Ask and You Shall Receive
From the desk of Michelle…
Today I am sitting in my favorite bakery eating cake, sipping coffee, and watching my daughter across from me filling cups with water to see which weighs more. After a few minutes she jumps up from her make shift science lab to read a book that’s nearby. Occasionally she will take a break and chat with me about random thoughts that enter her mind. At one point she asks if she can help me write this blog. Normally I would redirect her attention elsewhere and get back to work because “Mommy has a million things to do honey.” Today I gave in and said, “As a matter of fact you can help me”.
My daughter, Jillian, has always been ahead of the curve academically which is another blog entirely. Teachers have found it difficult at times to challenge her and she often complains that she gets bored in school. The question I asked Jillian today elicited an answer that is quite common among children who are significantly above grade level. My question was, “If you walked into a teacher’s room who knew nothing about you, what would you want he/she to know about you as a person and as a student?” After several minutes of a 7 year old’s explanation to this question it boiled down to, “I just want them to ask me what I would like to learn about and what things make me happy, sad, or mad.” In education lingo what she is really asking for (although she doesn’t know it) is for someone to give her an interest inventory and a personality inventory. Had someone given Jillian an interest inventory they would have found out that she is interested in the Holocaust and that she is a competitive gymnast. Think of the history, science, writing, reading, geography and math that could be incorporated into these two topics alone.
All students no matter their academic level want to tell you about their interests. For your gifted students this need is even greater and it would behoove you as their educator to gather this information and take advantage of it. Learning a child’s likes/dislikes, learning styles, personal interests outside of school, and what they would like to learn about during the school year will greatly maximize your teaching time and their learning opportunities. Imagine how powerful it would be to allow students to choose a topic they take interest in, give them the time and tools to conduct individual research, and allow them to create an authentic product to present to an audience. This audience can be anyone from classmates to parents, it doesn’t matter as long as they get to “show off” what they have learned.
You would be amazed at how many classrooms I have walked into and the teacher has said that she works with her gifted students very little to none of the time. All of these teachers are great at what they do but they admittedly do not know how to reach those higher learners. My advice to those teachers? Ask the students what they would like to learn about! With a little creativity on the teachers part it’s easy to take a students’ interest and melt it into the curriculum. Have them participate in a book club or literature circle, let them formulate a question of their own and come up with a plan to answer it, allow these students an opportunity to create a webquest, voicethread, prezi, wiki or just an old fashioned book report. Simply give these children meaningful work, not more work.
Teachers, please don’t be intimidated by the task of challenging these learners. Gifted students make little to no growth each year because they are not worked with in the capacity they require. It is our job as teachers to differentiate the instruction for all of our learners and it is each child’s right to be educated at their level. Do not assume that just because you have students who are above grade level they will be fine academically. You have to keep pushing the gifted child forward.
My last thought…the next time little Johnny or Susie is sitting in the back of your classroom completely disengaged or disrupting your other learners, first ask yourself what you can do differently as a teacher. Next, walk to the back of that room and ask those children what they would like to learn about. After getting over their initial shock of having a say in what they are being taught, they will probably give you a list of topics they wish to cover. Enjoy these special learners because you are going to impact their lives, how you impact it is up to you.
Michelle Himmelman,
B.S., Elementary Ed. K-6,
M.Ed., Gifted Ed. K-12