Abstract
Educational programs for gifted students are varied, with many schools in the United States using a pullout program to address the needs of students. In spite of these programs, unless gifted students are educated in a school dedicated to their educational needs, gifted students will spend the majority of their time in a mainstream classroom. In this environment, gifted students often languish, becoming bored or losing interest in learning. Classroom teachers and teacher preparation programs can address this waste by purposely creating a program to include gifted student.
TopIntroduction
Little Anne was so excited. After a great day in her third-grade class, she ran to the bus and was gleaming the whole trip home. Jumping out of the bus, she ran home and exploded into the house.
“Mom, mom – I did it, I did it. I’m gifted!”
“What Anne? What do you mean? Slow down baby.” A big hug was given with the hopes to slow Anne down. She was so excited.
“Mrs. Stanley saw me in the hallway, and she told me I passed the test. I’m going to be getting special instruction because I’m gifted. Mom, I’m smart.”
“Anne, we always knew you were smart. I’m so happy for you.”
A few days later, Anne’s mom was meeting with Mrs. Stanley and Anne’s regular teacher, Ms. Peterson.
“So tell me, what services will Anne be getting because of her test scores?”
Mrs. Stanley smiled and said, “What we will be doing is providing Anne with some enrichment activities during her regular class. We don’t take our gifted students out of their regular class, but instead, we provide them with extra work or work that is designed to meet their academic needs. We know how important it is for Anne to be around her friends and to share time with them. Also, we just can’t afford to have a separate class for the gifted students all the time. But we do have some special events that we hold a couple of times during the year so all our gifted students can get together and learn new stuff. I will be working with Anne’s teacher to lay out some extra materials for her to help her to continue to grow in her special areas.”
Anne’s mom was happy to hear that Anne will be staying with her friends and with Ms. Peterson. Anne really likes Ms. Peterson and is very comfortable around her. Also, being in the inclusive classroom will enable Anne to continue to be around and develop stronger relationships with her friends, help other students who might not understand a particular concept, and will help her not to be excluded because she has been identified as gifted.
The challenges for the regular classroom teacher to help meet the needs of gifted students is no different for students with disabilities. Students must have a plan in place to address their academic needs. Having the necessary resources, a plan, and even adjusting the instructional delivery for the gifted child are tasks many teachers will find as being difficult.
How Does a Gifted Label Impact Classroom Inclusion?
Students with gifts and talents are those students who learn or perform above the level of other students in the classroom. Whether formally identified or acknowledged, they exist in schools around the world. How they progress throughout their educational years, both intellectually, socially, and emotionally depends a great deal on the support they receive each day in school. While many schools support a pullout program for gifted students, the majority of students’ time is spent with the classroom teacher (Mondale & Patton, 2001). Educating students with gifts and talents should not end when they enter a mainstream classroom. This chapter presents a brief historical background of gifted education, followed by a discussion of ways in which inclusive education can benefit gifted students in school. Instructional and assessment strategies are examined, providing a model for an inclusive classroom that can be implemented into any K-12 classroom.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Gifted Education: Curriculum designed to meet the educational needs of gifted students.
Instructional Strategies: Strategies used by an educator to present curriculum to learners. They are used for introduction or practice of discipline specific content.
Acceleration: In education, acceleration refers to moving through curriculum at a faster pace than one’s age-peers. Acceleration can range from moving through discipline specific subject matter to whole-grade skipping.
Assessment: Assessment can be either be pre-assessment, formative, or summative. It is used to provide data on student learning or achievement. Pre-assessment delivers information on what is already known, while formative assessment provides the educator with information on how students are learning new content. Summative assessment gives a comprehensive understanding of what has been learned.
Problem Based Learning: An instructional strategy that typically provides students with real-world problems to solve. Learning takes place through the research and activities that solve the problem.
Social-Emotional Needs: A phrase that addresses both the social needs of students (inclusion, friendship), and the emotional needs (well-being, acceptance).
Parallel Curriculum: An instructional strategy that provides the same curriculum to all classroom students but is stratified to reflect the learning level of students.