1:0 Identifying the Gifted:
· Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read.
· Isaac Newton did poorly in school
· When Thomas Edison was a boy, his teachers told him he was too stupid to learn anything.
· F W Woolworth got a job in a dry good store when he was 21. but his employers would not let him wait on a customer because he “Didn’t have enough sense”.
· A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had “No good ideas.”
· Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college.
· Verner Von Braun flunked 9th grade algebra.
· Admiral Richard E Byrd had been retired from the navy as “Unfit for service.” But he flew over both the poles thereafter.
· Louis Pasteur was rated as mediocre in chemistry when he attended College.
· Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade.
2:0 Recognizing the characteristics of Gifted Children:
Eric Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children (1985) cites three types of characteristics of gifted children: general behavioural, learning, and creative characteristics.
A) General Behavioural Characteristics:
Gifted children’s behaviour differs from that of their age-mates in the following ways:
# Many gifted children learn to read early, and as much as half the gifted and talented population has learned to read before entering school.
# Gifted children often read widely, quickly, and intensely and have large vocabularies.
# Gifted children learn basic skills better, more quickly, and with less practice.
# They can work independently at an early age and can concentrate for longer time.
# They often have seemingly boundless energy, which sometimes leads to a misdiagnosis of hyperactivity.
# They usually respond and relate well to parents, teachers, and other adults. They may prefer the company of older children and adults to that of their peers.
# They like to learn new things, are willing to examine the unusual, and are highly inquisitive.
# They tackle tasks and problems in a well-organised, goal-directed , and efficient manner.
# They exhibit an intrinsic motivation to learn, find out, or explore and are often very persistent. ”I’d rather do it myself” is a common attitude.
B) Learning Characteristics:
Gifted children are natural learners who often show many of these characteristics:
# They may show keen powers of observation and a sense of the significant; they have an eye for important details.
# They may read a great deal on their own, preferring books and magazines written for children older than they are.
# They often take great pleasure in intellectual activity.
# They have well-developed powers of abstraction, conceptualization, and synthesis.
# They readily see cause-effect relationship.
# They often display a questioning attitude and seek information for its own sake as much as for its usefulness.
# They are often skeptical, critical, and evaluative. They are quick to spot inconsistencies.
# They often have large storehouse of information about a variety of topics, which they can recall quickly.
# They readily grasp underlying principles and can often make valid generalizations about events, people, or objects.
# They quickly perceive similarities, differences and anomalies.
# They often attack complicated material by separating it into components and analyzing it systematically.
C) Creative Characteristics:
Gifted children’s creative abilities often set them apart from their age-mates. These characteristics may take the following forms:-
# Gifted children are fluent thinkers, able to generate possibilities, consequences, or related areas.
# They are flexible thinkers, able to use many different alternatives and approaches to problem solving.
# They are original thinkers, seeking new, unusal, or unconventional associations and combinations among items of information.
# They can also see relationships among seemingly unrelated objects, ideas or facts.
# They are elaborate thinkers, producing new steps, ideas, responses, or other embellishments to a basic idea, situation, or problems.
# They are willingly to entertain complexity and seem to thrive on problem solving.
# They are good guessers and can readily construct hypotheses or “what if “ questions.
# They often are aware of their own impulsiveness and irrationality, and they show emotional sensitivity.
# They are extremely curious about objects, ideas, situations or events.
# They often display intellectual playfulness and like to fantasize and imagine.
# They can be less intellectually inhibited than their peers are in expressing opinions and ideas, and they often disagree spiritedly with others’ statements.
# They are sensitive to beauty and are attracted to aesthetic vales.
3:0 Who are the Highly Gifted ?
Highly gifted children tend to be those who demonstrate asynchronous development. Due to their high cognitive abilities and high intensities they experience and relate to the world in unique ways. These children are often found as a result of extremely high scores on an individually scored IQ tests, generally above the IQ range. Others may be prodigies in areas such as math, science, language and/or the arts. Profoundly gifted children can score in excess of 170 IQ.
Highly gifted children demonstrate characteristics such as the extreme need to:
1. Learn at a much faster pace.
2. Process material to a much greater depth.
3. Show incredible intensity in energy, imagination, intellectual prowess, sensitivity, and emotion which are not typical in the general population.
· The Role of a Regular Teacher:-
Most teachers have, on occasion, had students in their classes who know more than they do about some specific topics they are teaching. Teachers who see themselves as facilitators of learning can find a great deal to offer these students. As a facilitator, designer, or coach, the teacher presents the conditions for learning. He or she helps the students develop the skills necessary to learn, understand, and interpret an appropriately differentiated curriculum. This role requires teachers to have skills in both their subject areas and in the management of learning.
One of the greatest mistakes made by school districts attempting to deliver programming to their gifted and talented students is that they look for uni-dimensional approaches. The heterogeneity of the gifted population leaves only one remedy that has any chance of succeeding over the long haul. That is a multiple programming approach – one in which a constellation of programmes is available in which students can participate based on their abilities, needs, and interests. Some of these options may be specifically tailored to high ability students. Profiles of students’ abilities, derived from comprehensive assessment batteries, can be used to match students to appropriate programmes.
· Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read.
· Isaac Newton did poorly in school
· When Thomas Edison was a boy, his teachers told him he was too stupid to learn anything.
· F W Woolworth got a job in a dry good store when he was 21. but his employers would not let him wait on a customer because he “Didn’t have enough sense”.
· A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had “No good ideas.”
· Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college.
· Verner Von Braun flunked 9th grade algebra.
· Admiral Richard E Byrd had been retired from the navy as “Unfit for service.” But he flew over both the poles thereafter.
· Louis Pasteur was rated as mediocre in chemistry when he attended College.
· Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade.
2:0 Recognizing the characteristics of Gifted Children:
Eric Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children (1985) cites three types of characteristics of gifted children: general behavioural, learning, and creative characteristics.
A) General Behavioural Characteristics:
Gifted children’s behaviour differs from that of their age-mates in the following ways:
# Many gifted children learn to read early, and as much as half the gifted and talented population has learned to read before entering school.
# Gifted children often read widely, quickly, and intensely and have large vocabularies.
# Gifted children learn basic skills better, more quickly, and with less practice.
# They can work independently at an early age and can concentrate for longer time.
# They often have seemingly boundless energy, which sometimes leads to a misdiagnosis of hyperactivity.
# They usually respond and relate well to parents, teachers, and other adults. They may prefer the company of older children and adults to that of their peers.
# They like to learn new things, are willing to examine the unusual, and are highly inquisitive.
# They tackle tasks and problems in a well-organised, goal-directed , and efficient manner.
# They exhibit an intrinsic motivation to learn, find out, or explore and are often very persistent. ”I’d rather do it myself” is a common attitude.
B) Learning Characteristics:
Gifted children are natural learners who often show many of these characteristics:
# They may show keen powers of observation and a sense of the significant; they have an eye for important details.
# They may read a great deal on their own, preferring books and magazines written for children older than they are.
# They often take great pleasure in intellectual activity.
# They have well-developed powers of abstraction, conceptualization, and synthesis.
# They readily see cause-effect relationship.
# They often display a questioning attitude and seek information for its own sake as much as for its usefulness.
# They are often skeptical, critical, and evaluative. They are quick to spot inconsistencies.
# They often have large storehouse of information about a variety of topics, which they can recall quickly.
# They readily grasp underlying principles and can often make valid generalizations about events, people, or objects.
# They quickly perceive similarities, differences and anomalies.
# They often attack complicated material by separating it into components and analyzing it systematically.
C) Creative Characteristics:
Gifted children’s creative abilities often set them apart from their age-mates. These characteristics may take the following forms:-
# Gifted children are fluent thinkers, able to generate possibilities, consequences, or related areas.
# They are flexible thinkers, able to use many different alternatives and approaches to problem solving.
# They are original thinkers, seeking new, unusal, or unconventional associations and combinations among items of information.
# They can also see relationships among seemingly unrelated objects, ideas or facts.
# They are elaborate thinkers, producing new steps, ideas, responses, or other embellishments to a basic idea, situation, or problems.
# They are willingly to entertain complexity and seem to thrive on problem solving.
# They are good guessers and can readily construct hypotheses or “what if “ questions.
# They often are aware of their own impulsiveness and irrationality, and they show emotional sensitivity.
# They are extremely curious about objects, ideas, situations or events.
# They often display intellectual playfulness and like to fantasize and imagine.
# They can be less intellectually inhibited than their peers are in expressing opinions and ideas, and they often disagree spiritedly with others’ statements.
# They are sensitive to beauty and are attracted to aesthetic vales.
3:0 Who are the Highly Gifted ?
Highly gifted children tend to be those who demonstrate asynchronous development. Due to their high cognitive abilities and high intensities they experience and relate to the world in unique ways. These children are often found as a result of extremely high scores on an individually scored IQ tests, generally above the IQ range. Others may be prodigies in areas such as math, science, language and/or the arts. Profoundly gifted children can score in excess of 170 IQ.
Highly gifted children demonstrate characteristics such as the extreme need to:
1. Learn at a much faster pace.
2. Process material to a much greater depth.
3. Show incredible intensity in energy, imagination, intellectual prowess, sensitivity, and emotion which are not typical in the general population.
· The Role of a Regular Teacher:-
Most teachers have, on occasion, had students in their classes who know more than they do about some specific topics they are teaching. Teachers who see themselves as facilitators of learning can find a great deal to offer these students. As a facilitator, designer, or coach, the teacher presents the conditions for learning. He or she helps the students develop the skills necessary to learn, understand, and interpret an appropriately differentiated curriculum. This role requires teachers to have skills in both their subject areas and in the management of learning.
One of the greatest mistakes made by school districts attempting to deliver programming to their gifted and talented students is that they look for uni-dimensional approaches. The heterogeneity of the gifted population leaves only one remedy that has any chance of succeeding over the long haul. That is a multiple programming approach – one in which a constellation of programmes is available in which students can participate based on their abilities, needs, and interests. Some of these options may be specifically tailored to high ability students. Profiles of students’ abilities, derived from comprehensive assessment batteries, can be used to match students to appropriate programmes.
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