In an attempt to provide a clear explanation of the term “gifted” and how giftedness can be identified, developed and optimized, Stephanie Tolan’s metaphor about the parallelism of Cheetah and gifted students strikes a lot of resonant chords. She probed deeply about the nature of giftedness as something that is innate gifts longing for its expression. Just as a painter needs to paint, a musician needs to create music, an inventor needs to invent, and a runner needs to run. Like a boat on the shore, is safe but that is not what the boat is made for. Likewise, a gifted student is not made for repetitive tasks. He needs expression of his innate gifts. As Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman, Jr. point out in their book, In Search of Excellence, “man is simply designed wrong for any mechanistic system”.(Peters and Waterman, 1982) Similarly, gifted students are designed incorrectly for drills and dead lessons.
Every learning starts with a question. Let me also express my thoughts and analysis in the form of follow-up questions needing answers, rather than as a sentiment based on my limited experiences.
How do we identify giftedness? An animal is a gifted cheetah if it can run to a top speed of about 70 miles per hour. If a cheetah does not manifest a speed of 70 miles per hour, does it cease being a cheetah? If any other animal run at 70 miles per hour, does it become a cheetah? In our current educational system, a student is perceived as gifted if he wins contests, earns good grades, or performs more than what is expected at his particular developmental stage. If a student who, biologically /mentally gifted, does not win awards nor earn good grades, does he cease being gifted? If an average but diligent student earns good grades and wins awards, does he start being gifted? If a nine-year old student, who is mentally capable of performing mathematic skills for a 16-year old level, only performs for the level of a 12-year old, does he overachieve or underachieve?
Is giftedness a biological / mental make-up or is it a manifested behavior? A cheetah is still a cheetah even if it does not run. A cheetah is a cheetah as long as its biological / mental make-up is that of a cheetah. A child is gifted even if it does not manifest giftedness in flashy or traditional notion of giftedness, such a winning contests or earning good grades. Granting that giftedness is an innate talent, how can the teacher identify giftedness unless a gifted child shows behaviors of giftedness? But how can a child show behaviors of giftedness if the necessary conditions such as “playing field” and “antelope” are not present? Both questions feed on each other. So, how do we identify gifted students? For cheetah, it is not difficult because there are other characteristics like skin color, body built, and other visual attributes. For children, it is hard to identify who is gifted because (1) There are varied domains of giftedness (e.g. science, language, arts, numbers, sports, music, etc), and (2) It takes another gifted, or at least someone who understands giftedness, to identify who is gifted, and therefore is in the position to nurture them. Can a gifted student be taught by an average teacher? Does a gifted student need an instructor to instruct them about content, or a coach to inspire them to strive hard to catch the antelope?
What are the necessary conditions for giftedness to flourish? For cheetah, to nurture its “giftedness”, two conditions are needed: (1) a playing field wide enough for it to attain its top speed (2) an antelope fast enough to pose a real challenge to satisfy their hunger (something to run for).A cage limiting cheetah as animals to be displayed and not as animals to run; and a caretaker generous enough to spoon-fed the cheetah and cruel enough not to challenge it. On the same note, to nurture their giftedness, gifted students need a stage where to perform and not a cage to limit their giftedness. They need a goal high enough to bring the best out of them, a challenge hard enough to motivate them. Stakeholders of education need to recognize this eminent danger: A school programmed for equity instead of excellence which limits the students’ giftedness to earning good grades and meeting the VSC assessment limits; and a teacher and administrator who does not understand or have very limited knowledge about giftedness and therefore spoon-fed the gifted students rather than draw out the best out of them. But isn’t it that the world is designed and run by average persons for average persons doing average tasks and dreaming average dreams.
Cheetahs are like visionary scientists whose inventions are way ahead of time for the world to appreciate. It is not enough that the cheetah runs. It is important that it runs fast, and reach its top speed to be considered achiever. Likewise, it is not enough that gifted students earn high grades, nor meet the assessment limits. What they needs is a challenge hard enough to make them sweat and work hard. Gifted students must be challenged for what they are capable of, and not measured for what average students are measured against. To run fast, a cheetah needs reasons to run, and a running field wide enough to pick-up speed. Similarly, gifted students need motivation to strive for. Such motivation may be to cater to its longing for the expression of its gifts, or a safe environment that affords them to be different and original, or an open system that enables them the freedom to experiment, commit mistakes in the process and finally correct themselves if needed. Gifted students are not gods; they are human beings, too. They will commit mistakes, they will doubt themselves, they will redeem themselves, and they will contribute their talents in the greater scheme of things.
School system is financed by public funds (in the case of private schools, by funds from parents and other stakeholders). As such, school is expected to cater to the majority (in democratic government, the majority is the source of political clout and power.) Therefore, the schools carry the task of educating the majority, make them learn the same concepts and skills, and be educated citizens. However, it is also imperative for the system to recognize and acknowledge that, although approximately only 5 – 10 % of the school population comprises the gifted group, they are still part of the same large group. And that implies that schools need to believe that it is important to make the effort, that these children not only have the needs of all other children to be protected and properly cared for, but they have as much RIGHT as others to have their needs met. (Tolan, 1996)
For gifted students to attain their optimum potential, a teacher who exhibits cura-personalis would be critical for their success. Cura personalis means (1) accepting the student for who they are (2) challenging the student to be the best that they can be.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Do We Really Fit as Teachers?
What is the role of a teacher in a regular classroom? How well do we know our role? Have we internalized this role? These are just some of the questions we should ask ourselves as teachers.
The role of a teacher in a regular classroom ranges from source of knowledge, to creator of knowledge, not mentioning all the other roles like parent surrogate, counselor, etc. As a source of knowledge, it is imperative that we possess mastery of the subject matter, for in the end, our credibility depends on whether or not we know what we are teaching. On the other end of the continuum, our role is also as a creator of knowledge, that is what we and the class know now is not final, it is growing. We must possess openness and scholarly approach whenever we are faced with situations where our present knowledge must be challenged, stretched and refined. Half life of information is about two years. In two-year time, half of what we know may have gone obsolete. No wonder, a voracious reader among our gifted students know more than us, and when they detect that we, the teachers, are ignorant on subject matter relevant to what we are teaching, there is a great probability that they will lose confidence and respect to us. So first and foremost, the role of a teacher is to learn. We must learn about what to teach, how to best teach what needs to be taught. We must also continually learn about our class, our students, and our environment. Most of the time, teachers have wrong assumption when we plan for our class. We plan not for the present set of students we are teaching, but for the last group of students we taught the previous years. As such, we can hear many teachers complaining and comparing our current students with our past students. These teachers have a backward thinking approach to problem solving.
If we really want to help our students, as teachers, we must then be more pro-active, and sensitive to their needs in performing our roles as competent and effective classroom teachers.
The role of a teacher in a regular classroom ranges from source of knowledge, to creator of knowledge, not mentioning all the other roles like parent surrogate, counselor, etc. As a source of knowledge, it is imperative that we possess mastery of the subject matter, for in the end, our credibility depends on whether or not we know what we are teaching. On the other end of the continuum, our role is also as a creator of knowledge, that is what we and the class know now is not final, it is growing. We must possess openness and scholarly approach whenever we are faced with situations where our present knowledge must be challenged, stretched and refined. Half life of information is about two years. In two-year time, half of what we know may have gone obsolete. No wonder, a voracious reader among our gifted students know more than us, and when they detect that we, the teachers, are ignorant on subject matter relevant to what we are teaching, there is a great probability that they will lose confidence and respect to us. So first and foremost, the role of a teacher is to learn. We must learn about what to teach, how to best teach what needs to be taught. We must also continually learn about our class, our students, and our environment. Most of the time, teachers have wrong assumption when we plan for our class. We plan not for the present set of students we are teaching, but for the last group of students we taught the previous years. As such, we can hear many teachers complaining and comparing our current students with our past students. These teachers have a backward thinking approach to problem solving.
If we really want to help our students, as teachers, we must then be more pro-active, and sensitive to their needs in performing our roles as competent and effective classroom teachers.
Problems + Positive Attitude = Growth and Wisdom
I strongly agree to what Helen Keller once said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved”. There are several advantages when you experience problems. One of which is that you can learn from them, they give you opportunities for growth, and they make you stronger.
Mistakes make you stronger. Nobody likes making mistakes, but mistakes are important ingredients of growth and self improvement. It builds maturity. Another reason is that problems give you fresh opportunities. When you undergo trials they give you a chance to think about the situation. It makes you more analytical and critical of what’s happening around you. Thus, you try remedies to iron things out, perhaps fail and then learn from those failures and try again. It’s the essence of life, anyway… You try, you fail… and you try again. It’s simply a cycle…
I for one, hate facing my own problems. But a very important person helped me realize the good things I could learn from them. She also taught me how to face them. She faced many problems through her life and I’ve never seen her quit. Not once… She let me learn my lesson from the mistakes I have made in my young age. She made me understand the value of self reflection and evaluation, and giving myself and other people another chance. She always told me, “Everybody deserves a second chance.” If I give others a second chance, then I should give myself the same chance.
As a whole, as you learn from your mistakes, they shape your character. They sharpen your basic life skills and prepare you for whatever “tornado” or “hurricane” that may come your way. If you go through life afraid to experience mistakes and failures, and take risks, you’ll spend most of your life doing nothing, wasting your time and energy. There is no harm in committing mistakes. It is an essential part of moving forward. The more responsibility you take on, the more likely you will make mistakes and learn from them; which will help you grow wiser, stronger, more productive, and of course, happier and more successful.
Mistakes make you stronger. Nobody likes making mistakes, but mistakes are important ingredients of growth and self improvement. It builds maturity. Another reason is that problems give you fresh opportunities. When you undergo trials they give you a chance to think about the situation. It makes you more analytical and critical of what’s happening around you. Thus, you try remedies to iron things out, perhaps fail and then learn from those failures and try again. It’s the essence of life, anyway… You try, you fail… and you try again. It’s simply a cycle…
I for one, hate facing my own problems. But a very important person helped me realize the good things I could learn from them. She also taught me how to face them. She faced many problems through her life and I’ve never seen her quit. Not once… She let me learn my lesson from the mistakes I have made in my young age. She made me understand the value of self reflection and evaluation, and giving myself and other people another chance. She always told me, “Everybody deserves a second chance.” If I give others a second chance, then I should give myself the same chance.
As a whole, as you learn from your mistakes, they shape your character. They sharpen your basic life skills and prepare you for whatever “tornado” or “hurricane” that may come your way. If you go through life afraid to experience mistakes and failures, and take risks, you’ll spend most of your life doing nothing, wasting your time and energy. There is no harm in committing mistakes. It is an essential part of moving forward. The more responsibility you take on, the more likely you will make mistakes and learn from them; which will help you grow wiser, stronger, more productive, and of course, happier and more successful.
GROUPING STRATEGIES
By Mary Dominic Eleanor C. Lorena
Grouping gifted children is one of the fundamentals of ideal gifted education practice. I strongly believe that one of the basic learning and teaching principles is that each learner is unique. Each learner has his own learning style and preferences. Each one has their strengths and limitations as well as interests and needs. Thus grouping is crucial to address all the learning concerns mentioned above. It is therefore, paramount to meet these urgent needs of the gifted child to help him fully express and utilize his giftedness.
The NAGC’s position paper approved in March 2009, offers strategies that teachers, administrators, and staff can use in deciding how to group students, namely: Full-time gifted program, Self-contained gifted classroom, Special or magnet school for the gifted, Cluster grouping, Pull-out/send-out/withdrawal/resource room enrichment groups , Like-ability cooperative groups within classrooms, Cluster performance grouping, Regrouping for specific instruction, Within-class/flexible grouping, Like-performing cooperative learning ,Performance-based pull-out/send-out/withdrawal/resource room enrichment classes. I believe, these strategies could provide teachers and administrators with a bag of options and alternatives, as well as tricks to choose from to address their unique school situation. For every unique school situation, there is an appropriate grouping scheme that can be employed as long as they have the will to uphold what is best for the gifted and talented students as shown by prior empirical researches about grouping of students.
I think the issue on homogeneous versus heterogeneous grouping can be approached in three perspectives: (1) That of the side of the gifted students, themselves, and (2) That of the non-gifted or the rest of the student body, and (3) that of the teachers, administrators and staff.
From the perspective of the gifted students, homogeneous grouping offers a lot of positive effects.
1. Birds of the same feather flock together. Gifted students share similar context with each other, intellectually, emotionally, socially. They learn fast, and think deep, and hunger for challenge. By grouping them together, their teacher can address their common issues much efficiently and effectively.
2. Time. One factor that set gifted children apart from regular students is the speed by which gifted students process information. By grouping “faster” students together, idle time is minimized.
3. Quality of Work. Aside from breadth of lesson coverage, gifted students are capable of in-depth treatment of a topic or concept. Depth is attained by appropriate challenge and key, provoking questions. Most of the time, the source of this challenges or insights are not just from the teachers but their peers, as well. Gifted students need other gifted students to provide them with a mirror, a sounding board, an ally, who share common brainwaves together. One time, my math enthusiast friend ( I also consider him gifted ) solved a math problem which he thought was hard enough and he proudly announced to his friends what he did. To his disappointment, none but one of our friends have an idea about how hard the problem was. Their approval was not as meaningful as the approval he received from that friend who he knows understands how hard the problem was. As the saying goes, even the most priced diamond is useless to a swine.
4. Emotional Stability.. Emotional stability of the gifted child is one crucial issue that needs to be addressed for the child to be holistically successful. This affective aspect of the child could be a reason for the child to either regress or succeed. This is where parental support as well as teachers’ and peers’ affirmation is needed. This reminds me of my friend who shared with me her experience of taking the Myer’s-Briggs Type Profile where she found out that she is an INTP (Introverted-Intuitive-Thinker-Perceiver). Prior to taking the MBTP, she can not understand herself. Why she prefers to stay home, read, experiment, write poems, solve puzzles while most of her friends enjoy going out, chatting with friends, socializing – activities that make her feel tired. Why are her peers different? However, she met one friend who shares most of her preferences. They both prefer to be alone. They both like to read. They both like to solve puzzles. They both are silent persons. When they meet, they talk about their discoveries. They share their ideas about the speed of light, about the 10 unsolved math problems, about how to optimize a database program, so on and so forth. She was glad to have found one who understands what is going on in her head. This made her feel more secure being around with the other person and strived more so when they meet and talk, she has a lot of new ideas to share and interact with her friend.
On the other hand, from the perspective of the non-gifted learners, homogeneous grouping offer some positive and negative effects. Among the positive effects are: They are given a space and a place to bloom. They don’t have to compete against more superior intellectually gifted and talented children. They grow at their own pace, and develop their self-esteem in the process. They have opportunities to excel and be recognized. For the negative effects, they lose opportunities to learn from and work with their best peers. Their class will not benefit from the insights and ideas of other gifted and talented students.
From the perspective of teachers and administrators, their prior experiences as well as political and pedagogical and practical opinions shape their views. Their views are often not from the perspective of what is good for the gifted and talented students, but more often from teachers survival especially in an educational system where teachers’ success are measured against how well the students perform in state exams. To meet the Average Yearly Progress, a significant number of administrators and teachers are too focused on helping the non-performing students reach the average levels; while they are happy to see their gifted students stay average and help the school improve their passing rate. If you accelerate gifted students, they will not be able to be counted for the school passing rate in a particular grade level. If you accelerate a student, they can not help the non-performing students increase their test scores. Administrators, teachers and staff are affected by the political as well as economic aspect of education. More often, these realities are biased in favor of the non-performing, and not as supportive to the gifted and talented students.
Finally, grouping indeed is the key to successful and meaningful learning. It should be made available and evident in all the stages of learning of not just the gifted learner but the regular students as well. (That is, if the teacher is really committed to achieving quality and meaningful learning, and not just to raise the AYP.) Yes, it may require a lot of work from the teacher, but the effort would be worth it when you see the students experience the joy of learning as well as quench their thirst for challenging and meaningful tasks. This is the essence of teaching the gifted - differentiation. It is the key to meet their actual needs and provide them with challenging but safe learning environment.
Grouping gifted children is one of the fundamentals of ideal gifted education practice. I strongly believe that one of the basic learning and teaching principles is that each learner is unique. Each learner has his own learning style and preferences. Each one has their strengths and limitations as well as interests and needs. Thus grouping is crucial to address all the learning concerns mentioned above. It is therefore, paramount to meet these urgent needs of the gifted child to help him fully express and utilize his giftedness.
The NAGC’s position paper approved in March 2009, offers strategies that teachers, administrators, and staff can use in deciding how to group students, namely: Full-time gifted program, Self-contained gifted classroom, Special or magnet school for the gifted, Cluster grouping, Pull-out/send-out/withdrawal/resource room enrichment groups , Like-ability cooperative groups within classrooms, Cluster performance grouping, Regrouping for specific instruction, Within-class/flexible grouping, Like-performing cooperative learning ,Performance-based pull-out/send-out/withdrawal/resource room enrichment classes. I believe, these strategies could provide teachers and administrators with a bag of options and alternatives, as well as tricks to choose from to address their unique school situation. For every unique school situation, there is an appropriate grouping scheme that can be employed as long as they have the will to uphold what is best for the gifted and talented students as shown by prior empirical researches about grouping of students.
I think the issue on homogeneous versus heterogeneous grouping can be approached in three perspectives: (1) That of the side of the gifted students, themselves, and (2) That of the non-gifted or the rest of the student body, and (3) that of the teachers, administrators and staff.
From the perspective of the gifted students, homogeneous grouping offers a lot of positive effects.
1. Birds of the same feather flock together. Gifted students share similar context with each other, intellectually, emotionally, socially. They learn fast, and think deep, and hunger for challenge. By grouping them together, their teacher can address their common issues much efficiently and effectively.
2. Time. One factor that set gifted children apart from regular students is the speed by which gifted students process information. By grouping “faster” students together, idle time is minimized.
3. Quality of Work. Aside from breadth of lesson coverage, gifted students are capable of in-depth treatment of a topic or concept. Depth is attained by appropriate challenge and key, provoking questions. Most of the time, the source of this challenges or insights are not just from the teachers but their peers, as well. Gifted students need other gifted students to provide them with a mirror, a sounding board, an ally, who share common brainwaves together. One time, my math enthusiast friend ( I also consider him gifted ) solved a math problem which he thought was hard enough and he proudly announced to his friends what he did. To his disappointment, none but one of our friends have an idea about how hard the problem was. Their approval was not as meaningful as the approval he received from that friend who he knows understands how hard the problem was. As the saying goes, even the most priced diamond is useless to a swine.
4. Emotional Stability.. Emotional stability of the gifted child is one crucial issue that needs to be addressed for the child to be holistically successful. This affective aspect of the child could be a reason for the child to either regress or succeed. This is where parental support as well as teachers’ and peers’ affirmation is needed. This reminds me of my friend who shared with me her experience of taking the Myer’s-Briggs Type Profile where she found out that she is an INTP (Introverted-Intuitive-Thinker-Perceiver). Prior to taking the MBTP, she can not understand herself. Why she prefers to stay home, read, experiment, write poems, solve puzzles while most of her friends enjoy going out, chatting with friends, socializing – activities that make her feel tired. Why are her peers different? However, she met one friend who shares most of her preferences. They both prefer to be alone. They both like to read. They both like to solve puzzles. They both are silent persons. When they meet, they talk about their discoveries. They share their ideas about the speed of light, about the 10 unsolved math problems, about how to optimize a database program, so on and so forth. She was glad to have found one who understands what is going on in her head. This made her feel more secure being around with the other person and strived more so when they meet and talk, she has a lot of new ideas to share and interact with her friend.
On the other hand, from the perspective of the non-gifted learners, homogeneous grouping offer some positive and negative effects. Among the positive effects are: They are given a space and a place to bloom. They don’t have to compete against more superior intellectually gifted and talented children. They grow at their own pace, and develop their self-esteem in the process. They have opportunities to excel and be recognized. For the negative effects, they lose opportunities to learn from and work with their best peers. Their class will not benefit from the insights and ideas of other gifted and talented students.
From the perspective of teachers and administrators, their prior experiences as well as political and pedagogical and practical opinions shape their views. Their views are often not from the perspective of what is good for the gifted and talented students, but more often from teachers survival especially in an educational system where teachers’ success are measured against how well the students perform in state exams. To meet the Average Yearly Progress, a significant number of administrators and teachers are too focused on helping the non-performing students reach the average levels; while they are happy to see their gifted students stay average and help the school improve their passing rate. If you accelerate gifted students, they will not be able to be counted for the school passing rate in a particular grade level. If you accelerate a student, they can not help the non-performing students increase their test scores. Administrators, teachers and staff are affected by the political as well as economic aspect of education. More often, these realities are biased in favor of the non-performing, and not as supportive to the gifted and talented students.
Finally, grouping indeed is the key to successful and meaningful learning. It should be made available and evident in all the stages of learning of not just the gifted learner but the regular students as well. (That is, if the teacher is really committed to achieving quality and meaningful learning, and not just to raise the AYP.) Yes, it may require a lot of work from the teacher, but the effort would be worth it when you see the students experience the joy of learning as well as quench their thirst for challenging and meaningful tasks. This is the essence of teaching the gifted - differentiation. It is the key to meet their actual needs and provide them with challenging but safe learning environment.
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