I chose to research this topic because unfortunately I do not have a great deal of experience in the area of gifted education. Taking a course in gifted education was not mandatory in university. I think it is important for every teacher to have some sort of education on the subject because at some point in their career they will come across a case of giftedness. That being said, I also believe in the importance of a well-rounded math education for teachers as well. I enjoy math, and I hope to pass this passion along to my students. But what about teachers who are not comfortable teaching the subject? Will their students detect their negative attitudes? Will this negativity transform into a hate for math?
How important are educators attitudes and beliefs, and how might they impact our students?
Recognizing students, as being gifted is so important in their education. “All students should have the right to exercise their talents to the fullest potential” (Glass, 2004 p.28). This is our job as teachers and we need to make sure with a “no child left behind” policy that we not only give disabled students support to their education, but also gifted students. “Gifted students have taken a back seat to “at risk” students” (Glass, 2004 p.29) A child who is excelling in a class of 20-30 students can so easily get omitted and not given the attention they not only need, but also deserve.
Math is such an important part of a child’s education, it is especially important we not loose any students where can be avoided. Challenging students, and acknowledging their gift can go a long way in a child’s attitude towards the subject.
RESOURCES:
Davis, Gary A. and Rimm, Sylvia B. (2004) Education of the Gifted and Talented: Fifth Edition. Pearson Education Inc.
Elkind, David. (1998) Educating Young Children in Math, Science and Technology.
Glass, Tempus Fugit. (2004) What Gift? The Reality of the Student Who is Gifted and Talented in Public School Classrooms. Vol 27 No. 4 pp 25-29.
Johnson, Dana T. (2000) Teaching Mathematics to Gifted Students in a Mixed-Ability Classroom. Retrieved on November 22, 2011 from http://www.vtaide.com/png/ERIC/gifted-Math.htm
Friday, 2 December 2011
NOW
There is a child in grade 5 who appears to excel way beyond his years in the area of mathematics. I’ve been asked by the ESDNL board and a prfoessor to potentially work with him and create some kind of enrichment for him through some sort of challenge. The boy is said to be working at a grade 10-math level. Currently he is still sitting in his grade 5 class for math, clearly excelling past his peers. It is with the hope that through my work with this child, he will once again be challenged by math and therefore not become bored by it. I am very excited to work with this student, and hoping to learn a lot from him as well. My initial plan is to get to know this student, on a personal and mathematical level so I can find relevant activities that he will not only enjoy but will benefit from and challenge his thinking.
QUESTIONS:
What type of activities might work best for this student? (refer to previous list)
Should he be taken out of math class and do an alternate curriculum?
What will this student’s future attitude towards math be?
QUESTIONS:
What type of activities might work best for this student? (refer to previous list)
Should he be taken out of math class and do an alternate curriculum?
What will this student’s future attitude towards math be?
THEN
My sister did an enrichment program back when she was in junior high. The following is what she told me about her experience.
Back in the early 90’s, my sister was a pretty average 7th grader. She was a bright, hard working student who enjoyed school. She was chosen early in the year to go to the enrichment program. This took place once a week for the entire year, she actually continued the program through the following two grades as well. When I asked her to recall anything she could this is the information she provided me with:
“ Once a week, I would go a building downtown on Patrick Street with about 5 other students from my school. There we had to choose a project of interest and work on that. The projects were not subject based and were really random and fun. There were about 35-40 students in the enrichment program with about 5 teachers supervising. Once we chose a topic- I chose puppetry- we had a lot of space to work at our own pace and do things ourselves. It was really independent, and there were certain times of the day that we could do whatever we wanted for an hour, read, draw, just talk to others, I would obviously usually be reading. Or sometimes there was group work. I remember an activity were we had to get in a small group, be asked a question and come up with a justified response and present our case to the other groups. There were never right or wrong answers they just wanted to hear us present a case. The work was so interesting and open ended it really gave us an opportunity to escape the confinement of school. I met a lot of people and loved it!”
Why were you chosen? “Teachers submitted a list of recommended students. We had to be doing well academically because whatever work we missed that day we were responsible ourselves for catching up for homework. So it was pretty much based on marks.”
My sister obviously really enjoyed her experience at this particular enrichment program years ago. She continued to go on with great success in her academic career. Graduating with honors even through university.
QUESTIONS:
Can any credit be awarded to this enrichment program she attended for her academic success?
Does this program seem beneficial?
Why or why not would programs like this be offered in today’s society?
Do we place too much importance on academics and is this creating a stunt in creative achievement?
Back in the early 90’s, my sister was a pretty average 7th grader. She was a bright, hard working student who enjoyed school. She was chosen early in the year to go to the enrichment program. This took place once a week for the entire year, she actually continued the program through the following two grades as well. When I asked her to recall anything she could this is the information she provided me with:
“ Once a week, I would go a building downtown on Patrick Street with about 5 other students from my school. There we had to choose a project of interest and work on that. The projects were not subject based and were really random and fun. There were about 35-40 students in the enrichment program with about 5 teachers supervising. Once we chose a topic- I chose puppetry- we had a lot of space to work at our own pace and do things ourselves. It was really independent, and there were certain times of the day that we could do whatever we wanted for an hour, read, draw, just talk to others, I would obviously usually be reading. Or sometimes there was group work. I remember an activity were we had to get in a small group, be asked a question and come up with a justified response and present our case to the other groups. There were never right or wrong answers they just wanted to hear us present a case. The work was so interesting and open ended it really gave us an opportunity to escape the confinement of school. I met a lot of people and loved it!”
Why were you chosen? “Teachers submitted a list of recommended students. We had to be doing well academically because whatever work we missed that day we were responsible ourselves for catching up for homework. So it was pretty much based on marks.”
My sister obviously really enjoyed her experience at this particular enrichment program years ago. She continued to go on with great success in her academic career. Graduating with honors even through university.
QUESTIONS:
Can any credit be awarded to this enrichment program she attended for her academic success?
Does this program seem beneficial?
Why or why not would programs like this be offered in today’s society?
Do we place too much importance on academics and is this creating a stunt in creative achievement?
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF ENRICHMENT
-reveals unexpected high abilities
-Keeps students interested
-keeps students busy
-presents new opportunities
-raises self esteem
-raises self expectations
-Keeps students interested
-keeps students busy
-presents new opportunities
-raises self esteem
-raises self expectations
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF ENRICHMENT
-time consuming
-mixing student abilities in an inappropriate time
-continuity/related to in class work.
-avoiding “busy work” for early finishers
-lack clear goals
-research into students interest tied into curriculum objectives
-potentially alienating for students
-potential to be socially damaging for students
-mentally exhausting for students
-mixing student abilities in an inappropriate time
-continuity/related to in class work.
-avoiding “busy work” for early finishers
-lack clear goals
-research into students interest tied into curriculum objectives
-potentially alienating for students
-potential to be socially damaging for students
-mentally exhausting for students
WHO NEEDS IT and HOW DO WE KNOW?
Enrichment programs are aimed at more able learners.
Some kind of assessment must be determined when identifying students as gifted and deciding which students will benefit from an enrichment program. It also must be a consistent method. However there are still questionable methods used today.
“Instruments used for student assessment to determine eligibility for gifted education services must measure diverse abilities, talents, strengths, and needs” (Landrum, Callahan, Chaklee, 2001 p.44).
One method used is the Stanford Binet IQ instrument. Students scoring 136 or higher are labeled as gifted. This method leaves a wide margin for error in the recognition of gifted students. All students deserve a fair chance.
QUESTIONS:
What about students that excel in other areas, not just academics? How does this system recognize students with other areas of giftedness?
Is enrichment just for students who do well over all? Is it needed for students who excel in just one area?
Can all students benefit from the right kind of enrichment?
Some kind of assessment must be determined when identifying students as gifted and deciding which students will benefit from an enrichment program. It also must be a consistent method. However there are still questionable methods used today.
“Instruments used for student assessment to determine eligibility for gifted education services must measure diverse abilities, talents, strengths, and needs” (Landrum, Callahan, Chaklee, 2001 p.44).
One method used is the Stanford Binet IQ instrument. Students scoring 136 or higher are labeled as gifted. This method leaves a wide margin for error in the recognition of gifted students. All students deserve a fair chance.
QUESTIONS:
What about students that excel in other areas, not just academics? How does this system recognize students with other areas of giftedness?
Is enrichment just for students who do well over all? Is it needed for students who excel in just one area?
Can all students benefit from the right kind of enrichment?
WHAT IS ENRICHMENT/ DIFFERENT FORMS OF ENRICHMENT
Enrichment can be defined as:
-a higher quality of work than the norm for the age group
-work covered in depth
-a broadening of the learning experience
-promoting a higher level of thinking, and “high order” objectives
-the inclusion of additional subject areas/activities-the sue of supplementary materials beyond the normal range of resources.
-development of certain qualities’ of mind (ex. Problem solving, discovery, higher order thinking, etc)
Enrichment is used to enhance students abilities, therefore it is important to keep students motivated, and interested without overwhelming them.
It is a form of differentiation. Different forms of enrichment can (but not limited to) involve such ideas as:
-grouping for specific subjects, talents, or projects
-staying with a theme, subject or skill and developing it in depth
-rounding out the basic curriculum subjects with a wider context
-independent activities-self guided, research or alternate activities
-relating learning new areas
-providing pupils with experiences outside the regular curriculum
-field trips
-out of school activities (ex. Saturday programs)
Gifted students may benefit from such a program when their needs are just not being met in the basic curriculum. A student is at risk of loosing interest, acting out in class or even abandoning school if they are bored and not getting anything out of the education environment presented to them. On the other end, students may feel a great amount of pressure to measure up to the standards being set for him/her. It is important when developing an enrichment program for gifted students that a balance is met in order to achieve success without a sense of failure.
QUESTIONS:
How do educators go about creating a balanced, effective program for these students?
How individualized must a program be in order to achieve maximum success?
Which type of enrichment programs will work best?
What type of environment will allow gifted students to reach their full potential?
-a higher quality of work than the norm for the age group
-work covered in depth
-a broadening of the learning experience
-promoting a higher level of thinking, and “high order” objectives
-the inclusion of additional subject areas/activities-the sue of supplementary materials beyond the normal range of resources.
-development of certain qualities’ of mind (ex. Problem solving, discovery, higher order thinking, etc)
Enrichment is used to enhance students abilities, therefore it is important to keep students motivated, and interested without overwhelming them.
It is a form of differentiation. Different forms of enrichment can (but not limited to) involve such ideas as:
-grouping for specific subjects, talents, or projects
-staying with a theme, subject or skill and developing it in depth
-rounding out the basic curriculum subjects with a wider context
-independent activities-self guided, research or alternate activities
-relating learning new areas
-providing pupils with experiences outside the regular curriculum
-field trips
-out of school activities (ex. Saturday programs)
Gifted students may benefit from such a program when their needs are just not being met in the basic curriculum. A student is at risk of loosing interest, acting out in class or even abandoning school if they are bored and not getting anything out of the education environment presented to them. On the other end, students may feel a great amount of pressure to measure up to the standards being set for him/her. It is important when developing an enrichment program for gifted students that a balance is met in order to achieve success without a sense of failure.
QUESTIONS:
How do educators go about creating a balanced, effective program for these students?
How individualized must a program be in order to achieve maximum success?
Which type of enrichment programs will work best?
What type of environment will allow gifted students to reach their full potential?
GIFTED STUDENTS IN THE SUBJECT of MATH
David Elkind presents a great detailed paper on just how children learn mathematics. He identifies stages reached at certain cognitive levels, and how to work with students to reach their maximum potential. He also identifies 3 obstacles needed to overcome when trying to teach students math: 1) is the adult inability to discover, either by reflection or analysis, the means by which children acquire science and technology concepts 2) young children think differently than us and 3) young children have their own curriculum priorities and construct their own math concepts. These obstacles we must take into account when trying to deliver an effective, memorable and supported math curriculum.
When trying to understand how gifted students learn we can look at three areas that they differ in: 1) their pace 2) depth of understanding 3) interests they hold. By using these areas, and with the constant surveillance of our students, we can adapt, adjust and create a math program for all students to benefit from. Acceleration of content is something teachers should watch out for, as students still need to learn and comprehend the basics. A combination of multiple resources, differentiation, open-ended projects and questions, ability grouping, inquiry based instruction, extension projects are just a few of the methods teachers can use in educating gifted students in math. “Working with peers of like abilities enables gifted children to gain insight into their own abilities” (Glass 2004, p. 28). Because of the complex nature of the subject, it is important to remember all students are different and each individual’s potential needs to be explored.
QUESTIONS:
Is there enough funding devoted to giftedness?
Are teachers given enough training in math to cope with gifted students in their class? Should they be provided with more?
When trying to understand how gifted students learn we can look at three areas that they differ in: 1) their pace 2) depth of understanding 3) interests they hold. By using these areas, and with the constant surveillance of our students, we can adapt, adjust and create a math program for all students to benefit from. Acceleration of content is something teachers should watch out for, as students still need to learn and comprehend the basics. A combination of multiple resources, differentiation, open-ended projects and questions, ability grouping, inquiry based instruction, extension projects are just a few of the methods teachers can use in educating gifted students in math. “Working with peers of like abilities enables gifted children to gain insight into their own abilities” (Glass 2004, p. 28). Because of the complex nature of the subject, it is important to remember all students are different and each individual’s potential needs to be explored.
QUESTIONS:
Is there enough funding devoted to giftedness?
Are teachers given enough training in math to cope with gifted students in their class? Should they be provided with more?
WHAT IS GIFTED?
After years of research, there is still no general or universal consensus on what “gifted” really means. However, many researchers and educators have been able to give certain factors and/or ideas that are certainly possible characteristics of the term and help us in the diverse identification of students.
Years ago, children were not labeled gifted, they were different, but not in a good way. “Child prodigies were targets of intense scrutiny and were looked at as “freaks of nature” by many” (Glass 2004). They were a burden rather than an asset.
Giftedness created a sense of mystery, and many frowned upon the unfamiliar.
Today, Davis & Rimm define gifted and talented children as those identified by professionally qualified persons who by virtue of outstanding abilities are capable of high performance (2004, p.18) The following are a list of areas a child may experience high performance levels in:
-general intellectual ability -leadership ability
-specific academic ability -visual and performing arts
-creative or productive thinking -psychomotor ability
However, “The particular definition adopted by a school district will guide the identification process and thus determine who is selected for the special services of a gifted program” (Davis & Rimm, 2004 p. 17).
Some believe giftedness is something a person is born with, or born into. “There are some youngsters who are born with the capability to learn faster than others those ideas or concepts that societies value in children and in adults” (Baldwin, 1994).
According to Dalzell (1998), giftedness may be defined simply as intellectual precocity.
Renzulli’s three-ring model provides us with another definition for gifted individuals. Identifying gifted behavior as a reflection of interactions among three basic clusters of human traits-above average, task commitment and creativity. Gifted children are those that are or capable of developing these sets of traits.
Giftedness is also disputable between cultures. In Athens and Japan position and gender determined opportunities while early China valued gifted children and youth.
We should note that there is always a danger of labeling a student as gifted to having an adverse affect. So we must be careful when doing so. Positive and negative affects will be looked at further down.
QUESTIONS:
Why has giftedness changed over the past few centuries?
Has it changed for the better or for the worse?
With the ideas we have of giftedness today are students in a better position for success?
With so many variations of the term, how can a universal recognition be developed?
Does giftedness depend on opportunity? Gender? Race?
Years ago, children were not labeled gifted, they were different, but not in a good way. “Child prodigies were targets of intense scrutiny and were looked at as “freaks of nature” by many” (Glass 2004). They were a burden rather than an asset.
Giftedness created a sense of mystery, and many frowned upon the unfamiliar.
Today, Davis & Rimm define gifted and talented children as those identified by professionally qualified persons who by virtue of outstanding abilities are capable of high performance (2004, p.18) The following are a list of areas a child may experience high performance levels in:
-general intellectual ability -leadership ability
-specific academic ability -visual and performing arts
-creative or productive thinking -psychomotor ability
However, “The particular definition adopted by a school district will guide the identification process and thus determine who is selected for the special services of a gifted program” (Davis & Rimm, 2004 p. 17).
Some believe giftedness is something a person is born with, or born into. “There are some youngsters who are born with the capability to learn faster than others those ideas or concepts that societies value in children and in adults” (Baldwin, 1994).
According to Dalzell (1998), giftedness may be defined simply as intellectual precocity.
Renzulli’s three-ring model provides us with another definition for gifted individuals. Identifying gifted behavior as a reflection of interactions among three basic clusters of human traits-above average, task commitment and creativity. Gifted children are those that are or capable of developing these sets of traits.
Giftedness is also disputable between cultures. In Athens and Japan position and gender determined opportunities while early China valued gifted children and youth.
We should note that there is always a danger of labeling a student as gifted to having an adverse affect. So we must be careful when doing so. Positive and negative affects will be looked at further down.
QUESTIONS:
Why has giftedness changed over the past few centuries?
Has it changed for the better or for the worse?
With the ideas we have of giftedness today are students in a better position for success?
With so many variations of the term, how can a universal recognition be developed?
Does giftedness depend on opportunity? Gender? Race?
Students today are very different then those students of 50 years ago. Because society is so rapidly changing, so are the dynamics in schooling along with student’s attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of learning. It is no surprise that with such a technology advanced world; students are impacted greatly by what surrounds them.
When we think of the word “gifted” today it has a much different definition than it did years and years ago. There are so many different cases of giftedness prevailing in the classroom. Teachers are being forced to revaluate what the word means, which students fall into the category as well as how to provide an enriching, challenging and valued education to these students all the while trying to keep order in a class of 20-25 other students.
In this blog, I will look at what gifted students were defined as, and what they are defined as today, negative and positive’s associated with being gifted, how gifted students are incorporated in the subject of math and an example of a case of enrichment in a student back in the early 90’s vs one in today’s society. At the end of each section, there will be a number of questions my research has led me to.
When we think of the word “gifted” today it has a much different definition than it did years and years ago. There are so many different cases of giftedness prevailing in the classroom. Teachers are being forced to revaluate what the word means, which students fall into the category as well as how to provide an enriching, challenging and valued education to these students all the while trying to keep order in a class of 20-25 other students.
In this blog, I will look at what gifted students were defined as, and what they are defined as today, negative and positive’s associated with being gifted, how gifted students are incorporated in the subject of math and an example of a case of enrichment in a student back in the early 90’s vs one in today’s society. At the end of each section, there will be a number of questions my research has led me to.
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