Help for Classroom Teachers of Gifted Students 

Each year you will be asked to refer students for the gifted program.  It is sometimes very difficult to know who to refer if you aren't familiar with what being "gifted " really means. Perhaps, you have an identified gifted student in your class and you're searching for ways to keep him/her busy, or just searching to better understand the student's behavior.  Whatever the reasons, I am so glad you're here.   Please, take a few minutes to search through the resources below. Thank you for caring enough to find out more about our gifted children. They may or may not demonstrate it, but they need you. They need someone to care enough to provide differentiated instruction, provide understanding, and to provide acceptance.   Take a look, I promise it will be worth your time.  --                 I am always here to help.... 

Identification Information -  Gifted or High Achiever? 

Some things to think about....
Identifying The Gifted 

  Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read.
  Isaac Newton did poorly in grade 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 goods 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"
Read more...

Based on a concept from : "The Gifted and Talented Child" by Janice Szabos, Maryland Council for Gifted & Talented, Inc.

Providing Differentiated Instruction 

It is very tempting as a classroom teacher to have gifted students assist others, perform classroom chores, or run errands, however to truly meet his/her individual needs we must provide challenging learning opportunities for our gifted students. 
 

Meeting Affective Needs

One of the best ways to meet your gifted students' needs is to learn about them,  find out what they enjoy and they're interested in learning.  Becoming informed about problems associated with giftedness will help you better understand your student's behavior. We often have some misconceptions about what being gifted is, read some of the common myths and truths about giftedness below:
 

Gifted students are a homogeneous group, all high achievers.
Gifted students do not need help. If they are really gifted, they can manage on their own.
Gifted students have fewer problems than others because their intelligence and abilities somehow exempt them from the hassles of daily life.
The future of a gifted student is assured: a world of opportunities lies before the student.
Gifted students are goal directed; they know where they are heading.
The social and emotional development of the gifted student is at the same level as his or her intellectual development.
Gifted students are nerds and social isolates.
The primary value of the gifted student lies in his or her brain power.
The gifted student's family always prizes his or her abilities.
Gifted students need to serve as examples to others and they should always assume extra responsibility.
Gifted students make everyone else smarter.
Gifted students can accomplish anything they put their minds to. All they have to do is apply themselves.
Gifted students are naturally creative and do not need encouragement.
Gifted children are easy to raise and a welcome addition to any classroom.

Gifted students are often perfectionistic and idealistic. They may equate achievement and grades with self-esteem and self worth, which sometimes leads to fear of failure and interferes with achievement.
Gifted students may experience heightened sensitivity to their own expectations and those of others, resulting in guilt over achievements or grades perceived to be low.
Gifted students are asynchronous. Their chronological age, social, physical, emotional, and intellectual development may all be at different levels. For example, a 5-year-old may be able to read and comprehend a third-grade book but may not be able to write legibly.

Some gifted children are "mappers" (sequential learners), while others are "leapers" (spatial learners). Leapers may not know how they got a "right answer." Mappers may get lost in the steps leading to the right answer.
Gifted students may be so far ahead of their chronological age mates that they know more than half the curriculum before the school year begins! Boredom can result in low achievement and grades.
Gifted children are problem solvers. They benefit from working on open-ended, interdisciplinary problems; for example, how to solve a shortage of community resources.
Gifted students often refuse to work for grades alone.
Gifted students often think abstractly and with such complexity that they may need help with concrete study and test-taking skills. They may not be able to select one answer in a multiple choice question because they see how all the answers might be correct.
Gifted students who do well in school may define success as getting an "A" and failure as any grade less than an "A." By early adolescence they may be unwilling to try anything where they are not certain of guaranteed success.

 http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/resources/gifted/links.html

As parents of gifted children we must educate ourselves on meeting the needs of our children.  Whether those needs require learning the "right" things to say to comfort your child, or learning to help your child reach his/her potential, they can't be ignored.  Please, take some time to browse through the sites below.  If you ever need more information or someone to discuss problems related with your gifted child, I'm here, give me a call.  It is a great privilege to teach your gifted child.