Slides 11, 12 and 13: How
to identify advanced learners?
Advanced learners should
be seen as potentially gifted. Parents and teachers are important allies in the
identification of students who need gifted programming. Research indicates that
parents are best suited to identify gifted behaviors in young children. But, if for whatever reason parents
have not identified or have not initiated identification and setting of an
adequate educational plan, then it is the teacher’s responsibility to advocate
for the child. Classroom teachers are gifted students' best chances for having
their gifts recognized. Teachers can provide an important perspective by
indicating how a student performs compared to other students of the same age.
Teachers who see students needing a higher level of challenge in the classroom
have an obligation to document their findings and provide appropriate learning
opportunities. Teachers could also look for support of a gifted education
coordinator, if there is one in the district.
Slide 14: There are many
obstacles to identifying advanced learners and/ or gifted students. Despite all
efforts some students may be overlooked due to:
Race/Culture/Ethnicity,
Socio-economics, Instructional Practices, Gender Inequality, Sexual
Orientation, Asynchrony, Student Behavior, Hiding Gifts and Talents, Affective
Characteristics, Other Exceptionalities.
Slides 15, 16, 17 and 18:
Twice- exceptional students.
Among all others, gifted
students who also have learning disabilities are the most frequently overlooked
because their exceptionalities mask each other and for that reason they are
most frequently “hiding” in our classrooms. It is even harder for students if
only one of their exceptionalities is recognized. Usually it is students’
disabilities that are noticed and frequently education plans do not address
their talents. This can cause
further emotional distress. While it is important to address students’ academic
needs, recognizing and supporting the social and emotional needs of
twice-exceptional students can be even more important. Martha’s son story is an
example of this. She is a French teacher, not trained in gifted education, and
does not like math or technology.
One day Martha was sharing a story about her son, a computer genius
getting prestigious job offers even though he was still at the university. She
said that she was especially happy for her son because he had a very hard time
during his elementary years. He was diagnosed as learning disabled because he
had difficulties with writing. While getting support only with his disability
he was bored, frustrated and he too, similar to Betty’s son, wanted to quit
school. Fortunately, Martha
provided emotional support to her son and advocated for him, pointing out to
his teachers that her son was very smart, read a lot and was great in math.
Eventually, he was given more stimulating work and he did not quit school.
Stories about Betty’s and
Martha’s child support the point that, “students with the potential to be high
achievers are showing a rate of dropout that approximates low achievers”
(Phillips, 2008). In order to
prevent that happening, teachers need to learn characteristics of
twice-exceptional students.
No comments:
Post a Comment