Programs - For Teachers

A gifted child could be anybody in the class: the back bencher, the class clown, the day dreamer or even the quiet kid in the corner.

In a classroom of 40-60 children, at least 10% children are gifted. Naturally, these students require special attention as their capacity to digest and think ahead is far greater. This may lead to the students becoming disinterested or disrupting the class by asking too many questions.

What, according to you, should a teacher do in such a situation?

  1. Label such children as troublemakers.
  2. Make them peer mentors for children who perform poorly in academics.
  3. Give them additional work to keep them busy and not disrupt the class.
  4. Make them the class monitor.
  5. Give them a challenging task in class that will increase their curiosity, make them think and keep exploring alternatives and solutions.
  6. Understand their cognitive and emotional needs.

Some of these methods may work while others can make the child feel uncomfortable, targeted or excluded. Teachers and educators need to go beyond the general role of classroom instructor in order to become mentors for gifted children. It is essential for educators to understand the unique needs of gifted children. These needs include intellectual as well as emotional needs.

Educators also need to be aware of and devise effective strategies that can be used even within the constraints of a mixed ability classroom.

A few strategies are listed below:

  1. Differentiate according to individual student’s needs.
  2. Encouraging collaborative learning.
  3. Enabling fast pacing of the curriculum content
  4. Create higher challenge levels
  5. Facilitating independent study.

Professional Development Courses for Teachers

Kaveri Gifted Education and Research Center offers professional development courses for teachers to help them identify gifted children in their classroom, become sensitive to their needs in the classroom and to facilitate differentiated activities to meet their potential.

Click here for more information.