Students who leave the regular classroom for gifted classroom often discover they are in a distinctly different learning environment.
Creating and maintaining a positive learning environment in the gifted classroom is essential for student success. Gifted classrooms are often a haven for g/t kids; they are able to reveal sides of their personalities in the increased comfort that is borne of being in a homogeneous group. However, the group is only homogeneous to a degree, and soon conflicts abound. It is important to establish rules and visit them frequently, as new students are often identified and placed mid-year.
Because many gifted students stay with the same teacher for several years, it is to the students' benefit if the teacher makes broad rules that can be adjusted as time goes by. Some teachers like to involve students in creating classroom rules, but because gifted education involves frequent additions after the start of school, it seems unfair to create rules without some of the participants. It may be better to have student input on procedures related to rules, and revisit those procedures on a regular basis. For example, if one rule is that students must bring supplies to class, the class may vote on procedures to deal with students that do not bring supplies. Should the students bring extra supplies to loan out to one another? Should the empty-handed student have to return to his or her locker to get supplies?
Having rules established when students walk in, and posting rules on the wall, helps establish boundaries for students. The rules of the gifted classroom can be discussed with parents during placement into the program. To create rules, the teacher should consider the duration of the program and activities in the classroom.
If students are coming to a pull-out classroom once or twice a week, the classroom rules need to be easy to remember. A lot of rules will lead to a lot of overwhelmed students. If they are allowed to use their pencils in their other classes but only pens in the gifted classroom, the teacher should have a supply of pens. It is not easy for children to remember rules of a class they attend infrequently. Classes that meet daily are able to have more rules, but again, any rules that are atypical for the student's general experience should be highlighted on a regular basis.
Activities Impact Classroom Rules
Preserving student safety and teacher sanity should be the primary goal of rules. If students are not safe, they will not learn. If teachers are uncomfortable with the amount of movement and noise in a room, the quality of their teaching may reflect their discomfort. It is best to have a rules that everyone can understand and follow. Rules should be given with situations and procedures to help students understand the how to follow the rule. For example:
Rule: Students will respect their classroom materials.
Situation: If a student is working in a center, he or she will leave the center clean and ready to be used by the next person.
Procedure: When a student is done at a center, look at the checklist and make sure all of the supplies are returned to their original areas.
Gifted classrooms have more flexibility than regular classrooms, but students need rules to take advantage of the opportunities a flexible classroom offers. A supportive classroom has boundaries, and boundaries designed with g/t kids in mind will actually increase the sense of flexibility in the classroom.
Showing posts with label gifted and talented children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gifted and talented children. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Gifted Kids and Reading: How to Locate Books for Gifted Kids and High Ability Readers
Reading habits are understandable characteristics of giftedness; gifted children are cognitively more developed than is normally expected. However, gifted readers need guidance in book selection. A child reading at a college level is not necessarily ready for college material.
Students of all reading abilities tend to enjoy books about people slightly older than they are, so a ten year old will relate to and be interested in books about thirteen year olds more than books about twenty year olds. Finding books written at a high interest, high ability level requires time and work.
Doing an advanced book search at Amazon.com and highlighting the appropriate age range is one tool. Amazon also provides book reviews, and reading those reviews is an excellent start. The reviews are usually written by adults, but sometimes there are child reviews. If there are no child reviews, beware: this is not a book for children.
Sorting through reviews can be time consuming, and teen readers can finish books and return them to the public library before their parents see them. Reading the back of the book or the book jacket yields a lot of information, as does flipping through. However, the best approach is just to ask your child one question, “If this book was a movie, what would you rate it?”
Whatever the answer – even the safe “G” rating – should be followed up with discussion. This widens those narrowing lines of communication, gives parents insight into their children, and helps promote communication skills in general.
Just because a child is involved in a higher-level book does not mean it should be taken away, of course. Knowing that a child is reading a book with death, violence, or illicit activities means that parents need to read the book, too. If that is not possible – and it often is not – parents need to open the door for conversations. Children may leave books with inaccurate perceptions, and it is not unheard of for children to have nightmares from the frightening book they fell asleep reading.
Parents should not discount non-fiction as a reading choice. Adults have a blend of non-fiction and fiction reading; children tend to read non-fiction books as assignments and fiction as free choice reading. Parents may want to share their own reading choices, not as material to be read, but as examples of genre. If parents are reading National Geographic, then National Geographic Kids is an obvious connection for children. Teachers can use parent newsletters to help keep parents up to date on books.
Often non-fiction, especially historical readings, are often as fascinating as historical fiction without the elevated drama that requires some life experience to appreciate. Helping gifted children pick out appropriate reading materials helps keep them in common experience with their peers and helps preserve childhood a little longer, which are admirable goals in themselves.
Students of all reading abilities tend to enjoy books about people slightly older than they are, so a ten year old will relate to and be interested in books about thirteen year olds more than books about twenty year olds. Finding books written at a high interest, high ability level requires time and work.
Doing an advanced book search at Amazon.com and highlighting the appropriate age range is one tool. Amazon also provides book reviews, and reading those reviews is an excellent start. The reviews are usually written by adults, but sometimes there are child reviews. If there are no child reviews, beware: this is not a book for children.
Sorting through reviews can be time consuming, and teen readers can finish books and return them to the public library before their parents see them. Reading the back of the book or the book jacket yields a lot of information, as does flipping through. However, the best approach is just to ask your child one question, “If this book was a movie, what would you rate it?”
Whatever the answer – even the safe “G” rating – should be followed up with discussion. This widens those narrowing lines of communication, gives parents insight into their children, and helps promote communication skills in general.
Just because a child is involved in a higher-level book does not mean it should be taken away, of course. Knowing that a child is reading a book with death, violence, or illicit activities means that parents need to read the book, too. If that is not possible – and it often is not – parents need to open the door for conversations. Children may leave books with inaccurate perceptions, and it is not unheard of for children to have nightmares from the frightening book they fell asleep reading.
Parents should not discount non-fiction as a reading choice. Adults have a blend of non-fiction and fiction reading; children tend to read non-fiction books as assignments and fiction as free choice reading. Parents may want to share their own reading choices, not as material to be read, but as examples of genre. If parents are reading National Geographic, then National Geographic Kids is an obvious connection for children. Teachers can use parent newsletters to help keep parents up to date on books.
Often non-fiction, especially historical readings, are often as fascinating as historical fiction without the elevated drama that requires some life experience to appreciate. Helping gifted children pick out appropriate reading materials helps keep them in common experience with their peers and helps preserve childhood a little longer, which are admirable goals in themselves.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
From Thinking to Drinking
Gifted Students and Alcohol Awareness: Scientists Link High Childhood Intelligence and Drinking
According to the October 2008 American Journal of Public Health, "higher childhood mental ability was related to alcohol problems and higher alcohol intake in adult life." Although more research will be done in the area of childhood IQ and adult alcohol use, the AJPH should be of interest to people working with gifted students.
Results of the Study
Researchers G. David Batty, Ian J. Deary, Ingrid Schoon, Carol Emslie, Kate Hunt, and Catharine R. Gale used the 1970 British Cohort Study to track alcohol usage of 8,170 British 10 year-olds. The children were born in 1970, had their IQs tested in at age 10, and participated in follow up research in 2004 and 2008.
The study was published as "Childhood Mental Ability and Adult Alcohol Intake and Alcohol Problems: The 1970 British Cohort Study", and the authors explain how they found statistical links between childhood IQ and increased drinking. For every 15 point increase of measured IQ, there was an average increase of 1.27 times for alcohol abuse, with women more likely than men.
Considerations from Yesterday and Today
The children of this study have differences from today's gifted students. It is unlikely that these students had as much drug prevention education, and gifted education programs were less prevalent than they are today. However, the large number of people involved in the study, the similarity between the 15 point jumps for both genders, and the reaction to the results of the study suggest that the parents and teachers working with gifted children should be prepared to tackle some serious issues as gifted children grow into adulthood.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Sometimes Censorship is Spelled M-O-M
Helping gifted children choose appropriate reading materials is a tricky road; gifted children tend to read voraciously and at high levels.
These reading habits are understandable characteristics of giftedness; gifted children are cognitively more developed than is normally expected. However, gifted readers need guidance in book selection. A child reading at a college level is not necessarily ready for college material. Just because a ten year old can comprehend Anne Rice's writing does not mean that a ten year old is ready to meet the Vampire Lestat.
This, then, becomes the difficulty for parents. Children of all reading abilities tend to enjoy books about people slightly older than they are, so a ten year old will relate to and be interested in books about thirteen year olds more than books about twenty year olds. Finding books written at a high interest, high ability level requires time and work.
Choosing Books
Doing an advanced book search at Amazon.com and highlighting the appropriate age range is one tool. Amazon also provides book reviews, and reading those reviews is an excellent start. The reviews are usually written by adults, but sometimes there are child reviews. If there are no child reviews, beware: this is not a book for children.
Sometimes gifted children need to hear, “We'll put this book up until your life experience catches up to your reading level.” When parents say that, they need to drive directly to the library or bookstore and find a book that is of the appropriate interest level. Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Series is more a more appropriate vampire series than Interview with a Vampire or Dracula.
Helping gifted children pick out appropriate reading materials helps keep them in common experience with their peers and helps preserve childhood a little longer, which are admirable goals in themselves.
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