ENRICHMENT
What does it truly mean to enrich? This was a concept that I knew about, but would tend to push to the back of my priority list. Ever since I became a Gifted teacher, I have seen how much of an impact enrichment has for your high achieving students. When we think about differentiating in the classroom our minds go directly to the lower level students who are underperforming, or who have some sort of an IEP or 504 plan. Gifted students also need differentiating. They lie on the same bell curve as your regular education students and your lower level students. Gifted students just happen to be on the other side of that bell curve. These students are the ones who most of the time do not need to study or show work, and have asynchronous behaviors. Here is what you need to know about Gifted students, and some resources I have been using to better meet their needs.
THE BELL CURVE
The bell curve shown above lists off the typical IQ for students. The average student has an IQ between 85 and 120. Our students with LD typically fall below the 85 marker for IQ. Our higher achieving students range above 120 to about 129. For our Gifted students, they range from 130 or higher. These are the Gifted and Genius classifications for IQ. These students are not just "smart", they think differently, abstractly, and can reason in ways that most cannot even comprehend. These students deserve to have alternate or differentiated assignments to meet these needs.
Logic Puzzles and Brain Teasers
Logic puzzles and brain teasers are a great way to challenge these Gifted students and higher level students. They allow for the students to think abstractly using reasoning skills and critical thinking in order to solve them. They come up with creative ways to solve these brain teasers and puzzles that sometimes we struggle to even solve.
Breakout Edu
The Breakout Edu is a creative resource that allows you to create a breakout within your classroom. Instead of breaking out of the room, they have to break into boxes or locked bags by thinking outside the box to solve riddles and content related puzzles. They solve different styles of locks including directional, number, word, key, and color locks. There are Breakouts that are already created that you can buy that are included in the yearly subscription. You have access to hundreds of content related breakouts including Professional Development, Science, Math, ELA, Team Building, and so on. They even have online Breakouts now that are all digital for those online learners at home. This resource is a fun and challenging way to get your Gifted kids to really think outside the box.
I am continually looking for new resources to utilize for that extra challenge for my Gifted kids. I am open to any suggestions for resources that have worked best for you in your classrooms. Meeting our higher level learners is a challenge, but is needed for the success and growth of the student. Check out this great resource to educate you on Gifted content. Gifted Resource Link
As a former gifted teacher, I absolutely love how you explained that students who are gifted or talented should have access to a differentiated curriculum, to meet their needs, just as a student in learning support would receive! There is no set curriculum that could encompass the needs of individual gifted learners in a classroom.
ReplyDeleteThere are many myths related to gifted education that I feel all general education teachers should be educated on before stepping foot in the classroom! One of the most common beliefs is that if a teacher differentiates his/her instruction, he/she is meeting the needs of gifted learners. This is far from the truth! Gifted learners are in need of individualized instruction in order to be successfully challenged and engaged. "When educators of the gifted truly individualize the differentiated curriculum, they can say,'There is a single curriculum for A gifted student'"(Kaplan, 2009).
I'm excited to continue looking through the Gifted Resource Link that you have provided; I am seeing a great deal of activities to use in my classroom that I have forgotten about over the years! Thank you for sharing.
Kaplan, S. N. (2009). Myth 9: There is a single curriculum for the gifted. Gifted Child Quarterly, 53(4), 257–258. https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986209346934