Teaching Gifted and Talented Students for Today and Tomorrow Lamar University Dorothy Sisk 1
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TEXAS ASSOCIATION FOR THE GIFTED AND TALENTED Volume XXIV Issue 2 Member. National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Teaching Gifted and SPRING 2004 Talented Students for TEACHERS OF THE GIFTED Today and Tomorrow Dorothy Sisk Teaching Gifted and Talented Students for Today and Tomorrow Lamar University Dorothy Sisk 1 What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut From the President ditch ofafree meandering brook. Judy Bridges 3 - Henry David Thoreau nmost texts on Executive Director's Update education of gifted Jay Mcintire 4 students. there is usually a list of characteristicsI of effective teachers of Courageous and Conscious Teaching the gifted. and Renzulli (\980) over thirty years ago Diane Montgomery 5 questioned this practice. and suggested that educators focus on teacher behaviors; and I would suggest that l.eadership Development Program Fulfill we focus on student-teacher interaction. Gifted Gifted Students' Need students absorb information best when they discover Monica Florida 7 it themselves and make it their own. As educators. we have an obligation to support individual student paths to knowledge. and not to restrict meandering On Autonomy and Difforentiation approaches to learning (Alpert. 2003). Many gifted Tina Forester 9 students have a meandering approach to learning. and teachers who are willing to support this approach can co-create "rich tasks" with their gifted students. What the Research Says About Teacher Characteristics Perkins (1992) suggests three criteria to guide the Susan K. Johnsen development of rich tasks: I) Does the task focus on a Krys Goree discipline? 2) Does it provide connections to a real 20 world context? and. 3) Is the task accessible to the Book Reviews students? Rich tasks provide opportunities to address Tina Forester 32 open-ended exploration of questions or topics. and to learn the language and procedures of a discipline. Designing rich tasks to facilitate meaningful Call for Articles 33 learning for gifted students may appear daunting to some teachers; however. a useful tool to create powerful and focused curriculum is the (see SISK. page 11) TEACHERS OF THE GIFTED "COLLEGE WAS A BLAST, Now I'M READY FOR HIGH SCHOOL." SMU TAI"ENTED AND GIFTED I'[(OGRAM ACCELERATED LEARNING FOR RISING SIll, 9TH, & 10TH CRAl)Em; Academic tulent i~ not dictated by uge. Thal'S why SMU offers the lAG pl'ogn)r\'l fur t]ualified fitlld~nls who h,we completed gr<ld~~ st;'ven through nine. rOt' three week!;, students p(lt'tidpMc in two advanceo-lE'wJ COurSes designed to fill'etch thinking <Il1d learning. Many students even e,flrn three huurs of college (["edit. Join llS in July 20(l4 (Ind enter high school with (1 college tri.ll1!>cript. 7h h'l/m/l/ore ll!1d t1pply, (,(!I'Ililet II~ lit 2.14.768.0123ol"www .... ml..l.(;:!du/tag GIFTED STUDENTS SMU.I INSTITUTE ,';,IllliI,'1'11 M,'rI".,lil-i I/"i. "I. il.'l will 1IIII dl.~'!'I!11ill'II,' ,'II IIU" II",;> rr/",,,', mil": I\.ligr .... /. 11.IIMlirl Ni,,!I,', ,·',1, H, ,di, HI,i/il,", ~H' ~ ·!,'!'!!II ::!'I!II::. ~MU·~ ,','11111111111,'1111" ,'</",,1 "1'lnIl"IIII,il!! "ldll~I, '1"1/<11, Tlmlll,II!'III ",I rill" Imi, '!f~~·\"~11 ~'l"i<"'II<lIII'11 2 TEXAS ASSOCIATION FOR THE GIFTED AND TA,ENTED • TEMPO • SPRING 2004 TEACHERS OF THE GIFTED FROM THE PRESIDENT Judy Bridges PUBLICATIONS EDITOR In this issue of Tempo, we focus upon teachers of the Michael Cannon gifted. Those who truly teach the gifted deserve our loudest praise because they make extraordinary PRESIDENT opportunities into standard fare for their students, and Judy Bridges they remove the ceiling for the most gifted in their PRESIDENT"ELECT classrooms. What distinguishes these teachers from Bobbie Wedgeworth their peers? How do their classrooms differ from the FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT other classrooms in their buildings, districts, or states? Fara Green A great teacher is also a great student. Without the habits of lifelong learning or scholarly behaviors as SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT Patti Staples outlined by Sandra Kaplan, progress eventually slows, holds for a period of time, then stops, and without THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT Joanna Baleson renewal never rebounds. In a radio interview about his new book, Up Your Business, Dave Anderson SECRETARY/TREASURER described the syndrome that often prevents greatness Dr. Keith Yost by stating the greatest enemy of "great" is "good." This IMMEDIATE PAST-PRESIDENT syndrome applies in education as well as the business Tillie Hickman world. Often we work our way to a level of competency for which we achieve recognition for our accomplishments. Achievement of that level requires EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR time, energy and sacrifice, so we take a little time to Jay Mcintire "smell the roses." During that respite, we become satisfied with "good" as well as the comforts of good, The Texas Associlltion for the (jift~d D.lld Talented (TAGT) i~ a ntmrnllfil oL'ganizalion of and the energy required to move to "great" looms like pllrent~ ilnc,l pr(Jfl!:~~iot1als promoting Rppropriut~ education for gifted and talent~.;\ ~turlent~ iil the state of Textls, the struggle at the beginning of our careers, Many TAUT ti!llt{JU is the official jOllrn,II qf thl! fexas Association for the Gjfi~!,I >lnd Talented. 11 decide that "good" is "good enough." Unless some is published fOllr time~ a yeal' 1111anuary. April, !llly. >lnd Octobet'. The subscription is a b~n~fit for TAtn i'llelllbct's. Annual dues R~ $35 -- $15. experience reignites the fire, we forget the passion that Material appt:.;tring in 7~1ITf'0 may be reprinted I.Inle.~.~ olhetwise noted. When copying an articl!!: please cite Telllpo and TAGT \I.~ the ~oul'ce. We appreciate copi~~ ~It' rublk;llioli.~ comaining brought us to the field. What I would wish for all Tempo rt:.prints. TAGT does not sell its rnemh~r.~hlp list to advertise~ or ~Itll~r rart1e~. However. membership teachers is the inspiration to become "great"-the nl\ln~~ and addloesscs are made ovaihlbl~ t'ur appl'oved research request~, If you d(1 n(n wish your name to tit:. rn>ld~ available for Grr-related re~~n:h, please wl'ite to TAGT ot the Rddrt:.~s inspiration to become good stewards of advanced bel(lw. ability as defined by Carol Ann Tomlinson. Ad.;\r~~~ ,-=nrrl!.~pOtldellCC concerning th~ Thx>l~ A~sociation for the Gifted s:ln.;\ T\ll~nled (Including subscriptio(l I)Ut!.d'"ns.l \0 TAGT, 406 Emt 1 fill ,')tref!l, Sllil~ 310, AII.W/II. Texas, Hopefully, each of us is afforded opportunities to 78701-2617_ Call TAGT at 5J2/499-8241:1. FAX:5121499-8264. rekindle the flame through inspirational as well as Addl'ess correspondence c;:om;erning te!lt{Ju content to; Mi(:II(l~1 CI"JIIIII!!I, tACT Edllol'/a/ Office. 5521 Mewlill Lclll~, E/ Auo, TX 79903, Call the editorial office at 915/778-3988, FAX pragmatic staff development. Too often, we find and 9111 f79-2625. or e-mail: mWl:[email protected]. utilize episodic events that mimic good practice ADDRESS cOllnECTlON REQUESTED: Pl~;i.~~ nOlify TAGT if yotl are moving or if because they are showy and cute, but the content is yuur illalllns address has chang~d. TAOT publlcations ore sent viOl thill.. klaH Ilia!! and arc nol forl'lilrdt:.d by Ihl! POSt Officc. Be sure to rt:.nt:.w ynut membership. You will not rt:.c;:~ive TAOT often only slightly recognizable or entirely missing. pllblications or mailing~ ;in~r yuul' membership expiration d>lte. We must flne tune our quality detectors so that students OPINIONS EXPRESSED elY INOtVtDUAL AUTHORS DO NOT (see BRIDGES, page 30) NECESSARILY RE:PRE:SE.NT OFFICIAl. POSITtONS OF TAGT. SPRING 2004' TeMPO - TE;XAS ASSOCIATION FOR THE GIFTED AND TALENTED 3 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S UPDATE Gifted Teachers: Leading and Letting Go Jay Mcintire eachers of gifted fore they use teaching strategies not generally seen in students are well primary schools. Sometimes other educators in the aware ofthe stages of school don't understand that these teaching practices learning that lead toT expertise. These stages have been are the right ones for certain students in certain con outlined by such luminari~s as Alfred North White tent areas. While there are some children that truly head in his 1929 "The Rhythm of Education"and Ben are "hurried," others are simply experiencing teach jamin Bloom (Editor) in the 1985 "Developing Talent ing and parenting matched to their stage of learning. in Young People." The stages also shed light on the The second phase ofleaming is as different as night novice-to-expert literature of the past 15 years. There and day from the first. This stage requires precision is no mystery how learning progresses, but it can be mastery of the vocabulary, rules, and discipline of a useful to review the role teachers play in facilitating field. In this stage, musicians drill on scales until they and sometimes nearly forcing learning on students. are second nature. In schools, teachers push students Generally students of all ages and across all con through the drills necessary to memorize math facts tent areas begin with a playful interest in a subject. and spelling rules. Learning in this stage is characterized by curiosity, In gifted education, students sometimes are ready fascination, or fun. Good teaching in this romantic for disciplined practice on the basic elements of the stage of learning stresses open-ended, low-stress ex curriculum at a younger age, so young gifted students ploration of ideas and activities. In gifted education may be ready to memorize multiplication tables in the teachers provide such oPP0l1unities through broad en· first grade.