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When planning classroom strategies, teachers should cater for the characteristics of gifted students. These students often have the capacity to learn at faster rates, find, solve and act on problems more readily and manipulate abstract ideas and make connections and so it is necessary to differentiate the curriculum. The following are some approaches:
CSF 11
" outlines major elements of the curriculum and expected outcomes
for students
" Levels are a guide and not rigidly associated with Grade levels
" Gifted students may be working at one of two levels higher than
other students in their year level- therefore units of work need to cater
for this.
" Whole school planning is essential
" Planning in the Middle Years is essential
Outcomes
The following words may make useful stems
" Develop
" Demonstrate
" Interpret
" Analyze
" Evaluate
" Create
Major Concepts
" Teaching major ideas and concepts enables students to integrate
knowledge and work across Key Learning Areas. Gifted students respond
positively to whole concepts and the opportunity to analyse.
" Major concepts should be in the students' 'real world'.
" Product alternatives should be open ended.
Content
" content is important as learners need to understand concepts in
order to learn
Understanding
" Gifted students who have extensive vocabulary skills may be able
to successfully mask their lack of depth of understanding.
" Some may have significant gaps in their knowledge
Higher Order Thinking
" this should not be taught in isolation but as a skill to be applied
when examining content
" a model, such as de Bono's 'Six thinking Hats' could be used in
units of work
Teaching and Learning
" the teacher should be a facilitator
" teacher directed and student directed activities
" individual and group responses
" structured environment with open ended tasks
" question purposefully
" research projects
" homework should be further extension rather than revision
" resources should be carefully selected- gifted students need challenging
material
" where appropriate encourage students to co-teach
Approaches to planning a differentiated curriculum
A differentiated curriculum for gifted students is a set of planned learning
experiences that are designed to meet the specific needs of individually
gifted children or of a group of gifted children.
In planning this in the regular classroom
" some experiences will be common to all students in the class, year
or population
" other experiences will be more relevant to the gifted group than
to most other students
" In some instances, the experiences will be unique to an individual
with outstanding ability
" Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory- may be used as a philosophical
base, either alone or in conjunction with other models, for curriculum
planning. It involves Gardners eight intelligences- linguistic, logical
mathematical, spatial, musical, body kinaesthetic, inter-personal, intra-
personal and naturalist.
" Bloom's Taxonomy- a model based on the hierarchy of skills -knowledge,
comprehension, analysis, application, synthesis and evaluation
" Inquiry Model of Learning- model using Stages of Inquiry- tuning
in and preparing to find out, finding out, sorting, going further, reflecting,
taking action
" Learning With Style- a model developed by Lee Schlooz, Curriculum
Advisor from the Ballarat Diocese using higher order thinking skills across
the curriculum
" Integrated Curriculum- model of planning that integrates a number
of Key Learning Areas. This is most commonly used in conjunction with
one or more of the above approaches.
" George Betts 'Autonomous Learner Model-a model in 5 stages- 1.Multiple
Intelligences, 2. Orientation 3. Enrichment and Excursions 4. Seminars
5 In-depth Studies. If adopted, it is anticipated that most students will
reach stage 3, while only the gifted will undertake stages 4 and 5.
Pace and depth
" Gifted students work at a faster pace and need less time on basics
and repetition than other students. Advanced students should be progressed
rapidly through regular curriculum and given more extended and involved
tasks.
Pre and Post testing
" Pre- testing will assist teachers prepare work for gifted students.
If students achievement is greater than 70% in a pre-test then repeating
the material is counter productive.
" Post- testing assists continuity of curriculum planning and identifies
the learning that has taken place.
Testing for identification.
Purpose of checklists, ability tests and achievement tests
" to identify students who are under achieving
" to determine the level at which students are functioning
" to assist in the development of challenging programs for these
students
Assessment and Reporting
Assessment Activities
" should be an integral part of the ongoing curriculum
" be based on clear criteria that have been communicated to the students
" be open ended
" lead to the production of folios of work
Reporting
" formats need to indicate the range of outcomes being achieved
" formats may need to go beyond the CSF scale
Teacher professional development
Schools should ensure that a number of staff members have up to date professional development in catering for gifted students.
Multi -Age or Vertical Groupings
" grouping according to ability rather than age.