Monday, January 26, 2015

Should Gifted Teachers Be Identified as Gifted Students

Just as all students are diverse and prefer certain learning environments, various teachers have distinctive teaching styles and reach their students in different ways. While there are many characteristics that teachers, who are themselves identified as being gifted, share with their gifted students, I don’t believe that being identified as gifted is a requirement to be a successful teacher of the gifted.  Saying that all teachers who teach gifted students should be gifted themselves is a difficult generalization to make. 

In my opinion as an educator, there  are misconceptions that some teachers, who are not identified as being gifted, have that can be destructive when teaching gifted students.  Comments such as “gifted students do just fine on their own,” “gifted students are know-it-alls who think they are better than others,”  “gifted students get an unfair advantage because those classes have better behavior,” or the school of thought that you just give them more work if they finish theirs early or allow them to act as a tutor for other students are all examples of negative stereotypes of gifted students that I’ve witnessed as an educator. The characteristics of effective teachers of the gifted have been examined by many researchers over the past 40+ years (Bishop, 1968; Chan, 2001; Freehill, 1974; Hansford, 1985; Maddux, Samples-Lachman & Cummings, 1985; Mills, 2003; Newland, 1962; Renzulli, 1992; Torrance & Myers, 1970; Wendel & Heiser, 1989; Whitlock & DuCette, 1989). While there seems to be a general consensus regarding the personal and professional characteristics of successful teachers of the gifted this research has typically focused on the identification of those teacher characteristics that seem to benefit gifted students in the classroom. (Table 1.) Little research exists that examines how these identified characteristics might actually be cultivated through teacher education and professional development.” (Stephens 2009 )


Unfortunately very few teacher preparation programs provide instruction on the specific needs of gifted students.  Because of this dilemma, the majority of teachers in classrooms today have not been trained to meet the learning needs of these students so they rely on their own educational experiences as students.  Being identified as gifted certainly is beneficial for many teachers as it oftentimes allows them to be empathetic to their students’ emotional and education needs and situations.  A teacher identified as being gifted may have a better understanding of what it means to be a gifted student and he/she can plan their classroom management accordingly.  On the flip side, not all teachers identified as being gifted are gifted at teaching.  Additionally, not all gifted students prefer identical learning environments.  As a result, those students may flourish with a teacher who was not formally identified as being gifted, but instead has a favorable teaching style for their particular preference.  Primarily, teachers must be able to recognize students with high-abilities in order to provide them with more depth and complexity in instruction.  Gifted students require educational content that is relevant to their own lives and educational opportunities that allow them to process ideas at an elevated level.  In order to provide that, a teacher has to have a desire to pace their instruction to the student’s individual needs; provide both structure and choice, and respect the students and their ability to learn at an increased paced-not merely be identified as gifted themselves.  In my opinion, empathy for gifted students can certainly be nurtured in any teacher who has a desire to successfully and teach the gifted student as a whole being. 




National Standards in Gifted and Talented Education (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2015, from http://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/national-standards-gifted-and-talented-education


Stephens, Kristen R. (2009) "Can Empathy for Gifted Students Be Nurtured in Teachers?," Gifted Children: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 2. Available at: http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/giftedchildren/vol3/iss1/2

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