An effective Gifted and Talented Program may consist of a variety of formats and components to meet student needs. Program offerings may, by design, vary year to year to meet the emerging needs of students, subject to ongoing revision to optimize effectiveness. Programs exist to serve the needs of the students, not to stand as static structural entities.
Per Dr. E. Jean Gubbins, NAGC Past President, it is useful to construct a Mission Statement as a navigational tool to guide programming decisions. Such a Mission Statement will reflect the priorities of the local district; here is one example:
The MTES Gifted and Talented Program builds on the mission statement of the school, recognizing that “all students” includes those with exceptional abilities for whom the “rigorous education” empowering them “to reach their full potential” requires challenges beyond those specified in the standards for general education. As students’ individual potential extends beyond the domain of content knowledge, the MTES Gifted and Talented Program strives to promote the development of these student outcomes:
Critical thinking – Logical and evidence-based reasoning, with attention to depth and accuracy
Communication skills – Verbal, written, and digital, to varied purposes and audiences
Metacognition – Awareness of goal-setting, task processes, and reflection on outcomes
Constructive, critical evaluation – Assessment of depth and validity of work by self and peers
Self-regulation – Responsibility and task commitment
Self-efficacy and empowerment – Activate and apply skills to real-life contexts
These goals are hallmarks of productive citizenship. To these aims, the MTES Gifted and Talented Program provides content-based challenges to support, supplement, and extend classroom instruction as a forum to foster these life skills.
The Mission Statement serves as a metric when considering new initiatives and program revisions: will the proposed changes not simply engage students or provide additional opportunities, but will students be brought closer to overall goals of the program? Opportunities are plentiful, and at times agendas can compete for limited time and scarce resources. The Mission Statement provides clarity of vision.
The Continuum Model
In a Continuum Model of services, extensions and challenge opportunities are available to students through a variety of entry points. Program components may include any or all of those listed below, Although not every component is appropriate for every child (nor should it be), every child could find some occasions to explore self-directed projects and expand learning or self-expression in an area of interest. This may be brought about through open-door enrichment opportunities, multi-tiered differentiation, or peer-led initiatives such as a TechnoTeam where gifted-identified students share their area of passion and expertise by partnering with peers or collaborating with teachers of younger students to facilitate classroom experiences.
Enrichment
Enrichment opportunities based on interest and aptitude are potentially available to all students with participants self-selecting by choosing clubs or individual student competitions. Enrichment activities can occur in the classroom as well, when classroom lessons are enhanced for richer experiences, for example:
Classroom visits by poet B.J. Ward drive a week of intensive writing activity
Students combine local geography with ELA skills by developing and recording actual commercials at the local radio station
A novel sparks students to run a school-wide fundraiser, as occurred with A Long Walk to Water/Water for South Sudan
School-wide enrichment opportunities (SEM) reach beyond the gifted-identified and include any students who elect to attend a singular event, such as an author talk or a special interest assembly, or who choose to join in an ongoing activity or club, such as video production, robotics, or greenhouse gardening.
Differentiation Differentiation in the regular classroom is typically managed by the classroom teacher and supported by the G&T teacher. This can function in a variety of ways, such as:
The teacher may pretest and then substitute more challenging materials to the individuals or the group of children who are ready to extend their understanding. These differentiated materials may be alternate practice activities or homework assignments.
On a daily basis, the teacher may use the "Most difficult first" strategy: All students begin with the same practice work. Those who are confident in the material begin their assignment by doing the most challenging questions or section first. The teacher then reviews this completed work and if the student is successful, differentiated materials are substituted for the remainder of the rote practice or (alternatively) the student has "bought back" the time to work on some other ongoing project.
The teacher may differentiate for her entire class, providing challenges beyond what is required at that grade level. Some projects are self-differentiating, such as:
Second graders pose their own questions (examples include Are unicorns real? Can people travel to other planets?) and find answers on kiddle.co, learning to frame inquiry, conduct internet searches, take notes, synthesize their research, and ultimately to present their findings
Sixth graders design a dream house, from drawing a floor plan to building a 3-D scale model
When planning Differentiation, this tool may be useful.
https://www.byrdseed.com/differentiator/
Curriculum Compacting
Curriculum Compacting is used when a student is significantly advanced in a particular unit or subject area. This system provides accountability in the form of assessment of mastery combined with a specific plan for how the student will use the time that is not required for learning the material that the rest of the class will be studying. Here is a presentation from UConn that explains how Curriculum Compacting fits into Differentiation.
NOTE: Please do NOT use the "earned back" time for the student to remediate some other area of deficit or to act as a peer tutor (teacher's helper). This time should be used to extend the student's own learning to a higher level in the area where the student is excelling.
Pull-out /Push-in Classes
We are accustomed to thinking of pull-out or push-in strategies for special education or other support needs; these strategies can also be highly effective for Gifted and Enrichment goals.
Pull–out units can extend grade-level curriculum content, such as:
Continental Mathematics League: a national competition for students in grades 2-9+ which focuses on problem-solving and analytical reasoning; practice materials help develop communication of mathematical thinking, used in grades 2-6.
Thematic units are typically offered to all academic G&T students at a particular grade level, and may follow a content strand across several grade levels. For example:.
Phabulous Physics develops concepts sequentially in units that may include the following topics:
Forces acting on stationery objects: Dead load vs. live load; distribution of weight in Bridges, grade 2
Forces acting on objects under stress: Pringle Project, grade 3
Newton's Laws of Motion: Rollercoaster Derby, grade 4
Four Forces of Aerodynamics: Magic of Flight, grade 5
Forces acting on stationery objects: Tension and Compression in Architecture, grade 6
Pull-out units may be considered semi-replacement if these classes meet for a significant portion of instructional time
Semi-replacement units may include graded work that replaces routine classwork
Debate, for example, addresses multiple ELA objectives:
Speaking to an audience; use of gesture and vocal inflection
Persuasive writing; revision and editing
Synthesizing information from multiple resources
Research skills and reading for a purpose
Critical thinking and multiple POV around a complex issue
Push-in units may enrich grade level content in the regular classroom for both gifted-identified and gen ed students
The G&T teacher may act as a co-teacher with the classroom teacher
Lessons can be planned jointly with projects or discussions splitting to match student readiness
Examples include...
Island of the Blue Dolphins (grade 5)
Gen ed focuses on plot development, turning points, and character development
G&T students read through the lens of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Ratio and Proportion (grade 6)
Gen ed learn about the Golden Ratio and measure objects to find Phi
G&T students generate Phi from the Fibonacci series, and explore the functionality of Phi in organisms
"Genius Hour" Introduction to Inquiry (grade 2)
Students propose questions of individual interest: "Can people live in space?" "Who invented music?"
Using safe searches (kiddle.co) students learn how to refine their questions, gather information, take notes, and eventually develop presentations.
This particular learning activity is by nature self-differentiating, as these inquisitive students will tend to press more deeply with their questions.
Note that the push-in lessons begin with the whole group grade-level content, and then gifted-focused learning veers towards greater levels of abstraction and autonomy.
Parallel Curriculum/Acceleration
Accelerated pull-out replacement (POR) or semi-replacement (semi-POR) classes may be formed to meet the needs of individuals or clusters of students who demonstrate mastery of curriculum standards well beyond grade level, for whom regular classroom instruction would be inappropriate.
These POR or semi-POR classes follow and extend the state-required grade level curricula for the relevant subject area.
In mathematics: Increased emphasis is placed on critical thinking, problem solving, and communication of mathematical thinking.
In ELA/Social Studies: Increased emphasis is placed on critical thinking, examination of primary sources, overall themes that relate past history to contemporary events, and developing communication in creative formats.
Students are expected to be responsible and productive within an environment of greater autonomy.
The workload is approximately the same in terms of time demand as would be expected of a gen ed student in a gen ed classroom; however the pace and content are adjusted to challenge the student(s) at an appropriate level of challenge to provide productive struggle and growth.
Such placement decisions are made collaboratively with administration and grade level teachers.
Program participation is often customized for individual students. This means that:
Students may elect to decline participation in a particular unit if it is not of personal interest.
The offerings at a particular grade level may be balanced with other opportunities that serve student aptitudes such as music program participation (instrumental music lessons; Band or Chorus) or an emphasis on the STEM areas, leading to deferral of particular options to avoid schedule overload.
Teachers or parents may determine that it is not appropriate for a child to participate for a particular unit or period of time, due to academic pressures or other factors. Such decisions are typically temporary, with a specified time frame for review.