Before you begin to design curriculum for your gifted students, you must first understand why one path of learning is not the best situation for all students.
According to the Position Statement of the NAGC, “...education in a democracy must represent the uniqueness of all individuals, the broad range of cultural diversity present in our society, and the similarities and differences in learning characteristics that can be found within any group of students.” Differentiation of Curriculum and Instruction. Retrieved September 11, 2007, from National Association for Gifted Children.
To accomplish this for students identified as gifted, the paper goes on to state that, “The learning needs of gifted students often differ from those of other students and should be addressed through differentiation, a modification of curriculum, and instruction based on the assessed achievement and interests of individual students.”
With this in mind, principles of differentiating curriculum have been developed. Whether the students are in general education classrooms, resource programs, or self-contained classes, their curriculum should be modified in the areas of content, process, environment, product, and assessment.
Courses of action must be learned, understood, and applied to make the learning environment for the gifted student motivating, challenging, and relevant. As you move through the content this week, hopefully, you will develop a working understanding of differentiation and the principles and theory behind it.