Trends in Gifted Education
Friday, January 04, 2008 - by CFertig - 574 Views -
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Teaching Gifted Children
The
NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children) Convention was held in November. Each year, I like to read through the entire catalog of presentations so that I can form general impressions about categories that were considered important.
Disclaimer: I do not have access to information about presentation proposals that were submitted nor do I have information about how the presentations were chosen. I do not look at this information to make judgments; only to observe trends.
Like everything else in society, certain topics wax and wane. Someone else may interpret this very differently than I do. But, for the record, this is what I see.
Some of the topics that were considered top priorities in the past 10-30 years that I see no longer getting the same attention include
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Underachievement
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Multiple Intelligences
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Pullout/enrichment
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Advocacy
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GT resource teachers
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Affective issues
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Identification
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Learning Styles
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Differentiation
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Theory of giftedness
Topic trends that I do see increasing are
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The integration of technology into the curriculum rather than treatment as a separate subject
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Interest of programs on an international level (in fact, at the NAGC convention this year, a strand was added titled “International”)
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Special schools and programs
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Less talk about specifically meeting the needs of the gifted and more emphasis on the need for an increase in general academic rigor, including the need to let students advance at a faster speed
I would love to hear the ideas of others on these trends. You can always leave a comment at this blog entry or email me if you would prefer that others do not see your comments.
Concomitant Characteristics of the Gifted
Patrick was consistently the first to raise his hand in class and he always had the correct answer. The problem was, he never gave anyone else a chance to contribute. Can we show Patrick other ways to demonstrate his knowledge? Should he be moved to a class that is more challenging?
Both at home and at school, Joslin had a terrible time moving from one activity to another. She would get so “into” whatever she was doing that she hated it when her parents or teacher would ask her to switch to something else. Would it help to give her advanced notice of when to expect a change, with several reminders?
Seneca was curious about everything, so he had lots of questions. The problem was that he had so many questions that it was annoying and often intimidating to others. Can we give Seneca projects that require a lot of idea generation? Should he be taught skills for finding his own answers rather than asking everyone else?
Every behavioral characteristic has its positive and negative side. This includes characteristics that gifted children tend to have. These two-sided attributes are known as concomitant characteristics.
While we should not excuse bad behavior, we can help direct kids to positive outcomes. We also can learn to be more tolerant ourselves by understanding that someone else’s seemingly irritating behavior also may have a very positive side.
Some examples are:
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Characteristic
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Positive Aspect
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Negative Aspect
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Dominates the conversation
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Accelerated pace of learning
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Can move through material quickly
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Gets frustrated with the pace of learning
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Ability to concentrate and persist
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Is able to focus on a task and learn in depth
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Likes to plan ahead and keep everything neat
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Difficulty with spontaneity
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Entertaining and resilient
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Uses humor in inappropriate ways that distract or offend
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Heightened self-awareness; feels different
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Realizes the potential of being unique
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Feels isolated and self-consciousness
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Critical of self and/or others when high expectations are not met
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Huge store of facts and long memory
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Becomes bored and impatient with others
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Has many possibilities in life
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Has difficulty choosing between interests
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Viewed as stubborn and inflexible
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Conceptualizes on a greater level
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Avoids tasks for fear of not doing them perfectly
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