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January 02, 2013

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This area is for teachers looking for more information about how to identify gifted students.  I am your first resource and am always available to provide input, but some of these items you may find helpful.  Please come see me or send me an email if you have questions.

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Great Article: Myths About Gifted Students

Who Are the Gifted? 

by Milton E. Larson

Creative and imaginative people are often not recognized by their contemporaries.  In fact, often they are not recognized in school by their teachers either.  History is full of illustrations.  Consider some of these?

    • Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read.
    • Isaac Newton did poorly in elementary school.
    • Beethoven’s music teacher once said of him, “as a composer, he is hopeless.”
    • When Thomas Edison was a boy his teachers told him he was too stupid to learn anything.
    • A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had, “no good ideas.”
    • Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college.
    • Admiral Richard E. Byrd had been retired from the Navy, as, “unfit for service” until he flew over both poles.
    • Louis Pasteur was rated as mediocre in chemistry when he attended the Royal College.
    • Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade.
    • Louisa May Alcott was told by an editor that she could never write anything that had popular appeal.
    • Abraham Lincoln entered the Black Hawk War as a Captain and came out as a private.
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Comparing High Achievers, Gifted Learners, or Creative Thinkers

 

A High Achiever... A Gifted Learner... A Creative Thinker...
Remembers the answers Poses unforeseen questions Sees exceptions
Is interested Is curious Wonders
Is attentive Is selectively mentally engaged Daydreams; may seem off task
Generates advanced ideas Generates complex, abstract ideas Overflows with ideas, many of which will never be developed
Works hard to achieve Knows without working hard Plays with ideas and concepts
Answer the questions in detail Ponders with depth and multiple perspectives Injects new possibilities
Performs at the top of the group Is beyond the group Is in own group
Responds with interest and opinions Exhibits feelings and opinions from multiple perspectives Shares bizarre, sometimes conflicting opinions
Learns with ease Already knows Questions: What if...
Needs 6 to 8 repetitions to master Needs 1 to 3 repetitions to master Questions the need for mastery
Enjoys the company of age peers Prefers the company of intellectual peers Prefers the company of creative peers but often works alone
Understands complex, abstract humor Creates complex, abstract humor Relishes wild, off-the-wall humor
Grasps the meaning Infers and connects concepts Makes mental leaps: Aha!
Completes assignments on time Initiates projects and extensions of assignments Initiates more projects that will ever be completed
Is receptive Is intense Is independent and unconventional
Is accurate and complete Is original and continually developing Is original and continually developing
Enjoys school often Enjoys self-directed learning Enjoys creating
Absorbs information Manipulates information Improvises
Is a technician with expertise in a field Is an expert who abstracts beyond the field Is an inventor and idea generator
Memorizes well Guesses and infers well Creates and brainstorms well
Is highly alert and observant Anticipates and relates observations Is intuitive
Is pleased with own learning Is self-critical Is never finished with possibilities
Gets A's May not be motivated by grades May not be motivated by grades
Is able Is intellectual Is idiosyncratic

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