the poem shows that all gifted students need to have their voice heard and that each and everyone is truly talented in their own way. Teachers need to remember to look for the unexpected or to look beyond "alternative" or even frustrating behaviors to see the gifted child's talents. By highlighting gifted children's areas of interest and/or individuality, teachers can help their gifted students succeed.
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Artifact/Evidence #2
Creativity: For this piece of evidence I focused on increasing my own creativity. I have always considered myself to be more logical, and after watching the TED talk by David Kelly (t.ly/DVBbY), I realized that like my students I could stretch my own creativity. Thus, I created my first screencastify video to showcase my understandings of the characteristics of the gifted child, the learning process, and how my teaching has grown with this knowledge. To access the screencastify video click on the grey button "Artifact/Evidence" #2 button to the right. |
Artifact/Evidence #3Modeling Risk Making: For this piece of evidence (and the ones above), I focused on my own risk making by learning a new technology (Nearpod) and incorporating it into my teaching. Since doing this I now use Nearpod in my classroom at least once a week either as an embedded lesson, a warm up activity, extension, or a differentiation. To access the Nearpod lesson click on the grey button "Artifact/Evidence" #3 button above.
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Reflection on Characteristics of Gifted Children As a result of becoming Gifted Endorsed and implementing what I have learned in my classroom, I have learned that there is a difference between bright and gifted students, as well as academically and creatively gifted students. In addition the needs of these students in a classroom setting are also different. Academically gifted students are mentally advanced for their developmental/physical age and may need acceleration or deeply challenging pursuits to stay engaged. The creatively gifted student often thinks divergently. They have been shown to be visual, have imagination, take risks, be curious, have a strong sense of humor, be reflective, show grit, and can tolerate non-closure and ambiguity. They may question, bend rules and be unconventional and/or nonconforming than their intellectually gifted students. They may also be sloppy, question authority, be forgetful and lack attention to details.
By understanding this distinction, teachers can recognize behaviors or actions that are often thought to be negative, to rather be a function of one’s giftedness. By helping other teachers to see this, frustration may be minimized and the door opened, metaphorically, to allow for praise of a student’s process, not one’s outcome or work. Similarly, what may feel like off-task work can be encouraged as thinking outside of the box for a creatively gifted student. Finally, it may also help to remind teachers to include creative assessments as well as traditional assessments. |
CHANGE AND MY TEACHING PRACTICE: As a result of my endorsement courses, I have changed the way I engage my gifted students. First, I now focus on each Gifted student's area of giftedness and vary my questions accordingly with increasing Depth of Knowledge (DOK) complexity. For example, I may ask my creative students to
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THOUGHTS to SHARE with COLLEAGUES: After taking this endorsement class on the characteristics of gifted learners, the three things I would like to share with my colleagues about gifted learners and their needs, include: 1) the difference between bright and gifted children, 2) the definition and identification of gifted and talented students in georgia and CSD and 3) the difference between academically and creatively gifted students and their needs in a classroom setting.
During a planning meeting this year we were talking about which students, if any, should we teachers recommend for gifted services. Another teacher brought up a student who stood out with excellent grades, is a leader in class discussions, a hard worker, someone who always follows directions and is engaged, she makes and uses flashcards on her own to study, and is never afraid to ask questions. My colleague was adamant that this student was gifted and did not understand that the student perfectly fit the characteristics of a bright student, but not the characteristics of a gifted student. This example illustrates why teachers need to understand the distinction between gifted and bright students and how hard it is to identify gifted students because of confusion between the two. Gifted students tend to focus on their interests and when aligned with learning, they hyper focus on it. They may elaborate on an answer, use clever or abstract examples of content, and/or get distracted by detail and go off task, quickly absorbing material and wanting to ask deeper or more abstract questions. They only need 1-2 times repetition for mastery of content and tend to thrive on complexity and/or creativity. Sometimes their thinking is confusing and/or circuitous. Students who tend to follow a direct path, playing the game of school well, are often identified as bright rather than gifted. This example illustrates that it would also greatly help all teachers to learn how gifted students are defined and identified and the fact that one informs the other.
During a planning meeting this year we were talking about which students, if any, should we teachers recommend for gifted services. Another teacher brought up a student who stood out with excellent grades, is a leader in class discussions, a hard worker, someone who always follows directions and is engaged, she makes and uses flashcards on her own to study, and is never afraid to ask questions. My colleague was adamant that this student was gifted and did not understand that the student perfectly fit the characteristics of a bright student, but not the characteristics of a gifted student. This example illustrates why teachers need to understand the distinction between gifted and bright students and how hard it is to identify gifted students because of confusion between the two. Gifted students tend to focus on their interests and when aligned with learning, they hyper focus on it. They may elaborate on an answer, use clever or abstract examples of content, and/or get distracted by detail and go off task, quickly absorbing material and wanting to ask deeper or more abstract questions. They only need 1-2 times repetition for mastery of content and tend to thrive on complexity and/or creativity. Sometimes their thinking is confusing and/or circuitous. Students who tend to follow a direct path, playing the game of school well, are often identified as bright rather than gifted. This example illustrates that it would also greatly help all teachers to learn how gifted students are defined and identified and the fact that one informs the other.