A popular UK paper printed a doozie the other day about the highest achievers in Yr2 being tracked to find that they were failing to reach their potential (not measured - just an expectation that high grades in yr2 will result in high grades in Yr11) by GCSEs. Of course it was all teachers in all classrooms ignoring the achievers because they chose to deal exclusively with the underachievers to get the government off their back. I'm not even going to rant about the lack of sources etc because you all know how this type of writing works. The thing that really surprised me, were the public comments at the end. Within an hour there were 30; ranging from protest that their kids had excellent teachers to the knee jerk reaction desired by the author of "all teachers are useless' with a good smattering of - 'let's pay the better teacher's more and dump the deadwood'.This ridiculous addition to the orgy of teacher bashing after PISA results were announced - again - made me decide to comment and as I am incapable of remaining within 40 characters on the topic of Gifted Education, I thought I would vent to a much smaller audience in full voice! If you think you recognise yourself in an example you're possibly right but I promise not to mention any names.
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| History re-enactment task The plastic bag is a modest representation of nakedness in the clash of cultures - Sydney 1788 |
In my own classroom as a new teacher, I learnt that the word many of us overlooked in that sentence was the most important of all - need.
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| Dramatic adaptation of a Yr7 novel study. Small group multiple parts - interpretation and representation Small plot incident for each group - performed and recorded |
Kids who have special needs do not do okay without differentiation.
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| Yr 7/8 read a novel every fortnight and complete response tasks that offer a self selection of levels. Lots of marking - lots of thinking - lots of interaction with text and solidly improving comprehension skills Students self select novels after an introduction of the term's themed collection. Classics to high interest low challenge |
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| Yr8 'Camp' - An aboriginal artist explains the symbolism in his work, boys are allowed a go on the didgeridoo A bush tucker tour and a rock pool study at Coffs Harbour completes the academic integration plans. Art, History, Science in real environments They lean without knowing they are. |
Gifted kids are kids with special NEEDS. Giving them what they need is not elitist or only to be afforded if there is a surplus - imagine the uproar if vision impaired kids only got their work enlarged and printed on buff paper when the school budget was in surplus! Providing what gifted kids need doesn't have to cost too much more than the effort, time and resources to identify them and skilled differentiation.
The most ironic thing in the whole issue is that if gifted kids are identified and catered for in the classroom, every other child will benefit. (An exception to this is the hot housed child whose self worth and identity is completely based on bringing the top grades home to mummy through fastest completion and an ability to do exactly what the teacher has asked for but without relating concepts outside of the set task. This child. will feel confused at options and open ended tasks and will hate school when 100% in a rote test is not the ultimate achievement in class.)
Gifted kids need teachers who
1. Recognise them.
Unfortunately multiple studies have demonstrated for decades that many teachers identify the above average cooperative child - the younger the child the greater the chance that they are not the highly intelligent ones. Gifted does not always translate into high grades at school. School is constructed for the average child and most frequently it is the above average kids who love being timed and graded, the gifted kids may have other things on their minds. The many teachers who are able to identify Gifted kids are also able to identify the needs and interests present in the rest of the class which translates into student fit lessons resulting in engaged learning.
2. Aren't afraid of them or made to feel inferior by their questions and ideas (which may pretty silly at times!) What child doesn't want to be taken seriously - who do you know that would enjoy a 'I'm better than you so just do as you're told' attitude from a tutor?
3. Can cope with the idea that they may be fast and clever in some areas but need extra help in others. A teacher who consistently pretests and plans units with ability groups gives the opportunity to all students to be working at the level of optimum challenge.
4. Do not have an 'extra for experts' box full of meaningless busywork. This is when school becomes deadly boring for everyone - teachers are generally creative and flexible and need to flex these muscles to provide lessons that don't need fillers. Being able to predict the pace and challenge levels required by all the students in the class is one of the most important skills a good teacher uses to plan effective learning activities. There should NEVER be an attitude that everyone has to complete exactly the same activity in the same way - slow workers (note not necessarily slow learners) stay in and fast workers do another word search - Ugh!!! This applies to homework too - repetition to secure a newly learnt concept or skill is good, research, investigation and application are great, useful tasks to improve skills and cement literacy and numeracy tools in memory is fine but busy work for homework's sake is not. (The wordsearch is an effective tool if used cleverly - eg As a pretest for a new unit of study, create a wordsearch full of topic words and a few that aren't. Ask the kids to make a list of all the words they can find - highlight the ones they know are part of the topic and write how they are connected then circle the ones they think are part of the topic but are not sure how to explain the connection. This gives the teacher a simple view of the knowledge and understanding each child has before the study begins.)
5. Plan units of work that integrate across the curriculum attached to a theme so the rote stuff has a purpose. To secure facts and figures into long term memory requires practice and repetition - this is so much more effective when couched in meaning. Themed units are best planned in teams. Thorough preparation, resources lists and contact details mean that this work will be relevant and adaptable for many years. Of course if teachers offer variety in learning style as well, all will be humming. (http://www.icels-educators-for-learning.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=64 have a look at this site for many descriptors of learning style models if you're ready to think beyond visual/auditory/kinaesthetic.)
6. Compact skill practice to test mastery then provide extension. Allow them to use mastered skills to solve a problem or explore an open ended task instead of making them do all 98 exercises just because that is what the majority of the class needs. This simple skill of compacting is a tool that every teacher can be ready to use regardless of time or resources as long as they understand the topic deeply and are a little bit creative. Of course others need you to have more practice of those basic skills on hand to grow confidence. Think of lessons as a road trip, some kids need a bit longer in the suburbs, other kids need to explore the tourist route and others prefer gunning down the freeway. Your job is to get them to make as much progress on their journey as they can in the most effective way for them - it is not to have them all get to the same intersection. If the kids think that is the goal many will stop off for ice-cream.
7. Provide feedback that identifies where they have done well and with suggestions on how to improve even if they are working beyond what their stage requires. Getting As without any challenge is the kiss of death for future achievement. All kids need to learn how to cope with failure and to develop a work ethic. For early achieving gifted kids this is doubly important or the knocks of senior school and adult life will make them feel as if they have been lied to and as frauds. However don't fall into the trap of revaluing the grades of the whole stage because a couple of kid's As are well beyond what a A in that stage is. Always have a marking schedule attached to every assignment so the students can see what effort and skills are required to receive the high grades. Include a level that every child in the class can achieve and a box at the other end to provide acknowledgement for motivated and interested kids to 'go beyond'. Provide a question or two, over the 100% mark, at the end of every test to give your fast paced workers an opportunity to show what they can do. Consider removing time limits for tests so you actually find out what the kids know rather than how fast they can write it down. Time management is a test technique that every senior student should be well aware of but if we are really more concerned about what the kids have learnt rather than concentrating on preparation for the high stake end course exam, this idea makes sense.
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| Two of eight selected by TV producers through an interview process from their Food Tech class to compete in Kitchen Whiz, a kids cooking show. Their teacher had nominated the school for entry |
9. Teach them. One year I watched a group of talented mathematicians given the next year's text book because they had been accelerated and enriched superbly by their previous teacher. They were left to work 'independently'. Intervention from senior staff and parents achieved little change. The following year most of those kids had to go back to the same grade text(different publisher) because although mildly gifted, they had been unable to master the concepts without direct teaching - no surprise there! For one, the embarrassment and her highly competitive nature forced her into a 'this is stupid corner' that effected her attitude towards learning in all her subjects. I hope she had the courage to drag herself out of it eventually.
Another year a group of 8, Yr 1 students blitzed a yearly in-class reading test, scoring reading ages of between 8.6 and 11 when they were only 5-6 yrs old. I tested them individually on the NEALE to separate their sight vocab and comprehension ages because the staff were frustrated that many of these students were unable to work independently and were beginning to see them as behaviour management issues. All but the child who had scored a reading age of 11yrs were between 3 and 5 yrs behind in their comprehension skills. Saying words is a decoding skill, understanding words is a different matter altogether. No wonder these poor kids couldn't work independently, the teachers were, rightly, extending them but without realising that they couldn't understand the instructions even though they could say each word in them correctly. Over thirty three weeks a specialist course was applied (Jack's Map is a spiral reading programme that starts with a sight vocab of 8yrs and low comprehension skills required to a sight vocab age of 12+yrs with high comprehension skills required - no withdrawal. It was used as their guided reading task in class and for homework). The teacher used conscious questioning techniques, big book modelling and poetry with the whole class. All but one (diagnosed on the Autism spectrum later with a low IQ and one of the best spellers in the class) were caught up to having their comprehension age within 6mths (an acceptable - normal gap) of their sight vocab age, which of course had been allowed to continue progressing. Teachers who teach the student rather than just the curriculum will facilitate learning successfully for everyone in class.
10. Understand the big picture. Gifted kids are not better or special, just different. Sometimes their thinking and application will produce amazing results and other times they may achieve nothing. How and why they do this is often different from their peers. Generally they need to know the aims and goals of an activity before they will settle to rote learning, they need the big picture before the pieces. They enjoy deriving the facts rather than building a pyramid of facts. Teachers are introduced to Blooms taxonomy early in training, although all areas are important, gifted kids find flow in their learning when working in the higher order thinking skills end. These activities take less time to prepare but more time to mark. Like all learners they should be given opportunity for sustained individual thinking work and cooperative discussion and application, be aware that some kids do their best work at home because they are able to stay in flow without the arbitrary bells and timetables interfering, but be careful - some parents just can't help themselves.
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| “The secret of getting ahead is getting
started.” Author, dysgraphic (dictated her work) |
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“Many times I can see a solution to something differently and quicker than other people. I see the end zone and say ‘This is where I want to go.’”
Charles Schwab (left),business man, dyslexic, read classic comic’s versions of literature to keep up with reading assignments.
“I get stubborn and dig in when people tell me I can’t do something and I think I can. It goes back to my childhood when I had problems in school because I have a learning disability. I never wanted to be perceived as handicapped or limited in any way.”
Ann Bancroft (below), polar explorer, teacher, author, dyslexic
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Hawking, while recognized as bright, was not an exceptional student. At one point during his high school years, he was third from the bottom
of his class. But Hawking focused on pursuits outside of school.
Stephen Hawking (below) Shown here in 0 gravity.
At age 21, while studying cosmology at the University of Cambridge, he was diagnosed with
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
He did not speak until the age of three and
teachers labelled him mentally slow.
teachers labelled him mentally slow.
“Anyone who has never made a mistake
has never tried anything new.”
Albert Einstein (below), scientist
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“I
felt like an alien. I always felt like I never
belonged to any group that
I wanted to
belong to.”Steven
Spielberg,
movie maker, dyslexic,
struggled
with math, dropped out of high school
|
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"It is a lonely existence to be a child
with a
disability which no-one can see
or understand, you exasperate your
teachers,
you disappoint your parents,
and worst of all you know that
you are not just
stupid."
Susan Hampshire
Actress and Author, dyslexic
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Highly gifted and profoundly gifted kids are few and far between in schools and are usually accelerated.(General advice is that kids should be working at mastery level for the year above the year they are accelerated to.) Miraca Gross, at the University of NSW, has done phenomenal work for these kids with her research and support net, her Tall Poppy Syndrome cassette tape was an early catalyst in my career. Of course the IQ number is a rational way of trying to predict needs and behaviour but is artificial in itself as it measures one pinprick in time. Because of this I have always warned parents that the results of the tests will remain confidential to the coordinator and the labels of mildly or moderately gifted is all the teachers will be told - as required. I have often heard people say that high marks can't be faked but be aware of the child who doesn't want the label throwing the test. For those tested one to one, the skill and objectivity of the psychologist will have a big impact. At one school where I was coordinating part of their gifted programme, we noticed highly inflated scores resulting from one practitioner so ended up having to ask parents to go to one of three whose reports we trusted as this school's board demanded that parents provide the report and proof of high IQ for inclusion in the gifted programme. If using a timed pen and paper group general ability test - do your homework to find one with high correlations to other instruments. The term g-loaded has been used to describe a psychometric test that measures abstract reasoning skills well. Ring around or write to experts in the field if your school is contemplating a formal identification programme or find an excellent Educational Psychologist for advice. For my PD one year, the Principal agreed to let me have sessions with the Ed Psych whose reports were the best of any we received at school. This was an invaluable series of three, morning sessions.
12. Are masters of multiple resources. Teachers who know their library and resource centers like the back of their hands and have a healthy collection of resources in their classroom will be more likely give the most suited learning tasks. Planning units involves browsing shelves for anything related much as an efficient householder checks their pantry and cleans out their fridge before planning the week's menu. It helps get the creative juices running and saves a lot of time. Even with pretesting you can be surprised at the challenge required or the remediation necessary and need to have materials at hand to fit. Good teachers are magpies with their store cupboards full of bit and peices needed for a moment of inspiration or a hands on demonstration when the planned object lesson wasn't enough for one or two. Before poaching future grade's resources for the accelerated, talk to the teaching team to find out what texts are being used so you don't use something the child will see in the following years - this is really important for novel studies and the basic math texts. You don't want your advanced students to be annoying their next teacher because they have always 'done' what the teacher has planned. One of the biggest curses of education in modern times has been the mass production of write in texts. This is the one suits all rabbit hole many trip into. There are always exceptions, handwriting and multi topic mental math revision books are a case in point. Even if a school adopts a single math programme the course should be supplemented with materials that meet the students needs as they are presented, the child must be taught not the programme.
13. Enjoy playing with ideas, possibilities and have a healthy sense of humour. This frees the mind to make important cognitive leaps. Happy, accepted and engaged kids learn more successfully and develop more creative responses and applications in their set tasks. This is only possible where behaviour is respectful towards all in class and self regulated. As a young teacher I was told not to smile until Easter, while I appreciate the advice to maintain order and draw the behaviour lines in the sand early smiling and laughing when a moment calls for it releases any tension bought about by discipline like a good stretch after exercise. The relationship environment and behaviour expectations need to be transparent and predictable to allow the safety in which to learn effectively.
14. Are fair and honorable. Treat all the kids in the class with respect. Don't use passive aggression with gifted kids to control them or 'motivate' them, they'll just become minimalists or non-cooperative. Many gifted kids have a very inconvenient strong sense of justice which in younger kids, may not be applied to themselves! It is impossible not to make judgement blunders from time to time but sincere apologies are appreciated. Always apologise publicly but discipline serious matters to the side. if you have different expectations of a student and intend to use a different grading scale make sure the student is aware of this before the task is begun. To give a child a C for the same work that another child received a B for because you thought they could do better is unfair and will cause resentment. Never promise anything you cannot pull off. The only triumph a teacher should feel or demonstrate in class is when a student has been successful. You are not competing with your students but are facilitating a love of learning and developing useful citizens.
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| HOM |
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| Thinking Hats |
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| Revised Blooms |
Gifted kids need schools who
1. Celebrate achievement in a wide variety of areas. Providing catalyst opportunities like Art shows, Math competitions, Debates, Film Festivals and Science Fairs, is just as important as the weekly sports competitions. An active arts programme with plays, concerts and an ever changing variety of kids performing at school assemblies is vital for gifted kids but hugely beneficial for the whole school community. This functions as a big part of the purpose for skill development mentioned earlier.
2. Have a close relationship with their community. Mentors, volunteers, incursions and excursions provide audience, motivation and inspiration. Kids with high intellect are not the only ones who benefit from this osmosis with the real world.
3. Support staff development and teaching partnerships. Teacher's inspire each other and support each other when time is set aside for refresher courses and sharing. Good communication in the staff room ensures that the whole of first term is not wasted finding out what works for which kids. An attitude of teamwork makes okay teachers good and good teachers great.
4. Develop effective and meaningful service programmes. Skills and talents self-combust when not used and shared. Most schools have leadership programmes; but not all kids want to be the badge wearing - peer evaluating top dog that many of these programmes create. Very few older kids want the extra teacher pleaser work that is listed as privilege by an optimistic committee. Kids will exert themselves when the effort is worthwhile intrinsically, making beauty, solving a real dilemma, fulfilling need in their communities. Many kids have a burden for social justice and once a gifted kid is in flow you'll be hard put to stop them.
5. Cluster their gifted population. This is not the same concept as streaming because the grouping is not based on grades but on intellectual potential - remember one does not necessarily mean the other! Gifted kids think differently from the average. The fact is that gifted kids are frequently out of step in their development (asynchronous) with their peers and this can be a lonely and misunderstood place to be. Generally they move through Piaget's cognitive development triangle, Kolberg's moral development continuum and if supported, through Maslow's hierarchy of needs before average expectations. This of course has a huge impact on their social lives. A 5yr old who wants to map out every possible scenario and rule for an invented game before beginning will frustrate and become frustrated with the kids who want to run around with skipping ropes in pairs playing horses. By clustering the moderately gifted in a class together they will have a better chance of developing meaningful friendships. The 'loner nerd' concept of gifted kids is false but can be created by careless class divisions. Gifted kids challenge and inspire each other so often a kid who is off task and naughty in one group will be happily engaged in another. If gifted kids are never allowed to work with their intellectual peers social problems that are worse than boredom, uncooperative group behaviour and isolated distraction will develop in some. It is difficult to identify young gifted kids without the intervention of a Educational Psychologist but keeping kids whose comprehension skills are advanced (ignore high sight vocab skills as flash carding parents can distort their kids performance and many may be very disappointed in their child's third year of school when the thinkers catch up and pass the performers) together is a useful start. Please remember that A grade performance is not necessarily indicative of giftedness just as D grade performance is not necessarily indicative of a low IQ.
6. Actively follow a thinking skills curriculum. Designing a spiral of skills throughout your school that suits your population and ensuring that all the staff are trained and using thinking speak in their classrooms is essential for children to be aware of and use thinking constructs. Many Gifted kids use these instinctively without having names or labels. Time must be allowed for regular refreshers, reporting back on good ideas etc or changes in staff or the negative attitudes of a few will make a lie of your marketing!
7. Run an equitable discipline system. All good schools have a transparent discipline system with easy to understand levels, warning systems and clear processes of communication between staff and students and with parents. A teacher's arsenal of behaviour management strategies are supported by whole school networks. Equitable means equal for all but does not mean the same for all. There will always be some kids that these fine plans don't work for, these kids are often kids who are troubled at home or have intellects that are superior or inferior to the majority of their peers. Speak plainly about the issues with the parents and child together in an interview with the class teacher and a senior staff member present. Develop a plan of response that tackle's one or two issues at a time. Make it clear that physical and verbal violence will result in immediate isolation but make sure the systems are in place to allow this. Consistency of course is the most effective tool and the hardest to follow through on, ask any parent. Always ask yourself - what is it that we want this discipline to achieve, how best may this be done? Developing empathy is very difficult in those that don't have it natrually, dealing with deep anger and dissatisfaction is difficult and sometimes punishment becomes a desired release. The best way for long term cooperative and responsible behaviour is to develop healthy self esteem, caring relationships and strong levels of motivation in learning activities. OF course none of this is fast and none of it is easy or guaranteed to work out okay in the end.
8. Acknowledge the talents of students and teachers by ear marking time and funds for extracurricular activities. This is a tricky area for some teachers do so much more than others – all of it on top of their normal workload. Senior staff need to ensure that their core responsibilities are not disadvantaged or that their most enthusiastic teachers don’t wear out. You don’t have to be gifted or talented yourself to facilitate inter school debates, sports or to find theatre, arts or music opportunities for students. However extracurricular coaching in any field does require an ability or interest in the field. Looking out for the myriad of competitions and joining kids up – advertising them at assemblies etc is a mammoth job but is simple to do if a parent volunteer can be found to coordinate it. Many universities have departments that run specialist activities. A good example is the Australian Math Trust run by the National Australian University in Canberra. There are always speech or writing competitions around for your talented humanities students and local shows usually allow school age entries.
The issues addressed in this looooong, blog that is neither complete nor faultless, are what I have found worked in my last school. From when I started the formal ID process of Yr3s and new kids (8.6yrs+) 10 yrs ago, we have had average populations of 31% mildly and moderately gifted kids in each year level. The great majority have enjoyed their schooling and developed into excellent thinkers and producers, as well as being kind and considerate individuals. I miss them all but am hopeful that the school's legacy of a strongly integrated gifted programme will continue and reap more excellent results.
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| Part of the Yr10 French class ready to leave for the airport. Each of the kids in the class of 8 worked to earn their fare |
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| New Caledonia is the closest French speaking nation to Australia. Don't speak - don't eat. |
If you are concerned about depression, anxiety or isolation in a student please seek help immediately - it doesn't just go away. If the child is gifted encourage the practitioner to read Linda Kreger Silverman's work. Her later work and some research processes have attracted criticism in the field of G&T Education but I have found her case studies and observations in this book to be a helpful prompt when faced with challenging thought patterns and behaviours in Gifted kids.
http://www.biography.com/people/stephen-hawking-9331710
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