AIG Practicum

The ideal gifted classroom provides multiple strategies for student learning, uses many tools to reach diverse learners, and remains flexible to meet the needs of it’s gifted students.  In my classroom of 29 7th grade students, 18 of which are identified as AIG in either math, reading, or both, I try to engage my students through student-centered activities to guide their understanding.  I’m fortunate to have had an exceptional group of students this year who display many of the positive characteristics associated with being gifted.  Creative, hard-working, skillful leaders, intrinsically motivated, good sense of humor, and a passion for learning are a few of the skills I observed through the school year.  However, I also observed students who displayed social awkwardness, shyness, lack of organization, and a strong sense of what is fair or just. Whether it be traditional best practices or problem-based learning activities, with a varied array of instructional strategies, I feel that my gifted students can be better educated through meaningful and challenging experiences that are research-based and student-centered.

Developmental differences in individuals with gifts manifested in various learning domains:

One observation very easily made is that the students, whether gifted or not, participate more readily in activities that interest them and are meaningful for them.  However, even with a high level of participation, the students do not always reach a successful outcome.  In my classroom, I could almost predict which students would preform well on various tasks.  Students such as Jordan, who is highly gifted in both math and reading, always started an activity trying to find the best solution, idea, etc for that particular activity.  He would spend time analyzing the assignment and plan out the best way for him to complete it.  He also always went beyond what my expectations were by spending additional time working on projects at home, staying after school, and providing a depth of complexity not usually observed in a 7^th grade student.  On the other hand, Logan, who is also gifted in both reading and mathematics, would jump right in to complete an assignment without regard to structure, the timeline, or any plan.  Logan was extremely creative, yet disorganized, wasted time with a lack of focus and did not pay attention to details.  Jordan and Logan were both extremely social and leaders in their own domains.   Emily, also highly gifted in both reading and mathematics, preferred to work alone on most assignments (unless required to work with a partner) and was a perfectionist.  While her assignments and presentations were excellent, her method of delivery of her presentations was lacking.  And while Emily and Jordan both excelled with technology, Jordan would offer to help others and show them how to make their presentations better.  Emily did not offer to help.  Instead she would keep to herself and not share ideas with others-she enjoyed the other students making positive remarks about her work.

Similarities and differences in learning patterns of individuals with gifts, as compared to the general population:

Generally students identified as gifted in math were able to understand new concepts and think and process information quickly and logically, whereas students who were not gifted in math took longer to “digest” the information.  Students like Jordan, Emily, and Logan could recall math facts and had a powerful memory, which aided in their ability to comprehend new material.  Retaining prior knowledge is beneficial in acquiring new knowledge.  Many times students who were not gifted in mathematics would spend additional time trying to remember or re-learn previously taught facts, therefore giving their brains less time to process the new information.  Students like Madison, Taylor, and Lauren utilized their interactive student notebooks to review material previously learned in order to aid in their understanding of new math topics.  While many of the gifted students preferred to work alone or with just a partner, many of the regular students would rather work with a group.  While working with partners or groups, most of the gifted students were able to balance the appropriate amount of work time with talk time.  However, groups of students not identified as gifted, regularly had to be redirected to ensure that they would be able to complete their activities in a timely manner.

Influence of social-emotional development on learning and interpersonal relationships of individuals with gifts:

Though their giftedness manifests itself in various ways in many of my students, it is most evident in their interpersonal relationships.  The students were grouped according to ability level, with the majority of them identified as gifted in one or more areas.  I had a class full of gifted students with the ability to dream, the desire to learn, willing to take risks, who were mature (according to 7^th grade standards) and divergent thinkers, self-motivated, and set high standards for themselves.    I also had a class full of students who wanted to conform, felt isolated from their peers, felt misunderstood, were full of anxiety and sadness, cheated or didn’t turn in work for fear of failure, and who had lost their creativity and originality in order to be accepted by their peers, family, and teachers.  Although my class was grouped according to ability, their characteristics of giftedness were heterogeneous.  Students like Jordan, Jared, and Logan had little difficulty socializing, being leaders, fitting in.  However, students such as Keaton, Ruby, and Rachel struggled academically and socially.  Whether it was allowing someone else to do all of the work in a group project, copying someone’s homework answers, not turning in assignments, or preferring to work alone so as not to have to socialize, several of the gifted students in my classroom display some of the negative characteristics often seen in gifted students.  Through private conversations with the students, conferences with their parents, regular e-mail correspondence, referring to school counselors when needed, and making sure the students knew that I cared about them and was there to help them, they were able to make advancements.  Gifted students are often misunderstood and need the support of their family and teachers in order to reach their potential.  Sometimes we forget that they are still children and suffer from the normal childhood behaviors because they are more mature and able to reason abstractly; however, a strong support system is essential to their intellectual, as well as emotional and social well-being.  In my classroom I try to incorporate a variety of activities and instruction in order to meet the needs of all of the students, offering time when students work independently and other times with a partner or group.

Effective Teaching Practices

Activating prior knowledge, framing their learning, and checking for understanding are some effective teaching practices I incorporate into my classroom.  Activities like gallery walks, introductory kahoots, and “grab bag” activities are ways that I try to grab the students’ attention to introduce a new concept.  Framing the students’ learning is also an idea that I use regularly in my classroom.  By using the daily objective and “I Can” statements posted on my classroom board, I can help benefit the students’ understanding by directing their focus.  I currently practice several methods to check for student understanding in my classroom such as quick writes in their Interactive Student Notebook, a ticket-out-the-door, whiteboard practice, and iPad activities with apps such as Kahoot .  These help me to determine student understanding and provide structure, yet keep students engaged. 

Differentiating the curriculum to meet the needs of gifted students is essential.  Building upon Bloom’s Taxonomy, offering inquiry-based instruction and open-ended flexible grouping has benefited my gifted students.  In addition, I like to increase the students’ learning through problem-based learning tasks. Developing PBL units allows students the opportunity to sharpen their thinking skills, as well as their listening and conferencing skills.  I incorporate PBL’s in my classroom because they enable students to use their critical thinking skills, creativity, and other skills essential for success in the 21^st century.  Gifted students needs cannot be met by only one style of learning, so I provide many methods of instruction and activity choice aids in the development of the gifted students in my classroom.

Callahan, C. (2004). The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Students. THE NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER ON THE GIFTED AND TALENTED, 1-15. Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED505462.pdf

Hebert, T., & Speirs Neumeister, K. (2002). Fostering The Social And Emotional Development Of Gifted Children Through Guided Viewing Of Film « SENG. Retrieved June 28, 2015.

Accommodating the Twice-Exceptional Student

Consider a unit you might teach. How might you go about making accommodations for the special twice exceptional learner of your choice?

Accommodating the twice-exceptional learner should focus more on developing his/her strengths rather than his/her weaknesses.  Through explicit instruction, supporting the student’s learning preferences and providing him/her with compensation strategies, a student who is both gifted and learning disabled can attain academic success.  I chose to focus on a particular twice-exceptional student from my classroom, “Mandy,” and how I could differentiate the instruction for a Social Studies unit, specifically, a unit on the Reformation. 

First of all in order to meet Mandy’s educational needs, I needed to understand her strengths and weaknesses and develop a flexible plan to enable her to be successful in the classroom.  Mandy was identified as gifted in both reading and math, as well as ADHD and OCD with anxiety disorder.  Mandy had trouble staying focused, especially if it was not a topic she was interested in, required much more additional time to complete most assignments, and lacked social skills considered normal for most middle school students.  However Mandy was extremely creative and enjoyed drawing and graphic design.  Pre-assessments are crucial to help drive the instruction for Mandy, as is with all students.  Through the data derived from her pre-assessments, I can choose activities that would be most meaningful for her.  It is important to remain supportive, yet challenge her.  In addition to written pre-assessments, verbal conversations and conferences that would help me get to know Mandy would enable informal assessment to help plan the instruction.  Mandy’s focus instruction focus should be more toward differentiating the process and product than making accommodations. 

For Mandy, detailed instructions are needed, as well as opportunities for her to utilize her creative talents.  Additionally, working with Mandy ways to independently compensate for her weaknesses is imperative.  Verbal and written directions, as well as allowing Mandy access to instructions after an assignment is given (ie a copy of the instructions, access online, etc) would enable her to continuously check back to self-assess her progress.  It would also give her the opportunity to try to answer her own questions before asking for additional help.  Activities like choice boards that promote multiple intelligences and student choice would be beneficial for Mandy.  I would create a Tic-Tac-Toe board where Mandy would have many options from which to choose, such as creating a political cartoon describing the Reformation or writing a jingle on the selling of indulgences or a blog post where she would take on the persona of a figure such as Martin Luther.  Rather than writing information meticulously slow from classroom notes in a notebook, creating a graphic organizer using a laptop or even presentation apps like Prezi would aid in her need for perfectly recording important information.  By advocating for herself through having definitive due dates and developing a timeline of when to have assignments complete can also assist Mandy and help her finish assignments and turn them in on time.  Projects that allow Mandy to work alone or with just one partner such as analyzing the most significant events related to the Reformation and then creating a presentation or poster to display those events would give her the opportunity to show her creativity, yet avoid the discomfort she would feel in a large group. 

Through maintaining supportive instruction focusing on their strengths, enabling students to advocate for themselves, and targeting activities specific to student interest, twice-exceptional students such as Mandy can further develop their academic talents without allowing their weaknesses to limit their success. 

Baum, S. (n.d).  Introduction to Twice-Exceptional and Special Populations of Gifted Students. Retrieved June 22, 2015.

Reis, S., & Ruben, L. (n.d.). Compensation Strategies Used by High Ability Students with Learning Disabilities. Retrieved June 23, 2015.

Trail, B. (2011). Nurturing the Gifted Potential. In Twice-exceptional gifted children: Understanding, teaching, and counseling gifted students (pp. 53-67). Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.

Thinking Skills and Instructional Strategies

With such a vast variety of instructional strategies from which to choose, I often find myself having difficulty deciding which plan of action would benefit my students the most.  With each new group of students, that plan changes to better meet their needs.  Many of the instructional strategies, such as activating prior knowledge or checking for understanding, are designed to better educate all levels of students.  However, as educators, we often forget basic teaching practices because we are searching for the “magic bullet” that will be the pedagogical miracle.  Instead, I think that teachers should keep learning and teaching fresh by choosing a variety of strategies that encourage a high level of student interest and learning.  For the gifted students, utilizing Bloom’s Taxonomy, differentiating the curriculum, applying best teaching practices and stepping outside of the box, are strategies that I feel could be successfully implemented in my classroom. 

By implementing Bloom’s Taxonomy, I can develop learning strategies that are most appropriate, effective, and efficient for the gifted students in my classroom.  Through informal assessments and the framework of Bloom’s, I can plan appropriate instruction, design valid tasks and ensure that instruction is aligned with the curriculum objectives while encouraging students to perform to their intellectual potential.

Differentiating the curriculum to meet the needs of gifted students is essential.  Building upon Bloom’s Taxonomy, offering inquiry-based instruction and open-ended flexible grouping would benefit my gifted students.  In addition, I would like to increase the students’ learning through problem-based learning tasks. Developing PBL units would allow students the opportunity to sharpen their thinking skills, as well as their listening and conferencing skills.  PBL’s demand students use critical thinking skills, creativity, and other skills essential for success in the 21^st century.

Activating prior knowledge, framing their learning, checking for understanding and the “final countdown” are some best teaching practice instructional strategies that I would like to incorporate into my classroom.  First off, I believe the “word splash” or “picture splash” activities would be a great way to introduce a new concept, as well as an effective way for students to summarize an idea or concept.  Framing the students’ learning is also an idea that I should be using in my classroom.  By using the daily objective and “I Can” statements posted on my classroom board, this would be almost effortless, yet would benefit the students’ understanding by directing their focus.  I currently practice several methods to check for student understanding in my classroom; however, I believe I could be more effective by using a variety of techniques on a more routine basis.  Quick writes in their Interactive Student Notebook, a ticket-out-the-door, whiteboard practice, and iPad activities with apps such as Kahoot are ideas that I would like to incorporate in a regular rotation to determine student understanding and provide structure, yet keep students engaged.  The “Final Countdown” is another instructional strategy that I feel would be successfully implemented in my classroom to help cement the students’ learning of the day’s topic and also serve as an informal assessment to drive the instruction for the remainder of the unit or concept.
Thinking outside of the box and utilizing strategies like game-based learning units may also work well in a classroom with gifted students.  Ideas such as this would allow students to be creative and work in teams to accomplish a common goal much like a PBL unit.  However, by making learning fun and challenging, game-based learning units can attract the attention of students who are uninterested and find normal modes of instruction boring. 


The ideal gifted classroom provides multiple strategies for student learning, uses many tools to reach diverse learners, and remains flexible to meet the needs of it’s gifted students.  Whether it be traditional best practices or problem-based learning activities, with a varied array of instructional strategies, I feel I can provide my students with meaningful and challenging experiences to better educate them, as long as they are research-based and student-centered.  Engaging the students through student-centered activities and guiding their understanding will enable them to communicate the content and their solutions collaboratively and independently. 

Miller, A. (2011) Game-Based Learning Units For the Everyday Teacher.  Edutopia. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/video-game-model-unit-andrew-miller?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_content=blog&utm_campaign=game-basedlearningeverydayteacher

Tips for Teachers: Successful Strategies for teaching gifted learners. (2003). Retrieved June 21, 2015.

VanTassel-Baska, Basic educational options for gifted students in schools. Retrieved June 21, 2015.