TOP TEN GIFTED ENDORSEMENT

HISTORY OF GIFTEDNESS (Class 1) * The study of giftedness began to change around the turn of the century in the 20’s and 30’s. *The studies evolved from mental inheritance and subnormal children to the development of methods to assess these children. *The realization that these children were not being properly served in schools became clear. *These studies continued and increased with the Russian launch of Sputnik and the space races/cold war in the 1950’s. *In the 1970’s there were further legislative processes in place which brought gifted students back in to the spotlight. *in 1983 “A Nation at Risk” is published highlighting missed opportunities to serve the gifted students, resulting in a call for additional research to be conducted in an effort to better serve the gifted population. *2004 “A Nation Deceived” is published, showing the advantages of acceleration in schools for gifted students and America’s inabilities to foster these needs.

TYPES OF GIFTEDNESS (class 1) *Type 1-The Successfuls- 90 percent of identified gifted students are this type of gifted. These gifted students listed to their parents and teachers and learn the “System”. They display appropriate behaviors at home and at school and do well on their school work and on standardized tests and often are perceived incorrectly that they will “make it on their own”. These students often do not do well in college because they have not developed the skills to be lifelong learners. *Type 2- The Challenging- these students are often not always identified by the gifted program. These students are often frustrated, challenge authority, are argumentative or sarcastic. These students may be at risk for drug addictions or delinquent behavior if proper interventions are not put in place. Type 3- The Underground- This type of gifted student is generally a middle school girl who hides their giftedness in order to be “normal” or to fit in with the norm. Type 4- The Dropout- These students can be angry that adults and the system have not met their needs and may act depressed or withdrawn. School may seem irrelevant to them. These students are usually identified late, sometimes high school.

TYPES OF GIFTEDNESS Type 5- The double labeled or double gifted- these students usually have some sort of handicap, physical or emotional or learning disability and the gifted program usually fails to identify these learners. Type 6- The Autonomous Learner- These learners are independent and self directed and do not work the system, but make the system work for themselves. They realize that they can create change in their lives and do not wait for others to facilitate change.

TESTING VS. ASSESSMENT (class 2) As an educator, I have definitely been guilty of testing more than assessing my students. With the heavy pressures of standardized testing in education now, I think that many educators get wrapped up in this, not purposely, but that is now the nature of our profession now. With standardized testing, everything is the same for all students- room setting, time limits, instructions, etc. Nothing is or can be modified to fit the student's needs- with the exceptions of IEP's. In a standardized test setting, all students are expected to adapt to the same setting and nothing differs between students other than their answers to the test questions. In assessing students, the students needs can be met and many other factors of the students' abilities are taken in to consideration. I absolutely believe that assessing students gives a far better perception of the student as an individual and their overall abilities. I am able to see the student's whole persona, and gain a greater insight to their true abilities, not just how they adapt and perform in a standardized test setting.

LEARNING CENTERS (Class 3) *Learning Stations are designed for use amongst flexible grouping. * In stations, students all work all at the same time and teachers can have opportunities to utilize flexible groups discreetly when working in stations. *Although all students are working at the same time in stations, they may be grouped in certain ways and assigned to particular stations tailored to their ability levels in the subject at hand. * In Learning Stations all students do not have to stay at the stations for the same amount of time, whereas in centers, students all tend to stay at each center for the same amount of time then rotate through all learning centers until complete. *Learning Stations can vary in complexity from difficult to easier to adhere to Flexible groups utilizing the centers.

COMPACTING (Class 3) “Name it, prove it, change it.” *Eliminating parts of the curriculum for students who have already obtained mastery. *Elimination of boredom and possible frustration comes in to play with compacting the curriculum. *Students with a compacted curriculum will move directly to enriching the skills they already possess. *There will be no time for negative factors to set in, hindering student’s environment.

POSSIBLE METHODS OF CURRICULUM COMPACTING “Start small and experiment” * Group projects, *contracts *management plans *learning centers *Independent Study

TIERED ASSIGNMENTS Class 3 *Tiered Assignments allow students to work at their own levels. *Students are pre-assessed to determine the level in which they are to work on. *Can eliminate boredom or frustration at both levels of the learning spectrum. *Tiered assignments enhance students engagement and interest levels. *Students will continuously be striving for mastery of learning goals.

CUBING Class 3 *Great for flexible groups *Can be geared towards flexible groups at any level- and discreetly *Great method of differentiation at both ends of the learning spectrum- higher level thinking and struggling learners. *Great way to keep students engaged and challenged to learn at different levels. *Cubing can seem almost like a game to students- generating high interest in the subject material.

FLEXIBLE GROUPING Class 3 *All students can benefit from working in flexible groups. *Gifted students can avoid frustration and boredom when placed in flexible groups that can be changed from day to day, week to week, etc. because different objectives can be set for each group which they are placed in. *Gifted students can be accelerated in flexible groups or serve as peer tutors in a separate flexible group. *Differentiation can be made easy if flexible groups are utilized often in conjunction with centers or earning stations.

QUESTIONING (Class 3) * Higher order questioning facilitated by the teacher can lead to a more concrete understanding of the subject material. *Questioning Matrix can be extremely useful to facilitate and encourage group work. **Open ended questioning: “Who is?” “What is?” “Why is?” and “How is?” can lead to different ways of thinking about and analyzing information over a certain subject and can lead to a more concrete level of understanding. *Questioning can be used as effective and easy formative assessment for teachers.

COMMON CORE AND THE GIFTED Class 4 There are many ongoing arguments as to whether or not the implementation of Common Core Standards are beneficial or harmful to the gifted students. Based on my reading and research through this endorsement process, I still have not reached a concrete conclusion. I am glad that I have had the opportunity to evaluate lots of different arguments on this subject and there are many valid points on both sides. I guess I am walking away realizing that Common Core has upped the ante for ALL students, and if the bar was already set high for the gifted students, it is set even higher now and we as educators must work even harder to differentiate at different and higher levels for our gifted students. As I stated in one of my papers in the third class on common core and the gifted, I honestly feel that the basic standards for common core were once what I would consider higher level thinking for my gifted students- this is now an expectation for ALL students and the task for us now if to find new and more innovative ways to raise the already high bar even higher to serve and support our gifted students. This endorsement class has really opened my eyes to so many aspects of the gifted population. I am taking away a completely new perspective on gifted students and plan on working as diligently as I can as a regular education teacher to serve these students better while implementing common core standards along the way. I have learned so many methods I plan on putting to use in the future and now and I can only hope that I will be able to make a difference to my gifted students and that these courses have better prepared me to serve them.