GIFTED AND
TALENTED
EDUCATION:
An overview with
classroom implications
and application
Terri Verhaegen
AP/AVID/GATE Program Specialist
SAUSD
Overview:
Who are your GATE
students?
• Characteristics
• Referral
• Assessment
Process
Characteristics
Differences commonly found between
most gifted learners and their age
peers:
 Advanced comprehension and a faster pace of
learning (2-8 years ahead of the regular agegraded class)
 Need for complexity and intensity
 Desire for depth (ability to make connections,
find unusual relationships and move from facts to
principles theories and generalizations)
 Crave Novelty or alternative and varied input and
processes
Intellectual vs.
High Achiever
• Intellectually gifted children can usually
generalize, work with abstract ideas and
synthesize diverse relationships
Whereas:
• High achievers generally function better
with knowledge and comprehension level
learning than with abstract and openended material
High Achiever
83% of
SAUSD
identified as
High
Achievement
4% of
SAUSD
identified
In
SPECIFIC
ACADEMIC
AREA
Knows the answers.
Is interested.
Is attentive.
Has good ideas.
Works hard.
Answers the questions.
Top group.
Listens with interest.
Learns with ease.
6-8 repetitions for mastery.
Understands ideas.
Enjoys peers.
Grasps the meaning.
Completes assignments.
Is receptive.
Copies accurately.
Enjoys school.
Absorbs information.
Technician.
Good memorizer.
Enjoys straightforward, sequential
presentation.
Is alert.
Is pleased with own learning.
Intellectual
Asks the questions.
Is highly curious.
Is mentally and physically involved.
Has wild, silly ideas.
Plays around, yet tests well.
Discusses in detail, elaborates.
Beyond the group.
Shows strong feelings and opinions.
Already knows.
1-2 repetitions for mastery.
Constructs abstractions.
Prefers adults.
13% of
Draws inferences.
SAUSD
Initiates projects.
identified as
Is intense.
Intellectual
Creates a new design.
Enjoys learning.
Manipulates information.
Inventor.
Good guesser.
Thrives on complexity.
Is keenly observant.
Is highly self-critical.
(Mis)Perceptions of Gifted Students
Gifted students may be perceived as:
Possible Reasons:
Bored with routine tasks, or rote work, does
not complete rote work
May have mastered facts and rote skills
Difficult to get him/her to move onto
another topic
Pursues interest in depth
Self critical, impatient with failures
Sustained goal-oriented behavior, Evaluates situations
Critical about the teacher or others
Logical and analytical, expresses criticism
Argumentative, disagrees vocally with the
teacher or others
Expresses opinions freely, skeptical, expresses
criticism
Not serious, making jokes or puns at
inappropriate times
Gives clever, witty responses, shows humor
Emotionally sensitive – may over react,
angers or cries easily if things go wrong
Sees relationships and connections, sensitivity, need
for support
Not interested in details; hands in messy
work
Needs minimal instruction/ practice on routine tasks,
applies info. with ease
Refusing to accept authority; nonconforming,
stubborn
Goal-directed behavior, expresses criticism, skeptical,
focused on details
Dominating others
Goal directed behavior, organizes tasks and people,
serves as a leader
Withdrawn or a loner among peers
May have difficulty communicating with peers, intense
attention on tasks
Involved in others problems
Problem solver, interest in cause and effect
relationships, inquisitive
Referral
• Most gifted students are identified in elementary
years. In SAUSD,
– every 2nd grader is tested
– grades 3-11 are tested upon referral.
– a student can apply for GATE assessment in elementary or
secondary
Assessment Measures:
Collection of screening data can include:
• Academic Achievement Scores (e.g. Benchmarks,
CST’s/CMA’s, Writing Proficiency)
• Standardized ability tests (e.g. NNAT2)
• Standardized Intelligence tests (e.g. WISC, CogAt,
Olsat, Leiter—limited use in SAUSD
• Observation/Anecdotal Parent/Teacher checklists
• Grades
• Rapid acquisition of English for EL students (CELDT)
SAUSD Program Design
• In both elementary and secondary,
SAUSD utilizes the “cluster” design.
• “Clusters” of 5 or more students are
placed in a regular classroom.
• In secondary (grades 6-12) these
clusters are usually in “honors” or AP
level classes.
GIFTED AND
TALENTED
EDUCATION:
What does this mean
for your classroom?
Implications for Curriculum
and Instruction
• Connection to CCSS
• Types of
Differentiation
–
–
–
–
Acceleration
Novelty
Depth
Complexity
What CCSS documents say
regarding “Advanced Learners”?
3. The Standards do not define the nature of advanced work for
students who meet the Standards prior to the end of high school. For
those students, advanced work in such areas as literature,
composition, language, and journalism should be available. This work
should provide the next logical step up from the college and career
readiness baseline established here.
4. The Standards set grade-specific standards but do not define the
intervention methods or materials necessary to support students who
are well below or well above grade-level expectations. No set of
grade-specific standards can fully reflect the great variety in
abilities, needs, learning rates, and achievement levels of students in
any given classroom. However, the Standards do provide clear
signposts along the way to the goal of college and career readiness
for all students.
---CCSS page vii (underline added for emphasis)
What CCSS documents say
regarding “ELA Habits of Mind”?
The descriptions that follow are not standards themselves but
instead offer a portrait of students who meet the standards set out
in this document.
They demonstrate independence.
They build strong content knowledge.
They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose,
and discipline.
They comprehend as well as critique.
They value evidence.
They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
They come to understand other perspectives and cultures.
What CCSS documents say
regarding “Math Practices”?
The Standards for Mathematical Practice describe varieties of
expertise that mathematics educators at all levels should seek to
develop in their students.
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Model with mathematics.
Use appropriate tools strategically.
Attend to precision.
Look for and make use of structure.
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Curriculum and Instruction
Advancing the concept of differentiation to a new
level to both reinforce and extend teaching and
learning…
• taking the “core” curriculum adding depth,
complexity, novelty and acceleration.
• Modifying what students will know (content), how
students will think (critical creative and
problem-solving skills), how students will access
and use resources (research skills), and how
student will summarize and share their learning
(product).
Depth
Creative Thinking
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Resilient
Universal Concepts
Thinking Like a Disciplinarian
Art of Argumentation
What is
DIFFERENTIATI
ON?
Logic
Novelty
Acceleration
Introduction to the Disciplines
Self-Accountability
Task Commitment
Group Skills
Intellectualism
Define one’s self and potential
Understanding of giftedness
Art of Appreciation
Expertise
Questioning
Participation Ski
Complexity
Connections between GATE and CCSS
GATE Standards
• Acceleration
• Depth
• Complexity
• Novelty
CCSS Anchor Standards
 R2. Determine central ideas or themes…
 L6. Acquire and use accurately a range
of general academic and domain specific
words…
 R1. Cite specific textual evidence…
 R7. Delineate and evaluate the
argument…
 R6. Assess how point of view or purpose
shapes the content…
 R7. Integrate and evaluate content
presented in diverse media and formats…
 W3. Write narratives to develop real or
imagined experiences…
 R1. Read closely to…make logical
inferences…
Acceleration of Content
• Use universal concepts like “conflict”,
“change” or “relativity”.
• Build and bridge concepts (possibly by
compacting the curriculum to streamline
the curriculum or challenge the level)
• Develop the art of appreciation and the
art of argumentation
• Dig deeper into content through
questioning skills or “Thinking like a
Disciplinarian”.
Questioning Strategies =
Collaborative Academic Conversations
and Socratic Seminars
 Methods used by teachers and students to
ask questions that require the respondent to
use high-level, critical, and/or creative
thinking skills when processing information or
responding to the question.
Why use Questioning Strategies?
 Questioning strategies are essential to the
growth of critical, creative, and higher
level thinking skills. (Shaunessy, 2005)
 When teachers regularly model questioning
strategies and expect student questions,
students learn to formulate questions that
will improve their learning. (Fisher, 2007)
Good questions help to
accelerate learning:
• Elaborate and Clarify
• Support with
Examples
• Build on or Challenge
another’s ideas
• Paraphrase
• Synthesize
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is meant by ______?
How do you know?
How could we prove or confirm
that?
If ____happened, what would
be the result? Support your
conclusion
What might be other points of
view?
How could you say that another
way?
Why do you believe that?
How can we bring this all
together?
Novelty
Students expressing knowledge in their own
words and ways. Includes elements of…
 Creative thinking
 Critical thinking
 Problem solving
 Logic
 Self-accountability
 Task commitment
 Group skills
 Intellectualism
 Self-defining
 Develop expertise
 Understanding
giftedness
 Resilient
 Participation skills
Apply what you’ve
learned
• How do acceleration and novelty
already have a place within
classrooms implementing Common
Core State Standards?
• Turn and share ideas with your elbow
partner
Power of Depth and
Complexity Icons…
Provide structure and support for taking a deeper and
more complex look at any topic
• Quick Easy Application to any Material
• For Visual learners--A picture is worth a
thousand words
• Provide scaffolding to do higher level thinking
for second language students and students with
learning disabilities
• Develop “Habits of Mind” that become ingrained
• Advanced learners are asked to reach into the
upper ranges of their ZPD
• Increase student enthusiasm and motivation
But remember,
we are not teaching the icons,
we are teaching concepts to new
levels of depth and complexity
using pictures to stand for the
thinking strategies.
Think PROMPTS.
Concrete Entry Points
• Brainstorm Common Everyday Icons
• Use the Detail Icon
as way for students to talk
about themselves (Seen and Unseen Details)
• Read a story like the Butter Battle Book by
Dr. Seuss to introduce several icons
• Use Multiple Perspectives
resolution
• Use the Rules
• Use the Big Idea
for conflict
icon for class rules on first day
for writing a paragraph
Use the Icons Within Your
Classroom and Lessons
 Post the icons in your classroom
 “Look for (appropriate icon) in our lesson today
on (content area).”
 Use the Big Idea to summarize or end lessons.
 Label your daily agenda and lesson plans with
the icons.
 Have students label all work with the
appropriate icons.
 Label all classroom work and charts with the
icons.
Depth
• Refers to approaching or studying something
from the concrete to the abstract, from
the known to the unknown.
• Requires students to examine topics by
determining the facts, concepts,
generalization, principles and theories
related to them.
• Necessitates uncovering more details and
new knowledge related to a topic of study.
• Encourages students to adopt perspectives
and to see patterns in connections.
Depth has the following
major dimensions:
• Language of the
Disciplines: Specialized
vocabulary, names of skills or
tasks, tools used
• Details: Attributes, parts,
factors, variables
• Patterns: Repetition,
predictability
• Trends: Forces, direction,
ongoing
• Rules: Structure, order,
hierarchy, explanation
• Ethics: Points of View,
different opinions
• Big Idea: Generalization,
principle, theory
• Unanswered Questions:
Discrepancies, missing parts,
unclear ideas, incomplete ideas
• Impact: Cause and effect,
influence
• Process: sequence, procedures
• Motive: reasons, causes,
purpose
• Proof: evidence, validation
Complexity
• Includes making relationships, connecting other
concepts, and layering.
• Why/how approach that connects and bridges to
other disciplines to enhance the meaning of a unit
of study. Relate concepts and ideas at a more
sophisticated level
• Encourages students to see associations among
diverse subjects, topics or levels and find multiple
solutions from multiple points of view
Complexity has these
major elements:
• Over Time: Between the
past, present and future, and
within a time period
• Points of View: Multiple
• Context: environment shapes
or affects outcome
• Translate: multiple and varied
meanings of language, various
interpretations
Perspectives, opposing
viewpoints, differing roles and • Original: new, unique, what
knowledge
makes it new
• Interdisciplinary: With,
• Judgment: factors that
between and across the
influence decisions
disciplines
Practice Time #1
Nursery Rhyme
• Read the text provided to your
group.
• Develop a question and possible
response based on your given prompt.
• Share and discuss with your small
group.
Practice Time #2
Exemplar Text from CCSS Appendix B
• Read the text provided to your
group.
• Develop a question and possible
response based on your given prompt.
• Share and discuss with your small
group.
How can we use this with
what we already do?
• Use Thinking Maps with Depth and
Complexity icons
– Frame of reference
– Tree map headers
• Develop Text-Dependent questions
• Socratic Seminar and Collaborative
Academic Conversations
Tree Map
Holiday
Gatherings
Double Bubble
Pizza
Ice
Cream
Intellectual Pathway
• For each student or group, create an individual
Intellectual Pathway to a product.
• Student A:
• Student B:
• Student C:
Use Depth and Complexity concepts
to elaborate any topic or unit.
•Give
of
.
•Look for
•Use
.
to shed light on
•Pull apart the
•Discover if
unknown
.
you encounter.
are due to insufficient
, or
issues.
,
Now on your own
• Utilizing a text your brought, rework
a current assignment to include
elements of depth and complexity
(you may also include novelty and
acceleration).
• Be ready to share in 10 minutes.
38
Depth
Creative Thinking
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Resilient
Universal Concepts
Thinking Like a Disciplinarian
Art of Argumentation
DIFFERENTIATI
ON
in your classroom
Logic
Novelty
Acceleration
Introduction to the Disciplines
Self-Accountability
Task Commitment
Group Skills
Intellectualism
Define one’s self and potential
Understanding of giftedness
Art of Appreciation
Expertise
Questioning
Participation Ski
Complexity