Week 1

Holy crap...it's snowing! We were supposed to have a teacher workday today, so I'm sure the students are mad that this snow was "wasted" on a day they already had off! Heehee. Anywho...

Parents should play a huge role in identifying their children as gifted and/or talented. They are (or should be) the people who spend the most time with the child during her early childhood and should be able to tell teachers and school administrators how the kid likes to spend her spare time, the subjects in which she seems to be particularly interested, etc. With parents' help, teachers and support staff would be able to come up with a program that is more suited to the child's natural curiosities, interests and talents. This is not to insinuate, of course, that the child should only be expected to perform when the subject matter interests her, but it always helps for a teacher to know if, for instance, the child is particularly interested in geology.

If, then, a teacher is knows that she has a student who is particularly interested in geology, she could, perhaps, when the other students are doing a lesson on basic geological information, give that child a differentiated lesson that explores geology more in depth. This would prevent the child re-learning facts and broad concepts that she already knows while keeping her working on the same subject matter as the rest of the class. She could, perhaps, make a short presentation to the class about her findings after the other students have learned some broad concepts.

A differentiated curriculum is important because it keeps gifted kids from becoming bored. Boredom can kill a child's good opinion of school and frustrate her to the point where she stops trying. Differentiating the curriculum for gifted students allows kids the opportunity to explore various subjects in a way that is challenging, and therefore not boring. It is important for teachers to avoid making the differentiated assignments too challenging, however, as this could lead to feelings of frustration and inadequacy. Whether the teacher differentiates her delivery, her assignments or her special programs, she should make sure that each child is being challenged and that each one can be successful.