GIFTED AND TALENTED TEACHER GUIDEBOOK La Porte Independent School District Revised September 2016 Introduction and Acknowledgements The purpose of the Gifted and Talented Program Guidebook is to assist all teachers responsible for providing appropriate services for gifted and talented students. It was developed by our GT Enrichment Specialists to answer questions which the staff may have regarding the philosophy and goals, program design, program responsibilities and the curriculum model used to provide services for gifted learners in our district. This guidebook does not tell teachers what to teach to gifted students. Rather, it provides a tool for adapting the regular curriculum so that the learning experience in the classroom matches the traits and needs of the gifted learner. It is hoped that teachers will use this guidebook to continue to provide quality services for our GT students. This handbook was developed by Enrichment Specialists in June of 2011: Linda Hyde Heritage Elementary Suzanne Jones District Elementary Jill Miller Lomax Elementary Janice Richburg Heritage Elementary Sandra Warren La Porte High School Table of Contents Introductions and Acknowledgments Characteristics and Needs of the Gifted Learner…………………………………………………………….1 • Twelve Traits of Giftedness……………………………………………………………………………..2-3 • Asynchrony in Gifted Students……………………………………………………………………………4 • Visual Learner…………………………………………………………………………………………………….5 • Auditory Learner…………………………………………………………………………………………………6 • Kinesthetic Learner…………………………………………………………………………………………….7 • Characteristics of the Gifted That Tend to Screen Them Out of the Program………8 • Who Are the Gifted?...............................................................................................9 • Bright Child or Gifted Learner……………………………………………………………………………10 • The Needs of Gifted/Talented Students……………………………………………………………11 • Affective Needs of Gifted Students……………………………………………………………………12 • Understanding the Needs of Advanced Learners………………………………………………13 • The Eight Great Gripes of Gifted Children…………………………………………………………14 • Counseling Goals for a GT Program…………………………………………………………………..15 Differentiating Curriculum for the Gifted Learner…………………………………………………………16 • Philosophy of Differentiation……………………………………………………………………………17 • Principles of Differentiation………………………………………………………………………………18 • Guidelines for Differentiation……………………………………………………………………………19 GT Curriculum Scope and Sequence……………………………………………………………………………..20 • Elementary Gifted and Talented Curriculum Objectives………………………………21-22 • Secondary Gifted and Talented Curriculum Objectives………………………………..23-25 • Suggested Products List……………………………………………………………………………….26-28 • LPISD Performance Standards for Gifted Students……………………………………….29-34 Tools for Differentiation……………………………………………………………………………………………….35 • TEA Toolkit Link to GT Differentiation……………………………………………………………….36 • Texas Performance Standards Project………………………………………………………………37 • Bloom’s Taxonomy……………………………………………………………………………………………38 • Ten Key Strategies for Managing a Differentiated Classroom……………………………39 • Instructional and Management Strategies for Differentiated Classrooms……40-43 • The Eight Steps for Implementing Curriculum Compacting………………………….44-49 • Creative Thinking………………………………………………………………………………………………50 • Divergent Questioning Models………………………………………………………………………….51 • Divergent Thinking – Properties………………………………………………………………………..52 • Reference Framing……………………………………………………………………………………………53 • Shared Inquiry…………………………………………………………………………………………………..54 Resources…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….55 • La Porte ISD Gifted and Talented Referral Form………………………………………………..56 • Gifted/Talented Jargon………………………………………………………………………………..57-58 • Suggested Websites………………………………………………………………………………………….59 Characteristics And Needs of the Gifted Learner 1 Twelve Traits of Giftedness: A Non-Biased Profile (Adapted from material from the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented and Mary Ruth Coleman, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, by the Colorado Department of Education) Trait, Aptitude or Behavior General Description How It May Look Motivation Internal drive or encouragement Demonstrates persistence in that initiates, directs, or sustains pursuing or completing self- Evidence of desire to learn. individual or group behavior in selected tasks (may be culturally order to satisfy a need or attain a influenced); evident in school or goal. non-school activities. Enthusiastic learner; has aspirations to be somebody, to do something. Interests Activities, avocations, objects, etc. Unusual or advanced interests, that have special worth or topic, or activity; self-starter; Intense, sometimes unusual, significance and are given special pursues an activity unceasingly interests. attention. beyond the group. Communication Skills Transmission and reception of Unusual ability to communicate signals or meanings through a (verbally, nonverbally, physically, Highly expressive with words, system of symbols (codes, artistically, symbolically); uses numbers, or symbols. gestures, language, and numbers). particularly apt examples, illustrations, or elaborations. Problem-Solving Ability Process of determining a correct Unusual ability to devise or adopt sequence of alternatives leading a systematic strategy to solve Effective, often inventive, to a desired goal or to successful problems and to change the strategies for recognizing and completion of a performance task. strategy if it is not working; solving problems. creates new designs; inventor. Memory Exceptional ability to retain and Already knows; needs only 1-2 retrieve information. repetitions for mastery; has a Large storehouse of information wealth of information about on school or non-school topics. school and non-school topics; pays attention to details; manipulates information. Inquiry/Curiosity Method or process of seeking Asks unusual questions for age; knowledge, understanding or extensive exploratory behaviors Questions, experiments, explores. information. directed toward eliciting information about materials, devices, or situations. 2 Trait, Aptitude, or Behavior General Description How It May Look Insight Sudden discovery of correct Exceptional ability to draw solution following attempts inferences; appears to be a good Quickly grasps new concepts; based primarily on trial and error; guesser; is keenly observant; sees connections; senses deeper putting disparate elements heightened capacity for seeing meanings. together in unexpected ways. unusual and diverse relationships; integration of ideas and disciplines. Reasoning Highly conscious, directed, Ability to make generalizations controlled, active, intentional and use metaphors and Logical approaches to figuring forward-looking, and goal- analogies; can think things out solutions. oriented thought. through in a logical manner; critical thinker; ability to think things through and come up with a plausible answer. Imagination/Creativity Process of forming mental Shows exceptional ingenuity in images of objects; qualities, using everyday materials; is situations, or relationships which keenly observant; has wild, Produces many ideas; highly aren’t immediately apparent to seemingly silly ideas; fluent, original. the senses; problem solving flexible producer of ideas; highly through nontraditional patterns curious. of thinking. Humor Ability to synthesize key ideas or Keen sense of humor that may be problems in complex situations in gentle or hostile; large Conveys and picks up on humor a humorous way; exceptional accumulation of information well. sense of timing in words or about emotions; capacity for gestures. seeing unusual; uncommon emotional depth; openness to experiences; sensory awareness. Intensity (“Overexcitabilities”) Very strong, even extreme, Intense desire for experiences in responses to stimuli in five areas: the area(s) of Overexcitabilities; Strength of reactions, responses, emotional, intellectual, sensory, powerful emotions; seeks behaviors. (The term psychomotor, and imagination. intellectual stimulation; sensory “Overexcitabilities” comes from experiences evoke strong responses; constant or repetitive Polish psychologist Dabrowski.) movement or gesturing; intense fantasy life; may need creative outlets for intensity. Sensitivity Events and situations in the Strong sense of compassion; affective and social domains elicit keen sense of justice; empathy; Strong reactions to emotional a stronger response than usual. moral and ethical sensibilities; stimuli. sense of being “different” socially; existential worrying; often overly self-critical. 3 Asynchrony in Gifted Students Social, physical, emotional, and cognitive developmental rates for gifted children do not correspond to each other and – except for physical development – do not necessarily correspond to age peer norms. Giftedness itself causes asynchrony: That is, it causes children to be out of sync with other components. Gifted children by definition have a mental age that does not correspond to their physical age, and their emotional maturity may not correspond to either of them. There is also a close, intertwined relationship between emotion and cognition, which sometimes leads to perfectionism and procrastination in gifted children. Elementary classroom teachers see this in children who become frustrated and angry when they do not easily master a difficult skill. Children may be well beyond grade level in one area while at grade level in other areas. Or, there may be foundational holes in their learning, or some