REFLECTION ESSAY

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT EDUCATING THE GIFTED AND TALENTED

By Ahmad Z. Al Khatib 201080033

Reflection Essay Current Issues in teaching and learning Dr. Nagib Balfaqih

United Arab Emirates University March, 2012

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2012 Ahmad Z. Al Khatib ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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Introduction This article introduces five lessons learned from research on gifted and talented. This synthesis of the research covers instructional management options, instructional delivery techniques, and curriculum adaptation strategies are an attempt to aid school system administrators and educators to identify which practices will best fit their respective settings rather than see the research as a more generalized set of best practices that every school should implement. (Rogers, 2007, p. 382).

First of all, a definition of Gifted and talented needs to be adopted in order to determine the target group. The one coined by the US Department of Education (1993) defines the Gifted and Talented as "Children and youth with outstanding talent who perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment." The UAE ministry of education has adopted a similar definition: " : " Which can be translated as "Children who perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment in: cognitive, creative, artistic, leadership, or specialized academic areas and who require services and activities which are not presented by regular schools in order to fully develop such capabilities and potentials (UAE MOE, 2012)

This article provides significant lessons, supported by research and practical application on five lessons that can be adopted to start and run a program for Gifted and Talented learners at

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the school or district level. In order to get the most out of it, I shall review the most important points and reflect on each of them then finish up with a conclusion and reflection.

Lesson 1: Gifted and Talented learners need daily challenge in their specific area of interest.

The outcome of lesson 1 is that each recognized gifted child must be given consistent, progressively difficult curriculum which has been expressed across grade and building levels and delivered deliberately.

To be able to achieve this, some kind of structured regrouping is required since leaving this task to the regular classroom teacher to implement would make the system vulnerable to failure because of the other responsibilities, lack of training, and lack of motivation to provide differentiation the regular classroom teacher suffers from.

Bringing gifted learners together through a pull-out or send-out program can be a feasible option.

For the program to be effective the focus must be on specific extensions of the schools regular curriculum or on specific skills and processes integrated within a curriculum area.

Providing gifted learners with systematic daily or regular challenge has been proven by research to help advance the gifted learners and motivate them. This would require a separate teacher who can be tasked with this apart from the regular classroom teacher who can only assist in differentiated instruction if provided by adequate training and time.

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Lesson 2: Opportunities should be provided on a regular basis for Gifted Learners to be unique and to work independently in their areas of passion and talent.

Research shows that Gifted Learners prefer independent study, independent projects and self instructional materials.

Independent study does have an impact on motivation to learn, but it requires appropriate structuring through the use of a curriculum model, well trained teachers, and collaboration between the teacher and the library in order to translate this independent study into academic achievement.

Credit must be given to Gifted Learners for their time in independent learning. Credit by examination, Curriculum compacting (pre-assessment of mastery and replacement of mastered activities with differentiated ones), and credit for prior learning (allowing a student to pass a course or class because of mastery of this content area through independent learning).

Compacting has strong positive influence on motivation and attitudes of the Gifted

Keeping the gifted restricted and forcing them to repeat what they have already mastered can cause all sorts of problems from reticence to cognitive risks to underachievement, to lowered academic self-esteem and to social and behavioral maladjustments

Acknowledgment of the efforts which the gifted have demonstrated through independent learning can take many forms of which compacting seems to have a strong positive influence on their motivation and attitude to learn by letting them feel that they are making progress in their

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learning. Many problems arise when they are made to sit year after year repeating what they have previously mastered. Lesson 3: Provide various forms of Subject-based and Grade-based acceleration to Gifted Learners as their educational needs require

Subject-based acceleration such as early entrance to school, subject acceleration (exposing the talented learner to content in the talent area that is 1 or more years in advance of the learners actual grade placement), university-based programs (residential, Saturday, summer, or commuter courses for middle and high school gifted learners held on college campuses), individualized distance or online learning (courses offered via television or Internet that offer advanced content set at an individualized pace and complexity), cross-graded classes (students cross grade lines within a school in a content area taught at the same time in all grade levels, to work at the level of curriculum they are currently in the process of mastering), advanced placement or international baccalaureate courses (provision of college-level content in specific content areas to high school learners, with college credit provided on successful performance on an external national or international examination, respectively), dual enrollment (allowing a student coursework at the next higher building level in his or her area of talent), collegein-the-schools (offering college courses on the high school campus for both high school and college credit), and mentorships (connecting the talented learner with a content expert who structures the learning experiences over a specific period of time).

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The shortening of the actual years spent in the K-12 school system is often defined as grade-based academic acceleration. This options includes grade skipping, grade telescoping, non graded or multi-grade classes, credit by examination, and early admission to college.

Many subject-based and grade-based acceleration options show substantial, positive academic gains for gifted learners. Emotional impacts are small and positive in general. Lesson 4: Provide opportunities for Gifted Learners to socialize and to learn with like-ability peers

The research on the ability grouping and performance grouping of gifted learners is extensive and substantially positive.

There are different types of ability grouping such as: o ability grouping (providing all academic learning for gifted learners within a self-contained setting such as a special school or full-time gifted program). o performance grouping for specific instruction (sorting and placing students in a classroom with others who are performing at the same level of difficulty in the curriculum). o within-class grouping (individual teachers sorting children in their own classroom according to their current performance in the curriculum). o cluster grouping (placing the top 5 to 8 students at a grade level in an otherwise heterogeneous class so that they become a critical mass for whom the teacher can find time toand doesdifferentiate).

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o pull-out groups (gifted students removed for a consistent set time to a resource room for extended curriculum differentiation). Affectively, students in pull-out programs are more positive about school, have more positive perceptions of giftedness, and are more positive about their program of study at school than are gifted students not participating in pull-out programs. In summary, the evidence is clear that powerful academic effects and small to moderate affective effects are produced when gifted children are grouped with like-ability or like-performing peers and exposed to differentiated learning tasks and expectations. It is also clear that the grouping has positive effects whether full-time or part-time, although logically the more time this occurs for gifted children, the more positive the effects on them, socially and emotionally.

It is clear that providing the opportunity for Gifted Learners to socialize with like-ability peers, produces powerful positive academic and affective results. Depending on the school, available resources and availability of trained teachers we can select the most appropriate type of grouping. Lesson 5: for specific curriculum areas, instructional delivery must be differentiated in pace, amount of review and practice, and organization of content presentation. Pacing:

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If Gifted children are to retain what they have learned in mathematics and science, it must be presented at their actual learning rate, not considerably slower than that rate.

Some research has suggested that this fast pace is also conducive in other educational areas and settings, such as foreign language and online distance learning, but the research is not as extensive nor definitive.

This will require separate instruction, either individually or in a like-performing group, rather than delivery through the more traditional whole class concept presentation followed by individual practice and application.

Pacing then is teaching gifted learners at a faster rate. This approach has proven to be successful in Math and science, but might also be extended to foreign languages and on-line distance learning. This of course shall require some kind of grouping and separate instruction.. Practice and Review:

Experiential learning in mathematics, using inquiry and problem-based strategies versus teaching for automaticity through drill and practice, leads to deeper mathematical understandings among gifted mathematicians.

The general work on distributed versus massed practice also applies to this differentiation in the amount of practice and review required of talented mathematicians and scientists, suggesting that practices or reviews, even though limited in number to 2 to 3 reviews for the gifted, be distributed across periods for successful re-encoding of the concept to occur. Correlation is found between spaced reviews of mathematics and greater retention and understanding.

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Providing the Gifted with more in depth, and application of mathematical concepts correlates with better achievement than exposing them to a wide variety of superficial topics. In addition spaced reviews of mathematics and science correlates with a greater retention and understanding. Whole-to-Part Concept Teaching:

In mathematics, gifted students were able to envision the class or problem category of even a single problem, identifying the hidden generality of what might be seemingly disparate elements to other learners. Gifted learners are more likely to switch to an alternative strategy when faced with a mathematics challenge they cannot resolve, than to resort to trial and error.

In science, it was found that gifted learners ultimately apprehended the generalization of the curriculum

Research shows that Gifted Learners are generalists tending to acquire information as a whole and store it in long-term memory as a whole, whereas average learners tend to acquire and store information in small, disparate chunks, from which their teachers will need to help them make connections to ultimately see the whole of a concept.

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Conclusion Can we establish a practical, able to implement program for the Gifted and Talented in our school? This research article is evidence that Yes it can be done. The five lessons derived from research and applications provide an evidence for this claim. To do so we need to provide the GT with steady challenge and daily development of talent, opportunities for regular and independent work, subject or grade based accelerations, opportunities to socialize and learn from their ability-like peers, and differentiated whole-to-part, fast paced instruction that provides depth and complexity in addition to limited drill and review (Rogers, 2007). To be able to achieve this some sort of grouping is required and acceleration programs. Schools should offer two options for each and allow GT learners, teachers, parents and the society to have a say in that. Schools should move away from the role of identifying GT learners to nurturing and provision of services that suite their needs. Training is required for novice teachers on how to identify individual differences and preparation and delivery of differentiated instruction. Im not aware of the availability of such programs in our schools in the UAE. This article is an eye opener and it changed my view and perceptions of gifted learners. From readings on the characteristics of GT learners I believe that as a child I had some Giftedness in me, but the lack of such programs in our regular schooling system has led to me being De-Gifted as years passed by.

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References Rogers, K.B. (2007). Lessons learned about educating the gifted and talented: A synthesis of the research on educational practice. Gifted Child Quarterly, 51(4), 382396. US Department of Education, (1993). http://www.nsgt.org/articles/index.asp UAE MOE, (2012). http://www.moe.gov.ae/Arabic/Pages/GiftedandAlvaiqon.aspx