California's Definition Of Giftedness

In 2015, I wrote about my personal philosophy of the gifted learner. I stated in my paper that, “Giftedness is not a one, set definition. The definition of gifted must encompass intellect, ability, creative talent as well as emotional awareness. It cannot be micro-managed and be a “one size fits all” definition” (Dauber, 2015). People, who are gifted, need differentiation and opportunity to express, demonstrate and show their giftedness. Educators must be able to provide opportunities for the gifted learner to express his/her abilities and/or talents. Gifted students learn differently and require special educational experiences in order to grow academically and achieve their highest potential. Therefore, the education field must be able to understand not only the cognitive side of a gifted learner but the affective or social/emotional aspects too.

Knowledge isn’t all about what people know or how well they are in school. IQ tests test the intelligence of the person; however they test the pure thinking capacity rather than what people know. This means that intelligence comes from the entire cognitive thinking ability and not what they

     Since the development of the intelligence quotient, schools in every part of the world have been using the IQ test to categorize millions of students into three groups. These three groups, which are the gifted, the average, and the retarded, are falsifications that perpetuate in our world culture and cause many gifted students to be deemed retarded and vice a versa. Why then is the IQ test so heavily relied on in our school systems? For schools the answer is simple, an I.Q. test is a reliable predictor of a students later performance in academics. This answer is relatively true, but where the I.Q. test falls extremely short is with testing the multiple

This paper will address the special needs involved with teaching the gifted. First it will identify exactly who is considered gifted and the process of evaluating and creating a plan to meet these children’s educational needs. Then it will address the methods that need to be put in place to teach gifted children in the classroom. Some of these things include dealing with underachieving gifted students and the area of twice exceptional students. It will cover the problem with properly accessing children of all ethnic backgrounds and how alternate methods of testing should be employed. It will deal with cultural acceptance of girls in gifted programs. It will also consider developing stem programs and enlisting corporate support for such programs to support the gifted child.

One of the difficulties in identifying the needs of low-income students is the profound cultural barriers which exist that prevent their strengths and deficits from being identified. Children from low-income homes frequently have poorer vocabularies and a weaker basis of the type of knowledge that is frequently considered 'intelligence' on most forms of assessment. A low-income child's IQ may be high, even though he lacks a framework of accepted middle-class knowledge. "In January 2003, the National Academy of Sciences released a report on the seeming overrepresentation of minorities in special education and underrepresentation of those students in gifted education. The NRC reported that, nationwide, 7.47 percent of all white students and 9.9 percent of Asian students are placed in gifted programs. Meanwhile, 3.04 percent of African-American students, 3.57 percent of Hispanic students, and 4.86 percent of American Indian students are classified as gifted" (GT-minority identification, 2003, ERIC Clearinghouse). The discrepancy, the NAS believed, could not be solely explained by talent alone but was at least partially rooted in the methods of identifying students labeled as gifted. Biases in standardized and other tests identifying student strengths, combined with prejudices, however unintentional, amongst educators and administrators lead to under-identification of the gifted

Middle school is a period of transition for adolescents. Students are no longer the children were once were in elementary school; they are beginning to mature into the adults they will need to become. Gifted learners at the middle-school level face the same developmental and tasks tasks and challenges that their peers do. Yet, gifted learners also possess traits that are different from their peers, which often make them misunderstood or ignored. The need for teachers to identify these students and differentiate instruction in a way that addresses the needs of the gifted students in the classroom is becoming more crucial than ever.

When a student is academically/intellectually gifted they usually learn quickly. They also tend to learn many different styles to do their work. Most AIG student have shown to be able to do work of students in higher grades then them. This mean they

Have you ever studied for a test only to find out that the grade you got is not what you expected it to be and that your friend who had practice for a sport, an interview and who was working on a project days before the test got a high grade on the test? Well according to Douglas Barton individuals often fall into misconception, on the idea that performance on tests and natural intelligence are the same and that some of us are just more intellectually gifted. Barton in his “What do top students do differently?” a TEDx youth talk points out that success in individual performance comes from the dedication and initiative to go beyond what the average student does.

Intelligence by definition is “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills” (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). However, many psychologists argue that there is no standard definition of ‘intelligence’, and there have been many different theories over time as psychologists try to find better ways to define this concept (Boundless 2013). While some believe in a single, general intelligence, others believe that intelligence involves multiple abilities and skills. Another largely debated concept is whether intelligence is genetically determined and fixed, or whether is it open to change, through learning and environmental influence. This is commonly known as the nature vs. nurture debate.

In week 9 we were required to take a sample IQ test to have an idea of what are IQ scores may be. On this test I scored 129. In our book I learned that the score of 130 is the minimum score that you need to get to be considered gifted. Although I know I am

Intelligence tests are inaccurate to measures true ability of a person because genes affect how a person responds to their surroundings, the tests cannot measure the person biological makeup or his true potential for being “smart”.

Throughout elementary school I thought that you were either intellectually gifted or not; gifted athletically or not, and that there was no changing it, but my perspective would change once I started wrestling in 6th grade. Wrestling taught me that while some people are gifted with talent, it is those who work the hardest that excel the most. As I worked harder and harder, I could become a better wrestler than those who had more natural talent. I soon applied this principle to school, and as a result I became a much better student than what I had thought

Being an Academically and Intellectually Gifted student cannot be defined. However, there are some myths that are associated with these AIG students. Some of these myths are that all AIG students enjoy going to school, all AIG students answer every question in class, and all AIG read during their free time.

Before the 1950s, most educators and school systems tended to follow Louis Terman’s example and based most decisions about gifted individuals on IQ and scholastic achievement scores. Standardized group intelligence tests, such as California Test of Mental Maturity, were often used to determine IQ. In these tests, educators were looking for exceptional ability in verbal or performance IQ, or a combination of the two. For the final identification, individual IQ tests such as the Wechsler scales and the Stanford Binet were used. Most school systems around this time considered an IQ of 130 or above to fall in the "gifted" range. This information comes from a book by Frederick B. Tuttle, Laurence A. Becker, and Joan A. Sousa (48).

In the 1996 book Gifted children: Myths and realities by Ellen Winner, the author of over 100 articles and four books, takes the opposing view in this work to the more current studies regarding producing giftedness through effort, as her study here defends a heavier influence played by brain development. She recognizes three characteristics found in gifted children: precocity, an insistence to marching to the beat of their own drummer, and what she calls a rage to master, or better stated, a driving force to gain mastery over what the gifted student has a special proclivity toward understanding and doing. Winner also illustrates many of the myths that follow the idea of what gifted children should be able to do. Through her research, one of