Gifted+Students

=Catering for gifted students within the literacy classroom =



What makes a child gifted?? • Gifted students are able to process information over a shorter amount of time than it would take one of their peers of the same age. This means that these students may be working at one or two VELS levels higher than other students in their year level. • Many gifted students are able to think in an abstract and complex manner. They are able to learn information on the first time it is presented to them as they are able to link it immediately to other information they have obtained throughout their lives. • Jolly and Makel (2010) state that most gifted students come into the classroom at the beginning of the school year already knowing 50-60% of the curriculum.
 * • ** Gifted students are described as ‘children or youths who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas as intellectual, creative, artistic or leadership capabilities’. These students require activities or services which are not ordinarily provided by the average school in order to effectively develop their capabilities.

So what does this mean for current generalist teachers??
 * Research has shown that many generalist primary teachers spend more one-on-one teaching time with students performing at a lower VELS level than those performing at a high VELS level.
 * This educational issue was brought to the surface in a current Age article titled 'the state fails gifted students'. This article describes how Victorian state schools are failing to properly identify and teach gifted students. An inquiry into this issue discovered: - that there were problems identifying gifted students, including a lack of teacher training and a preference for academic assessment of giftedness. There was also a lack of gifted education knowledge among teachers.- The tendency of many gifted students to downplay their abilities in a bid to avoid discrimination and bullying. - Conflicting views on gifted education. Some say it is diverting resources from mainstream education and those with special needs, while others say schools are giving too much priority to the teaching of under-achievers above gifted children.

Gagne's Model of Giftedness and Talent • Francoys Gagne (2004) proposes that there is a clear difference between a child being gifted and being talented. He states that a talented child first must be classified as gifted, however a gifted child may not necessarily be talented. • GIFTEDNESS: the possession and use of untrained superior natural abilities (gifts) which places an individual among the top 10% of his or her peer age group. • TALENT: the possession of superior developed abilities and knowledge which places the individual among the top 10% of his or her peer age group. Meaning that talent is well trained and practiced. Gagne states that a variety of catalysts can effect a gifted child from becoming a talented child, these catalysts fall into two general categories; interpersonal and environmental.

- **INTERPERSONAL:** These can be physical or psychological factors, such as motivation to achieve, boredom and hereditary traits and personal behaviours. - **ENVIRONMENTAL:** This involves the physical environment that surrounds the child, such as the geography, family and community. Many people can have a positive or negative influence upon a child’s giftedness, such as teachers, parents, siblings, friends, community.



So what does it mean to be a gifted student in 21st century schools?? In far too many circumstances, gifted students tend to spend the majority of their day in the regular classroom, where teachers fail to make appropriate curricular modifications to further challenge their intellectual needs.

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So how do you pick a gifted student in your classroom?? If a child demonstrates more than three quarters of the following traits they are most likely gifted, according to Silverman (2003). In terms of assessing gifted students against VELS, caution must be exercised, particularly throughout the middle years. If gifted students haven't been appropriately catered for throughout the early years, they may have become tuned out and disengaged with the curriculum. Personal interviews and some intelligent tests can be applied to assess gifted students abilities effectively.
 * good problem solving/reasoning abilities
 * rapid learning ability
 * extensive vocabulary
 * excellent memory
 * long attention span
 * personal sensitivity
 * compassion for others
 * perfectionism
 * intensity
 * moral sensitivity
 * unusual curiosity
 * persevering when interested
 * high degree of energy
 * preference for older companions
 * wide range of interests
 * great sense of humor
 * early or avid reading abilities
 * concerned with justice, fairness
 * keen powers of observations
 * vivid imagination
 * high degree of creativity
 * shows ability with numbers
 * good at visual puzzles