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What do you wish you'd known your 1st year of teaching G/T?

by Cat

Jun 12, 2010

I've just been assigned to teach 4th Honors Reading/LA next year. We don't have an actual curriculum, just the state objectives. It's up to the teachers to create or find lessons, assignments, quizzes, tests, and homework. In the past, I've taught fourth and fifth grade, but not honors. How is teaching honors different? I have no guidance or materials, whatsoever. What do you wish you'd known when you began? I'm interested in your ideas about projects, assignments, lesson planning, parent communication, administration/organization, good websites, teacher resource books, etc. Everything! I want to use the summer break to get a head start on preparing projects, etc., and I would appreciate any and all suggestions! Thank you in advance!

Victoria On 6/12/10, Cat wrote: > I've just been assigned to teach 4th Honors Reading/LA next > year. We don't have an actual curriculum, just the state > objectives. It's up to the teachers to create or find > lessons, assignments, quizzes, tests, and homework. In the > past, I've taught fourth and fifth grade, but not honors. > How is te...See MoreOn 6/12/10, Cat wrote: > I've just been assigned to teach 4th Honors Reading/LA next > year. We don't have an actual curriculum, just the state > objectives. It's up to the teachers to create or find > lessons, assignments, quizzes, tests, and homework. In the > past, I've taught fourth and fifth grade, but not honors. > How is teaching honors different? I have no guidance or > materials, whatsoever. What do you wish you'd known when > you began? I'm interested in your ideas about projects, > assignments, lesson planning, parent communication, > administration/organization, good websites, teacher > resource books, etc. Everything! I want to use the summer > break to get a head start on preparing projects, etc., and > I would appreciate any and all suggestions! Thank you in > advance!

I don't teach a specific subject, more enrichment pull-out but the things I would be ready for:

1. Gifted students as a group can be high-energy and much more demanding in some ways that a non-gifted group. My stamina has definitely increased in the last two years to keep up with them.

2. Overplan, overplan, overplan. What you might have prepared for a regular class could last you only 20 minutes with a gifted class.

3. Be a facilitator more than an instructor. Lead them to discovering the knowledge and help them through the learning. Clarify but don't spell it out for them. The joy for many of these students is in the journey.

4. On the flip side, many gifted students are used to things being easy for them. Maybe it's just my experience but there are usually students who will whine and complain when it gets frustrating or difficult and I was tempted to give in and think I was pushing too hard. You aren't. Keep persevering, be understanding and positive but continue to push them to the goal. They will toughen up over time and trust me, when they realize what they can do, they are so proud of themselves. :)

5. Keep it varied...try not to plan lessons around one thing, but instead a variety of different things. In my experience, they like a basic routine, but they don't like necessarily like predictability. I know that sounds strange, but it's like they enjoy having structure and a basic outline but they become bored if it's always the same within the structure.

I'm sure others will have lots more ideas, but those were the top things I could think of...I hope it's helpful! :)

Jun 12, 2010

lv2share I could not have said it better! These are right-on and fabulous tips for a beginner in gifted ed! :)

> 1. Gifted students as a group can be high-energy and much > more demanding in some ways that a non-gifted group. My > stamina has definitely increased in the last two years to > keep up with them. > > 2. Overplan, overp...See More

Jun 19, 2010

Cat Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I will print it and keep it in my planbook for inspiration!

Jun 22, 2010

GT Teacher Teaching GT students and teaching honors are not one and the same thing. GT students think and learn in a very different way than others. Honors classes can reflect talent but they can also reflect effort and placement in a honors class doesn't mean the students are gifted.

Gifted placement shouldn't be considered an 'honor' anymore than p...See MoreTeaching GT students and teaching honors are not one and the same thing. GT students think and learn in a very different way than others. Honors classes can reflect talent but they can also reflect effort and placement in a honors class doesn't mean the students are gifted.

Gifted placement shouldn't be considered an 'honor' anymore than placement in a class for learning disabilities should be considered a 'dishonor'. Gifted placement reflects the different learning style that G/T people have.

If you're teaching reading to GT students, not all of them may be strong readers. Being G/T doesn't necessarily mean the child has strong reading skills. If I were asked to teach this class, I'd want to know more about who they're putting in it. Ideally, I'd want all strong readers so we could gallop through reading together.

GT students can enjoy very different books than other students - GT students like cerebral books with different themes. They like books like The Giver - read that and you'l get some insight into how GT students think and what they like to read.

GT students tend not to like homework - it too often feels like busy work to them. All students including GT students should be reading every night. GT students can chaff with traditional tests - they think very much outside the box and do much better with open-ended assignments. Let them design their own assignments - they can.

Gt parents can be very demanding and very particular - don't assign busy work, do let them continue to believe their children are bright - they are - and be open to input from the children - their parents Love that. Avoid very traditional memorization based tests like the 20 word vocab test - GT kids and their parents hate that - it's rote, it's mundane and does not work well for GT.

Good luck but certainly clarify with your administration what kind of student exactly will be in your honors class. If it's gifted, there's a website that gifted parents frequent called [link removed].

> I've just been assigned to teach 4th Honors Reading/LA next > year. We don't have an actual curriculum, just the state > objectives. It's up to the teachers to create or find > lessons, assignments, quizzes, tests, and homework. In the > past, I've taught fourth and fifth grade, but not honors. > How is teaching honors different? I have no guidance or > materials, whatsoever. What do you wish you'd known when > you began? I'm interested in your ideas about projects, > assignments, lesson planning, parent communication, > administration/organization, good websites, teacher > resource books, etc. Everything! I want to use the summer > break to get a head start on preparing projects, etc., and > I would appreciate any and all suggestions! Thank you in > advance!

Jun 27, 2010

Cat Thanks so much for your response. I appreciate you explaining gifted vs. honors. Thanks so much for your response. I appreciate the info!Cat

On 6/27/10, GT Teacher wrote: > Teaching GT students and teaching honors are not one and the > same thing. GT students think and learn in a very different > way than others. Honors classes ca...See MoreThanks so much for your response. I appreciate you explaining gifted vs. honors. Thanks so much for your response. I appreciate the info!Cat

On 6/27/10, GT Teacher wrote: > Teaching GT students and teaching honors are not one and the > same thing. GT students think and learn in a very different > way than others. Honors classes can reflect talent but they > can also reflect effort and placement in a honors class > doesn't mean the students are gifted. > > Gifted placement shouldn't be considered an 'honor' anymore > than placement in a class for learning disabilities should be > considered a 'dishonor'. Gifted placement reflects the > different learning style that G/T people have. > > If you're teaching reading to GT students, not all of them > may be strong readers. Being G/T doesn't necessarily mean the > child has strong reading skills. If I were asked to teach > this class, I'd want to know more about who they're putting > in it. Ideally, I'd want all strong readers so we could > gallop through reading together. > > GT students can enjoy very different books than other > students - GT students like cerebral books with different > themes. They like books like The Giver - read that and you'l > get some insight into how GT students think and what they > like to read. > > GT students tend not to like homework - it too often feels > like busy work to them. All students including GT students > should be reading every night. GT students can chaff with > traditional tests - they think very much outside the box and > do much better with open-ended assignments. Let them design > their own assignments - they can. > > Gt parents can be very demanding and very particular - don't > assign busy work, do let them continue to believe their > children are bright - they are - and be open to input from > the children - their parents Love that. Avoid very > traditional memorization based tests like the 20 word vocab > test - GT kids and their parents hate that - it's rote, it's > mundane and does not work well for GT. > > Good luck but certainly clarify with your administration what > kind of student exactly will be in your honors class. If it's > gifted, there's a website that gifted parents frequent called > [link removed]!

Jun 28, 2010

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