Today in class Dr. Glassman discussed IQ testing and what it means and exactly how standardized tests are created. This got me thinking about how children at young ages are occasionally placed in gifted and talented classrooms based off of a test they took. I found an article on gifted and talented children that I found interesting because it discusses the difficulties that a child like this may go through.
I hadn't thought of this before because we always discussed how important it is to be helping the children that are under achieving on test that some students who are advanced at some schools don't get pushed to the level they need. I remember in fifth grade my class had a special teacher who would come in for language arts with my class and do some extra activities with us, that I never really thought anything about. Later on I found out that the majority of students in my class were advanced in language arts so she would come in to give us enrichment time and challenge us at new levels.
At some schools children who are advanced might not get this privilege and they can become lazy and seem bored in class because they understand what you continuing to go over for other students. They could start to act out and cause disruptions because they don't have anything better to do. SO me children who are so advance that they move up a grade level can develop emotion problems because they lack in maturity because they are younger than their peers. This can also be a struggle then because while they are smart enough to be in that class they struggle with making friends. This can present a problem for teachers because not only do they have to worry about the struggling students in their class but they also have to keep up with the students that are advance and need the extra enrichment. This can make it hard when a teacher plans lesson plans and is having to make separate activities for some students to keep them busy.
http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/330/challenges-faced-by-gifted-learners-in-school-and-beyond
I like that you looked at students who are gifted and talented because I feel like this set of students is sometimes overlooked. While we have mentioned that it only takes one student who doesn't care to disrupt a class, I feel that most of us immediately think of the under-performing student. I have seen in some environments that is actually the student who is advanced, has finished all the work and is just bored in the classroom that becomes the disruption in a classroom. While giving them tons of extra work is not fair to challenge them, I like the idea of finding other enriching activities to help these children succeed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both and I think that the hardest part about being a teacher is creating lessons with enough differentiation for students who are gifted and talented, but also those who are struggling. I remember in fifth and sixth grade having someone take me out with a couple other students to do reading activities too, but in my own opinion I think that the more the students stay in the classroom, the better. Teachers have so many demands and tasks today that it seems much easier to just send your advanced students with someone else for enrichment instead of adding enough differentiation to keep them challenged.
ReplyDeleteSarah I completely agree with you that gifted children can be overlooked because the focus can be placed so much on just trying to get the other children up to the correct grade level. Bethany I also liked what you said how the teacher shouldn't hand these children off to someone else but instead should proved some challenging work for them in the classroom. I think this important to keep the child engaged in what the class is talking about but just on a higher level.
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