...Growing With a Gifted Child By Diane Scanlon 1996 - Updated 2008 When my son was 3, he could read those great big dinosaur names and match them to their pictures. I knew this was not normal. That’s why I hid his books whenever we had guests. At 3 1/2 he was reading ingredients on boxes in my grocery cart and telling me which ones we shouldn't buy. People would look at him funny, so, I did my best to leave him home whenever I had to go to the market. When he was 4 and reading high school level books, my cousin, the public school teacher, told me public school would ruin him. I didn't listen. I honestly thought for some reason that they would love to have a kid like this in any school. Until...The first day of kindergarten when the teacher requested that I have a talk with him. He was reading all the words that were up on the walls and he couldn't write his name. She didn't want the other children to feel bad that they couldn't read like him. Then she asked me to tell him not to be so lazy. She thought that since he could read so well, he obviously had to be able to write his name. I listened and did as she asked. My son's first school lesson was that he was bad because he could read and that he couldn't write his name. Later that year, he wanted to take his medical book in for show and tell. I said "no" and handed him a toy instead. He went to school in tears that day. At 5 1/2 he was answering questions on Jeopardy and for a long time only my husband and I knew...
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...Classroom Jessica Rodriguez Issues in Multicultural Education Multicultural Education has come a long way but still there is work to be done to ensure an equal and quality education for all students. Schools are doing everything they can to make sure all students feel welcomed and accepted. Even so, some gifted education programs have been criticized for underrepresenting minority students who are culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD). (Ford, 2008). Changes will need to be made to these programs to include minority students who meet the criteria for gifted education. We need to ensure that minorities are not being overlooked when tests for enrollment in these programs are being given. The Office of Civil Rights, (OCR), is a law enforcement agency that enforces the Federal civil rights laws regarding the discrimination of any person based on race, color, disability, age, origin, or sex. Any program or activity that receives federal funds must abide by these laws. This includes gifted student programs in schools that receive federal financial assistance. The OCR plays a large role in assisting school districts to be accountable for non-discrimination, although few administrators and teachers understand the goals and objectives of the OCR in the context of gifted education. (Ford, 2000). Students with special gifts and talents come from all different cultural backgrounds. Because most tests for identifying gifted students have been developed for use with middle class...
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...GIFTED MONTHLY The definitive guide to giftedness in the UK Dear reader, July is quite an exciting month for us as the staff at Gifted Monthly will be attending our first Gifted and Talented Termly Standing Conference in London. We are hoping this will provide a good opportunity to gain the help and support of Gifted & Talented Coordinators countrywide. We will also be able to find out what is new in the government pipeline for gifted education—if anything. Now the summer holidays are under way, it is an ideal time for parents to spend time with their children, and to work through any problems that may have arisen during the term. The sorts of problems you may be able to deal with will probably be behavioural or emotional. With young gifted children especially, it can be hard reconciling an advanced intellect with a child’s body and emotions. This discrepancy is often a cause of stress on a child, which can manifest itself in various ways. The article this month covers some of the issues involved with this. If anyone has a comment to add to this or any of our articles, please write to us or email. Clearly, a parent’s view is more valuable than anything we can suggest in this newsletter. Lastly, many of you will soon be coming up for your last issue within your subscription. For those who subscribed with us in June or July last year, I will be in touch with details. I hope this month finds you all well and happy. Until the next time, Happy holidays. The Editor 28 Wallis Close...
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...EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND SERVICES FOR THE GIFTED 1.0 PROGRAMS AND SERVICES FOR THE GIFTED Gifted learners have a wide range of educational, social, emotional and physical needs. Consequently, they should receive systematically differentiated instruction throughout their school experience to suit their unique learning style. Within the regular school system, various administrative arrangements may be implemented to provide for the needs of gifted learners. In the Philippines, the more common programs for the gifted are: acceleration, ability grouping and enrichment and their variations. 2.1 ACCELERATION Acceleration refers to any administrative practice designed to move gifted learners through school more rapidly than usual. Administrative practices under acceleration include early admission, grade skipping, advance placement, telescoping of grade levels and credits by examination. Types of Acceleration 2.2.1 Grade Acceleration/Grade Skipping – This is usually practiced in the elementary level. A child skips one or two grades after it has been found that she or he is intellectually, socially and emotionally ready to move to the higher grade. An example of grade acceleration and grade skipping is the ALPES (Accelerated Learning Program in the Elementary School) for gifted pupils. Qualifiers or those gifted pupils who pass the examinations given to top pupils in Grades IV and V are immediately promoted or accelerated to the next grade. 2.2...
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...1. A significant point is state and federal governments don’t mandate gifted programs and that learners who are gifted aren’t guaranteed advanced instruction or special classes. I’m not sure if I want the government to dictate what I teach, since it varies on a student by student basis, but it would be nice to have some direction in identifying students. This would especially help those students who move-in from a different school district. 2. An interesting idea is LoS approach. I like the tier approach to this and the questions that go along with each tier. I think schools already do much of tiers 1 and 2, however it would be interesting to speak with school personnel who are following this approach. 3. Two key factors to remember are enrichment and acceleration. I think too often teachers confuse the two. Enrichment is the modification primarily used for gifted students. It is adding disciplines or areas of learning not found in the regular curriculum, using more advanced or in depth materials to enhance core curriculums, or expanding teaching strategies used to present instruction. Acceleration is students skipping grades or moving through the curriculum at a quicker pace. 4. Something confusing is the frequency that acceleration is used. Why isn’t it a more common practice? Studies show gifted students who are accelerated are more likely to attend highly selective colleges than gifted students who aren’t; and accelerated students do as well or better than the older students...
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...vol. 34 ■ no. 4 GIFTED CHILD TODAY Features Avenues to Professional Learning Online Technology Tips and Tools for Professional Development in Gifted Education Catherine A. Little1 and Brian C. Housand2 Abstract: The use of online methods for professional development activities is on the rise, with more schools exploring creative ways of providing teacher learning opportunities. Online professional development offers a promising direction for providing increased learning opportunities, promoting professional collaboration, and supporting teacher facility with technology resources. In gifted education, online activities may present effective ways of connecting gifted education professionals across multiple schools and districts and providing professional learning experiences in gifted education for colleagues in general education. In this article, the authors discuss key features of professional development and considerations for applying them in an online learning context. The authors emphasize the importance of coherence with the curriculum, active engagement, sustained attention, and administrative support. They then discuss five avenues or approaches for implementing online professional development, representing a range of interactive elements and opportunities for blending live and online components. Within each avenue presented, the authors share specific resources that would support implementation in the professional learning context. “ Online activities...
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...Gifted and talented children 'Gifted' refers to children with high potential (basically due to their inheritance) while 'talented' means that they display skills which are advanced when compared to other children of their age. Contents * What makes a child gifted and talented? * Is giftedness just intelligence? * How do I know if my child is gifted? * Giftedness: nature or nurture? * Early school admission * The importance of early identification * Can I make my child become gifted and talented? * Difficulties faced by gifted children * Parenting gifted and talented children * How you can help your gifted child * Teachers, preschools and schools * Reminders * Resources * Further information * References All children have unique strengths and talents. However some children have particularly advanced or well developed skills and abilities in one or more areas. Such children may be referred to as gifted and talented. 'Gifted' refers to children with high potential (basically due to their inheritance) while 'talented' means that they display skills which are advanced when compared to other children of their age. What makes a child gifted and talented? Giftedness is due to a combination of factors including what the child inherits genetically, the development of the child before birth, and the nurturing of the child. * Giftedness is hard to define, and not surprisingly, a number of definitions of giftedness exist. *...
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...ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine if differentiated instruction had an effect on student achievement. The researcher sought to answer two research questions “Does differentiated instruction have an impact on student achievement?” and “Are there components of differentiated instruction that have a greater impact on student achievement than others?” The study followed a mixed method design and consisted of two parts. First, a quantitative analysis of test scores from the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) and teacher and student survey results were analyzed as a means to outline broad relationships from the data. Results from the quantitative findings directed the researcher on how to frame the qualitative design. Second, a qualitative analysis of classroom observations and interviews with teachers was conducted. The qualitative portion of this study followed a social interactionism orientation adopted by social interactionism theorist (Blumer, 1969). This approach allowed the researcher to analyze relationships between the differentiation variables. The quantitative data methods of surveys and test scores, qualitative techniques of classroom observations, and teacher interviews were triangulated. Triangulation of data was used to support research findings through independent measures to point to the same conclusions (Webb et al., 1965). The conceptual framework (Hall, 2004) served as the foundation in the identification of the differentiation variables...
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...Collect It! (#) Email (javascript:void(0);) Recom m end 29 By W.L. Heward — Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall Updated on Oct 25, 2010 http://www.education.com/reference/article/who-exceptional-children/ 1/3 4/16/2014 Who Are Exceptional Children? | Education.com All children exhibit differences from one another in terms of their physical attributes (e.g., some are shorter, some are stronger) and learning abilities (e.g., some learn quickly and are able to remember and use what they have learned in new situations; others need repeated practice and have difficulty maintaining and generalizing new knowledge and skills). The differences among most children are relatively small, enabling these children to benefit from the general education program. The physical attributes and/or learning abilities of some children, however—those called exceptional children— differ from the norm (either below or above) to such an extent that they require an...
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...people that have disabilities which prohibited unfairness against anyone with disabilities. With a broad meaning of disabilities, this law consents all the rights of a suitable education for ones with disabilities, including those not under the special education law. Teachers need to know their jobs under this law. The ADA describe a individual with a disability as having some kind of a disability that significantly restricts them in some way that impairs them. They want to make sure it is all fair and the law needs to be specific. People with differences are listed in a large variety and they range a disorder exceptional handicap intellectual and learning disabilities, gifted and talented and even being deaf. They came up with new programs like the IDEA and the No Child Left Behind. With having different values which deal with the zero tolerance or exclusion in the school system make things uneasy. Individuals with disabilities have a hard being accepted and surviving in school. Special education gives them with trust and chance fail-safe by lawsuit and rules. With tailored education, these students can give to civilization. I know when I make my way further into the schools system I will do all I can to put full effort to make sure any students I have come in my class get the best form of education that they can give and then give a little more. We need to make sure that students are really at a disability. To many doctors, teachers and parents like to jump the gun and say...
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...Character Analysis Paper Donna Easter University of Virginia Introduction to the Gifted and Talented EDLF 5500 Dr. Kelly Hedrick October 02, 2011 Character Analysis Paper In summarizing the movie Akeelah and the Bee this writer will begin with a description of the leading character Akeelah Anderson. Akeelah is an eleven-year-old seventh grade African-American female living in the inner city. Her educational background revealed she was promoted to a higher level in the second grade. This caused her to be a young middle school student. She is the youngest child of four children. Her father was murdered which caused her to be the product of a single family home. She attended a school that appeared to be aged and had a history of low academic achievement. She was invited to participate in her schools spelling bee where she became the winner for the school. This movie was a depiction of her journey to a national title. While Akeelah demonstrated many gifted characteristics. Research indicates that culturally different learner’s score on average lower than middle-class students on standardize intelligence tests. This may have been the case for Akeelah. According to Frasier & Garcia, (1995) test bias, selective referrals and reliance on deficit-based paradigms cause underrepresentation and identification of minority students in gifted programs. These children are not easily identified and remain invisible (Davis, Rimm, & Siegle, 2011, p. 328). Current research...
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...also made it impossible for schools to claim fiscal inability as an excuse. This case was later strengthened by the US Supreme Court decisions like Goss v. Lopecad and Honig v. Doe. This case is important to the field of special education because, it helped pave the way for enactment of a major new act named “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act” (IDEA). This gave students with disabilities what they needed to help them reach their full potential. Special education services were now being made available, such as interpreters, or assistants. This difference helps students fit in with their peers, and helps them feel like they aren’t different. In addition, allows them to attend public schools and be put in classes that fit them and their education level. This case continues to impact the world. Many schools try to get away with not budgeting so much towards these programs, however, the courts have ruled that they have to. No matter what the excuse is anymore, schools have to find the resources and make them available for all the students. Because all students should be treated equal, no matter their education level or the help that they need. This is great, because not only are their gifted programs for regular education students, there are also gifted programs for students with disabilities. These programs help the students reach their full potential. I believe that the courts did a good deed, and helped a number of people out. I work every day with students with disabilities...
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...& Shields, 1886-1993). Commencing her career with a degree in literature and a teaching certificate, Leta detoured into the fields of sociology and psychology finding the additional degrees necessary tools for change. Leta was an early 20th century feminist psychologist and advocate for women’s rights. By 1911, her determination and use of scientific method yielded proof that women were equal to men in terms of their intellectual capabilities. She sought equality for clinical psychologists doggedly determined to construct a framework of professional practice standards. Application of the standards raised the practice to a level considered suitable for inclusion in the American Psychological Association during World War 1. Leta was a gifted and prolific writer who produced her own text books, generated scores of journal articles and wrote poetry. She loved her husband, Harry, and their devotion to each other is chronicled in the biography he wrote (Hollingworth, 1943). Beginnings Leta Settor Hollingworth was born on the plains of Nebraska on May 25, 1886. The rushing of wind across fields of prairie grass and the evening chorus of the cicadas and crickets, were Leta’s first lullaby. Her mother, Margaret Danley, bore two more daughters in quick succession. Unfortunately, the stress was too much for the petite fragile woman who succumbed to death following the birth of her third child. “She was so small that her ring would not span my littlest finger and she...
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...Craig Connor’s Philosophy of Education Craig Connor Mount Vernon Nazarene University PEL6003 History and Philosophy of Education October 1st 2011 Dr. Stephen Metcalfe Philosophy of Education When developing a philosophy of education, it is important to take into account student diversity, student learning, curriculum, classroom management, and technology. In the following, I will explain my ideas in these areas and how I will implement them in the classroom. Student Diversity As a future educator, I look forward to teaching children with diverse backgrounds. No classroom is made up of students who are all identical. I will encounter gifted children and ones with special needs. There may be boys and girls who are culturally different and from dissimilar economical circumstances. Gifted students are challenging because they grow impatient about material that doesn’t interest them. Therefore, it is important to modify lessons to accommodate their needs. For example, I will add further criteria that appeal to each of their interests. Just the opposite will be done with special needs children. Many times I will need to modify lesson criteria in order to fit their needs. It is best to limit their written work and set achievable objectives for them. When they do reach these goals, I will praise them for what they’ve done. It is a definite possibility that I will teach children of different cultures throughout my career. With that being said, I understand the importance...
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...Learning disabilities constitutes over half of the special education services. The cause of learning disabilities deals with the dysfunction of the brain and how it processes information it may be related to medical or genetic. Having problems receiving and sending messages deals with communication disorder. Students with high achievement, intellectually has the capacity to retain, learn, and use an extreme amount of information is called gifted .In this paper I will discuss the characteristics, causes and definition of learning disabilities, communication disorders, and giftedness. Learning Disability 3 Learning Disability Learning disabilities or learning disorder affect how a person receives information, how they process it, and how they communicate. People with learning disabilities have problems processing sensory information. The art of learning is affected because a student cannot learn as quickly as his/her counterparts. Due to low achievement some student are misdiagnosed with having a learning disability. Students with learning disability show characteristics of deficits in written language, underachievement in math, poor social skills, attention deficits and hyperactivity, behavior problems, and low self-esteem. (Heward, 2009) The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, defines a specific...
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