Differentiating for Gifted Children

Differentiating for Gifted Children Developed by Colleen Murphy Mauston School District

Differentiation for Gifted Students • Through content – • Concept-based teaching • Curriculum Compacting • Varied Texts and Resources • Learning Contracts • Minilessons • Varied Support Systems

Differentiation for Gifted Students • Through Process • Multiple Intelligences • Flexible Grouping • Varied Graphic Organizers • Independent Study • Problem Solving • Tiered Assignments • Jigsaw, Think-Pair-Share, PMI

Differentiation for Gifted Students • Through Product The possibilities are endless!!

Differentiation for Gifted Students • DON’T let them get caught up in grades. What’s more important….the grade or the learning

Differentiation for Gifted Students • DO Encourage them to take intellectual risks and make new discoveries In the long run, deep learning is more beneficial than good grades and good grades will be a by-product of deep learning.

Differentiation for Gifted Students • DON’T look for perfection Too often, these students feel it’s expected of them. Who needs that kind of pressure?

Differentiation for Gifted Students • DO encourage your gifted students to go “outside the box” If they never try anything new, they’ll never know how far they can go!

Differentiation for Gifted Students • DON’T leave your gifted students to cope on their own Allowing these students to work without your intervention may ill prepare them for future struggles and may limit the ceiling on what they can achieve

Differentiation for Gifted Students • DO help set goals, devise plans for achievement, and provide guidance and support All students need attainable goals, sufficient rigor, scaffolded support, and shared celebration

One last thought… • Fair is not always equal A patient goes to the emergency room with a broken arm. While he is waiting, an accident victim is wheeled in with dramatic urgency, people surrounding the gurney, IVs and tubes, machines beeping. Several minutes later, an ER nurse comes out to speak to the patient.

She tells the patient that because of the accident victim, it may be a while until his broken arm can be looked at. Eventually, after a couple hours, he is called back into the examining room, and then the doctor spends another couple of hours x-raying his arm, setting it, and applying a cast.

Both the man with the broken arm and the accident victim were treated. Both received excellent care. Both were with the doctor for a similar amount of time. However, the broken arm patient came in earlier and wasn’t seen until after the accident victim.

WAS THIS EQUAL??

WAS IT FAIR???

Differentiation is not about equal or fair. It is about giving each student what he or she needs to help them achieve appropriate goals in the classroom and curriculum; helping them to engage in learning in a meaningful, respectful manner.

Resources • Tomlinson, Carol Ann – How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, 2nd Ed., ASCD, 2001 • Strickland, Cindy A. – Tools for High-Quality Differentiated Instruction, ASCD, 2007 • Zwiers, Jeff – Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades 6-12: A Toolkit of Classroom Activities, IRA, 2004 • Wood, Karen D., Lapp, Diane, Flood, James, Taylor, D. Bruce – Guiding Readings Through Text: Strategy Guides for New Times, 2nd Ed., IRA, 2008 • Gibbs, Jeanne – Tribes: A New Way of Learning and Being Together, CenterSource Systems, 1995

Differentiating for Gifted Children