Special Education
Gifted Education - A Resource Guide for Teachers
The Learning Environment
The learning environment consists of the physical as well as social and emotional environment that the teacher and students create. The needs of gifted learners in terms of environment are not significantly different from those of other students.
| A social and emotional environment that is accepting and provides a safe and supportive atmosphere is important for all students. |
The physical environment for all learners may include interest centres, a variety of working spaces, and a full range of learning materials. Interest centres that introduce students to new topics or challenges can be of particular benefit to gifted students.
A social and emotional environment that is accepting and provides a safe and supportive atmosphere is important for all students. An environment that promotes group planning and problem solving can help students move from a teacher-directed atmosphere to one in which students accept responsibility for their own learning.
Sometimes highly gifted students feel different and isolated. Strategies to help overcome these feelings are the study of famous people, bibliotherapy and grouping for instruction.
Some gifted students go through periods of feeling isolated because they think differently from many of their classmates. A way to help them feel less isolated is to study the lives of other gifted people. They can learn about the personalities, backgrounds, motivations, difficulties, as well as successes of the famous people. Such a study can lead to understanding of self.
Gifted adults have three traits contributing to their giftedness: above average intellect, creativity and task commitment (Renzulli, 1986). Students can study the interaction of these traits and discover how they contributed to the success of high profile people. Studies of famous people can be planned so that creative and critical thinking skills are embedded in the activities.
Related to the study of famous people is the use of bibliotherapy (Silverman, 1993; Sisk, 1987). Students study the behaviour of characters in a story to explore how they think, feel and respond in a variety of situations. By asking students to place themselves in the positions of characters in the story, they can discuss motivations and outcomes, see different points of view and practice problem solving. Bibliotherapy is especially valuable for students who may be working through their own set of problems. Thinking about how others deal with a problem provides students opportunities to play with possible scenarios. This can extend their own repertoire of ways to work through problems.
Interacting with students like themselves is important to gifted learners. While acceleration may move students to higher levels, acceleration in itself does not guarantee that gifted learners will work with each other. Small group activities can be opportunities for gifted students to collaborate.
Groupings can be arranged in a variety of configurations to meet the unique learning needs of each student. Teachers may form groups to teach a skill, to work on specific curricular content, to provide students interested in a specific topic an opportunity to work together, or to create an environment in which students can interact with their intellectual peers. Groups should be flexible in composition and duration. Group membership may be determined by the teacher or by students.
| Classroom Resources: The Changing Years: My Journal of Personal Growth and The Changing Years: My Journal of Relationships with Others (Bisignano & McElmurry, 1987)
Activities for the Study of Gifted/Talented Persons (Juntune, 1984) The Growing Person: How to Encourage Healthy Emotional Development in Children (Shallcross & Sisk, 1985) |
