Engaging and Challenging Gifted Students by Jenny Grant Rankin

Author:Jenny Grant Rankin [Rankin, Jenny Grant]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Education
ISBN: 978-1-4166-2337-3
Publisher: ASCD
Published: 2016-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Many response to intervention (RTI) model implementations at schools successfully support assessment that informs follow-up grouping to support needs, offering higher-achieving students (who are often, but not always, GCs) time away from the kind of lessons lower-achieving students require. Use as many approaches to differentiating instruction as are necessary to facilitate acceleration—whatever will give students the help they need without taxing students with help they don't need.

Use whichever of these acceleration approaches will best serve the GC: speeding up the lesson, skipping to future/harder parts of the lesson, skipping to a higher-grade/level lesson on the same topic, going more in-depth on the same topic, or working on entirely different content.

For every lesson you teach, have content on hand (prepared in advance) for students ready to accelerate, just as you have support tools ready for struggling students. In terms of speeding up the lesson, this can mean spending less time giving the GC instructions, modeling fewer examples to get him started, shortening the time he has to complete the lesson, and/or simply allowing him to race through at his own accelerated pace. This option should only be selected if the GC will learn something important from the activity. In other words, if the work is easy because the GC has already mastered the content, don't have her do the easy parts—or the entire task. As regards skipping to future or harder parts of the lesson or skipping to a higher-grade or higher-level lesson on the same topic, you can find this content in your classroom, school, or district. Keep records of how GCs advance through any next-grade curriculum so you can articulate well with their next year's teachers (otherwise GCs face repetition). Higher-grade teachers are also excellent sources of support, and allowing students to leave your classroom for particular lessons in higher-grade classrooms is an ideal arrangement for many GCs. For going more in-depth on the same topic or working on entirely different content, the first year of securing lesson enhancements can be a strain. However, you can use them for years to come, and collaborating with colleagues can reduce everyone's workload while benefiting GCs schoolwide (see section "Engage Each Child" for more information). Pull-out programs run by other adults (where GCs leave the room during more remedial instruction to tackle advanced concepts elsewhere) can also help GCs while taking the preparation burden off the teacher.

Personal Account: One of my most rewarding experiences as a gifted third grader was being pulled out of class twice per week for a parent-run book club in which the school's GCs were led in high-school-level literary discussions. I assume this cost the school little or nothing in resources, yet it was a time each day when my engagement could come alive. Not every parent has the expertise of a teacher, but some are content experts or former teachers with much to offer.

Again, any performance-based grouping should be fluid so students have access to gifted content anytime they are ready for it.

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