Characteristics: Reflection 1
Throughout my gifted endorsement experience, my understanding of gifted students and their characteristics has developed. Working at North Springs high school, the student population in general and the gifted population in particular are extremely diverse. The diversity within the gifted education absolutely affects my professional practice. Our school has a particularly pronounced achievement gap that runs roughly along race lines. Although it makes the school community uncomfortable to discuss, the reality of our school population is that many students from South county are overall lower achievers than those students who come from more affluent North county communities. Generally the high achievers take honors and AP courses, part of our school's TAG program, which less South county students participate in these classes. However, it is my believe that the TAG program helps diminish this achievement gap by acknowledging gifted characteristics in diverse populations and providing ideas for professional practice to engage all these students. My North county students (Disclaimer: all my students are individuals with personal strengths and weaknesses. I am simply talking about observable trends in my students.) are generally strong in motivation and achievement, when combined with a high mental ability, it is easy to see how these students are readily identified for gifted services. However, it is my opinion that the overarching approach to education, characterized by high stakes testing and emphasis on perfect scores, has trained the creativity out of many students. For a variety of reasons, my South county students do not seem to have the same problems; they are creative and critical thinkers, although they may lack the same high achievement. Although many of these strengths are not recognized by the GA Common Core standards for ELA, they are recognized by the TAG standards. TAG offers an opportunity for all gifted students to showcase and develop their strengths. Part of what makes gifted services so important for these students is that it allows these students to work together on a common goal in a rigorous academic environment in which these students have to depend on each others strengths in order to be successful.
This more profound understanding I have now of my gifted students and their characteristics has helped to impact many of my professional decisions. I focus more on teaching critical thinking skills rather than teaching to an EOC Milestone exam. I also aim to offer a greater variety of texts and assessment options. Although some believe that students should be steeped in The Classics of the Western literary canon; however, these classic only represent and appeal to some of our diverse gifted population. Now I try to offer a variety of text types in every unit: fiction and non-fiction, poetry and song, film, speeches, and media coverage. Additionally, I allow for more open-ended assessments, including discussion and debates. I have shied away from these in the past, but I find that these types of assessment are more authentic and bridge the gap to allow all my gifted students to demonstrate their learning.
This more profound understanding I have now of my gifted students and their characteristics has helped to impact many of my professional decisions. I focus more on teaching critical thinking skills rather than teaching to an EOC Milestone exam. I also aim to offer a greater variety of texts and assessment options. Although some believe that students should be steeped in The Classics of the Western literary canon; however, these classic only represent and appeal to some of our diverse gifted population. Now I try to offer a variety of text types in every unit: fiction and non-fiction, poetry and song, film, speeches, and media coverage. Additionally, I allow for more open-ended assessments, including discussion and debates. I have shied away from these in the past, but I find that these types of assessment are more authentic and bridge the gap to allow all my gifted students to demonstrate their learning.
Supporting Evidence
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