Gifted and Talented and Then What?

[gnikniht_tuoba]

Just finished an assignment on gifted and talented education, and three basic strategies one can use to work with G&T students

Comments

my experiences...

[haunque]

Based on your story, it sounds like it's really important to make clear to students when an assignment is entirely optional and just supposed to be fun

[sharonella]

Hmmm. I think this is one of those things where the teacher has to be very tuned in to what works best for a particular student, because even within the set of "gifted" students there can be very different needs. My own experiences? Well, I did skip a grade (kindergarten), after about a month of sitting in a corner reading books while the rest of the class recited the alphabet. When considering whether to skip a student ahead, I think it's generally easiest if it's done early in school (e.g. kindergarten/1st grade, before they've made lots of friends in their grade), or late (in high school, when everyone's taking different classes anyway and it doesn't make as much of a difference). Skipping a grade does make for a few awkward years: especially around 7th grade or so, everyone else is hitting puberty, and you still have another year to go. And of course, it's annoying when all your friends have cars and you can't get your driver's license for another year

[sharonella]

The thing that you really have to worry about with these various techniques is not isolating a gifted student from the rest of their peers. Grade school is as much about learning socialization behavior as it is about learning /stuff/. If you have a gifted student in your class, and they've skipped a grade and are a year younger than their class, and you send them to an even older class one or two periods a day, or always have them doing a separate activity...sure, they're learning more stuff. But you may be hindering their development of interpersonal skills and friendships. School isn't just about learning as much as you can, as fast as you can. (Well, not in grade school, anyway; grad school is another story.) It's also about learning to get along with the people around you (who may be slower than you), and learning how to use what you know to help others

[gnikniht_tuoba]

I agree whole heartedly with your comments here. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We had a little kindergartner in the Fall who was reading at a fifth grade level, but was perfectly happy to do all the pre-reading and basic reading exercises the rest of the class was doing. Although there was briefly some talk of skipping her ahead, she seemed so cheerful in the kindergarten environment that there didn't seem to be any point. As you said, there's not really any real need to rush, and being part of the group and learning social skills is important

My two cents

[tladd]

You are all very unfair. Clearly, the gifted students present a problem to society. Indulging this gift with these dorky programs and initiatives is inappropriate. The gifted students should be forced to watch MTV and smoke weed until they are just as stupid as their classmates. Then all students will be on an equal footing in terms of intelligence, and college admissions can again be based on more important attributes such as race, cheerleading experience, and daddy's pocketbook.

Re: My two cents

[haunque]

And while we're at it, we should force smart people to wear headphones that pipe sharp noises into their ears, strap weights onto all four limbs of the athletically gifted, and put rubber noses on beautiful faces.