Literature Review On Gifted Education

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.

Education was built, along with many other things, to the average standard. It was designed with the average student in mind, never really adapted towards those who grasps concepts quickly, accelerate at rapid rates beyond their peers. As gifted, or exceptionally intelligence children make up around 6 to 10 percent of the students within America, roughly 3 to 5 million students (“Gifted Education in the U.S”). But as America is behind in the general education, it is bounds behind in gifted education. Teachers aren’t equipped to challenge the gifted students, or simply have no time to spend developing and nurturing the child’s talents. Schools don’t have programs to help the children develop at their quicken pace, and programs in place aren’t

(2013). Curriculum Issues. Gifted child Today. Retrieved from Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson), Ipswich, MA. Accessed July 29, 2015.

You might think twice before sending a tennis coach to baseball’s spring training season; although there would be overlap in general kinesthetic and sports psychology knowledge, the nuances of the two sports are very different and require disparate sets of coaching skills. Just as a baseball team needs a coach who understands baseball, gifted students need guidance from well-trained, challenging teachers who understand their educational needs. Teacher training requirements for working with gifted students are determined at the state and local levels. Although gifted and talented students are in every school and classroom, few districts require that all classroom teachers receive training to address the educational needs of advanced learners.

Adolescents face many developmental tasks: physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally. For example, puberty happens, intellectual interests expand, moral thinking happens, sense of identity is initiated, independence is worked towards, there is conflict with adults, and peer influence becomes an issue—to say the least. This particular read focuses on twelve west coast inner city students and the developmental and environmental tasks that impact their education. Professionals often use the word resilience, or suggest that students become resilient, without putting much thought into the difficulties that students must recover from.

Motivating gifted students can present a challenge for any teacher. Many children are coming to school with very little enthusiasm to learn, especially the gifted child. Although

Adams County public school system’s current program doesn’t seem to recognize any minority or poor students who could be considered gifted. Educators in this district and committee members seem to lack any motivation to include diverse learners in their program. The fact that Adams County only recognized three out of four hundred thirty-eight over a five-year span is appalling. I feel Adams County need some major changes to extend their idea of giftedness. It needs to start with intensive and in-depth teacher training along with community outreach and awareness programs to help educate parents about giftedness. For instance, parent could learn ways to better support their children and help identify their child’s areas of giftedness.

Gifted students are mistakenly perceived as individuals with the intellectual capacity to excel in their endeavors whether it is academically, artistically, athletically, or musically; however, this is one of the most common myths educators believe. According to the National Association for Gifted Children (n.d.), gifted students are those who have outstanding abilities to reason and learn or who demonstrate exceptional proficiency in one or more areas such as mathematics, language, painting, dance, sports, and more. With this definition, the gifted youth likely are capable of achieving their goals on their own, but these kids have demands that must be met in order for them to succeed. Some teachers argue that gifted students do not require

It is really important that tasks are differentiated in advance for both gifted and talented children and

National Association for Gifted Children website mission is to support those who enhance the growth and development of gifted and talented children through education, advocacy, community building, and research. They aim to help parents and families, K-12 education professionals including support service personnel, and members of the research and higher education community. We can find the Twice-Exceptional Special Interest Group, this group provides professionals a network where they can meet to discuss research, programs, curriculum and new developments for this special area of gifted education. I couldn’t find specific information for children from 0 to 8-year-old, but they give relevant information for parents who notice something exceptional

As a teacher, I would enhance the learning of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills of individuals with exceptional learning needs, and increase their self-awareness, self-management, self-control, self-reliance, and self-esteem. Moreover, special educators emphasize the development, maintenance, and generalization of knowledge and skills across environments, settings, and the lifespan. Special educators possess a repertoire of evidence-based instructional strategies to individualize instruction for individuals with exceptional learning needs. Special educators select, adapt, and use these instructional strategies to promote positive learning results in general and special curricula2 and to appropriately modify learning environments for individuals with exceptional learning needs. They enhance the learning of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills of individuals with exceptional learning needs, and increase their self-awareness, self-management, self-control, self-reliance, and self-esteem. Moreover, special educators emphasize the development, maintenance, and generalization of knowledge and skills across environments, settings, and the lifespan.

I found it interesting 50% of public schools are rural. We are a city school district, yet we are considered a rural district in the Mooresville Graded School District. According to our reading in Colangelo’s Handbook of Gifted Education rural schools have many benefits for students including smaller class size, lower dropout rates and more community support. I believe when you have smaller school districts and schools you have more contact with your students and you are able to individualize and accommodate more when dealing with your students.

It comes as no surprise that our gifted and talented education program is growing in the United States as we are recognizing more students who need a higher level of academic content than the grade level they currently reside. According to a policy brief compiled by Rachana Bhatt (2011); the percent of students in the United States in the gifted and talented (G&T) education program has grown from 6.3% in 2000 to 6.7% in 2006 (A Review of Gifted and Talented Education in the United States, 2011). What seems to be lacking however, is the array of diversity found in our general education classrooms into our G&T programs. Within a nation that strives to provide an

Many educators have become well-versed in modifying the regular classroom curriculum to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Educators are not as experienced, however, in meeting the instructional needs of high-ability students. In a growing number of states, revisions in regulations pertaining to gifted and talented students are requiring that high-ability students, previously served in part-time pull-out programs, must also receive appropriate instruction within the context of their regular classrooms. For example, in Kentucky, high-ability students can no longer be viewed as sufficiently served by a once-monthly or once-weekly program. These students

In “The Drama of the Gifted Child; The Search for the True Self,” Alice Miller exemplifies the significance of child development as she underlines the detrimental impact of poor parenting and the lingering inadvertent path that follows into adulthood as a result. She provides insight on the many complications that hinder the developmental process of children in relation to the long-term effects it casts later on in one’s life as a result of childhood deprivation. Similarly, her literature reflects the works of Alfred Adler in his notion of “individual psychology” and couples closely with his Adlerian Parenting Model in which he provides guidelines for effective parenting.