Curriculum Development and Teaching Strategies for Gifted Learners - Essay Example

Curriculum Development and Teaching Strategies for Gifted Learners Submitted By: Helaine Summers In Partial fulfillment of the requirements forECI 621, Selected Topics in Early Childhood Education Submitted To: Dr. Jennifer Lynn Prior August 5, 2007 Northern Arizona University 1 Statement of the Issue On of the major goals of developmentally appropriate curriculum for gifted children in early childhood education is that curriculum and adult interaction are responsive to individual differences in ability, strengths and interests. Furthermore, different levels of ability, development and learning styles are expected, accepted and used to design appropriate activities. Researchers, as will be illustrated in this essay, have stressed the wide variations in individuals' development at a specific age and the need to create early childhood programs or options that matched and addressed the specific needs of these individuals. For practices to be developmentally appropriate, they must be individually appropriate. Developmentally appropriate programs must reflect the importance of establishing a caring, inclusive community in which all children can learn and, importantly, where the potential of gifted preschoolers may be realized and given the opportunity to flourish. The question, thus, becomes, how can teachers identify gifted children and what are the guidelines for designing a curriculum for gifted children 2 Statement of the Problem With the importance of individualized learning environments for gifted children, the problems of curriculum design, resources and balancing between the child's socio-emotional and intellectual needs express themselves. Schools are in a position where they have to undertake the identification of gifted children, design appropriate curriculum for each (ideally) and personalize teaching approaches to suit the needs of the individual, potentially gifted, preschooler. Needless to say, it is virtually impossible to satisfy all of the stated. The objective, thus, becomes the accurate identification of the gifted, the subsequent design of a curriculum and selection of teaching approaches which would address the needs of the gifted child without overlooking the child's social and emotional needs on the one hand, and which are founded on a realistic assessment of the school's resources. 3 Defining Giftedness Over the past century, the meaning of gifted' has changed from a single-dimensional (High IQ) definition to one in which multiple abilities and intelligences are recognized (Sternberg, 1993). This understanding has opened the door to a greater understanding of gifted students and their needs in schools. The most commonly used definition of gifted and talented is provided by the Educational Amendment of 1978. It is, according to Sternberg (1993), a multi-dimensional definition based on the report to the U.S. Congress by the U.S. Commissioner of Education, Sidney Marland. As stated in this report, gifted children include those with demonstrated ability or achievement, or with the potential for achievement in any one, or combination, of the following (Sternberg, 1993): General intellectual ability Specific academic aptitude Creative or productive thinking Leadership ability Visual and performing arts Psychomotor ability By specifying six areas of achievement, the report suggests that giftedness is a complex phenomenon which can assume many forms, or several overlapping ones (Sternberg, 1993). 4 Identification of Gifted Children Identifying gifted children is always difficult. At the preschool/kindergarten level, formal testing procedures to identify gifted and talented children are not common. Therefore, early childhood educators should be aware of the behavior and traits displayed by gifted children. In this way, teachers can recognize developmentally advanced or potentially gifted children under their care. To facilitate the identification process, Saylor (cited in Sternberg and Grigorenko, 2003) summarized the characteristics of gifted young children as follows: Has quick, accurate recall of information Shows intense curiosity and deeper knowledge than other children Is empathetic, feels more deeply than do other children of the sane age May not always display their advanced understanding in everyday situations Uses advanced vocabulary Reads, writes or uses numbers in advanced ways Advanced play interests and behaviors Shows unusually intense interest and enjoyment when learning about new things Has an advanced sense of humor and sees incongruities as funny Understands things well enough to teach others Is comfortable around older children and adults Shows leadership abilities Is resourceful and improvises well Shows logical and metacognitive skills in managing own learning Uses imaginative methods to accomplish Within the early education setting, it is imperative that teachers demonstrate an awareness of the mentioned characteristics so that they may identify gifted children. The importance of identifying gifted children cannot be overemphasized. Sternberg (1993) attempts to explain this importance by drawing attention to the fact that the major purpose of the identification process is to determine which children need educational provisions, supplements or alternatives to regular mainstream instructions and to pinpoint or diagnose these special needs. Within the context of the stated, Sternberg (1993) explains that the identification process should be flexible and inclusive, rather than rigid and exclusive. This is because children may show signs of giftedness and talent at any time during the year, not just at a particular identification time. Even though the identification process, as described, may sound complicated, it is justified by its objectives and outcomes. The ultimate purpose of the identification process is to make sure that children who exhibit high potential have a chance to excel by being involved in higher levels and more challenging activities. 5 Curriculum and Teaching Methods Early childhood teachers are well prepared to work with children at their own pace - a key factor in teaching the gifted and an underlying principle of early childhood education. The logistics of having gifted children in a class can, however, present challenges in curriculum planning. Parents of the gifted child will need support and encouragement as well as guidance in dealing with their child's exceptionality. Together teachers and parents can explore what will best suit each child so that this giftedness may be nurtured and challenged at home and at school (VanTassel-Baska and Brown, 2005). Indeed, although it is important to stimulate and challenge gifted children, it is not necessary to schedule activities for every minute of the day. Gifted children enjoy structured activities, they also require time to be alone and freely explore the environment. Gifted youngsters are children first and gifted second; they have the same social, physical, and emotional needs particular to all children (VanTassel-Baska and Brown, 2005). Enrichment activities provided in regular classrooms and programs in which gifted young children are gathered together for special instruction have been the most common way for serving gifted children over the decades. These approaches are limited in effectiveness, however, since the same enrichment experience is provided to all students without consideration fir each child's unique talents and skills. Current tends in gifted education place far greater emphasis on experiences that build each child's special abilities. These include tutors for the gifted youngsters in a relevant field and accelerated learning programs in which gifted students are provided with fast-paced instruction in a particular subject, or permitted to advance to a higher grade (Tomlinson, 2001). Tomlinson (2003) contends that the curriculum for all young children must be rich in variety and stimulating in process. For those who are developing faster and who show higher levels of intelligence, such variety and stimulation are even more necessary. In their experiences, it is important to include more activities allowing self-direction, exposure to more abstract concepts, and more involvement with the tools and skills for operating in the areas of reading, mathematics, science, research, art, music and writing, and in the world in which they live. Sternberg and Grigorenko (2000) recommend that teachers can enrich the classroom program by increasing the depth, complexity, or abstractness of content by promoting different processes, by asking children to create new products; or by providing new resources in terms of speakers, facilities and materials. Expounding upon the aforementioned, VanTassel-Baska and Brown (2005) discusses the ways and means by which classroom teachers can meet the needs and address the interests of gifted children. They support the adoption of the following principles: Encourage their curiosity, exploration and questioning Be willing to explore and to accept their alternative solutions to problems Involve them in social projects than benefit them and can be of value to the class or school Do not feel threatened if you do not know the answers to some of their questions and be willing to engage in a search for answers with them Encourage higher levels of thinking. Questions and assignments should draw upon their abilities to analyze, synthesize, generalize and solve problems creatively Help them to learn research skills that will help them through a lifetime of learning Keep them motivated and constrictively creative, as their high energy levels can often be diverted into negative behaviors Fill their time with interesting intellectual activities. The adoption of the above stated principles can invaluably contribute to the intellectual development of gifted children. These strategies, or principles, are specifically designed to encourage the realization of the gifted child's potential. They do so, according to Sternberg and Grigorenko (2000) by providing preschooler children who may be gifted with the opportunity to develop more advanced skills. A gifted preschooler may have no difficulty mastering skills taught in kindergarten and first grade and, hence, it is incumbent upon teachers to introduce material from more advanced grades into the potentially gifted child's curriculum. Doing so is an excellent method of providing gifted children with the advanced opportunities they need for advanced intellectual development while they remain with their age group and learn to develop appropriate social skills. Indeed, Sternberg and Grigorenko (2000) emphasizes the importance of providing gifted children with intellectual stimulation within the context of their age group because being intellectually gifted does not imply the possession of advanced social skills. Quite simply stated, a 4-year old may read at third grade level but lack the interpersonal skills necessary for getting along with any but his/her own age group. Hence, intellectual stimulation should be provided in an environment in which they are socially comfortable and secure. The implication of the above stated is clear: teachers must carefully select the instructional approach that they will deploy vis--vis potentially gifted preschoolers, balancing between their social and intellectual skills. Within the context of the stated, three general instructional approaches are used to provide for the needs of gifted children. These are (a) acceleration, as in early admission to first grade, (b) ability grouping and, (c) enrichment of the regular classroom. While research on the effects of early entry and other forms of acceleration have been positive (Tomlinson, 2001; Tomlinson, 2003), this option is not commonly selected due to both parental and administrative skepticism regarding its benefits. Teachers and parents seem to feel that social, emotional and motor development lag behind the intellectual (Tomlinson, 2001; Tomlinson, 2003). Grouping gifted children together seems to be relevant for mutual stimulation and realistic self-appraisal. Grouping is not always possible unless there are significant numbers of gifted children, however, and adult guides. Enriching the regular classroom may be the best option for many early childhood teachers. Enrichment by providing more depth or breadth in the curriculum and stimulating higher level processes can benefit both gifted and non-gifted children. With regard to the provision of special options for preschool/kindergarten gifted children, a number of curricular models exist. Examples of preschool programming for gifted children can be found in the United States, Australia, Britain and Germany, to name but a few. These services have been provided in a traditional preschool/kindergarten environment, but some have provided alternatives, such as summer or Saturday classes, group programs or individualized sessions (Tomlinson, 2003). Karnes and Beans (2005) adapted Renzulli's Enrichment Triad Model for the very young gifted. They argue that this model can very well be used in the regular classroom, providing that the teacher find time for individual activities or can arrange for help from volunteers and mentors. This approach has children pulled out of their regular classroom for various enrichment experiences. At the preschool level, however, the resource room teacher can encounter serious problems when attempting to pull out young children from their regular peer groups for short periods of time. Several children simply refuse to leave for fear of missing out on activities with their peers. According to Renzuli (2003), the Vygotsky-Feuerstein model of mediated learning is the optimal curricular approach for gifted preschoolers. Within the context of this model, the teacher's role becomes critically important in the classroom, and teachers are viewed as resourceful to the children and as mediators of their introduction to the problems and processes of the socially constructed world. The processes that occur among classroom participants, teachers and children, become vitally important in conceptualizations of teaching and learning. Renzulli (2003) proposed that the range of behaviors falling on the continuum varies in degrees of intrusiveness from non-directive to mediating direct instructions. While appropriate under certain conditions, direct instruction may place the teacher between the child and the learning process. Within the context of the stated, the mediating strategies of facilitating, supporting and scaffolding may be more appropriate. In these strategies, the adult supports and challenges the child, in varying degrees, to move beyond his or her current level of competence and to push the level of his or her developmental level. 6 Developmentally Appropriate Practices Early childhood educators need to determine how to best provide experiences that contribute to the development of the whole child, and those experiences should be available for all children to help them realize their full potential. It is, thus, according to Tomlinson (2001; 2003) that the principle of developmentally appropriate practices is importance. This principle has two components, those being age appropriateness and individual appropriateness. Curriculum and practice should be appropriate and meet he needs of a particular age group. Individual appropriateness focuses on curriculum and practice, which is based on the unique abilities or characteristics of the child. Although universal and predictable sequences of human development appear to exist, a major premise of developmentally appropriate practices is that each child is unique and has an individual pattern and timing of growth, as well as individual personality, learning style and family background (Tomlinson, 2001; Tomlinson, 2003). Within the context of developmentally appropriate practices, learning through social activity/play is an important instructional concept. As VanTassel-Baska and Brown (2005) explain, Montessori's concept of the prepared environment in which children interact with materials gives children specific purposes and allows children the freedom to educate themselves. Many theorists and researchers, notably Piaget, believe that learning involves both interaction and construction. The child builds knowledge through the process of purposeful interaction with his or her world. Given the stated importance of social interaction, the gifted child's school experience should not only focus on intellectual development but should be a complex cultural activity which aims towards both social and cognitive development (VanTassel-Baska and Brown, 2005). 7 Conclusion: Reflections As one reflects upon the arguments and the perspectives on giftedness and the teaching of gifted preschoolers presented in the preceding, one is truck by the multidimensional and highly complex and complicated nature of the issue. The problem is not the selection of a teaching approach or the design of a curriculum which would realize the potential of the gifted preschooler but doing so while ensuring that the child's social and emotional needs are not neglected. That is, the teacher must not get carried away with the objective of ensuring the gifted preschooler's intellectual development and, in the process, ignore the limitations of his or her socio-emotional limitations and the imperatives of facilitating the development of the latter. Curriculum design and teaching approaches should, in other words, balance between intellectual and socio-emotional needs, on the one hand, and be guided by the principle of developmentally appropriate practices, on the other. 8 References Karnes, F.A. and Bean, S.M. (2005) Methods and materials fir teaching the gifted. Waco: Prufrock Press. Renzulli, J.S. (2003) Conception of giftedness and its relationship to the development of social capital. In N. Colangelo and G.A. Davis (Eds.) Handbook of gifted education (pp. 75-87) Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Sternberg, R. J. (1993). Procedures for identifying intellectual potential in the gifted: A perspective on alternative "metaphors of the mind. In K. Heller, F. J. Monks, and A. H. Passow (Eds.), International handbook of research and development of giftedness and talent (pp. 1 87-287). Oxford: Pergamon. Sternberg, R.S. and Grigorenko, E.L. (2000) Teaching for successful intelligence: To increase student learning and achievement. Arlington Heights: Skylight Professional Development. Taylor, R.L. (1997) Assessment of exceptional students. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Tomlinson, C.A. (2001) How to differentiate instruction in mixed ability classrooms. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Tomlinson, C.A. (2003) Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom: Strategies and tools fir responsive teaching. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. VanTassel-Baska, J. and Brown, E.F. (2005) An analysis of gifted education curricular models. In F.A. Karnes and S.M. Bean (Eds), Methods and materials for teaching the gifted (pp. 75-105). Waco: Prufrock Press. Read More