1. Filling in the Gaps: Meeting the Needs of a Gifted Population
with Social Studies Enrichment
Elizabeth Zuver
EGT 517 Creativity, Inquiry, and Productive Thinking
Cleveland State University
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Problem: meeting the needs of gifted 7th and 8th grade social studies students in my district. The previous teacher retired in June and the district has no plans to replace her with a teacher with a gifted endorsement.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS BASED ON THEORY AND PRACTICE
Enrichment class or social studies club - This plan requires time and planning outside of the school day. The students would not be required to attend, may have prior commitments and conflicts, and therefore, it would not be a consistent source of enrichment for them.
Moodle (online classroom). The online classroom would be interesting to students, but require more independent study than some middle school students can handle. Asking teachers to produce this above and beyond their current duties may be a breech of contract.
Independent Study. Students would work individually with a teacher to plan and work through a course of independent study. Again, asking teachers to do this for multiple students, although ideal in terms of student motivation, interest, and success, would be costly and time-consuming. .
CONCLUSION
I have not been able to implement this solution yet, but will be presenting the proposal to my superintendent and principal next month.
REFERENCES
org/
ODE- 7th and 8th standards for social studies and language arts
Smutny, J.F. (2002). Integrating the arts into the curriculum for gifted students. Eric Digest, Retrieved from x.aspx?id=166
ACTUAL SOLUTION
.As one of the three teachers certified to serve gifted children in my building, I plan to propose that we utilize intervention time already in the schedule as a part of the district’s RTI implementation, as well as supplementing language arts classes by making historical connections with novels, readings and projects. This would be executed in small groups of students on a weekly or alternate weekly schedule.
EVALUATION OF THE SOLUTION
This solution will do a better job of reaching all gifted students. Gifted students are special needs students. They benefit from intervention as well. It will require the language arts and social studies teachers to meet and collaborate regularly to evaluate the progress and needs of the program and students. Each team of teachers (7th and 8th) will collaborate on the intervention program and the supplementing of the language arts class to make historical connections. Of the proposed solutions, it is the most cost-effective and least impactful on the staff and school day. It does reach many of the objectives regarding working with gifted students: independent study, enrichment, high-interest application, and increased pace.
SAMPLE SCHEDULE BELOW
Monday
12:00-12:25
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Introduce learning goals
Choose option and begin work
Guided independent study
Conference with teacher to evaluate progress
Present evidence of learning