Gifted Students Essay

Educacin. Alumnos Altamente Sobresalientes y Desarrollo de Talentos

Gifted Students Essay Type Questionnaire
Russell Daz Perera
Universidad Autnoma de Yucatn

Gifted Students Essay

1. NOT EVERY HIGH ACHIEVING KID IS GIFTED.

2. THREE TOPICS GENERAL TEACHERS MUST KNOW REGARDING GIFTED

EDUCATION.

DIFFERENTIATING LEARNING INSTRUCTION

EMOTIONAL INTENSITY
INTELLIGENCE AND ITS MEASUREMENT

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3. GIFTED EDUCATION IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED A FORM OF SPECIAL EDUCATION.

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REFERENCES

Gifted Students Essay

1. Not every high achieving kid is gifted.

During this term we have been able to discuss and clarify the importance of knowing
about this issue High Achiever is the same as Gifted because people have the wrong spot
towards this since differences between them are not so notable but they are significant, and for
teachers it is important to really devise the difference as we will deal with this kind of students
and we will have the duty to support them in several aspects: socially, academically, emotionally,
etc. First of all we have to establish what is the difference between having a high achieving child
and having a gifted child. Sauv (n.d.) states Not all high achieving students are gifted, not all
gifted students are high achievers. This author mentions that High Achievers know what it takes
to be successful, they give they effort and time for reaching that success in school while
giftedness is a innate aptitude that is being developed trough the time and may or may not
emerge as academic talent.
Regarding the characteristics of a High Achiever and a Gifted, we can find lots of them
stating that a child is just smart or gifted. Not always those features are very easy to compare
because they can refer to one point or to the other; a feature can be for a high achiever or a gifted
child. Kingore (2004) states a list of several features, which establishes how to differentiate these
aspects: A high achiever works hard to achieve; as it is mentioned, they usually make a lot of
effort to reach success and they do. However, gifted learners in some ways knows without
working hard; their brilliant cognitive skills make them absorb information without much effort,
they just learn everything without caring too much about it. Another aspect Kingore (2004)
mentions is that high achievers usually get A grades, this is because of their extremely effort and
willingness to reach perfect notes, while gifted learners are not motivated by grades; they are
self-critical and do not spend a lot of time in something they do not find fascinating.

Gifted Students Essay

Consequently, a linked point mentioned is that gifted students are curious and very attached to
feelings and opinions from multiple perspectives; they are open to think in several possible ways
to solve any problem or discuss any topic. On the other hand, high achievers show only their
interest and responds to opinions in the same way showing their advanced ideas.
Now, we can argue about high achievers not being gifted because all is about cognition
and not effort which I think is important and valuable-, however gifted students have also
underachieve certain aspects in school; one important obstacle stated by Sauv (n/d) is that they
lack of attitude and effort; having a brilliant mind leads to be accelerated and having impatience
towards slowness. They are curious, intellectual, they have high expectations, but also they reject
certain points as being practical; boredom is hard to deal with for them, their senses, imagination,
emotions are far too developed, etc. Therefore, gifted students may not be adapted easily. They
cannot control themselves, and teachers and other people surrounding them tend to
misunderstand their affairs. Consequently they underachieve in school and in society.

2. Three topics general teachers must know regarding gifted education.

As a student, and being part of a Mexican school system, it can be inferred that not all
teachers have been trained to deal with giftedness. I would suggest teachers must be taught
compulsory courses regarding gifted education in general starting from the difference between
high achieving and giftedness, which was discussed above. Nevertheless, the following points
are topics teachers should deeply know, because they would certainly face them in classroom,
with gifted students. The following topics are: differentiating instruction, emotional intensity and
intelligence and its measurement.

Gifted Students Essay

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Differentiating Instruction

Differentiated learning is an important fact for productivity in classroom. As an English

Language Teacher, having this differentiation aids students with their different needs to be
supported and guarantees that every student is being monitored and motivated to have their own
learning pace.
Swicord (n/d) mentions that learning opportunities must be flexible and should respond
effectively to learners needs, abilities and interests. The author establishes that additional
options as enrichment in the classroom, consultant-teacher programs, resource room/ pullout
classes, interest classes, community mentor programs, independent studies, special classes,
special schools, magnet schools, summer programs, acceleration, etc. must be addressed in
schools programs. This is due to the obstacles teachers face with giftedness, which cannot be
solved if it is not any guidance about it. Teachers should believe and respond that giftedness must
be addressed professionally; teachers are often being challenged by their students, and this
opportunity of knowledge would make teachers go out of their comfort zone and acquire the
skills they need for this task.
Emotional Intensity
Even for ourselves, it is hard to deal with emotions; a gifted child, whose emotions are
intense, is a matter of being trained in this subject to successfully deal with it.
Kay Sword (2012) says that many people are unaware of emotions when having gifted
children, so it is not paid to much attention to it. Teacher should know how to teach gifted
children that emotions are a normal response to them. As these children spend a lot of time in
school, it is the teacher who perfectly knows what is happening with students; so it is not an easy
task to make this children feel strong and take advantage of their emotions. Finally, both teachers

Gifted Students Essay

and parents should be instructed in this point to positively address this issue. Kay Sword (2012)
wisely expresses children will be empowered to express their unique selves in the world and use
their gifts and talents with confidence and joy. Which is the final purpose of the teacher when
facing giftedness.
Intelligence and its measurement
One last topic teachers should know, which addresses a lot of the subject of Gifted
Education, is how to measure and recognize when a student has enough intelligence to be
considered as gifted.
Reynolds (2014) considers important to identify why some students are able to
understand with ease while others find it hard; he suggests that the environment is a determining
factor for the psychological side of an intelligence test. This concern has been always a matter of
observing whether a child is being appropriately raised by its family and how it affects their
cognitive abilities. Also this awareness provides necessary tools to know if a child could possibly
be gifted; so it would be necessary to take action of it. This Assessment of giftedness as SanchezEscobedo (2013) establishes, is given from tests from Educational Psychologists and Centers of
Talented Youth that deal with this concern to know its impact in education. So, finally, teachers
should also know the importance of the mentioned tests as they provide scores, which can have a
repercussion in different areas; clinical diagnoses, employments, entitlements to special
programs and cognitive functioning (Reynolds, 2014).

3. Gifted Education is generally considered a form of Special Education.

Gifted Students Essay

Of course it is considered a kind of Special Education. In many countries, the students

take different tests to know if they can be part of special education, in United States, for
example, different institutions work with children with high intelligence standards and also they
have specific programs for Gifted Education. In fact, a few states could be said to be leaders of
this initiative, which include funding, identification practices, oversight and reporting, supportive
policies, and teacher preparation. (National Association for Gifted Children, 2014).
Although the Oregon Technology in Education Council (n.d.) considers that Gifted
Education and Special Education are two separate things, it can be arguable that having a system
for people because they are not at the standard level even lower or higher-, automatically
concerns having a special education. The OTEC (n.d.) says that they of course overlap, meaning
that Gifted Education is included under the title of Special Education. Both addresses students
with exceptional abilities; and this kind of education programs were designed for children with
educational needs that cannot be covered in a regular classroom.
In the same way as students with disabilities, other kind of students with exceptional
abilities are in the category of Special Education which includes programs for Talented and
Gifted students.
What differentiates one to the other is that Special education regards categories of special
education children, such as Developmental Disabilities, Neurological Impairments, Learning
Disabilities, Physical Disabilities, and so on. (OTEC, n.d.). It deals with severe disabilities that
make students have lower intelligence standards with very different needs such as therapies and
professionals of the subject. On the other hand, Talented and Gifted Education, even though not
so many places protect and serve this program, they consider this matter as a form to develop
exceptional students and people, which basically is the future of their country.

Gifted Students Essay

Finally, in my opinion, it has been negatively said that special education addresses only
children with disabilities and, at least in our country, not so many people has researched about
this concern. Unfortunately, Mexican people do not know about gifted education; we have been
treated all the same in terms of giftedness; nobody is better, everybody can do it, everybody
should be at the same pace and level. Personally, during my life, I have heard just one case of
giftedness and acceleration on T.V. and that was it. Not everybody continues to go beyond and do
research about this and that is a problem for Gifted Education development. Now I am aware of
this last point, which is good to know because as I mentioned before, we tend to see the negative
sight of Gifted Education and Education in general. Presenting this information to educators who
are being trained, would expand their horizon towards understanding the importance of
recognizing either students with disabilities or students with high standards as special education
that needs to be attended in order to make our learners develop themselves taking into
consideration their own abilities, strengths and skills.

Gifted Students Essay

References
Kay Sword, L. (2012). Emotional Intensity in Gifted Children. Retrieved December 2, 2015,
from http://sengifted.org/archives/articles/emotional-intensity-in-gifted-children
Kingore, B. (2004). High Achiever, Gifted Learner, CreativeThinker. Retrieved December 1,
2015, from http://www.bertiekingore.com/high-gt-create.htm
National Association for Gifted Children. (2014). Gifted Education in the U.S. Retrieved
December 2, 2015, from https://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/resources/giftededucation-us
Reynolds, M. (2014). Thoughts about intelligence and its measurement. Retrieved December 2,
2015, from http://www.apadivisions.org/division-16/publications/newsletters/schoolpsychologist/2014/11/intelligence.aspx?_ga=1.253322633.1847983428.1449018029
Sauv, S. (n.d.). Learning Distinctions Between High Achievers and Gifted Learners. Retrieved
December 1, 2015, from
http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/cms/lib09/UT01001306/Centricity/Domain/73/Learning
Distinctions Between High Achievers and Gifted.pdf
Swicord, B. (n.d.). Differentiating Learning for Gifted Students. Retrieved December 2, 2015,
from http://www.nsgt.org/differentiating-learning-for-gifted-students/
Snchez-Escobedo, P. (2013). Talent Development Around the World.
Mrida, Yucatn: Unas Letras Industria Editorial.

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