Educational Needs of Exceptional Students PDF

RHEA D. MARCELO BSED-ENGLISH 2A Ability in the Visual Performing Arts refers to exceptional talent or skills in artistic ” I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO...

RHEA D. MARCELO BSED-ENGLISH 2A Ability in the Visual Performing Arts refers to exceptional talent or skills in artistic ” I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO discipline like drawing, painting, acting, dancing or STRENGTHENS ME.” music performance. EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS Psychomotor Ability – refers to the coordination Intelligence, creativity, and talent have been central between cognitive functions and physical movement, to the various definition of giftedness that have been emphasizing precision, dexterity and control. proposed over the years. The Maryland definition had the earliest and most influence on state definitions. Since it’s beginnings, -Lewis Terman (1925), one of the pioneers of the field, the field of the education of the gifted and talented defined the gifted as those who score in the top 2% has sought to include multiple kinds of giftedness and on standardized test of intelligence. it’s definitions, not just the high IQ or superior cognitive type of giftedness. In 1978, the federal -Guilford (1967) called for the identification of people definition was revised to eliminate psychomotor with creative potential. ability and include preschool and adolescent. -Witty (1951), recognizing the value of including In 1992, a federal report titled National Excellence: A special skills and talents, described gifted and talented Case for Developing America’s Talent featured a children as those “whose performance is consistently revised definition of gifted and talented children that remarkable in any potentially valuable area”. was motivated by new cognitive research and Federal Definition concerns about inequity in participation in programs The first federal definition said that gifted and for the intellectually gifted. The word gifted was talented came with the 1972 Maryland Report. eliminated l, and the terms outstanding talent and Children capable of high performance include those exceptional talent were embraced. The definition with demonstrated and/or potential ability in any of proposed that giftedness-or talent –occurs in all the following area, singly or in combination: groups, across all cultures, and it’s not necessarily apparent in the test scores but in a person’s “high General intellectual ability performance capability” in intellectual, creative and Specific Academic Aptitude artistic realms. Giftedness is said to connote “ a Creative or productive thinking mature power rather than a developing ability”. Leadership ability Talent is identified by “ observing students at work in Ability in the visual or performing arts rich and varied educational settings. “ The best way to Psychomotor ability find talented children is by “providing opportunities and observing performance”. General Intellectual Ability – refers to an individual’s overall cognitive capacity, often associated with The new federal definition states: reasoning, problem-solving, memory, and the ability Children and youth with outstanding talent perform to learn new information. or show the potential for performing a lot remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with Specific Academic Aptitude others of their age, experience and environment. refers to an individual’s exceptional ability or talent in a particular academic area such as mathematics, Other Key Contemporary and Complementary science, or language arts as opposed to general Definitions Intellectual ability. Renzulli’s Three-Trait Definition. Creative or productive thinking – refers to the ability Renzulli’s (1978,2003) definition of giftedness is based to generate original ideas and apply them effectively on an interaction among three basic clusters of to solve problems or produce something new. human traits: (1) above-average general intellectual Leadership Ability – refers to the capacity to guide, abilities l, (2) a high level of task commitment, and (3) influence, and inspire individuals or groups towards creativity. the achievement of a goal. Like the federal definition, Renzulli’s definition provides a great deal of freedom in determining who is considered gifted and talented, depending on the many people have of giftedness. These students may interpretation of “ valuable area of human not be outstanding in academics, but they may have performance. special abilities in areas such as music, dance, art, or leadership. Gifted and highly talented individuals are Piirto’s Concept of Talent Development. Piirto found across gender, cultural, linguistics and even (1999b) definesthe gifted as those individuals who by disability groups. way of having certain learning characteristics such as superior memory, observational powers, curiosity, Learning and intellectual characteristics in those and the ability to learn school-related subjects persons who are considered to be gifted and talented matters rapidly and accurately with a minimum of drill include the following (Clark,2002; Gallagher & and repetition,behave a right to an education that is Gallagher, 1994; Maker,1993; Piirto, 1999b) differentiated according to those characteristics. The ability to rapidly acquire, retain, and Piirto’s pyramid model emphasizes use large amounts of information (1) a foundation of genetic endowment; The ability to relate one idea to another (2) personality attributes such as drive, resilience, The ability to make sound judgements intuition, perception, itensity, and the like; (3) the minimum intelligence level necessary to The ability to perceive the operation of larger function in the domain in which talent demonstrated; systems of knowledge that may not be recognized by (4) talent in a specific domain such as mathematics, the typical person writing, visual arts, music, scienc, or athletics; (5) and The ability to acquire and manipulate abstract the environment influence of live “suns” ; (a) the sun symbol systems of home (b) the sun of community and culture; (c) the The ability to solve problems by reframing the sun of gender. Which talent is developed depends on question and creating novel solutions the “thorn” of passion, calling, or sense of vocation. Silverman (1995) identifies the following Maker’s Problem-Solving Perspective. Maker’s characteristics for the highly gifted children with IQ dynamic perspective incorporates the three elements scores three standard deviations or greater above the that appear most often within contemporary mean(IQ>145) definitions of the gifted and talented, high intelligence l, high creativity, and excellent problem-solving skills. 1. Intense intellectual curiosity She characterizes gifted person as a problem-solver- 2.Fascination with words and ideas one who enjoys the challenge of complexity and 3. Perfectionism persist until the problem is solved in a satisfying way. 4 Need for precision Such an individual is capable of: 5 Learning in great intuitive leaps 6 Intense need for mental stimulation a. Creating new or more clear definition of an existing 7 Difficulty confirming to the thinking of others problem 8 Early moral and existential concern 9 Tendency towards introversion. b. Devising new and more efficient or effective methods, and Individual Differences among Gifted and Talented Students c. Reaching solutions that may be different from the usual, but are recognized as being effective, perhaps Awareness of individual Difference is also important in more effective, than previous solutions. understanding gifted students. Like other children, gifted children show both inter-and intra individual CHARACTERISTICS differences. For example if two students are given the Giftedness is a complex human condition covering a same reading achievement test and each obtains a wide range of abilities a d traits. While the definition different scores, we can speak of interindividual of giftedness are social construction- that is,they are difference across the two areas of performance. not absolute but vary according to situation- there is CREATIVITY no doubt that advanced students have special educational needs. Some students have special Many writers and teachers believe that creative ability talents, but rarely do these mat h of stereotypes that is central to the definition of giftedness. Clark (1997) calls creativity “the highest form of giftedness”, and IQ sores should be minimized in importance and Sternberg (1988) suggest that “gifted individuals who subsumed into a more contextual view of children makethe greatest long-range contributions to society who are performing task within specific domains. are probably those whose gifts involve coping with PREVALENCE novelty- specifically, in the area of insight. Creative and insightful individuals make discoveries and devise Using the normal curve, one would predict that 3% to the intentions that ultimately change society”. 5% of students would be gifted and talented in the Although we all process to know creativity when we category if superior cognitive ability, scoring two use see it., there is not universally accepted definition standard deviations above the mean on a of creativity. Guilford (1959,1967,1987), who studied standardized intelligence test. If we include those the emergence of creativity as one aspect of his students regarded as highly talented, estimates for overall theory concerning human the prevalence of giftedness can range as high as 10% intelligence,describes these dimensions of cognitive to 15% of the total school-age population creative behavior, which he called divergent (Gagné,2003; Renzulli &Reis,2003). production. IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT Structure of intellect Model: A multifactored assessment approach that uses ° Fluency. The creative person is capable of producing information form a variety of sources is considered to many ideas per unit of time. be more accurate and equitable in identification of the gifted and talented. °Flexibility. A wide variety of ideas, unusual ideas, and Approach includes data from a variety of sources alternative solutions are offered. Group and individual intelligence test ° Novelty/originality. Unique, low-probability words Achievement test and responses are used; the creative person has novel Portfolios of students work ideas. Teacher nomination based on reports of the student behavior in the classroom Elaboration. The ability to provide details is Parent nominations evidenced. Self-nomination Peer nomination ° Synthesizing. The person has the ability to link Extracurricular or leisure activities unlikely ideas together. Based on an identification model first developed the °Analyzing ability. The person has the ability to California Association for gifted children, this model organize ideas into larger, inclusive patterns. Symbolic features a progressive filtering process that refines a structures must often be broken down before they large pool of potentially gifted students down to a can be reformed into new ones. smaller, formally identified groups. °Ability to reorganize or redefine existing ideas. The The process is time-consuming and thorough, ability to transform an existing object into one beginning with the development of a large pool of different design, function, or use is evident. potentially gifted students and the initial stage. ° Complexity. The ability to manipulate many SCREENING interrelated ideas at the same time is shown. development Of Profile And Case Study Piirto (1998,2001, 2004a, 2004b) studied creative -Testing, consultating, and analyzing data individuals in a variety of areas and summarized the characteristics of highly creative individuals within Committee meeting for consideration; placement their fields or creativity, thus linking their high abilities and program to particular areas of expertise. She reports that (1) -Identification decisions and replacement;and finally each of these fields has specific predictive behaviors the development of an appropriate education in childhood,(2) there is a developmental process UN program for the child. the emergence of talents in various domains, and (3) Types Of Qualitative Assessment identified by traditional standardized test when placed in special enrichment programs Observation. Can be made to find students who are demonstrating characteristics that indicate giftedness. GIFTED AND TALENTED GIRLS Observations may be done with checklist or rating scales as well as with simple “jot down” procedures. Cultural barriers, test and social biases; organizational rewards system; sex roles stereotyping; and conflicts Types of qualitative assessment among career, marriage, and family all act as external Interviews. Interviews of peers and parents can also impediments to the advancement of gifted and indicate potential talent. talented women(Kerr,1985). In reviewing the topic of gifted women, Silverman (1986) points out the history MULTICULTURAL ASSESSMENT AND IDENTIFICATION of genius and women’s roles has been contradictory 10 Attributes of giftedness across socioeconomic, (eminent contributions cannot be made from a ethnic and racial group (Frasier and colleagues,1995): subservient status) and that identification procedures reflect masculine (product oriented)versus feminine 1. Communication skills (development oriented) concept of giftedness. 2. Imagination/creativity 3. Humor 4. Inquiry Recently, the problems and situations of gifted and 5. Insight talented boys have been highlighted as well (Kerr & 6. Interest Cohen,2001). Among these are negative stereotyping 7. Memory for boys who have talent in and want to enter the arts, a boy code (Pollack,1998) that operates against 8. Motivation the expression of feelings and emotions, and a 9. Problem solving reluctance on the part of parents and teachers to 10. Reasoning permit boys’ creative behavior Maker(1997, 2001) developed a procedure called GIFTED AND TALENTED BOYS DISCOVER, which has been used to assess children from diverse cultural groups and females in an GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENT WITH DISABILITIES equitable fashion. Based on Gardner’s theoretical An appropriate education for gifted students with framework of multiple intelligences,the DISCOVER disabilities requires the creation of Neu(2003) terms a assessment process involves a series of five dually differentiated curriculum that recognizes and progressively more complex problems that provide “meets the needs of students who exhibit two children with various ways to demonstrate their contradictory sets of learning characteristics by problem-solving competence by interacting with a creating a balance between nurturing the students content and with one another. strengths and compensating for their learning Maker et. Al.(1994,2001; Sarouphim,2001) report deficits”. positive results from using DISCOVER model to assess EDUCATIONAL APPROACHES the problem-solving abilities from African American,Navajo,Tohono O’ Odham, and Mexican CURRICULUM GOALS American cultural groups: -The overall goal of educational programs for gifted and talented students should be the fullest possible 1. The children identified by the process closely, development of every child’s actual and potential resemble the cultural characteristics of the abilities. Gifted students need both content communities form which they come. knowledge and the abilities to develop and use that knowledge effectively. Most educators of gifted and 2. Equitable percentages of children form various talented students agree that the most important ethnic, cultural, linguistic and economic groups are concern in developing appropriate curriculum is to identified match the students’ specific needs with a qualitatively 3. The process is equally effective with boys and girls different curricular intervention. According to Kaplan(1998) a differentiated curriculum 4. Students identified through the process make gains should be: equal to or greater than those of students who were  Acceleration is the general term for modifying the 1. Be responsive to the needs of the gifted student as pace at which the students moves through the both a member of the gifted population and as a curriculum. member of the general population. Enrichment means probing or studying a subject at a 2. Include or subsume aspects of the regular greater depth that would occur in the regular curriculum. curriculum. LESSON DIFFERENTIATION IN THE REGULAR 3.Provide gifted students with opportunities to exhibit CLASSROOM those characteristics that were instrumental in their identification as a gifted individuals. Curriculum Compacting. Many gifted and talented students have already mastered much of the content of the regular curriculum when the school year 4. Not academically or socially isolate these students begins. It involves compressing the instructional from their peers. materials so that academically able students have more time to work on more challenging materials. 5. Not be used as either a reward or a punishment for gifted students. Tiered Lessons. A tiered lesson provides different extension of the same basic lesson for groups of According to Kaplan(1998) a differentiated curriculum students of differing abilities. should be: Piirto (1999a) recommends that curriculum and Using Bloom’s Taxonomy for Phasing Questions and instructions for gifted and talented students should Assigning Students Products. Bloom’s Taxonomy have the following characteristics: includes six different levels or types of cognitive understanding. At the knowledge and comprehension Be based on learning characteristics of academically levels, the student can identify, define, explain, and talented students in their area of strength. These summarize a concept or fact but it’s not required to characteristics include “ their ability to learn at a relate the information to other concepts or materials. faster rate; their ability to think abstractly about content that is challenging; their ability to think productively, critically, creatively, and analytically; their ability to constantly and rapidly increase their store if knowledge of facts and knowledge of process procedures”. Possess academic rigor. The widespread abuse of grading practices, the dumbing down of the curriculum and the lowered expectations of teacher have all sapped curriculum of it’s strength and rigor. Be thematic and interdisciplinary. Academically talented students should be exposed to the structure, terminologies, and methodologies of various disciplines. DIFFERENTIATING CURRICULUM: ACCELERATION AND ENRICHMENT Differentiation is an educational strategy. It is a broad term referring to the need to tailor teaching environments, curricula, and instructional practices to create appropriately different learning experiences for different students.