Curriculum Differentiation for Gifted Students - Case Study Example

Curriculum Differentiation for Gifted Students: A Case Study of Jamal Name Institution Contents Introduction 3 The Key Issues in Curriculum Planning for a Gifted Student 4 The Proposed Framework 6 Jamal (Student Attributes) 7 The Broader Classroom Setting 8 Scaffolding 9 Self-Regulation 11 An Integrative Approach 12 Conclusion 13 Recommendations 13 References 15 Appendix 1: An Extended MoDD 18 Appendix 2: An Integrated Curriculum Plan for Gifted Learners 19 Curriculum Differentiation for Gifted Students: A Case Study of Jamal Introduction Just like in the past, learning institutions today have a set of learners with different needs, talents, gifts, experiences and backgrounds. This diversity has necessitated the differentiation of learning curricular in which the developed curricular ought to incorporate the differences amongst the learners with an overriding aim to cater for the unique needs of each student. Curriculum differentiation, as is to be conceived in this report, refers to a deliberate manipulation of the standard curriculum, instructional procedures and evaluation criteria to suit the specific, often unique needs of gifted students (Tomlinson, 2002: VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2005). Over time, curriculum differentiation has shifted from the traditional teacher-centered to a learner-centered differentiation which lays more emphasis on a student’s gifts, characteristics, strengths and learning needs (Maker & Nielson, 1996). Moreover, the learner-centered approach has a wide applicability and varies depending on the substantial and procedural approaches (Handa, 2009). The student-centered approach prescribes that for the differentiation of curriculum for gifted students to be successful, there is need to differentiate the learning objectives first (Handa, 2009: Tomlinson & Strickland, 2005). In this approach, the planning stage entails identifying the fundamental and complex content, student gifts, talents and attributes and more so the learner academic needs (Eriksson, 2015). This report majors on a case study of a gifted student, Jamal. The primary preoccupation of this report is toplan a differentiated learning model for the student laying emphasis on his giftedness, talents and skills so as to structure a model used for the assessment, enrichment, scaffolding and self-regulated learning. By evaluating the efficacy of differentiated models, the report seeks to manipulate the identified models of differentiation and come up with a customized model in light of Jamal’s individual gifts, his relationship with fellow learners and the teachers. This will particularly be critical to the report since the most successful differentiated curricular incorporates the academic ecology of a gifted learner and allows for flexibility of the input other stakeholders (VanTassel-Baska, 2014). The Key Issues in Curriculum Planning for a Gifted Student Curriculum development for gifted students seek to adapt the standard learning approaches so as to take into consideration the specific talents that such students possess but more so to attend to their learning needs which are often distinct from those of the ordinary learners (VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2005; Tomlinson & Strickland, 2005; Eriksson, 2015). In this report, what would come out as the ideal curriculum structure for Jamal would have to be centered on his strengths in history and his exceptional ability to relate other disciplines to history. Moreover, the curriculum will as much be structured towards what he needs the most as a student: improving his mathematical performance and skills. The key concern in curriculum differentiation is the identification of a learner’s strengths so that the curriculum plan can further develop these strengths to “add value” to the gifted students because standard approaches may not attend to these gifts as it (Maker & Nielson, 1996). Over and above identifying the general strengths and disciplinary affiliations of learners, there is need to recognize a learners unique ability and experience in reading, speaking, thinking and writing (Robb, 2015). According to Shay (2013), a key concern in curriculum planning entails orienting a gifted learner to the immediate classroom surrounding in such a way that it benefits his behavioral as well as cognitive development. This, it is explained, is a situation that involves a delicate balance between fostering the gifted learner’s academic development and facilitating the wider classroom academic growth (page. 579). The essence of this observations to this report is that curriculum planning for a gifted student like Jamal, in as much as it seeks to advance his academic growth, must keep in check his participation in class such that he doesn’t negatively influence his peers’ learning as well. Further, a curriculum plan for gifted students like Jamal ought to focus on the concepts in various disciplines especially those that entail acute problem solving. According to Shay et al., (2011), an effective curriculum plan for gifted students should condition the learning process in a manner that motivates the gifted learners to explore the “bigger picture” and broaden their understanding of key concepts. In light of this, the report seeks to assess how a curriculum plan for Jamal would prescribe a learning technique majoring on the key concepts in mathematics especially in a manner that exploits the interdisciplinary relationship between history and mathematics. Much as the tendency in contemporary approaches employed in curriculum differentiation for gifted learners are learner-oriented, teachers have a key role to play in the behavioral and cognitive development of gifted students (Tomlinson, 2014). A structure of curriculum differentiation that allows instructors to strike a compromise with students is effective for attending to the needs of gifted students since it enables the instructors to come up with motivating tasks that serve to meet the diverse needs and interests of the learners especially in shared mathematical contexts (Gearhart & Saxe 2014). The observations of Tomlinson (2014) and Gearhart & Saxe (2014) has implications for this report: Jamal’s teachers who often value the very special gift he was endowed with can take advantage of a curriculum such a comprehensive curriculum plan to develop mathematical tasks with a historical orientation which will ultimately improve Jamal’s mathematical skills. Therefore, this report seeks to recommend a differentiated curriculum plan for Jamal that is in tandem with the key concerns identified herein. The Proposed Framework This report adopts the Model of Dynamic Differentiation (MoDD) in order to plan a differentiated learning model for Jamal laying emphasis on his giftedness, talents and skills to structure a model used for the assessment, enrichment, scaffolding and self-regulated learning. This model is the most appropriate in Jamal’s case since the MoDD is a systematic and comprehensive structure that enables the behavioral and cognitive development of a gifted student (Smith, 2009). In this model, the attributes of the individual student play a key role around which all other stakeholder roles are centered. The gifted student is the fundamental tenet of this model followed by the immediate classroom in which they participate, the scaffolding and the community at large. The conceptual framework of the proposed model is as shown in the figure below. Figure 1.0: The Model of Dynamic Differentiation (MoDD) Adopted from Smith (2009) This model can be extended to cater for a broader ecological learning environment (see Appendix 1). The report will structure the proposed plan in line with this MoDD. Jamal (Student Attributes) As illustrated in the diagram above, the MoDD is centered on Jamal’s giftedness, attributes, interests, strengths and educational needs. In order to conceive the proposed model, it is important to assess the individual attributes of the gifted student. Jamal is a gifted student in social studies and history who finds so much interest in issues pertaining to the two disciplines of knowledge. As an individual, Jamal exhibits a great reading skill having read several children books on World War II and adult copies alike. Additionally, he has an exceptional ability in relating interdisciplinary concepts in which he relates concepts in other subjects to his core competencies in history and social studies. All these attributes point to aspects of readiness, which, according to Smith (2009), is the beginning of differentiation for gifted learners (page. 13). However, gifted as he is in history and social sciences, Jamal lacks the same passion and skill in mathematics that makes him score poor grades in the subject. It is in this context that the proposed curriculum differentiation can be conceived since curriculum differentiation is a process that involves tailoring standardized techniques to the individual learner strengths, interests, characteristics and needs (Tomlinson & Strickland, 2005: Shay et al., 2011). According to the model prescriptions, the most appropriate instruments, resources and processes employed to enable Jamal develop cognitively should be manipulated in such a manner that they are aligned with history and social sciences in one way or the other. This is informed by two facts: First, Jamal is good in history and social sciences and second, he has an ability that enables him to relate the concepts in other disciplines to what those he is familiar with in history and social studies. Additionally, the use of books as learning resources in such a setting also come in handy especially given that Jamal has exceptional reading skills. Essentially, the assessment of Jamal in this kind of a setting can adopt different approaches including student-chosen activities such as the use of the tic-tac-toe charts proposed by Tomlinson & McTighe (2006). Moreover, self-assessment and task performance also come in handy as appropriate ways to evaluate his progress as he can be given tasks involving historical mathematics and his performance in a series of tests analyzed for improvements. The Broader Classroom Setting Jamal comes across as a gifted student whose domineering contributions tend to overshadow his peers. In him is a learner who will stop at nothing less than letting the entire class hear what he already knows. The impact of this is that it negatively influences the participation and ultimately the performance of his class members. According to Smith (2009), a gifted student is often greatly influenced upon by the “classroom ecology and tutor instructions in tandem” (page. 14). Differentiation at this level for Jamal involves differentiating the learning processes, products and content by providing the entire class (in which Jamal is a member) with open-ended tasks. This will ensure that every member of the class has at least something to contribute and nobody feels out of context. Moreover, varying the classroom vocabulary in Jamal’s class is another plan that would be used as a tool to “level” the playground depending on the desired outcome. In some extents, as proposed by (Tomlinson, 2000), establishing learning centers and using instructions based on disciplinary models of differentiation can enable Jamal to grow his talents in a more harmonious manner. The establishment of learning centers is an effective differentiation plan for gifted students as it enables the “pooling together of talents” thereby enabling a unified classroom setting in which students can develop their cognitive abilities without necessarily inhibiting the psychological development of peers (Tomlinson, 2003; Hall, 2002; Algozzine & Anderson, 2007).Further, establishment of a learning center, variation of vocabulary and presentation of open-ended tasks in the context of Jamal’s class ought to entail flexibility and can be implemented in varying combinations based on the assessment techniques employed, instructor availability and other relevant resources. However, this level of integration, just like the first one, is not self-sufficient since gifted students often require extra support and insight from peers and mentors that necessitates the third level of curricular integration (Scaffolding). Scaffolding Scaffolding refers to the development of a set of instructional techniques used to move progressively gifted learners to deeper, concept-based understanding in curricular differentiation for gifted learners (Tomlinson, 2001). This is the third stage of differentiation that is crucial to Jamal’s setting since he is poor in mathematics but is gifted in relating other disciplines to history which he is good at. Having this in mind, this stage of differentiation dwells on how the relationship between history and mathematics can be exploited to form a foundation, which can be used to develop Jamal’s mathematical skills. This holds a promise since the exploitation of interdisciplinary relationships have always led to not only deeper understanding, but the development of completely new intermediate subjects that enable comprehension of extremely bedded disciplinary concepts (Nielsen, 2013). Hinged on the fact that Jamal particularly has an extensive knowledge of the events surrounding World War II, a feasible starting point would be to introduce the elementary aspects of mathematics related to this landmark event. For instance, it would be important to let Jamal understand that Leray invented spectral sequences and sheaves, which are central concepts in contemporary mathematics, while he was a war prisoner in Austria between 1940 and 1945. Similarly, Weil proved the Riemann hypothesis for curves, another central concept of elementary mathematics in 1940 as an army officer in World War II. The theorem of primes in arithmetic progression was also published in 1944 at the climax of world war (History, 2015). Moreover it would be important, as a beginning point, to let Jamal appreciate the role that French mathematicians played in the second world war culminating in the writing of a book: Great Currents of Mathematical Thought by François Le Lionnais which “paints a mathematical picture” of World War II (Booss-Bavnbek & Høyrup, 2003).This is an approach that would not only involve the teachers but the family and society have a role to play in changing Jamal’s attitude towards mathematics. At this level, a curriculum differentiation plan for Jamal would be two-fold: pooling the World War II related mathematical concepts together to elicit a primal interest in mathematics and translating this primal interest into mathematical competency through introduction of calculations and application. In this approach, the teachers, especially those who often recognize the Jamal’s talent endowment, have a much greater role to play in structuring a customized mathematics syllabus that progresses gradually in complexity and intensity. The efficacy of scaffolding here would be much greater since the success factor of scaffolding in curricular development especially for gifted students relies on interest-stimulation (Holbrook & Kolodner, 2013: Wiser et al., 2012). Self-Regulation Self-regulated learning is the final stage in this plan of curriculum differentiation for Jamal. At this level, the plan relies heavily on Jamal’s “natural love for learning” that serves as the lifeblood of the entire learning process. This level of curriculum differentiation involves subjecting the gifted students (read Jamal) to a variety of learning processes to enable them develop along interdisciplinary innovative dimensions (Smith, 2009). In this respect, a differentiated curriculum plan for Jamal would entail discretional reading and assessment in which he is allowed to major on a subject area in which he is gifted. Further, the assessment tools and techniques are administered according to the disciplinary prescriptions and can be adjusted to cater for the abstract and subjective nature of learning strategy employed for Jamal. The activities in this stage of curriculum differentiation also rely heavily on initially developed skills in the preceding stages. In this stage, gifted students are expected to apply all the acquired skills of learning theory like exploiting interdisciplinary relationships to foster understanding, participating harmoniously in learning groups and developing self-interest in the entire learning process. In the case of Jamal, this level would particularly be crucial in improving his mathematical skills because according to the outcomes of a seminal paper Zimmerman & Schunk (1989), the essence of self-regulation is not only the acquisition but the application of learning strategies in tasks involving factual presentations such as those in mathematical operations. Much as self-regulation is a student-centered stage, it involves the student and the teacher to the same extent (Kindekens, 2014). In light of this, Jamal is allowed to consult as much as he desires at this level without the “regulatory” technicalities prescribed in the second stage where his domineering participation in class overshadowed his colleagues’ learning processes. The central idea in this plan is in line with the finding that self-regulation as employed in curriculum development for gifted students works to enable learners use the imparted skills in earlier learning processes to develop their capabilities without bounds (Wiser et al., 2012). An Integrative Approach The stages of curriculum development outlined above are not distinct and sequential. The stages of curriculum development are so intricately linked such that either stage leads to the other in a mutually reinforcing manner that works to advance the talents of gifted students while satisfying their educational needs (Gearhart & Saxe 2014). In the case of Jamal for instance, it is possible to identify his individual attributes and customize the learning procedure to them (thus first stage) and simultaneously subject him to “mathematical history” (an element of scaffolding) and allow him undertake innovative learning activities (self-regulation). Moreover, all the model adopted from Smith (2009) prescribes that certain stages of curriculum development require varied proportions of teacher-student participation. This holds true for most situations but empirical studies have established a consensus to the effect that curriculum plans that provide for unbounded participation among teachers and students usually are usually the most effective from an outcome-based perspective (Eriksson, 2015: Shay et al., 2011;Tomlinson, 2002: VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2005) (See Integrative approach in Appendix 2). For Jamal therefore, the stages, as described in the preceding sections, will be rolled out concurrently and will not limit the level of teacher or student participation. Moreover, the plan allows for the family and community participation in shaping Jamal’s attitude towards mathematics. Conclusion Curriculum differentiation refers to a deliberate manipulation of the standard curriculum, instructional procedures and evaluation criteria to suit the specific, often unique needs of gifted students (Tomlinson, 2002: VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh, 2005). In this report, a standardized Model of Dynamic Differentiation (MoDD) was employed to provide a structured plan of advancing the educational prospects of a gifted student, Jamal. In this endeavor, the individual characteristics of the students have served as the fundamental tenets along which the manipulations of the MoDD were systematically undertaken. Since Jamal is gifted in history, has an exceptional reading skills and an ability to relate the concepts of other subjects to his core competencies in history and social studies, the plan adopts an inclination towards history to build on Jamal’s weakness in mathematics. Moreover, the plan proposes a host of “technical bottlenecks” to “regulate” Jamal’s domineering classroom participation that “suffocates” other learners. This is informed by the fact that developing a curriculum plan is a situation that involves a delicate balance between fostering the gifted learner’s academic development and facilitating the wider classroom academic growth (Shay, 2013). Recommendations Concisely, this report makes the following recommendations. I. The introduction of “mathematical history” for Jamal in two stages, stimulation of primal interest and introduction to mathematical concepts II. Use of vocabulary variation techniques for classroom teaching III. Establishment of an integrated learning center IV. Unregulated student-teacher participation in the learning process V. Structure consultations between specific students (read Jamal) and instructors VI. Subject specialization for Jamal at an advanced level of study (Majoring in history and social studies) VII. 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In Learning progressions in science (pp. 359-403). SensePublishers. Appendix 1: An Extended MoDD Adopted from Smith (2009) Appendix 2: An Integrated Curriculum Plan for Gifted Learners Adopted from Etec (2015) Accessed on August 27 2015 at 7.43am Read More