I have been teaching in an urban district for almost ten years. I have taught students of all sorts of socio-economic status, and all ranges of intellect in my classrooms. I have always, tried to treat each student the same, and tried to find success in all my students so that I could accent that success when talking to parents face-to-face, or in a postcard or letter home. It wasn’t until I began to teach gifted children that I began to see that success isn’t always seen as a positive experience.
I have been seeing a reoccurring theme in the past few years around the time grade cards come out. Some of the smart students and some of the gifted students will try to hide or down play their grades. It’s like having a scarlet letter on your chest if you get great grades. It really began to concern me as I began to talk about the experiences my students we having around grade card week.
Last week we had issued our grade cards, and teachers were putting up brag boards about who made the Honor Roll, along with their GPA’s. I had a few of my gifted students come to me and tell me they hate seeing their names up on the board because they feel like it targets them for more ridicule from other students. These students get a 4.0 or close to it every quarter, and they work hard at what they do, but they hate having to explain to their friends that school just comes easy for them.
I need to say this: our district, like other districts in our state, is very good at showing off the students who are very intelligent, and those who show great improvement. Students will tell you they get a lot of praise of teachers and administrators about their successes and improvements. But, sometimes I think we as teachers (and I will include parents here as well) don’t teach students to praise each other for their successes.
I believe at times in the urban setting it is easier to accent failure than to reinforce success. There are a lot of good parents out there who are doing everything they can to get their children to succeed who live in urban areas. Now place in the gifted child, who by intellect is already different than most of their peers; they get good grades, and get the accolades of their teachers. Some students see that as negative. They are seen as the teacher’s pet. They don’t want to be seen as the class “nerd” when you have to have to have a strong “street” persona when you are at home.
What can we do for gifted children who succeed and down play their success in urban districts? I have to be honest and tell you I don’t know the right answer to that question. I have some ideas, but obviously each child is different as well as the situation and district they belong to.
We as educators need to nurture the gifted student. Sometimes they see themselves different from other students. Intellectually they are above their peers, but emotionally they are the same as their peers. Show them being intelligent doesn’t have to make you different. I love the Intel® commercials where they say, “our superstars aren’t like your superstars.” Those commercials are showing its ok to be smart. We need to do the same. We need to show gifted students it ok to be gifted, smart and intelligent, because in the future they may be a “superstar” in their field.
We need to show them success is important, and where success can take them. I know that students don’t always see the future very well, or understand it. So we show it to them. We need to take them to colleges and business. If you can get the chance take your gifted students to a college campus. This is a great time for middle school scholars to see where they are working toward. College campuses offer so much. If they can get a chance to talk to some students there, and to the admissions people so they can read and hear about the qualifications to get into a college. It’s amazing how well some gifted students take a challenge. We also need to take them to a successful business in the community. For example law firms, where they can see what lawyers do other than in court. What it took to become a lawyer. Take these students where they can see successful people working and making a difference in the community they live in.
I also believe it is important for gifted students to have role models. I believe we need to find out what their passions are, and try to find someone in that field that they can look up to. If possible write letters or postcards to get connected. If the right technology is available to use such as Skype® to communicate then take advantage of that. I firmly believe that if they can see someone doing what they want to do, they will see the reality of themselves doing it.
Again, I don’t know exactly what we can do for gifted children who succeed and down play their success in urban districts, but I believe that we have to try to show them possibilities that are out there beyond the urban setting.
The U.S. Department of Education released the Race to the Top (RttT) application on November 12th. States across the nation are now racing to complete the application. As I digested my very tasty turkey dinner yesterday, I took a few minutes to review the application to see how exactly the RttT grant funds actually relate to top students. The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) provided input on the draft of the application last August. NAGC requested that high ability children be included in specific parts of the application. I thought perhaps that the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, would look at the requests seriously. Not so, unfortunately.
NAGC asked for “incentives for school districts to match students with ability appropriate curricula.” Is it in the final application? Nope. How about the request for “an emphasis on closing the achievement gap between highest performing disadvantaged students and their more advantaged peers?” Naw, that’s not in the application either. And the proposal “on making high-level STEM curriculum available to some learners at earlier grades than the norm?” Sorry, no. In fact, the only thing that pops out that even remotely supports high ability children is found on page 31 of the application dealing with using data to improve performance:
Make the data from instructional improvement systems (as defined in this notice), together with statewide longitudinal data system data, available and accessible to researchers so that they have detailed information with which to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional materials, strategies, and approaches for educating different types of students (e.g., students with disabilities, English language learners, students whose achievement is well below or above grade level).
Of course, this section is only worth 18 out of 500 points.
So what’s the reason for this snub of top students in Race to the Top? Remember, in his first budget request, Duncan asked for the paltry amount of federal funding for gifted students be eliminated. Could it be that Secretary Duncan’s view is that all high ability children are white and wealthy and therefore don’t need any federal support? The secretary’s quote in the Arizona Central on charter schools (October 25, 2009) seems to provide us a clue:
Duncan: Where good charters make the difference is in traditionally underserved communities, working with disadvantaged students.
So, the best charter schools are not elite academies and not testing kids in; they’re not gifted centers. They’re not even working with average students but with children that come from some really tough situations but show extraordinary results.
Too bad Arne Duncan hasn’t read the Jack Kent Cooke study, which shows how poor, minority high ability students are the most negatively impacted by the race to the bottom mentality in the current No Child Left Behind policy. Some of those “children in really tough situations” are very gifted. Leaving them out of the Race to the Top arena only makes it less likely that they will succeed.
When I received an email from Jeanne Bernish a few weeks ago about a proposal she had, I had no idea that I would soon be the proud new mother – of a gifted blog. Jeanne has done a great job of creating the High Ability blog, and I know she will be watching to make sure that I treat her “baby” with tender, loving care. For my part, I am just thrilled to embark on a new online adventure. I’ve been thinking about blogging for some time now. As the Executive Director of the Ohio Association for Gifted Children, I regularly use listservs, twitter, facebook, and of of course the OAGC website. But in those venues, I seem to be limited to just the facts and nothing but the facts. There are times when I would actually like to share my opinion and maybe go beyond the world of just Ohio gifted issues a bit. So, while I freely acknowledge that I have no idea what I am doing (yet), I have a feeling this is going to be great new adventure. I hope Jeanne’s followers will hang in there as I get the hang of this. And to Jeanne, best of luck to you and know that I will try to take care of my newly adopted blog as best I can.
I am pleased to announce the transfer of the High Ability Blog to the Ohio Association for Gifted Children (OAGC) effective as of today, November 20, 2009.
I have enjoyed creating this meeting place for advocates of Gifted Children and I know that Ann Sheldon will continue to gather educators, parents, advocates and students in this space.
A few weeks ago I sat in a meeting with my colleagues (Gifted Intervention Specialists), and heard our Assistant Superintendent speak to Credit Flexibility which school districts will have to implement starting the 2010-2011 school year. I thought to myself, “I need to know more about this because I am raising two high school students who could take advantage of this opportunity.” So I began to do some research on the ODE website.
As I sifted through some of the Credit Flexibility information on the ODE website I remembered taking classes in high school and seeing no point in them because I didn’t see myself ever using the information after the class was finished. I had no real stake in my education. I was doing exactly what I was told, and in the sequence it had to be done in. Well, the Ohio Senate Bill 311 is going to change that for current and future students.
One aspect of the Ohio Senate Bill 311 raised the amount of credits students will need to graduate. Looking deeper into the law, there is a small gift that gifted students can take advantage of, and that’s the Credit Flexibility Provision.
So what is Credit Flexibility, and how can it benefit gifted students? Credit Flexibility is a change in thinking. According to the ODE website, the “plan shifts the focus from “seat time” to performance.” Students now have several different avenues to get those extra credit hours needed to graduate. This benefits gifted students in several different ways. One benefit is that students can now test out of a class, and get the full credit for the class. This is very similar to the way universities operate. If a student can demonstrate that they comprehend the material at a mastery level they will have the option to test out of that class. Another benefit that is given in this provision is “education travel,” which basically allows a student go to a foreign country and learn the culture and language. The student then completes a project about what he learned and incorporates that into some real-world activity. And the student can get high school credit for that. There are other ways that students can earn those graduation credits:
According the ODE website, students can earn credits by:
* Completing coursework;
* Testing out of or demonstrating mastery of course content; or
* Pursuing one or more “educational options” (e.g., distance learning, educational travel, independent study, an internship, music, arts, after-school/tutorial program, community service or other engagement projects and sports).”
This is great for gifted students, because now they can do an independent study about a topic that would delve deep into the monster of their own education. They can use their gifts and their talents to benefit their education. Basically this is a case for differentiated instruction. I believe the state is using this provision to help the gifted meet their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Every student should have the ability to make the gains they need to, and the State of Ohio is definitely giving the gifted student that opportunity.
According to the ODE website, the Credit Flexibility Plan “is intended to motivate and increase student learning by allowing:
* Access to more learning resources, especially real-world experiences
* Customization around individual student needs
* Use of multiple measures of learning, especially those where students demonstrate what they know and can do, apply the learning, or document performance”
I believe that this is one of the best provisions that State of Ohio has came out with. They are recognizing that the industrialist attitude that has dominated our school districts for decades is outdated. The belief that putting students in a room giving them all the same information and expect them all to come out of that room at the same level just isn’t realistic. This provision is twenty-first century thinking. Believing that not every student learns at the same pace and that all students learn differently is movement in the right direction for education.
I want to encourage all parents, teachers, and administrators to continue to research this topic. As the deadline looms closer for implementation, I know that school districts will be meeting to create a plan that they will be sending out information about Credit-Flexibility for your district. If you live in Ohio do not miss the opportunity to learn about how this option will be implemented in your district. If you have the opportunity to go to a school board meeting when the members are discussing this, I encourage you to participate! Ask questions and get as much information about it as you can. Especially gifted parents and gifted intervention specialists — gather information and give it out to those who could benefit from it.
If you don’t live in Ohio, call your local superintendent’s office to see if they have a Credit Flexibility Plan, and how your child can participate.
Teachers and parents encourage gifted students to take part in this provision. It’s a gift for the gifted.
Resources
Ohio Department of Education State Board of Education: Credit Flex Plan
http://bit.ly/364qEV
Jeffrey Shoemaker is a new contributor to the High Ability Blog. A Gifted Intervention Specialist for the Lima City School District, Shoemaker also taught 6th Grade Social Studies for 6 years. After earning a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree from The Ohio State University specializing in Elementary Education, Shoemaker also earned a Master’s Degree from Bowling Green State University specializing in Gifted Education.
One of the big topics in education is differentiation. Although there are many definitions and interpretations of differentiation out there to comb through, it is something that gifted intervention specialists shouldn’t be scared of. Differentiation is something that should be “taken by the horns” and used in the classroom to give students that individual learning experience they honestly need and desire.
Will The Real Definition of Differentiation Please Stand Up?
So what is the real definition of differentiation? My favorite definition is from the resource Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom by Susan Winebrenner: differentiation is “providing gifted students with different tasks and activities than their peers—tasks that lead to real learning for them” (p.5).
For teachers who already differentiate their lessons I would like to say “great job!” That is the best way for gifted children to learn. Many times regular education teachers think that since a student is labeled gifted they should give them extra work or have them tutor students who are struggling. Both are wrong. Differentiation allows for: 1 – students who get the initial concept to be able to dig deeper with it and 2 – these students to experience divergent thinking.
Stop limiting gifted children and they will surprise you. And never put the gifted child in the role of a teacher (they already have enough stress at school just trying to fit in).
Differentiation in the Gifted Classroom
How is differentiation supposed to look in a gifted classroom? The gifted intervention specialist has so many different tools at their disposal no matter if they are in a pull-out resource room or embedded in the regular classroom. These tools work and gifted students will experience learning through them. Here are two differentiation tools that can be used in the classroom, but realize this is just a short list and there are many more tools available.
Tic-Tac-Toe Boards
My favorite is the Tic-Tac-Toe board. I use Tic-Tac-Toe boards the most in my classroom because it fits my style of giving students a chance to take charge of their own learning. If you haven’t used Tic-Tac-Toe Boards before let me describe them to you. Tic-Tac-Toe boards are divided into nine boxes. Each box has an assignment in it. I usually spread out the assignments so that there are different levels of difficulty in each row. The student has to choose three assignments that are across each row, column or diagonal (just like in the game Tic-Tac-Toe).
Students love the choices they have. They feel like they are in command of their education. If you haven’t tried this strategy, try it! This is one strategy that is easy to implement, and to change when you go from unit to unit.
Independent Study Menus
This is my second favorite strategy for differentiation. I have done this several times in different ways. You just have to find ways that suit your comfort zone and teaching skills, which will benefit the students you teach.
One way I have executed this strategy is by giving the students a topic and allowing them to pick products off a menu that they would like to do. Again, I honestly believe that if you give students a stake in there education they will be successful, and meaningful learning will take place.
The other way is to set very few parameters and allow students to pick a topic they are either interested in or passionate about and allow them to pick products from a menu. The products would match the types of products from the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Conclusions
Differentiation is an important part gifted classroom. Gifted education teachers / intervention specialists should see themselves as a facilitator more than a teacher. You are there to help them learn in different ways, and let them experience learning in a way that is exciting, challenging, fun, and meaningful.
If you have never tried differentiation in your classroom, take it slow. Be comfortable with one strategy. Then implement another. Doing it this way will definitely improve your teaching, and will give you another tool to use to help your students succeed.
Resources
Coil, Carolyn. (2004). Standard-based activities and assessments for the differentiated classroom. USA: Pieces of Learning.
Roberts, Ed.D, Julia L., & Inman, Tracy F. (2009). Strategies for differentiating instruction: best practices for the classroom. Wako, Texas: Prufrock Press Inc.
Winebrenner, Susan. (2001). Teaching gifted kids in the regular classroom. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing.
Stanley Fish recently wrote a short blog series on what colleges should teach in writing classes and it got me thinking about what our public schools should be teaching in writing classes as well. Then I remembered that they don’t teach writing. Or, if they do, it is part of a smooshed together curricular process of authentic learning. The conjunction-junctions of my childhood are long gone and the structure of grammar and formal composition which so many gifted kids yearn for in the regular classroom simply doesn’t exist. In fact, a friend and master teacher once complained to me that students learn more about sentence structure in foreign language class than they ever do in the study of English. Composition and grammar are the brushes and tubes of paint an artist uses to create: the artist must, at some point, grasp the function of the tools he or she employs in the process of creating. The ability to turn a phrase, parry a pun, develop an alliterative line, create rhythm and form – these are the tools of the craft of writing. And, as Fish says, “writing is its own subject, and a deeper and more fascinating one than the content it makes available.”
November is National Novel Writing Month – at least according to the folks at NaNoWriMo – and I have dithered in a sea of “desire to write and tasks to complete” which have left me unable to officially commit to it this year. But the basic premise of the exercise is very compelling – “National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.” Give yourself a large word count goal each day during the month of November and let your creative muse perch on your shoulder untethered to revisions or edits. Simply let the words flow and create.
There is a young writers component to this as well:
“National Novel Writing Month’s Young Writers Program provides kids and teens with a month-long language arts experience that improves self-esteem, teaches perseverance, and radically alters their relationship to writing and literature.
We do this through a youth-oriented website where kids and teens can mingle with other budding authors, get advice from beloved writers, and find inspiration as they tackle our book-writing challenge. And we do it through free, fun curriculum and lesson plans for K-12 teachers facilitating the Young Writers Program in their classrooms.
In 2008, over 20,000 kids and teens in 600 classrooms worldwide took part in National Novel Writing Month’s Young Writers Program. In 2009, we’re expecting over 1,000 classrooms to spend November bookin’ with us.”
Lifting the velvet rope and stepping inside the room has huge benefits: as a way to encourage expression in written form and explore individual creativity which is limitless in scope; as a touchstone to help battle blank page syndrome in the future; and as a compositional exercise with long term opportunities to teach grammar and form through later revisions.
NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program gives schools an opportunity to embrace a collaborative on-line learning environment where students can progress at their own pace. Guided learning through coaches, admired professionals, masters of the craft and an international cast of fellow students creates a very large studio. And so many opportunities to teach composition, editing and craft exist from December on. For so many writers young and old, it’s simply the impetus to begin.
Since not everyone will be able to attend the Conference in St. Louis, Prufrock Press is sponsoring a Virtual Option On Saturday, November 7th offering 17 live sessions from the comfort of your computer. Visit the NAGC Virtual Convention page for more information and to register.
I spent Sunday in Columbus in the Easton Hilton, on the perimeter of great shopping, to join in the parent day fun at OAGC yesterday. The drive up from Cincinnati was beautiful – the trees are just now beginning to show their colors. And I enjoyed the trip even more with a good friend along for the ride and the luxury to chat, uninterrupted, for two hours. [the trip back was dark but clear - the only unpleasantness being the car-filling stench of skunk and Odour 'de Rumpke as we passed the landfill just outside of town - whew!]
I hope to have some links up soon on parent resources from the ODE (via the Javits Grant) – I just want to find out if they are available to folks outside of Ohio first.
As always it is great to connect with other people interested in and passionate about gifted education. My presentation introducing Social Networking wasn’t a complete disaster – and I think I may even have won over some new Twitter converts in the process – so it’s all good!
