The authors presented different counseling tenets that not just counselors, but also, we, as teachers can use to address the concerns of our gifted learners. We can incorporate these tenets in our lessons so that others students can benefit with it as well. The counseling tenets discussed the book Socio-Emotional Curriculum with Gifted and Talented Students (2009) include the following: nonjudgmental, focusing on strengths, respecting and fostering autonomy, active listening, open-ended questioning, avoiding teacher/facilitator self-disclosure, respecting privacy and processing.
According to the book, nonjudgmental happens when a teacher does not impose his/her values to the students, he/she is open to learning more about the students’ world and collaborate with the families in order to get insights about the students (p. 212). One way that I have used for the past years on getting insight about my students with special needs was sending welcome letters and in that letter I included another sheet asking the parents to provide me information about their child’s strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes and expectations. Another way to incorporate nonjudgmental in the lessons or activities is by allowing students to share their belief and the reason for believing this way. This can be in the form of projects, essays or debates.
Focusing on the strengths of the students goes hand in hand with being nonjudgmental. As a special education teacher, I learned to focus on what the exceptional children students can do well and work our way out on the things that they need to work on. The book discussed to focus on the solution and not on the problem (p. 215). How can we incorporate this in our daily lessons and activities? If a student is g...
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...ot only use the cognitive skills of the students but also their affect. This will allow the students to process and reflect on how they made that specific decision or answer. They are not just focusing on the end result but how they end up in that result or scenario. Teachers need to incorporate more reflection pieces or activities in their lessons because it not only enhances the cognitive skills of the children but also addresses their social and emotional needs.
In conclusion, as we go to our everyday lives of teaching the gifted learners, we have to consider their needs and we have the responsibility of helping them in a right way. Thus we have to remember these counseling tenets.
Reference:
VanTassel-Baska, J.L., Cross, T. L. & Olenchak, F. R. (Eds.). (2009). Social-Emotional
Curriculum With Gifted and Talented Students. Prufrock Press Inc. Waco, Texas.
Pfeiffer, S. I. (2001, April). Professional psychology and the gifted: Emerging practice opportunities. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 32(2), 175-180.
Gifted and talented programs are intrinsically valuable to many children’s education as they provide a system in which all students involved are engaged, challenged, and intellectually stimulated. In "How People Learn", Donovan, Bransford, and Pellegrino (1999) stress the importance of each student being given reasonable and appropriate goals based on his or her level of understanding and competency (p. 20). Gifted and talented programs help institutionalize the attempt to meet all student’s needs by providing uniquely appropriate challenges which aim to keep every student engaged, thus receiving the best chance at success. Although there are many valuable and important aspects of gifted education, there are also significant issues rooted in the base of America’s gifted and talented programs, one of which I will address throughout this paper. In my opinion, the most notable problem which troubles gifted and talented programs is the system by which students are selected to join their school’s gifted and talented program.
The Talents Unlimited Model was created under the philosophy that all students, both those identified as gifted and those not, would benefit from enrichment programs. The model is used to educate teachers on how to use differentiated instruction to use “higher order cognitive tasks to help students with varying abilities use their preferred thinking talents to manipulate instruction to solve problems, see broad relationships, evaluate varying perspectives, draw comparisons among disparate viewpoints, and predict causes and effects” (Schlichter, 2009, p. 434).
Values, Morals, and Beliefs are components that play a role in an individual’s self-identity. The establishment of these components shape human nature, behavior, and the development of an individual’s purpose. The basis of these fundamentals has contributed to my desire to become a counselor. This paper will discuss my views of human nature, factors of behavior changes, goals of therapy, the roles of a therapist, and the counseling approaches that I chose to incorporate in a practice.
The students in our classrooms, both special education and general education classrooms, require individualized education to reach their full potential. Each child’s potential is different just as each child’s road to reach it is different. Our job as teachers is to be there for the student’s to help them reach their potential through their own unique way.
The origin of the social stigma is often educators and parents, those ideally associated with student guidance and support. The advanced ability of most gifted children is identified at a young age. And, in the current educational system of teaching the fundamentals and helping students to just get by, gifted students are not challenged. Director of the Area Service Center for Gifted Education in southern Chicago, Joyce Van Tassel states, "The system itself does not demand much of these students. We're worried about minimum competency and...
Although the most important part of being an educator rests on focusing upon the needs of students when making classroom decisions, moreover, I consider the blend of philosophies which I advocate to be essential aspects of a school's curriculum. I believe that they will not only assist me in shaping the lives of my students when I begin teaching but will also aid me throughout the completion of my academic career. As I work toward a master's degree in the field of special education, after my graduation from Concord College, my educational philosophy will continue to grow. It will keep me grounded as a professional educator.
Kaplan, S. N. (2013). Special schools and differentiated curriculum. Gifted Child Today, 36(3), 201-204. doi:10.1177/1076217513487186
Mathews, M. (1992). Gifted Students Talk About Cooperative Learning. Educational Leadership, 50. Retrieved March 10, 2003, from http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/92101mathews.html.
There are teachers that believe a gifted child should be able to do well, need little to no assistance, and should work with other less gifted students to assist them. Other myths about gifted students include “they are good at everything and should be reminded of that when they fail to perform at high levels and they do not need special programs as they will be able to perform at high levels regardless”. These myths come from not understanding gifted children. Teachers often want each of their students to gain knowledge in their classes, this can often be a challenge when having gifted students. Cathy Kroninger, a former educator from the Chatham County schools, stated that she believed that “gifted students usually learn less new material than any other group in an academic year” and this is often caused by the “lack of curriculum modification, a lack of exposure to higher level thinking skills, and lowered expectations”. To be able to teach a gifted child Kroninger suggests it is best to first identify them. There are students who are bright and students who are gifted. “A bright child enjoys school and understands ideas, while a gifted child enjoys learning and constructs abstractions. A bright child is a good memorizer, a gifted [one] is a good guesser. A bright child will work hard while a gifted child plays around, yet tests well… A bright child is pleased with his or her own learning,
“The secret in education lies in respecting the student,” said Ralph Emerson. The quote above reflects upon the sheer importance of respecting a student’s capacities, characters, and qualities alike in the school environment. Whether it be a teacher’s failure to recognize a student’s athletic talents or a negro parent succumbing to a segregationist legal system, ignorant mindsets plague the current philosophy of education. Instead, teachers ought to recognize a student’s artistic skills and athletic capacities and possession of the so-called gift of the gab. Parents ought to respect their children’s desires to exercise their free will and natural talents. Academic instructors ought to encourage scholars to strive for success by rendering genuine assistance, rather than inundating their lives with onerous tasks. Needless to say, the prevailing institution of “education” offers an insightful, open-minded approach to readying pupils for the ensuing workplace environments.
There are several strategies on how to teach gifted students floating around in today’s educational theory. Grouping, using gifted classrooms, and enrichment are all options that are presented. While traditional high schools have the ability to design classrooms specifically for the gifted population, Carolina Academy does not have the means to create a class only for the gifted students. Due to placing students into inclusion, gifted students are not pulled into Honors classes. Instead of an Honors class, gifted students are provided opportunities of vertical enrichment, or access to the honors rubric. The honors rubric is designed for students to research independently on the same content that the other students are working off of. Towards the end of the project, the students are required to present the same content, however, with a deeper knowledge basis. The following strategies should be used at Carolina High School: Independent projects, vertical enrichment, mentors, and bloom’s taxonomy.
This article talks about the necessary training a teacher of a regular classroom needs to teach a child with gifted abilities.
During an observation, there three types of first grade students that were observing a gifted, typical and special need. Some common characteristics of a typical first grade student they may ask many questions, very social, interest in learning, bossy with friends, enjoy doing projects and very energetic. They also understanding of their testing behavior and interested in learning, enjoy art, riddles and poems (Responsive Classroom, 2011). Some characteristics of a gifted student have strong curiosity, high level of language and verbal development, great capacity to process information and have long attention span. Gifted students also have a higher understanding of self-awareness and persistence and goal directed (Duke University, 2008). Some
Schmitz, Connie C. and Judy Galbraith. Managing the Social and Emotional Needs of the Gifted: A Teacher's Survival Guide. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing Company, 1985. 32-33.