Affective Unit of Work for Gifted

Posted: August 13th, 2013

Affective Unit of Work for Gifted

Affective Unit of Work for Gifted

Background

A gifted learner attains a higher than average score when subjected to an intelligence quotient test. Such students tend to understand various subjects faster than the rest of the students. They derive the description of gifted from this characteristic. These children hold enormous potential to excel academically if well nurtured, but most of them end up performing below their potential if they are not well nurtured. However, their potential can pose great challenges in their social lives since they are perceived differently from the other students. The alienation they may feel can pressure them to take measures that would help them fit in. This ends up in unhealthy social relationships with other students. The gifted students therefore require additional nurturing by teachers for them to realize their full potential academically and similarly develop in other areas of their lives. This is done through the modification of the curriculum to address alienation issues posed while dealing with these students (Cooper, 2005, p 205).

Possible Modifications

In addressing the social and emotional aspects of the students, various modifications are necessary. One of them is the encouragement of the gifted students to make friends with less talented students. This is important in boosting their social lives since it makes them appear similar to the other students socially, hence reducing alienation tendencies. This would also create a balanced class through the blend between gifted and average students. Social life development is crucial for the students in their growth by molding them to be social beings. It helps them appreciate the roles of other students, whether talented or not, and therefore they gain humility while dealing with them. This could be done through assigning activities to groups that include both the average and gifted students. These activities should be performed with the cooperation of both kinds of students without any individualism. The performance of the tasks must credits for the group but not the individuals since this would help identify them as a team.

Lesson plan 1: promoting social interaction

Objectives: 

Promoting Social interaction between the gifted and the average students to reduce the alienation often subjected to the gifted students. This interaction should continue even after the completion of various tasks hence the tasks assigned could recur to strengthen the social relationships.

Promoting cohesion among the students and encouraging teamwork in performance of assigned tasks.

Making students appreciate the roles played by each of their classmates regardless of their abilities.

Encourage equality while recognizing the efforts made by various students and discouraging the emergence of enmity amongst them (Caesar and Caesar 20).

Ensure differentiated knowledge and skill outcomes for the gifted learner in these groups and this just does not become a “get along” activity. If other kids see what they can do on an easy task, there might be further alienation, but if they can be seen to contribute to what the group learns, then this might work at times.  I do hope this won’t be the only way we try to socialize the gifted learner. These learners need time with each other working on complex topics to truly grow and learn to socialize with their true peers (equally gifted learners) as well.
Small Group Discussions

Set up practical tasks to be done in groups. The tasks should be challenging in order to encourage teamwork and discourage individualism in their performance. The grading of performance for such tasks requires upgrading to encourage maximum cooperation of the group members and input of maximum efforts. This motivation encourages further interaction in the pursuit of excellent performance. The nature of the tasks should encourage participation of all the group members and promote social interaction. Such tasks could include planting seeds for study. In a biology class, for example, this might involve the search for seeds, the planting and taking care of them as they germinate. The group members would divide duties among themselves and ensure coordination of their tasks in order to achieve their objectives. Different students take up the different roles of planting, watering and presentation. Some of the challenging tasks such as recording the growth of the seeds at each step can be issued to the gifted students in order to allow them to exploit their abilities further.  The contribution of each member is therefore evident. The group composition requires balance according to the abilities of the students. Therefore, the group must include both talented and average students the tasks also required assigning of reasonable duration to undertake the tasks. This encourages perfection of the tasks and subsequently allowing enough time for the interaction of the students

 Material needed:

Practical skills of individual students that collectively realize expected results, cooperative learning textbooks to assist in the methods employed in undertaking the tasks and proper communication channels between the students to assist in undertaking the tasks

Lesson 2: improving performance of gifted students

Objectives:

Improve the performance of the gifted students regardless of their current and past performance.

Promote the social interaction of the students by awarding their efforts. Assist students in realizing their full potential.

Appreciating the efforts made by the students in improving their social lives. Enhancing satisfaction derived by students from their performance.

Challenge the students to improve the standards of their performance through subjecting them to more challenging tasks. Identifying other talents possessed by the students apart from academic talents.

Possible Modifications
Realization of the full potential of the gifted students is both a strategy of improving academic and social lives. Gifted students possess great potential for extraordinary academic performance. Lack of realizing this potential makes the students disinterested in learning, which results in frustration and lowers self esteem. Teachers have a responsibility to ensure the students realize their maximum potential academically. Encouragement and appreciation of improvement in performance are necessary to encourage consistent development.  Assignment of the more challenging tasks to the gifted students can help in boosting their performance. One’s IQ does not change noticeably.

However, our performance on cognitive and academic tasks can improve when we have a chance to use the abilities that are there, but the IQ does not change. IQ is just a measure of intellectual potential. It tells us how much potential is there so we know how hard to push these kids toward high performance. Teachers assume that the gifted students grasp everything taught to them while the truth is that most of them do not possess adequate knowledge due to the lack of in-depth learning. Detailed learning is necessary for proper understanding of various subjects. Measures to encourage in-depth learning would encourage students engage in more intense learning. The normal performance evaluation involves the evaluation of academic performance while neglecting other aspects of development. The grading system encourages higher academic performance but abandons other areas that require improvements. The development of a student includes academic, social and emotional aspects. The social aspect is overlooked in most cases, and this causes poor social interaction among students. Most gifted students become frustrated due to lack of satisfaction from their performance. This affects their social life since it reduces their level of tolerance to other people. Realization of the potential of the gifted students therefore becomes necessary in improving their social lives.

Using Challenging Tasks

The introduction of the more challenging tasks to increase the efforts put by the gifted students. This involves subjecting them to more challenging examinations that make them realize there is room for improvement. Mathematic quizzes conducted in a short duration help realize this since they challenge the ability to solve them within a limited time. If the average students undergo average tests, the gifted should be given a higher level of the tests. However, the tests should not be too challenging to avoid discouraging the students. Adopting a different grading system that considers the social aspects of students are also paramount. The involvement of students in service activities could also encourage their social interaction. The teacher could assign tasks that improve the social lives of students. Such a task can be asking them to write a play and produce it in class with help from their peers. Such a play could also help in identifying other talents from the students, apart from the academic abilities.

Materials needed:

Challenging tests to be undertaken by students, a variety of tests covering the academic, social and emotional aspects, a grading system that covers academic and social improvements, and motivation to students through awarding both academic and social efforts
Lesson 3 Promoting Self Awareness

Objective:

To promote the self awareness of gifted students and improve their self esteem.

Possible Modification

Promoting self awareness of the gifted students helps improve their self esteem. Some of the gifted students are unaware of their enormous potential in academic performance. It becomes necessary for the teacher to inform the students of the great achievements that they could realize if they put in their efforts. This would encourage the students to strive to attain excellent performance regardless of other students’ performance. Realization of one’s performance assists the person in contribution his skills in the improvement of performance of other students. This could improve the interaction of the gifted students with average students in an effort to improve their academic performance. This also raises the self esteem of the students since the other students appreciate the role they play.
Establishing Self Awareness Programs

Establish an awareness program for students. This could involve counseling session where the gifted students are made aware of their abilities and how to realize their potential. The students become aware of their strengths and weaknesses. This could involve a one-on-one discussion between the teacher and the student. It could also be a counseling session with a professional counselor in order to identify some problem areas. Sessions can focus on identity where the students understands what gifted means and some of their best learning methods.

Self Evaluation Activities

One of the lesson activities can include challenging tasks such as asking the students to evaluate themselves in some areas using questions such as

• In what ways do you interact with others socially, for enjoyment?
• How are you able to complete individual assignments and tasks?
• How do you relate to other people within your group or team that has activities requiring teamwork in order to complete?

After answering such questions each student should reflect on what area they are best at. Additionally, students should evaluate their social skills within a group by writing what they are able to achieve more when working in a team.

In providing support for the students, the teachers should ensure that the students have a clear understanding of the learning processes. This also enhances the learning outcomes of the entire process. It is also important to provide support for the teachers as they are the foundation for the pupils. The parents should also be involved in the process as good parental support is critical in enhancing the learning process. The gaps between where the students are and where they ought to be should be established. The processes of reducing these gaps should be identified and inculcated into the learning process.

Materials required:

Awareness programs for the gifted students. The best material for this lesson plan would be The Essential Guide to Talking with Gifted Teens by Jean Sunde Peterson.