Differentiating for Gifted Children

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Differentiating for Gifted Children

• Developed by Colleen Murphy
• Mauston School District

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Differentiation for Gifted Students

• Through content
• Concept-based teaching
• Curriculum Compacting
• Varied Texts and Resources
• Learning Contracts
• Minilessons
• Varied Support Systems

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Differentiation for Gifted Students

• Through Process
• Multiple Intelligences
• Flexible Grouping
• Varied Graphic Organizers
• Independent Study
• Problem Solving
• Tiered Assignments
• Jigsaw, Think-Pair-Share, PMI

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Differentiation for Gifted Students

• Through Product
• The possibilities are endless!!

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Differentiation for Gifted Students

• DONT let them get caught up in grades.
• Whats more important.the grade or the learning

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Differentiation for Gifted Students

• DO Encourage them to take intellectual risks and
  make new discoveries
• In the long run, deep learning is more beneficial
  than good grades and good grades will be a
  by-product of deep learning.

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Differentiation for Gifted Students

• DONT look for perfection
• Too often, these students feel its expected of
  them. Who needs that kind of pressure?

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Differentiation for Gifted Students

• DO encourage your gifted students to go outside
  the box
• If they never try anything new, theyll never
  know how far they can go!

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Differentiation for Gifted Students

• DONT leave your gifted students to cope on their
  own
• Allowing these students to work without your
  intervention may ill prepare them for future
  struggles and may limit the ceiling on what they
  can achieve

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Differentiation for Gifted Students

• DO help set goals, devise plans for achievement,
  and provide guidance and support
• All students need attainable goals, sufficient
  rigor, scaffolded support, and shared celebration

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One last thought

• Fair is not always equal
• A patient goes to the emergency room with a
  broken arm. While he is waiting, an accident
  victim is wheeled in with dramatic urgency,
  people surrounding the gurney, IVs and tubes,
  machines beeping. Several minutes later, an ER
  nurse comes out to speak to the patient.

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• She tells the patient that because of the
  accident victim, it may be a while until his
  broken arm can be looked at. Eventually, after a
  couple hours, he is called back into the
  examining room, and then the doctor spends
  another couple of hours x-raying his arm, setting
  it, and applying a cast.

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• Both the man with the broken arm and the accident
  victim were treated. Both received excellent
  care. Both were with the doctor for a similar
  amount of time. However, the broken arm patient
  came in earlier and wasnt seen until after the
  accident victim.

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• WAS THIS EQUAL??

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• WAS IT FAIR???

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• Differentiation is not about equal or fair. It
  is about giving each student what he or she needs
  to help them achieve appropriate goals in the
  classroom and curriculum helping them to engage
  in learning in a meaningful, respectful manner.

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Resources

• Tomlinson, Carol Ann How to Differentiate
  Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, 2nd Ed.,
  ASCD, 2001
• Strickland, Cindy A. Tools for High-Quality
  Differentiated Instruction, ASCD, 2007
• Zwiers, Jeff Building Reading Comprehension
  Habits in Grades 6-12 A Toolkit of Classroom
  Activities, IRA, 2004
• Wood, Karen D., Lapp, Diane, Flood, James,
  Taylor, D. Bruce Guiding Readings Through Text
  Strategy Guides for New Times, 2nd Ed., IRA, 2008
• Gibbs, Jeanne Tribes A New Way of Learning and
  Being Together, CenterSource Systems, 1995