Week 8 - Overview

Throughout the last eight weeks you have gathered a multitude of knowledge about differentiation, how to move your students from dependent to independent learners, how to develop a classroom conducive to active engagement by all students, where to find resources, and how to work within the system. However, there is one more key element to add to this recipe for success. You need the “buy-in” from stakeholders – namely your administrators, parents of the gifted child, and your colleagues.

You now have to become the articulate, knowledgeable spokesperson for the gifted, and promote the need for diverse educational practices. Read the short story, Is It a Cheetah? by Stephanie Tolan. Think about the students you've had in the past who have qualities like the cheetah. (1996). Is It a Cheetah?. Retrieved September 26, 2007, from Stephanie S. Tolan

The first step in becoming a spokesperson for the gifted might be to develop a multi-media presentation and then gather all your stakeholders together to share your information. Begin with an explanation about how gifted learners differ from the average population, namely that gifted students:

• Learn new material rapidly
  
• Operate at complex and abstract levels
  
• Remember what they’ve learned forever

The next step is to develop an understanding among stakeholders that identifying a child as gifted does not mean that he/she doesn't need some TLC - Teacher’s Loving Care. Our goal as teachers is to push students to reach their potential. When teachers expect their gifted learners to be at the same place, working at the same pace, or working with the majority of their class, those teachers are doing their gifted children a disservice. All students need individual attention, that fits their particular needs, from their teacher. Including the gifted.

 

Philosophies

Often teachers of the gifted are asked, “Why do highly capable students need something different?” Here are some viewpoints worth pondering.

• The Right To Self Esteem
• The surest path to high self esteem for all learners is to continuously be successful at learning tasks they perceived would be difficult.
• Each time we "steal a student's struggle"; we steal the opportunity for them to develop high self-esteem.
  Dr. Sylvia Rimm, clinical psychologist
• The Jesse James Syndrome
• All the time I just sat there waiting.......
  Waiting for something new to learn.
  My teachers should have ridden with Jesse James for all the learning time they have stolen from me!
  A 10 year old boy from Michigan.
  quoting Richard Bartizan, poet

• Motivation and Learning
• The degree to which students perceive they are in control of the learning situation is positively correlated with motivation, productivity, and self-esteem.
  Dr. Barbara Clark, author, Growing Up Gifted
• All Students Have a Right to Learn
• Of all the students in a mixed-ability class, those who are most likely to LEARN THE LEAST during a school year are the most capable learners.

Why Highly Capable Students Need Something Different. Retrieved September 26, 2007, from Susan Winebrenner

The best support for differentiation comes from the National Middle School Association in Columbus, Ohio.