A 7-Point Plan for Teaching the Gifted & Talented

1. Assess what they know. You don't have to rely on standardized tests -- and you don't need a lot of class time. While the other students are doing their own work, let a potentially gifted kid do the five hardest math problems in the next unit or read a story from the next chapter of your reader. The kid who can complete these tasks can use class time for more challenging work.

2. Make self-assessing extension activities available. Develop a set of activities that kids can do -- and evaluate -- on their own. Math whizzes might invent story problems and then try to solve them. Good readers can simply read. You shouldn't have to spend hours developing extension activities. Check out the resources you've collected over the years, borrow material from fellow teachers, go to the "If you have time" or "Enrichment" sections of your textbook, or ask a librarian for help.

3. Let students explore topics of their own choosing. If students have already mastered the regular curriculum in a particular field, allow them to pick their own topics for further study. They can work independently or with a cluster of other gifted kids, with the goal of demonstrating mastery of certain concepts that you've listed on a study guide. Susan Winebrenner suggests that in a unit on American wars, for example, students might be required to discuss the war's causes, show the disputed territory on a map, recite a war-related speech and explain its meaning, describe typical battle conditions, and so on. Find ways that students can demonstrate their knowledge without creating lots of paperwork for yourself -- perhaps by having them draw a diagram, summarize key ideas in bullet points, or give a talk to classmates.

4. Let students become "resident experts." Some gifted and talented students are obsessed with a particular topic and might want to spend weeks or even months studying it. If they've mastered enough regular curriculum to free up their time, help them create long-term projects that they can pursue on their own. Encourage students to find creative ways to share newfound knowledge with you and/or their classmates.

5. Evaluate students only on the regular classroom material. Not only does this cut down on your paperwork, it also frees gifted students to take risks without worrying about maintaining their grades.

6. Use outside experts whenever possible. Parents, local college teachers, people from your community -- these can be valuable resources inside or outside the classroom. And, Kranz says, don't forget your librarian. She is nearby and often one of the most valuable resources.

7. Make sure you're teaching skills. Gifted children seem to pick up "content" by themselves, Kranz says, but they usually need to be taught skills, even if they learn them quickly. An eight-year-old might be able to diagram the entire pantheon of Greek mythology and still not know the rules of grammar, the Dewey decimal system, or how to take notes. A four-year-old may be adding three-digit numbers in her head -- and not know what a plus sign looks like. Make sure gifted and talented kids have the tools they need.

Coping in the Classroom - Classroom Management

"I have rarely met gifted kids who won't do their work, but I have met scores who won't do the teacher's work," writes gifted educator Susan Winebrenner, author of Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom. "When gifted students are forced to do work related to content they have already mastered, they resist, and the power struggle is on."

IllustrationAccording to Winebrenner, many teachers don't even realize how much their gifted students already know -- and how little they are actually learning in the classroom. She recounts the story of a teacher who gave her most capable readers a test on a unit she had not yet taught -- and discovered that they all got A's.

Gifted educator and consultant Bella Kranz reports a similar experience. "I once had a student who could miss four days of class," she recalls, "and then on the fifth day, get a B on a test covering the missed material -- certainly not from anything I had been teaching him!"

Both Winebrenner and Kranz insist that regular classroom teachers can find ways to assess the strengths and weaknesses of gifted children -- and tailor curriculum accordingly. "It can be a lot of work," Kranz admits. "The first year, it's very hard -- like any new class. But then it gets easier and easier. There's so much material you can use and reuse."

IllustrationBoth educators also feel strongly that focusing on gifted and talented education will raise the level of learning for all children in the classroom. "First of all, gifted kids who may have been troublemakers suddenly settle down," Kranz points out. "That makes the whole classroom a happier place, and it certainly frees up your time! Secondly, if you're sensitive to special gifts and abilities, you become more aware of all your students' needs and gifts."

Winebrenner agrees. In her book, she describes a teacher who was so pleased with the results of a "resident expert" approach to gifted education (see "A 7-Point Plan," left) that he decided to adopt the model for use with the entire class. "All of his students appeared to learn more with this method than with the traditional methods he had been using," she writes. "They became more excited about the topics, and their motivation to learn was significantly higher. This is an excellent example of how strategies brought into the classroom to benefit gifted students can have serendipitous spillover effects with other students as well."

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