What does it mean to be gifted and talented ?
How can we improve ?
Meeting the Needs of Advanced Learners
By Dyan Branstetter
Our goal as educators is to help our students reach their full potential . When we work with students who struggle to learn concepts , we try multiple strategies to help that child succeed and grow . What happens when we meet an advanced learner who already knows the majority of the content we ’ re teaching ? Or a student who masters concepts after one example ? Many times , lots of “ early finisher ” work . Think of how much time gifted students spend waiting for other students . Is this helping them reach their potential ? There is a better way .
What does it mean to be gifted and talented ?
There are multiple facets of giftedness . Typically in schools , we identify academically or intellectually gifted students by looking at a range of assessments . Mentally gifted students include those with an IQ of 130 or higher . Students who are artistically gifted are sometimes labeled “ talented ”. There are few identification processes and education programs for the artistically gifted , however . The U . S . Department of Education broadly identifies this type of giftedness under the definition of students “ who give evidence of high achievement capability ”, but has stated that this is one of our country ’ s most underserved populations .
Studies have found that it is our advanced students , not our struggling ones , who ’ s academic growth is stagnating . There is no denying the importance of putting all efforts towards struggling learners . However , it is not fair that other students get less effort put into their learning progress . Of course , none of us are giving advanced students less effort on purpose . It is just so hard to make sure everyone is getting what he or she needs . As a classroom teacher , if you have to choose between remediating to bring someone up to grade level or letting that student wait while you focus on helping an above level student grow further , we help the lower student . It ’ s like triage . In an ER , they treat the most immediate needs first . However , triage doesn ’ t work in education . If we provide less teaching effort for advanced students , they are denied opportunities to stretch their learning potential .
How can we improve ?
In order to better serve gifted and talented students , here are a few mindsets we first need to acquire : 1 . EVERY child should come to school each day to stretch and grow . 2 . The measure of progress and growth is competition with oneself rather than competition against others .
3 . School should be “… an escalator on which students continually progress , rather than a series of stairs , with landings on which advanced learners consistently wait .” ( Carol Ann Tomlinson )
STEAMed Magazine
29
January 2017 Edition