Teaching Gifted & Talented Students

Course Outline

Course Description

Teaching gifted students provides classroom teachers the strategies and techniques they can use to meet the academic and emotional needs of the gifted and talented. Course content includes practical approaches for challenging the most able students in the regular classroom, pull-out, or full-time classes for gifted students. A course emphasis is upon ways of knowing (epistemology) unique to gifted students, and an appropriate pedagogy to specifically enhance each student's giftedness.

Objectives

Identify issues and concerns with giftedness
Define terms associated with giftedness
Identify issues and concerns regarding teaching the gifted and talented student
Appraise program options for gifted students.
Examine methods for selecting students for participation in gifted programs
Recognize that curriculum and basic pedagogy are fundamentals related to giftedness
Recognize what constitutes a ‘structure’ of knowledge
Iimplement instructional strategies for use with students who are gifted
Design an analytical model for organizing the classroom to teach all students
Identify and analyze additional methods for teaching the gifted
Interpret the difference between the pursuit of excellence and perfectionism among gifted students
Analyze the problem of uneven integration
Identify and name different ways of being gifted
Describe the signs of emotional problems
Differentiate between self-image and self-esteem
Report intellectual issues gifted students endure
Analyze the frustration of having too many options
Identify why gifted students do not meet expectations
Review the role of curriculum in underachievement
Define "selective consumer"
Evaluate various definitions of giftedness
Evaluate various theories concerning the ways of knowing
Evaluate giftedness from a national perspective

Curriculum Design & Time Requirements

Teaching Gifted & Talented Students is a 3 credit graduate level or forty-five hour professional development course taught on weekends or over five full days. The following methodologies will be used during the course: lectures, readings, group and individual discussions, and applied practice assignments and papers.

Course Materials

The required textbook for this course is When Gifted Kids Don't have All the Answers by Jim Delisle & Judy Galbraith, Free Spirit Publishing. A range of activities along with supplemental material is also provided.

Session Outline

Session 1: Course Orientation and Overview
Contents:

Present session objectives
Name game
Silly Nillie
Course requirements
Recall past experiences with gifted students
Share success and frustrations in engaging the gifted
The myth of elitism
The IQ?
Assignments

Session 2: Definition and Identification of Giftedness
Contents:

Large group sharing
Activity for gifted students
The definition of giftedness
Intelligence theory
Ways of identifying giftedness
Projects
Assignments

Session 3: Adapting Pedagogy and Curriculum for Gifted Students
Contents:

Paired sharing
Session objectives
Categories challenge
Review
Compacting the curriculum
Variations
Perfectionism
Compacting in grade level or subject area
Assignments

Session 4: Gifted Curriculum Matrix
Contents:

Review definition of gifted
Session objectives
A problem for gifted students
Compacting in grade level or subject area (continued)
Beyond acceleration
Gifted curriculum matrix
Gifted curriculum development
Assignment

Session 5: Paradigm Shift
Contents:

Re-engage the class
Session objectives
Paradigm shift
Program assessment
Synthesis
Assignments

Session 6: Recognizing Emotional Problems Related to Giftedness
Contents:

Review compacting products
Review session objectives
Emotional balance
Assessment for gifted
Cognitive characteristics
Recognizing emotional and social problems
Summary
Assignments

Session 7: Program Development
Contents:

Sharing
Session objectives
Flexible grouping
Academic bowl
Introduction to program development
Assignments

Session 8: Teaching the Gifted
Contents:

Sharing course experience
Session objectives
Three assumptions
The gifted teacher
Gifted teacher curriculum
Inventory
Assignments

Session 9: Ways of Knowing
Contents:

Course review
Session objectives
Ways of knowing:

R. Gange - The Conditions for Learning
Piaget, J. and B. Inhelder

Science of Teaching

Bloom, B. - Human Characteristics and School Learning

Synthesis
Giftedness...A Way of Knowing
Schedule participant project reports
Assignments

Session 10: Resource Any Support for Gifted Education
Contents:

Identification of resources
Resolving philosophical issues
Project reports
Course evaluations
Final exam
Close-up

Grading

Assignment	Points	Grading Scale
Group and Classroom Participation	20	100 – 93	A
MidTerm Exam	10	92 – 85	B
Final Project	40	84 – 77	C
Final Exam	30
Total Points	100

Student Requirements

	1.	Attend all class sessions for the requisite number of hours (45) and actively participate in all class activities.
	2.	Complete all reading assignments.
	3.	Complete and present the required course project. Review research and literature on teaching the gifted, and identify several major findings or themes. Based on these key research themes, design a unit of study for your students. This unit should consist of five lessons, each containing a list of objectives and a description of activities and content.
	4.	Pass the mid-term and final exams.

Student Academic Integrity

Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary action.

Register

To register to take TEI's Teaching Gifted & Talented Students course, go to the Course Registration page.