Students Who are Gifted

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Students Who are Gifted

• Education 3602
• Nancy Grigg, Ph.D
• Spring, 2008

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• Defining Giftedness in Alberta
• Learning Characteristics
• Differentiated Instruction

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Defining Giftedness AlbertaCode 80

• Exceptional potential and/or performance in one
  or more of
• General intellectual
• Specific academic
• Creative thinking
• Social (leadership and interpersonal skills)
• Musical
• Artistic (visual and performance)
• Kinesthetic (athletics and dance)

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Learning Characteristics of Gifted Students

• learn basic skills better and more quickly
• read earlier and with better comprehension
• handle abstractions quicker than age mates
• perceive cues and draw inferences earlier
• take less for granted, seeking how and why
• work independently at an earlier age
• sustain longer periods of concentration
• have eclectic, intensely focused interests
• have seemingly boundless energy
• related well to adults
• have a keen sense of humour
• are appreciative of the aesthetic
• are concerned over the future

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Differentiating Instruction Modifying the
following

• The content of the curriculum. (What the student
  are expected to learn.)
• The processes that engage the students. (How the
  student works with information.)
• The products of their studies. (How students
  represent what they know.)
• The learning environment.
• Assessment

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Content

• Abstract focus not on facts, but on concepts
  and generalizations
• Complex introducing additional variables,
  different sources and alternate viewpoints
• Interrelated apply ideas or methods from one
  curriculum area to another.
• Constrained concentrate childs focus to
  encourage them to go more deeply into an aspect
  of the curriculum

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Processes

• Flexible pacing
• Questioning
• Anomalies and paradoxes
• Tiered assignments
• Independent assignments

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Products

• Providing students with the chance to demonstrate
  their thinking and learning in different ways
• Written, oral, manipulative, discussion, display,
  dramatization, artistic, and graphic
  representation

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Environment

• Setting and conditions
• Regular class
• Cluster groups
• Pull-out classes
• Out-of-grade placement
• Online education
• Special projects

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Environment

• Setting and conditions
• Mentorships
• International Baccalaureate (IB)
• Advanced Placement (AP)
• Full-time special classes
• Special schools
• Postsecondary courses /dual enrolment

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Assessment

• Make the student more involved in the process
• Reflection
• Portfolios

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Issues to consider

• Students who are gifted and/or talented continue
  to be
• Underidentified
• Underserved
• Inappropriately served
• These students are often not identified because
• Teachers may not be aware of the characteristics
  of giftedness
• Historically, ineffective assessment practices
  may not have identified students who are gifted
  from diverse backgrounds

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Under-served populations Learning Difficulties

• Twice exceptional students have difficulty
  reaching potential
• Giftedness is often ignored

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Under-served populations Gender Differences
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Under-served populations Culture/language
differences
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Issue Underachievement

• Poor self-concept
• School environment
• Family dynamics
• Gender
• Motivation
• Poverty
• Desire to fit in with peers

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What is Creativity?

• Convergent thinking focuses on a single answer
• Divergent thinking involves exploratory thought
  processes which yield more than one answer to the
  problem under consideration

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• Characteristics of Creative Students

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• Creativity and Education

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Measuring Creativity
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Measuring Creativity

• Teacher Nomination

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Measuring Creativity

• Divergent Tests

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Measuring Creativity

• Fluency -- thought to be involved in creativity,
  evident in production of a large number of
  responses or solutions. Total number of
  different responses
• Flexibility -- Evident in ability to switch from
  one class of responses or solutions to another.
  Number of shifts from one class to another.
• Originality -- The production of novel
  (unexpected or statistically rare) responses.
  i.e., responses that occurred less than 5 of the
  time in the entire sample

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• AB Ed Manual
• Handbook for Parents
• IPP Manual
• Calgary Centre for Gifted Education