chat center
SUBSCRIBE MY LINKS:

Latest Posts Full Chatboard Submit Post

Current Issue » Table of Contents | Back Issues
 


TEACHERS.NET GAZETTE
JANUARY 2002
Volume 3 Number 1

COVER STORY
Harry & Rosemary Wong say, "All effective schools have a culture and it is the information one gets from a culture that sends a message to the students that they will be productive and successful." This month the Wongs offer more examples of successful school and classroom management...
COLUMNS
Effective Teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong
Promoting Learning by Marv Marshall
4 Blocks by Cheryl Sigmon
Ask the School Psychologist by Beth Bruno
Online Classrooms by Leslie Bowman
The Eclectic Teacher by Ginny Hoover
The Busy Educator's Monthly Five (5 Sites for Busy Educators) by Marjan Glavac
Around the Block by Cheryl Ristow
Ask the Literacy Teacher by Leigh Hall
The Visually Impaired Child
ARTICLES
Teaching Is...
Avoiding the 'Stares' When Intellectually Challenging Disadvantaged Students: Partnership Lessons from the HOTS Program
Why Use an Interactive Whiteboard?
A Baker’s Dozen Reasons!
The Effects Of Diet
Bully Advice For Kids
Teaching Gayle to Read (Part 2)
Both Sides Now in Gifted Education
What Are We Aiming At--What Do We Really Want To Aim At?
Teaching Graph from the Grassroots
Why Teachers Need Tenure
A Different Perspective to the Holidays
TEACHER INSPIRATION FEATURE
A Lesson Learned
FICTION FEATURE
Follow The Wonder
REGULAR FEATURES
The Lighter Side of Teaching
Handy Teacher Recipes
Classroom Crafts
Help Wanted - Teaching Jobs
New in the Lesson Bank
Upcoming Ed Conferences
Letters to the Editor
Chatboard Poll
FYI
eIditarod 2002
Planetary Society Protests Stop to Near-Earth Object Observations
Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching
7th Annual Multidisciplinary Symposium on Breast Disease
Arab American Students in Public Schools
School Bus Subsidies for Field Trip to 2002 Tour De Sol
Gazette Home Delivery:

 
About Sylvia Burke...
Sylvia Burke is President of the Connecticut Association for the Gifted.
You may reach her through the CAG web site www.ctgifted.org.


GATE/AP Teacher Chatboard...
Teachers.Net's GATE/AP Teacher Chatboard is dedicated to teachers involved in Gifted and Talented/Advanced Placement programs. The Teachers.Net community specializes in teacher peer support, bookmark the GATE/AP Teacher Chatboard and join the GATE/AP Teacher Mailring today!
 

Best Sellers

Dreamers, Discoverers and Dynamos-How to Help the Child Who Is Bright, Bored and Having Problems in School
by Lucy Jo Palladino

$11.20 from Amazon.com
More information
 
 
Unicorns Are Real-A Right-Brained Approach to Learning
by Barbara Meister Vitale

$14.95 from Amazon.com
More information
 
 

Teacher Feature...

Both Sides Now in Gifted Education

by Sylvia Burke


I thought I was through with educational matters when I retired from teaching in 1997. I had taught for 27 years, 16 of them in a program for academically gifted children. I thought it was time for me to go fishing.

Shortly after I retired, I became active in the Connecticut Association for the Gifted, a statewide volunteer organization of parents and teachers. Most of our members are parents, and one of my jobs has been to answer questions from them on our hotline. It has made me reconsider the way we think about very bright children at home as compared to the way we think about them at school.

One of the most common hotline calls we get is from parents who have watched their eager pre-schooler, who once learned quickly and with enthusiasm, turn into an elementary or middle school student who is bored and not working up to potential.

I've never met a teacher who purposely went out of his/her way to bore students. Well, maybe one, and he was a genius at reverse psychology of a sort. But gifted kids are not easy to teach. Think about a few common characteristics of gifted kids:

  • They like to participate, sometimes monopolizing the discussion.
  • They like to ask questions, sometimes awkward questions.
  • They don't like to be wrong, as a matter of fact they often want to be perfect.
  • They know what they want to know, and often it isn't on today's agenda.
  • They want to learn certain things in a depth greater than their age peers; they are sometimes difficult to move on to a different topic.
  • They have a great storehouse of knowledge on some topics, sometimes greater than that of the teacher.
  • They "get it" quickly and have no interest in or need for repetition or drill.

These are only a few of the common characteristics, but they are enough to establish a disconnect, because while the parents are focusing on the first part of each statement, teachers are grappling with the implications of the second part of each.

So, when a parent rightly says, "My child mastered this skill several years ago," the teacher has a right to be perplexed. Perplexed, yes, but then what? Teachers need a plan for dealing with gifted kids in a way that honors their curriculum, that doesn't isolate the student, and that keeps the student challenged and therefore interested. There is nothing that will turn off a bright student quicker than lack of challenge. That bright kid over there, the one who is daydreaming out the window, the one whom you have been calling lazy for 5 months probably will work at a high level on an intellectually challenging assignment.

Parents want their children of high ability to work at the upper boundaries of their abilities. This leads to a common misunderstanding. Teachers see a child who is doing well; parents see one who is capable of doing much more. Parents know a child who is capable of moving faster, going into greater depth, and is able to create with the content of a class. They know when their child has slowed down and/or dumbed down in order to fit in.

Today's teachers deal with a greater range of student abilities than ever before. Completely individualized instruction is rare because its preparation and follow-up are so time-consuming.

Teachers dealing with one or two students who are academically well beyond the rest of the class must analyze their own curriculum, the interests of their students, and their methods for enriching and accelerating learning.

Young perfectionists must learn that being wrong is not the end of the world; it is often the start of something good. This is done through classroom attitude. If a bright child is expected to be right all the time, he will develop a fear and defensiveness about being wrong. Some bright students become academically paralyzed in this way and are afraid to do much of anything because the results might not live up to the expectations of others, or worse yet, they may not meet his/her own unrealistic standard.

Some children have a great storehouse of knowledge precisely because they are interested in lots of things and take the time to explore them fully. The teacher must provide for this kind of thoughtful pacing for those kids.

Drill and repetition are often a case of diminishing returns. A good rule is to pick a number--a reasonable number. Let's pick 18. If a child can get 18 of 20 similar math problems correct, he/she probably knows that skill. Keep giving the child 20 more, and that 18 will likely decrease out of sheer boredom. The child has then succeeded in unmastering the concept--with the help of a teacher unwilling to move on.

In all of this, gifted kids want some input. Schools, in general, do not teach decision-making very well. School should require audience participation. Students should not be permitted to passively submit to the educational process. A teacher who is aware and supportive of high-end learners will be able to reintroduce that eager young student to grateful parents who will never forget you...even when you've retired and have gone fishing.


Teaching the Very Able Child-Developing a Policy and Adopting Strategies for Provision
by Belle Wallace

$24.95 from Amazon.com
More information
 
 


 

#