How do i help the children in my class that are gifted and talented?

Question

what kinds of strategies can i use? i always make sure they are challenged, but in what other ways can this be done? how else can i challenge them?

she is aged 8 nearly 9 (year 4) and working at year 5 level.

Answer 1

I suggest that you give her some bigger questions to answer about the concepts that you are introducing;have some manipulatives around;clay, a journal, a digital camera. Have her blog what her experiences were like. Let, HER take it to a more in-depth  level.

Answer 2

Does your school have a special class or pull-out program for G/T kids?  You should have a special services director who can identify the student i (if this hasn't already been done).  Otherwise, use enrichment excercises and extension activities based on what you taught in class.  An important fact of teaching G/T kids is to make sure you don't just give them more work!  There is so much to teaching these children, I suggest you google needs and curriculum differentiation of G/T students to learn more!  

Yay for summer!

Answer 3

This is way I don't really like the "grade" system. People are on different levels and run or are pushed through each grade. School needs to be more personalised.

There's nothing you can do for those kids. They are beyond conventional teaching!

Answer 4

If she likes the challenge, give her some books to take home and read.  Don't make her feel like she has to though, just if she wants to.  I was like that in school.  My teachers gave me extra books and asked me to help others who didn't quite get it.  I turned out ok, and it felt really great helping others too. :o)  Good luck to you!

Answer 5

Wow... how I wish I could have those gifted children in my class...

From what I see, if they are gifted and talented, we should do away with the textbook and syllabus and focus more on dealings with problems that our world is facing nowadays.

Global warming, environmental issues and even politics that affect our daily lives are good examples that I can think of that will spur "my" gifted children to learn more.... if ever I get a chance to teach them....

Of course at their age, you have to 'level-down' the problems so that they can understand the questions better...

Cheers...

Answer 6

Hi. I teach in a school for gifted kids. The first thing I would say is she probably learns faster than other "average" kids, so giving "more" rather than "different" will annoy and bore her. The "different" can come in a variety of modalities. Can you find a way to go deeper into a subject for her? Find what she's interested in, and see if you can design a project together that delves far into a topic.

Second, if your school district has a pullout or magnet program for G/T, see if she can qualify.

Third, if she's clearly mastered a level of coursework, say, math, or spelling, see if you can pretest her on the work so she doesn't have to sit through the subject again. Also, consider subject acceleration (i.e., moving her to year 5 for science, language arts, or whatever), in the subjects in which she has demonstrated proficiency.

The last thing I would say is that she's 8, so despite her clear intellectual ability, her emotional, social, whatever might not catch up--something called "asynchronous development." Or she might be a great speller but be rather ordinary at geometry, or Spanish or some other subject. Allow her to be the age she's at but challenge her as much as you can (and she'll let you).

The (other last) last thing, is check out this site: www.hoagiesgifted.org. It's an incredible resource for parents and teachers of gifted kids.

Good luck!

Answer 7

There is no merit to just giving extra work, that would mean she is doing twice as much work and learning nothing from any of it as it is not stretching her. There will be some differentiation through outcome but you must also differentiate through task. You could also ask her to play a leading role in the class as a group leader, etc

Answer 8

You are a wonderful teacher to want to do this.  Of course, it will require some more of your time and effort.  One excellent way is to assign extra credit theme projects for the children, considering both the next level of education and the local community needs.  Keep them advancing in uses of computers to do research.  Search for programs for "The Gifted & Talented Student."  Bless you for trying.