Strategies every teacher can use: meeting the needs of your high-ability students - includes related article

Do you feel you could be doing more to help your gifted and talented students achieve their potential? The four strategies described here will help you engage your most advanced students and develop the abilities of every child.

1. FIND HIDDEN ABILITIES Student Scenario: Elizabeth

Sixth grader Elizabeth had difficulty reading and writing because of a learning disability, and didn't appear to be gifted. But when I introduced a unit on map skills, Elizabeth approached me after class and said, "You know, Mrs. Winebrenner, I know a lot about maps."

"You do? How did that happen?" I asked.

"I don't know. I just love maps."

"What do you like to do with this love of maps?"

"Well, when my family goes on a vacation, I plan our trip on the map."

"No kidding! Where did you go last year?"

"Yellowstone National Park."

"And how did you get there?"

Elizabeth proceeded to do something I'm not sure I could do--she told me how she had navigated her family to Yellowstone: highway by highway, county by county, state by state. I was amazed.

"Pretty impressive," I said. "I bet the prospect of doing a unit on map skills is not very appealing to you."

"I've thought about that."

"I'll tell you what. I'll give you the end-of-unit test tomorrow, and if you pass it with an A, you'll be able to spend your social studies time on a different activity of your choice." Elizabeth was thrilled.

Next, I offered the same deal to everyone in the class. This is something I've learned to do routinely, so that every student has the opportunity to shine.

Sixteen of my twenty-seven students volunteered to take the pretest. The pretesters knew beforehand that if they did not earn an A, their tests would not count. Two passed with A's--Elizabeth was one of them.

While the class honed their map skills, Elizabeth worked independently, creating a papier-mache relief map of an imaginary country. Because her learning disability prevented her from writing well, I encouraged her to simply flag the population centers, the natural resources, the manufacturing centers, and so on. When she'd finished her project, she gave an interesting talk about her country that fascinated the class.

Did other students ask to do a project like Elizabeth's? Yes! And I let everyone do one as a culminating activity for the map unit, while Elizabeth acted as a consultant. Imagine the boost to Elizabeth's self-esteem when her classmates turned to her for advice.

CUSTOM-MADE LEARNING

What does Elizabeth's story tell us? It's up to teachers to determine what competencies certain students have, and give them full credit for what they already know. Then we need to decide how to modify the curriculum so that these students will learn something new. Dr. Joseph S. Renzulli of The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented in Storrs, Connecticut, calls this process "curriculum compacting." Dr. Renzulli, author of Schools for Talent Development: A Practical Plan for Total School Improvement, and Linda H. Smith developed the form that follows. Use it to record all the modifications you make for your students.

2. APPOINT RESIDENT EXPERTS Student Scenario: Joey

Joey, a student in my fifth-grade class, was exceptional in every subject area, but his actual classroom performance left a lot to be desired. He spent most of his time daydreaming, and he seldom completed his homework, yet he always aced the tests. Joey behaved rudely during class discussions, often remarking under his breath to amuse other students.

When Joey's class was about to begin a Civil War unit, I gave him and other students whom I felt could tackle the text on their own a chance to do an independent project on the Civil War during social studies.

I dubbed them "resident experts" and told them they would be responsible for presenting a report on their topic to the class. I gave them each a list of project ideas, but they were free to choose a topic of their own. I also assured all my students that they could do an independent project at the end of the unit.

I asked each resident expert to sign an independent study contract that included the major Civil War concepts I expected them to know, activities related to these ideas, and a timetable of all class quizzes and discussions to assess their progress. (Resident experts take the quizzes and/or participate in discussions along with the other students. Those who do not earn a B or higher, or who display problematic behavior, must rejoin the class until the next quiz. If they achieve a B or higher on the next quiz, they may return to their project. If they don't, they can finish their project when the rest of the class gets school time to work on independent projects.)

You can modify these contracts to include detailed expectations about the quality of the projects you would like students to produce. A contract I designed especially for Joey is shown below.

Unlike the independent study method I used with Elizabeth, the resident-expert strategy is not based on the results of a pretest given to all students willing to give it a try. Instead, teachers use their own judgment, selecting students they feel are capable of developing an in-depth talk, performance, or display of their investigation.

3. PROVIDE AVENUE TO SHOWCASE TALENTS Student Scenario: Alvin

Alvin was passionate about reading and writing poetry, and he had the talent to match it. But he was reluctant to share his poetry with me or his peers, and kept his work at home. In school, Alvin preferred to work alone, wary of group activities. I needed to showcase Alvin's poetic talent in a way that would make him feel more comfortable with his peers.

One Monday, I announced that Friday would be the first of many Great Friday Afternoon Events and explained how the events would work. I asked Alvin if he would like to be captain of the poetry team. "I guess so," he replied, nervously.

Within a couple of days, Alvin seemed at ease with the other team members, and the poem the team recited had lots of Alvin-like language and images. The Great Friday Afternoon Events became an effective way to have Alvin and other high-ability students work productively in heterogeneous groups, and gave all students a chance to showcase their talents.

4. REDIRECT LEADERSHIP QUALITIES Student Scenario: Lucy

Twelve-year-old Lucy had unusual leadership abilities. She could think on her feet, persuade others to see her point of view, and inspire classmates to work as a team--when she applied herself. But too often she took the shortcut, dominating discussions and bossing other students around. She needed more structured opportunities to hone her gift for persuasion.

With. Lucy in mind, I built an army of group activities into the curriculum, setting aside every Wednesday afternoon to engage in these events. Groups of kids held mock trials (we even invited in a lawyer, who ended up being a great mentor for the children), worked together to simulate running a business, and planned a city of the future, to mention just a few.

By posing open-ended questions to groups of students (such as: If you were sent to live on a planet, what five people would you need to have along to survive?) every student gets to stretch intellectually, and students like Lucy positively blossom. Lucy relished the intellectual challenge, and her peers enjoyed the chance to make her back up her opinions with facts.

The self-assessment involved in these activities are also valuable for children of every ability who lack confidence. Students assess their own ideas and those of the group, and come to see that these evaluations are as valid as yours.

WHO'S GIFTED?

CHARACTERISTICS TO LOOK FOR

Whom teachers consider gifted is changing as we use new tools to measure children's talents and consider a broader range of "gifts," from visual intelligence to affective abilities. (For more about evolving definitions of giftedness, see page 64.) Nevertheless, the partial list of indicators below, which is organized into three different categories, will help you recognize the high-ability students in your classroom. Gifted students may exhibit many but not all of these qualifies.

General

* Has an advanced vocabulary

* Possesses an outstanding memory

* Is curious about many things; asks lots of questions

* Has many interests and hobbies

* Is intense; gets totally absorbed in activities and thoughts

* Operates on higher levels of thinking than his or her age peers

* Perceives subtle cause-and-effect relationships

* Catches on quickly, then resists doing work, or works in a sloppy, careless manner

* Is sensitive to beauty and other people's feelings and emotions

* Possesses an advanced sense of justice

* Sees connections between apparently unconnected ideas and activities

* May prefer to work alone; resists cooperative learning

* May be street-smart while not doing well on school tasks

Creative Thinking

* Displays original ideas

* Is fluent in idea generation and development

* Is able to elaborate on ideas

* Values nonconformity in appearance, thought, etc.

Perfectionism

* Believes he is valued for what he can do rather than who he is

* May cry easily in frustration that her work at school can never be perfect

* Procrastinates to the point that work never even gets started

* Asks for lots of help and reassurance from the teacher

EVALUATION CONTRACT Civil War Project

For a grade of "B," use information gathered from other sources. Choose from the ideas below, or design your own with my approval:

1. Research the different types of trains and locomotives that would have been used during the Civil War era. Draw them to scale.

2. Discover the details about the lives of two famous generals, one Union and one Confederate. Comment on at least two similarities you find.

3. Learn several Civil War songs from both sides. Teach one song from each side to the class. Lead the class in a discussion of similarities and differences in the songs.

For a grade of "A," create a unique product that requires high levels of thinking. Choose from the ideas below, or design your own with my approval:

1. Draw the trains of the Civil War era on routes between the major manufacturing centers and four famous battlefields: two in the North and two in the South. Be prepared to discuss how the proximity of the battlefields to the manufacturing centers may have affected the outcome of the war.

2. Create an interview with a famous Civil War general. Include some information that was probably unknown to the general public at the time of the Civil War. Prepare a live interview where you and a friend impersonate the general and the interviewer. Come in appropriate costume.

3. Discover the role that music has played to create and maintain patriotic feelings during wartime. Illustrate your presentation with musical excerpts.

Use this space to describe your project: # 1

I am contracting for a grade of: A

Student's signature: Joey

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