Teacher's Survival Guide: Gifted Education: A First-Year Teacher's Introduction to Gifted Learners

By Julia Roberts and Julia Roberts Boggess

Teacher's Survival Guide: Gifted Education is packed with practical information, up-to-date resources, tips for success, and advice from experts in the field. This updated second edition:

• Is the perfect introduction to gifted education for beginning and early career educators.
• Provides field-tested, proven strategies.
• Is designed to help teachers build their understanding of gifted education and gifted learners.
• Covers topics essential to gifted education teachers, including identifying giftedness and encouraging creativity.
• Includes tips for providing resources and opportunities to spur talent development.

Each chapter features a key question, making the book ideal for an engaging book study, as well as survival tips and a survival toolkit of resources to keep readers on course as they navigate through gifted ed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Release date: Sep 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781646320738

Julia Roberts

Julia L. Roberts, Ed.D., is the Mahurin Professor of Gifted Studies at Western Kentucky University. She serves as Executive Director of The Center for Gifted Studies and the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Teacher’s Survival Guide: Gifted Education is a starting point for educators and others who are new to gifted education or who need an update on what is current in gifted education. This book is a collection of information, advice, resources, and suggestions that we hope readers will turn to again and again. Leonardo da Vinci once said, He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards a ship without a rudder and compass, and never knows where he may land. This book provides the rudder as you navigate your entry or reentry into the field of gifted education.

This survival kit is filled with basic information on gifted education and strategies for helping gifted kids soar. The goal is to help readers recognize and address the needs of gifted children that are often created by their strengths, encourage their creativity, and implement strategies to remove the learning ceiling. Although written for educators, the information can be shared with parents and decision makers, as the book is an easy-to-read resource for introducing gifted education. After all, it was written as a survival guide.

The chapters in this book are short and to the point, even though each could be the topic for a longer work, even a book. They are written this way to bring you key information and resources on the many topics pertinent to understanding and supporting gifted and advanced learners. The resources in each chapter’s Survival Toolkit will guide readers as they learn about gifted education, with the goal that resources will help readers thrive, not just survive. Several chapters have short pieces called Survival Secrets, written by experts in the field of gifted education who share their experiences and provide advice that will help you understand specific topics in gifted education. Chapters also include leading questions to guide your thinking, tips to highlight important points, and quotations that you may want to remember.

As a mother-daughter team, we truly have enjoyed writing this book. Julie is a librarian at Pearre Creek Elementary School in Williamson County, TN. She has had experience as a gifted resource teacher and as a kindergarten and first-grade teacher as well as serving as an elementary librarian. She has taught many sessions of summer and Saturday programs for young people in grades 1–8 who are gifted and talented. Julia is a teacher educator who has prepared hundreds of gifted resource teachers and other educators in gifted education in the course of their graduate study. As the founding and current Executive Director of The Center for Gifted Studies at Western Kentucky University, she has directed more than 3 decades of summer programming for hundreds of gifted children. She has shared ideas and strategies with many parents and provided professional learning opportunities for numerous parent and teacher groups. She has held leadership positions in gifted organizations, including serving as president of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children.

We hope that you will learn much from Teacher’s Survival Guide: Gifted Education and share the important information with your colleagues and friends.

Happy reading. Welcome to the world of gifted education!

—Julia Link Roberts and Julia Roberts Boggess

Chapter 1

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning

Who Are Gifted Children?

Gifted children are perishable.—Troy Coleman, parent

Key Question

■What definition for gifted children is current and used in your school, school district, and state?

What Does Gifted and Talented Mean?

Let’s start the conversation by looking at children who are gifted and talented. Who are they? What terminology is used in the United States in reference to these young people? What are gifted children called in your school, district, and state? What categories of giftedness are recognized where you teach or where your child or children are in school?

Children and young people who are gifted and talented constitute a group that is quite diverse. They come from all ethnic and racial backgrounds, all socioeconomic backgrounds, and all geographic locations. They may speak any language, and they may have both disabilities and advanced abilities. Gifted children represent a variety of interests and talent areas. Even within any category of giftedness, there is a wide range of ability and talent, and the level of achievement and talent development often depends upon available opportunities or opportunities taken. Many gifted individuals learn to underachieve early in their educational experience, but that is not always the case. Others have numerous and ongoing opportunities that allow them to thrive in school. Indeed, diverse is the descriptor that best characterizes children and young people who are gifted and talented as well as the experiences and interests they bring to classrooms and other learning communities.

Perhaps the type of giftedness that most people understand most readily is athletic giftedness. Recently, headlines in a local paper used the term gifted to describe both an outstanding quarterback and a highly sought-after basketball recruit. The public admires those who are gifted in these athletic abilities, whether the talent is demonstrated in basketball, football, tennis, baseball, or golf. Some young people have natural athletic abilities, and consequently, they get coaching to develop their abilities, and they are even sought after by coaches who recognize obvious athletic potential. If every young person receives the same intensity of coaching, would they all qualify for the varsity team? Of course not. They would not all develop into outstanding athletes, yet all children deserve the opportunity to try—to see if they will develop their skills and abilities to a high level. Those who demonstrate exceptional athletic abilities should not be held back because the other children around them do not perform at the same high level, just as those who are academically gifted should not be held back or made to do the work their age-mates are doing when they are ready for more advanced learning.

Several states include children who are gifted and talented as one category of exceptional or special education. The main difference between gifted children and other exceptional children is that a gifted child is identified by their strength or strengths rather than by a deficiency or an area that requires support in order to achieve. Strengths do not make children look needy (they don’t create sympathy for children who are gifted and talented), yet strengths create needs just as deficiencies do. Gifted children are just as different from average learners as are children who are exceptional due to a disability. For example, a gifted child may be able to learn information quickly and at complex levels, while a child with a learning disability may need more time to learn and a basic presentation of the materials to make adequate progress. Or a gifted child may be advanced in one or more content areas, while another child of the same age may need to begin at a different level. All exceptional children, including gifted children, require special accommodations in order for each one to make continuous progress. Of course, ongoing learning is the purpose of going to school.

Definitions of Giftedness

The specific word used to refer to gifted children differs by state and organization. The National Science Board (2010) alternately refers to the children and young people who have the most potential to become STEM innovators as ‘talented and motivated’ or ‘high-ability’ or ‘gifted’ (p. 6). Some states choose to call these children advanced learners or gifted and talented. Still other terms used to refer to gifted children are highly able, highly capable, or high potential. Some people think it is important to put the word children first, as in children who are gifted and talented and children with gifts and talents. No matter the terminology used, the designation is for children who are demonstrating the ability or potential for learning at advanced levels or beyond where age-mates are learning. The most important point to remember is to know the terminology used to refer to children who are gifted and talented in your district and state and then to use that terminology. The goal of all terminology is to designate the need for learning at advanced levels, as indeed, gifted children are capable of learning beyond grade level.

States also differ in the categories of giftedness that they recognize. Some states focus specifically on intellectual giftedness, while other states name several categories of giftedness. Six categories were included in the Marland Report (1972): general intellectual ability, a specific academic area, creative or productive thinking, leadership, the visual and performing arts, and psychomotor abilities. Soon after the Marland Report was issued, psychomotor ability was eliminated as one of those categories. Of course, psychomotor giftedness continues to be important, but, as mentioned earlier, schools and the public readily support athletic talent development, so gifted education funding could not also be used to support sports programs (psychomotor ability). A child can be identified as gifted in one or more of the five remaining categories.

The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act of 1988, now the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program (2015), defined gifted children as:

Children and youth with outstanding talent perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment.

These children and youth exhibit high performance capability in intellectual, creative, and/or artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership capacity, or excel in specific academic fields. They require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the schools.

Outstanding talents are present in children and youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor. (as cited in U.S. Department of Education, 1993, p. 3)

The federal definition of giftedness is as follows:

(22) GIFTED AND TALENTED.—The term gifted and talented, when used with respect to students, children, or youth, means students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities. (No Child Left Behind Act, P.L. 107-110 [Title IX, Part A, Definition 22]; 2002)

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC, 2019a) defined giftedness as follows:

Students with gifts and talents perform—or have the capability to perform—at higher levels compared to others of the same age, experience, and environment in one or more domains. They require modification(s) to their educational experience(s) to learn and realize their potential. Students with gifts and talents:

■Come from all racial, ethnic, and cultural populations, as well as all economic strata.

■Require sufficient access to appropriate learning opportunities to realize their potential.

■Can have learning and processing disorders that require specialized intervention and accommodation.

■Need support and guidance to develop socially and emotionally as well as in their areas of talent.

■Require varied services based on their changing needs.

In states in which gifted children are included within the category of exceptional children, the terminology from special education may be that used for gifted children. The definition may include a statement that the educational performance of the young person is adversely affected, indicating the general curriculum alone is inadequate to appropriately meet the student’s educational needs.

Conclusion

Find the definition of gifted children used by your school, school district, and state, and then clarify its meaning. Make it your responsibility to discover and understand the definition that will guide the identification of gifted children where you live and teach. Are they called advanced learners or children with gifts and talents? The name is only the starting point, but what you do to recognize their needs and develop their potentials makes lifelong differences for these children and young people.

Various labels for gifted children will be used in this book. The next chapter discusses the responsibilities of teachers of gifted students. School and district leaders need to know about responsibilities set by law, policy, and regulations at district and state levels. Parents, too, need to be aware of what is in place in order for their child to make continuous progress, even when that is going beyond grade-level learning.

Questions to Get Started

■Does your state have a definition of gifted children? Perhaps that seems like an unusual question, but please note that all states do not have a definition.

■Is the definition of gifted in your district or state included as a category of exceptional children? This information will be important to know from the beginning.

■Do teachers in your school seem to know the definition of gifted children? If not, this information is a clue that professional learning is needed.

Survival Tips

■ A gifted child’s area of greatest strength is also their area of greatest need, as that is what distinguishes them from age-mates. Remember that a gifted child’s needs are just as intense and different from the average child’s as are the needs of any other exceptional or special learner. Teachers need to share this information with colleagues and parents, as gifted children and young people do not look needy, yet their strengths create their needs.

■Parents, educators, and policymakers need to know the definition of giftedness used in their state as well as the working definition in the school and school district.

Survival Toolkit

■ NAGC (https://www.nagc.org) offers numerous resources to educate on gifted children. It is a great place to explore for topics related to gifted children.

■Your state may have two websites with information on the definition of giftedness in your state—that of the organization of gifted education and your state department of education. These should be rich resources for information about gifted education in your state, and the definition of giftedness should be readily available.

■Joseph Renzulli discusses his conception of giftedness in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8OlKSNQAIU .

Chapter 2

Find Out What You Do First

A good program for the gifted increases their involvement and interest in learning through the reduction of the irrelevant and the redundant.—Sidney P. Marland, Jr.

Key Question

■What are the laws, policies, and regulations for gifted education in your school, district, and state?

Asking Questions: The Best Way to Get a Good Start

Getting a job offer or a new teaching assignment is both exciting and daunting. You may be starting as a gifted resource teacher. You may be assigned to a single classroom, multiple classrooms, an entire school, or pull-out services. It is also possible that you are a classroom teacher with a new interest in addressing the needs of gifted students in your classroom, or you have a new interest as your school has a new focus on ensuring that all children, including those who are gifted and talented, make continuous progress. Whether you are a veteran teacher or new to teaching, you are about to embark on an exciting new role—one that involves teaching with a high interest in ensuring that advanced young learners are learning. This survival guide is written with the goal of helping you launch yourself into this new role in a highly successful style.

Perhaps you are starting your graduate classes or have completed a graduate program in gifted education and are beginning a new position. It is even possible that your state does not require teachers to take gifted classes before teaching in a gifted program or providing services for advanced learners, so your education will come via workshops or classes you take because you want to learn more about teaching children who are gifted and talented. No matter your preparation, your most pressing questions are likely Where do I start? and What should I do first?

Your starting place may be to do some homework on what is mandated or expected for gifted education in your school, district, and state. The website of your state department of education will be a profitable place to explore to know what is required in the way of services for children who are gifted and talented. NAGC also has links to all of the state associations for gifted children to assist you in finding information about the state organization with a focus on gifted children (see https://www.nagc.org/information-publications/gifted-state). Does your state have laws that include children who are gifted and talented and list requirements for their education? Does your state have a regulation for gifted education? Does your school board have a policy on gifted education? Does your school district have a handbook of policies and procedures for gifted education? Are there state or district policies in place about acceleration (more than 20 types of acceleration)? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you need to locate and save copies of the laws, policies, and regulations to guide you as you prepare for your new responsibilities.

Roles and Responsibilities

Another early question to ask is: What are my responsibilities in my new position or within the new emphasis in my school? There are many variations in programming and services for children and young people who are gifted and talented. Which ones characterize your new teaching responsibilities? Does your state refer to services offered to gifted children or to programs for them? It is important to define your role, as you can’t be everything to everyone! That is why it is so important to ask about your responsibilities so you can focus on them.

The role of a gifted resource teacher has many variations. You may have an entire class of students who are gifted and talented. You may be the resource teacher who is responsible for delivering services within a school. More challenging, you may be the educator responsible for delivering services for gifted children in more than one school within the district or across an entire school district. Yet another possibility is that you will be a teacher in a magnet program for gifted children, which could incorporate a one-day-a-week service model, allowing you only one day each week to teach your students. Another possibility is that you have a classroom of gifted students in a magnet school.

Asking questions will be your way to begin defining your responsibilities. For example, you will need to ask who your supervisor is because you will need to pose questions to that individual. What expectations does your supervisor have for you in your new position? Who is responsible for establishing your schedule, and who can suggest input about that schedule? Talk with the person who had your position previously in order to see the lay of the land. Also talk with your supervisor (who may be a district gifted coordinator or a building principal) to make sure that you fully understand all of their expectations for you in your position.

Perhaps you do not have a new position, but rather a new emphasis in your school or in your professional learning community (PLC) on being certain that gifted kids are stretched in terms of what they are capable of learning. What is your plan for ensuring that you know how to challenge all children in the classroom? What strategies will allow you to differentiate instruction in order to address the wide range of learning needs? Even if you have an entire class of young people who are all gifted and talented, remember that gifted children represent diverse needs and have a range of abilities and interests. The one-size-fits-all approach, even with an above-grade-level approach, will not remove the learning ceiling for all students.

Most of all, you need to know the basics about gifted education in your situation prior to starting your new position. You must be clear on which categories of giftedness are recognized in your school, district, and state. In some states, the category of gifted is limited to intellectually gifted children. In a few states, there are five categories of giftedness—intellectual giftedness as well as giftedness in a specific academic area, creativity, leadership, and the visual and performing arts. In each case, the programming or services must match the category of giftedness. Remember, gifted children don’t appear on the surface to have learning needs, as their areas of strength create their needs. The gifted teacher’s role is to support the whole gifted child, which includes providing social-emotional support as well as academically challenging them. That support certainly includes providing opportunities for each student to make continuous progress in their areas of strength or giftedness.

Understanding Terminology: Programs and/or Services?

You must understand and use appropriate terminology when communicating with gifted children, their educators, and parents. Do you talk about a gifted program or gifted services for children in your school? The terms gifted program and gifted services are not synonymous, although you may find they are used interchangeably.

Gifted program tends to communicate that there is one service for gifted children. The downside of calling your service the gifted program is that it implies that children are either gifted or not. The other possibility is to give the program a specific name, such as Project Challenge or SOAR (just examples), so it is one of several services, including such options as acceleration in math or reading and differentiation in the classroom.

Speaking about services rather than the gifted program allows you to share the responsibility for addressing the needs (remember—needs stem from students’ strengths)