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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Winebrenner, Susan.
Teaching gifted kids in today’s classroom : strategies and techniques every teacher can use /
Susan Winebrenner, Dina Brulles. — Rev. & updated third ed.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: Teaching gifted kids in the regular classroom, c2001.
Summary: “Fully revised and updated for a new generation of educators, this is the definitive
guide to meeting the learning needs of gifted students in the mixed-abilities classroom—seamlessly
and effectively with minimal preparation time. For years, teachers have turned to this book daily to
ensure their gifted students are getting the opportunities they need and deserve. Included are proven,
practical, classroom-tested strategies and step-by-step instructions for how to use them. The new
edition of Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom provides information on using technology for
accelerated learning, managing cluster grouping, increasing curriculum rigor, improving assessments,
boosting critical and creative thinking skills, and addressing gifted kids with special needs. Already a
perennial best seller, this guide’s third edition is sure to be welcomed with open arms by teachers
everywhere.”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-57542-395-1 — ISBN 1-57542-395-2
1. Gifted children—Education—United States. I. Brulles, Dina. II. Winebrenner, Susan, Teaching
gifted kids in the regular classroom. III. Title.
LC3993.9.W56 2012
371.95—dc23
2012024020
Updated Fourth Edition ISBN: 978-1-63198-372-6

Free Spirit Publishing does not have control over or assume responsibility for author or third-
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within are the most current available. All telephone numbers, addresses, and website URLs are
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that a resource listed here is not as described, please contact Free Spirit Publishing. Parents,
teachers, and other adults: We strongly urge you to monitor children’s use of the internet.
The Compactor form introduced in chapter 2 and used throughout the book is adapted from a
document originally published in 1978 by Creative Learning Press. Used with permission from
Creative Learning Press.

Edited by Meg Bratsch

Cover and interior design by Michelle Lee Lagerroos

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Dedication
This book is dedicated to all the educators who have found its previous
editions so helpful, and who have consistently spread the word to
colleagues far and wide. We are forever in your debt!
Acknowledgments
Sincere thanks go to:
Contributing author, Dr. Dina Brulles, for her helpful perspectives on the
realities of current educational best practices, and for her significant
contributions to the third and fourth editions.
Our editor, Meg Bratsch, for her patience and dedication in working
tirelessly to confirm that the ideas expressed in the book are clearly
communicated to you, its readers.
Our publisher, Judy Galbraith, whose diligent efforts over the years
continue to ensure that all kids get the understanding and support they
deserve.
Teachers Karen L. Brown, Karen Mensing, Erica Bailin, Alys Carnesi, and
David Graham in the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Arizona,
for their contributions in the areas of technology and assessment.
And last, but certainly not least, to Susan’s husband, Joe, whose amazing
patience with the demands of this most time-consuming task surely
demonstrates how fortunate she is to share her life with him.
Contents

Digital Content
List of Reproducible Pages
List of Figures
Foreword by Bertie Kingore, Ph.D.

Introduction
“But It’s Too Hard!”
Why Gifted Students Need Differentiation
Gifted Education Techniques Benefit Everyone
What Gifted Students Need
About This Book and Digital Content
How to Use This Book and Digital Content

Chapter 1: Characteristics of Gifted Students

Learning and Behavioral Characteristics of Gifted Students
Strategy: The Name Card Method
Perfectionism
Creative Thinkers
Students Who Are Twice-Exceptional
The Mystery of the Gifted Underachiever
Students from Diverse Populations
Gifted Students Identify Themselves
The Qualities of Teachers Needed by Gifted Students
Chapter Summary

Chapter 2: Compacting and Differentiating for Skill Work

Banishing the “B” Word
Compacting Curriculum and Differentiating Instruction
Extension Activities
Strategy: Compacting One Lesson at a Time: Most Difficult First
Strategy: Compacting One Week at a Time: Pretest for Volunteers
Strategy: Compacting One Chapter or Unit at a Time: The Learning
Contract
Questions & Answers
Chapter Summary

Chapter 3: Compacting and Differentiating for New Content

Strategy: The Study Guide
Tools to Use with the Study Guide
Questions & Answers
Chapter Summary

Chapter 4: Extending Reading and Writing Instruction

Characteristics of Readers Who Are Gifted
Teaching Reading to Gifted Learners
Strategy: The Contract for Permission to Read Ahead
Strategy: The Reading Activities Menu
Strategy: The Contract for Reading Skills
Strategy: Teaching Reading Skills in a Trade Book Reading Program
Strategy: Individualized Reading
Vocabulary Activities
Bibliotherapy
Teaching Writing to Gifted Learners
Strategy: The Great Friday Afternoon Event
Questions & Answers
Chapter Summary
Chapter 5: Planning Curriculum for All Students at the Same
Time
Learning Modalities
Strategy: Taxonomy of Thinking
Strategy: Curriculum Differentiation Chart
Strategy: Tiered Learning Experiences
Strategy: The ThinkTrix
Strategy: The Kaplan Model
Strategy: Learning Centers
Strategy: Socratic Seminars
Questions & Answers
Chapter Summary

Chapter 6: “I’m Done. Now What Should I Do?”: Self-Selected

Independent Study
Strategy: The Personal Interest Study Project
Strategy: The Topic Browsing Planner
Strategy: The Resident Expert Planner
Strategy: The Note Card Method
Questions & Answers
Chapter Summary

Chapter 7: Grouping Gifted Students for Learning

Cooperative Learning
Strategy: Cooperative Learning Groups for Gifted Students
Strategy: Cluster Grouping
Questions & Answers
Chapter Summary

Chapter 8: Assessment and Technology

Effective Assessment Practices
Formative Assessment for Gifted Learners
Strategy: One-Pagers
Strategy: Show Me
Strategy: Student Observations
Strategy: Ticket Out the Door
Strategy: Journaling
Summative Assessment for Gifted Leaners
Strategy: Roll the Die
Strategy: Scoring Rubrics
Using Technology to Challenge Learners
The Teacher’s Changing Role in the Age of Technology
Strategy: Using Technology for Collaborative Learning
Strategy: Using Mobile Devices
Strategy: Webquests and Cyberhunts
Net Smarts and Online Safety
Questions & Answers
Chapter Summary

Chapter 9: Gifted Programming

Gifted Program Delivery Options
Program Management and Record Keeping
The Changing Role of the Gifted Education Specialist
How to Gain Parent Support
Chapter Summary

Conclusion
References and Resources
About the Authors
Digital Content
To access this book’s digital content and download the reproducible forms, visit
[Link]/tgk-forms. Use the password 4gifted.
Chapter 10: Parenting Gifted Children
Additional Extension Menus
PDF Presentation for Professional Development
Reproducible Pages from the Book
List of Reproducible Pages
Chapter 1
Goal-Setting Log

Chapter 2
The Compactor
How to Work Independently on Extension Activities
The Essential Rules for Independent Work
Extension Activities in Spelling and Vocabulary
Learning Contract
Working Conditions for Alternate Activities

Chapter 3
Topic Development Sheet
American Wars Study Guide
American Wars Extension Menu
Study Guide
Extension Menu
The Product Choices Chart
Independent Study Agreement for Study Guide Only
Independent Study Agreement for Study Guide with Extension Menu
Daily Log of Extension Work
Extension Activities and Differentiated Homework Report
Evaluation Contract

Chapter 4
Contract for Permission to Read Ahead
Contract for Reading Skills and Vocabulary
Reading Activities Menu
Animal Story Study Guide
Animal Story Extension Menu
Biography Study Guide
Biography Extension Menu
Author Extension Menu
Circle of Books
Reading Response Sheet
Teacher’s Conference Record Sheet
Books I Want to Read
Recommended Books
Vocabulary Builders
Etymologies Activities
Etymologies Chart
Super Sentences: Level One
Super Sentences: Level Two
Vocabulary Web
Expository Writing Extension Menu
The Great Friday Afternoon Event

Chapter 5
Taxonomy of Thinking
Curriculum Differentiation Chart
Nutrition Extension Menu
Nutrition Extension Menu for Other Subject Areas
Tiered Lesson Planning Chart
ThinkTrix
Build Blocks to Think

Chapter 6
Interest Survey
Acceptable Student Projects
Topic Browsing Planner
Resources Record Sheet
Topic Browsing Planner for Primary Grades
Resource Suggestions
Resident Expert Planner
Resident Expert Planner for Primary Grades
Check-Off Sheet for Resident Expert Project
Personal Interest Study Project Agreement
Self-Evaluation Checklist

Chapter 9
Differentiated Learning Plan
Meeting Record Sheet
Gifted Student’s Cumulative Record Form
List of Figures
IQ Scores and Percentage of Students at Each Level
The Compactor: Benjamin
The Compactor: Elizabeth
The Compactor: Ava Marie
Learning Contract: Julie
Contract for Accelerated Learning: Lucas
Contract with Problem-Solving Focus: Elena
Differentiating Reading
Contract for Reading Skills, Grammar & Language Mechanics
Vocabulary Web Model
Contract for Expository Writing: James
Curriculum Differentiation Chart: Nutrition
Tiered Lesson Planning Chart Example
ThinkTrix on Global Warming
Topic Browsing Planner: Rahul
The 4C Booklet
Example of a Classroom Composition for the SCGM
Give Me a Five
Foreword
by Bertie Kingore, Ph.D.

Is the word “classic” overused? Not when referencing this book. Teaching
Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom (its original title) is a true classic in
gifted education. Susan Winebrenner’s first and second editions
transformed how gifted children are perceived and nurtured in mixed-ability
classrooms. At the university level, both my undergraduate and graduate in-
service teachers were enriched by the content and spirit of this book and
perceived immediate connections that influenced their interactions with
gifted students.
With Dina Brulles, the impact continues with a third, and now fourth,
edition: Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom. The title change is
most appropriate, as this work explores applications in contemporary
education and more authentic learning initiatives, including the changes
implied by the required standards that are integrated throughout the book.
This new edition continues the tradition of excellence with updated
content, new topics, expanded resources, and the addition of Dr. Brulles’s
field experience and research in school systems. The book is a pleasure to
read. It is well-crafted with practical applications that demonstrate how to
address the two crucial needs of gifted students: compacting and
differentiation. The discussion and applications of curriculum compacting
and differentiation techniques are succinct, clear, and absolutely
manageable—the best available to teachers. Compacting is particularly
crucial for gifted students to enable them to experience continuous learning
and avoid the less meaningful repetition of known concepts and skills.
The added chapter and expanded emphasis on assessment and
technology is timely and sorely needed. The authors build a solid case for
effectively combining the two for increased interest and achievement
outcomes. They provide numerous, ready-to-use formative assessment
techniques in keeping with required standards and the increased emphasis
on continual assessments by most schools. Educators must use
preassessment and formative assessment to document that gifted students
have changed as learners as a result of classroom learning. Assessment is
also vital to ensure that gifted students experience continuous progress in all
content areas.
The authors provide a useful and unintimidating set of technology
techniques and sample lessons for the classroom. Their choices encourage
teachers who are less “techie” than their students to embrace the benefits of
technology, while teaching students to be smart internet researchers who
understand how to evaluate websites.
In the current educational forum, there are very few guarantees. But
Susan Winebrenner and Dina Brulles have provided us strategies and
procedures that guarantee effectiveness. There is a good reason why this
book has been in continuous publication since 1992: It is a definitive book
on teaching gifted kids, and we need it in today’s classrooms.

Bertie Kingore, Ph.D.

Introduction

Of all the students you are teaching in a given class, which group do you
think will probably learn the least this year? It may surprise you to find that
in a class that has a range of abilities (and which class doesn’t?), it is the
most able, rather than the least able, who will make the smallest amount of
academic progress. These are the students who are almost never given an
opportunity to demonstrate that they already know what is going to be
taught.
How does this happen? Mostly it’s because each year we are presented
with our curriculum content and feel intense pressure and responsibility to
teach all the standards assigned to our grade or subject to all of our students.
For advanced learners, this creates a situation in which much of their school
time is wasted on grade-level work they have already mastered.
As adults, we often have options when we find ourselves in a situation
like this. We can leave the class, lecture, or presentation and seek an
alternative way to spend that time with something more satisfying and
productive. Students do not often get that choice. To some extent, they are
confined within a system that will not let them move ahead until they first
complete all the grade-level requirements. The frustration faced by these
students can be agonizing and maddening, and their wasted time and energy
a tragedy.
For example, when a student was interviewed by a national researcher
and was asked what it was like to be a gifted student in a heterogeneous
classroom, he said it felt like his teacher was “stealing” his learning time by
making him sit through so many lessons he already knew.
Can you identify with this student’s frustration, impatience, and
resentment? Think of the last time you didn’t have the option to leave a
redundant meeting or lecture and were instead forced to sit through it. And
vow that now as a teacher you will avoid imposing such a fate on your
gifted students.
How can you avoid this? You might want to hold on to something
before you read the next sentence. You are not required to teach all the
standards to all of your students. You are only required to document that the
standards assigned to you have been mastered by the students assigned to
you. Some of your students are gifted, or very advanced, and they may
already know much of what you are planning to teach, or they can often
learn new material in much less time than their age peers.

A Note from the Authors About This Update

For this updated fourth edition of Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom, we
have refreshed its classic content for a new generation of educators. As the
number of gifted programs continues to decrease in schools year after year,
teachers in inclusion classrooms need this resource more than ever before to
ensure their brightest learners receive the challenges and special attention they
seek and need. Likewise, in this age of required standards focused on depth and
rigor, gifted education techniques can now benefit many more students than just
those formally identified as gifted. In this fourth edition, we include updated
information on students with twice-exceptionalities, discuss the implications of
MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) on gifted students, and address debates
about some gifted education practices. We also elaborate on our popular Study
Guide method to make it even easier for teachers and students to use. And in the
spirit of keeping up with technology, we have improved our section on helpful
digital tools for teachers, particularly as it relates to Google Classroom and related
resources. We hope you enjoy!

Students are recognized as gifted if they have exceptional abilities in

any area of learning that significantly exceed grade-level expectations, and
they can understand content designed for students older than them by about
two years or more. Since grade-level standards are designed for grade-level
learners of a certain age, grade-level curriculum cannot, by definition, be at
the instructional level of gifted students. This is essential to understand if
we are to ensure that gifted students actually learn something new and
challenging every day in school. All other students have that experience
daily, so why shouldn’t gifted students also enjoy it? As long as mastery is
documented, students may experience any of the challenging learning
options described in this book.

“But It’s Too Hard!”

The United States is struggling to maintain a leadership role in the world.
One reason is that in the United States we have been unable to provide
enough candidates for high-level math and science courses and,
consequently, for jobs in technology, science, and engineering. This is not
because we lack students who are gifted in math and science. It is because
these students often rebel from the tedium of spending so much time being
taught what they’ve already learned that they likely come to assume that if
someone is gifted, he or she must just “know” what is required without
having to work hard to learn it. Hence, it is understandable that by the time
these kids have an opportunity to take advanced courses, they are out of
practice at working hard and may have lost the courage to put forth effort
without the promise of easy success. When asked why they opt not to take
advanced math courses in high school, for example, a common response
from students is simply, “Because it’s too hard!” This—from some of the
smartest kids in the country.
The research of Dr. Carol Dweck at Stanford University validates these
ideas. Her study, described in chapter 1 of this book, demonstrates that in
order for students to be motivated to progress to advanced and challenging
levels of learning, they must have the mindset that hard work is absolutely
necessary for learning success and the perception that effort is the key
factor to seeking new challenges throughout one’s lifetime. They must
believe, from their own experience, that smart people can work very hard—
and even struggle, sweat, and fail sometimes—and still be considered smart
and gifted. In short, when gifted students discover early on that they can get
high praise and grades for tasks they complete with little or no effort, they
may conclude that being gifted means being able to do things without really
trying. And the longer they are allowed to believe this, the harder it is for
them to rise to the challenge when one is finally encountered.
We should be seriously concerned about the plight of gifted students in
most classrooms today. Many consistently bring home perfect report cards
and sail from grade school through high school, graduating in the top five
percent of their class, while rarely being required to work hard. When they
are accepted into prestigious colleges and universities, where everyone in
the freshman class was also in the top five percent of their high school
graduating class, the competition for A’s is fierce and learning requires a lot
of time, effort, and intensive study skills. Many gifted students have never
learned these skills and are at a loss about how to effectively study, manage
their time, handle intense competition and pressure, or deal with less-than-
stellar grades and test scores—all of which can lead to a sense of
discouragement, severe anxiety, eating disorders, depression, and other
harmful outcomes.
Where do we want these kids we care about to be when they realize that
success is not always easy and that it is perfectly natural for all students to
have to work hard in order to learn new things? Surely not alone in a
freshman dorm, miles away from home. We want them to experience
challenges in their local school environment, so we can help them celebrate
their first B and demonstrate that life goes on—and often improves!—even
when one’s grades are not perfect.
One fourth-grade teacher who attended a gifted workshop series Susan
presented had an eye-opening experience that you may relate to. She started
thinking about how happy she had felt the day before, when all of her most
capable readers got A’s on the end-of-the-unit test. But then she wondered
whether their grades reflected what they had actually learned from her. Was
it possible that these students knew the material before the unit even began?
Since there were two weeks between each workshop, she decided to
find the answer to her question. The next day, with no advance warning, she
gave these same students the end-of-the-unit test for the following unit.
They were tested on the skills and the vocabulary only, not on the content of
the stories, which they had not yet read. Again, they all got A’s. This
experience was one of the most startling of the teacher’s career. She began
to consider alternate methods of teaching her most capable readers to make
sure they were not simply going through the motions of learning, but they
were making measurable forward progress.
When gifted students realize that they already know a lot of the subject
matter, they usually have little choice but to dutifully go through the
assigned curriculum, waiting and hoping for the rare times when there will
be something new or challenging for them to learn. Since very few teacher
training programs require candidates to take even one course in gifted
education, you are not to blame as a teacher for not knowing how to handle
this situation effectively. We are confident that this book will help you teach
gifted students in ways that can empower them for a lifetime of challenge,
hard work, and achievement.
Author and educator Dr. Sylvia Rimm has expressed this eloquently
when she says: “The surest path to high self-esteem is to be successful at
something you perceived would be difficult.” It is therefore possible that
each time we take away students’ opportunity to struggle by insisting they
do work that is too easy for them, we steal their opportunity to have an
esteem-building experience. Unless kids are consistently engaged in
challenging work, they will lose their motivation to work hard.
A related self-esteem issue is that, especially in grades preK–8,
students’ self-esteem is usually a goal of the school. When atypical learners
conclude that their specific learning needs are not being attended to, they
may worry that other students and even teachers do not approve of them the
way they are and wish they were more “average” or “normal.” There are
few challenges to one’s self-esteem as painful as knowing you have to try to
hide your real self on a daily basis. Many gifted students realize from an
early age that it is safer for them to pretend to be average than to
demonstrate their exceptional learning abilities. This leads to serious
disenfranchisement issues. However, this entire situation is fixed when their
teachers provide appropriate compacting and differentiation opportunities
daily in their classes for students who need them. Gifted students interpret
these options as evidence that it is okay to be themselves. Their classmates
come to the same conclusion and are more likely to follow the teacher’s
example and demonstrate acceptance behaviors toward any students with
significant learning differences.

Why Gifted Students Need

Differentiation
Many educators believe there is no need to do anything special for gifted
kids. “After all,” they reason, “most gifted students get good grades and
high scores on standardized tests. They do just fine without extra help or
attention. They will ‘make it’ on their own.” In fact, this idea is causing
discreet gifted programs to disappear in districts across the country. Some
states have even reallocated funds formerly earmarked for gifted education
to the “general fund,” leaving decisions about where that money should be
spent up to individual districts. To understand why gifted students do need
special attention, let’s look at the bell curve. Rest assured that we use this
model only to demonstrate reasons why differentiating for gifted students is
required as much as it is for students who are struggling.
When we teach a class of students, we usually differentiate content,
pacing, amount of work, and activities based on what we know about
typical students at that age. Let’s call those kids the Twos, because they are
in the middle of the three groups represented on the bell curve and are
usually students of average abilities. Many students enter a grade level
missing many of the basic competencies they were supposed to acquire in
earlier grades. They are often children with learning differences or special
needs, or children of poverty, and may have lacked the early learning
experiences that prepare kids for kindergarten. These kids are far to the left
on the bell curve; let’s call them the Ones. These children are described as
students with exceptional educational needs because they are not typical
learners, nor do their abilities and performance fall into the middle range of
the bell curve.

A Question of Terms
Perhaps we should consider the question of whether to continue to call advanced
students gifted. This term has caused decades of hard feelings between children
and families when some students are deemed “chosen” and others are rejected.
Even worse, the implied opposite of “gifted” is “un-gifted.” This has not been
intentional, but the label “gifted” resonates with many as a prize that some people
win and some people lose. Some argue for a more judgment-free term such as
“advanced learners” to clarify the advanced level at which students are able to
work. Other terms used for these students are “high-ability,” “accelerated,” and
“high-potential”—all perhaps less divisive and less emotional terms than “gifted.”
However, no matter the word used to describe it, giftedness itself remains the
same, identified through careful testing and observation. It is, after all, a learning
difference, not a label.

We also have some students who are ahead of their age peers in what
they know and can do. We’ll call them the Threes. On the bell curve, the
Threes are the same distance to the far right as the Ones are to the far left.
Hence, they can also be described as students with exceptional educational
needs. Therefore, they are entitled to all the same differentiation
opportunities our system makes available for the Ones—not because the
Threes are specially privileged, but because they are equally as atypical in
their learning needs.
Now ask yourself, “What do I do differently for students who are
having trouble keeping up with the grade-level standards (the Ones)?” Your
answer might include these interventions:
Adjust the amount of work they have to do. You may require them to do
less work than the typical learner for equivalent credit.
Change the pacing of the lesson and adjust the amount of time they
have to work. You might slow down your rate of instruction or provide
more time for them to complete their work.
Change the content in order to teach them what they are missing. If they
are missing material they were supposed to master in a previous grade,
you provide learning time on standards from other grade levels even
though they are not part of your assigned standards.
Teach to their learning modalities and preferences, and allow students
to express what they have learned in ways that are compatible with those
modalities.
Find topics in which they are highly interested, so you can entice them
to learn some of the standards through those high-interest topics.
Change the peer interactions they have with their classmates, taking
special care to pair them with students who can support them and with
whom they can work comfortably.
Seek out their parents and former teachers to get information that
might empower you to help them learn more successfully. You may even
invite their parents to come to school beyond the regular conference
times, because you know that these students’ achievement often improves
with parental interest and assistance.

Many of us make most or all of these adjustments daily for the benefit
of the Ones in our classes. Do you feel that these adjustments are
unnecessary or unfair to the other students? Do you refrain from making
them because of the extra work that is required of you? Probably not.
Just like the Ones, the Threes on the other end of the bell curve are
deserving of differentiated instruction and interventions. Not because they
are gifted, but because, like the Ones, they are not average. The level,
pacing, amount of work, and type of learning activities that benefit average
learners are just as inappropriate for above-average learners as they are for
students who are working below grade-level expectations. For the Threes,
the following adjustments are often necessary to improve their attitudes and
willingness to do their schoolwork:
Lessen the amount of grade-level work they must do because they can
demonstrate mastery with less practice.
Increase the pace of a lesson and allow them to spend considerable class
time working on extensions or independent study.
Adjust the content so it extends beyond the grade-level parameters, fuels
students’ passion for learning all they can about an interesting topic, and
gives them opportunities for acceleration as part of their regular school
experience.
Allow them to work with each other on extension tasks and limit our
expectations for them to assist other students who need help.
Change our style of interaction with them from being a provider of
information, or “sage on the stage,” to being a learning “guide on the
side.”
Welcome their parents as important partners in their learning. After
all, every adult’s goal for his or her kids is the same—for kids to love
school and love learning for the rest of their lives.

IQ Scores and Percentage of Students at Each

Level
Building Lifelong Learners
Becoming an enthusiastic lifelong learner is, arguably, the most important
goal for success in the 21st century. Many experts predict that all the
students we currently teach will be required throughout their work lives to
change careers numerous times before they retire, due to economic
situations and advances in technology. Thus, many students will need to go
back to some sort of schooling to be retrained for another career. In order
for them to welcome that reality, they must have had positive experiences in
school when they were young.
Look again at the bell curve. Which two groups of students do you
predict are the least likely to be happy about returning to school later in
life? If you predicted the Ones and the Threes, you would be correct. Why?
Because school for many of them was stressful most of the time. The Twos
usually have more positive experiences because much of what happens in
school is geared toward them, the typical learners. The Ones feel stressed to
meet standards and pass tests, while the Threes feel frustrated about feeling
unchallenged so often in school.
Gifted Education Techniques Benefit
Everyone
When students have had access to gifted education, it has significantly
improved learning experiences for all students in heterogeneous classes.
Every pedagogical method we’ve used with gifted kids over the years is
now considered state-of-the-art for all kids. Project work, meaningful
student choice, self-directed learning, literature-based reading, inquiry,
problem-based learning, and a focus on STEM/STEAM—all were born in
gifted education practices.
Another methodology previously used only with gifted students is
included in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Within ESSA, schools
have vastly improved methods for testing advanced learners in the grade
levels at which these students are working. For instance, under ESSA,
students who are taking geometry in eighth grade can take a math test at
their own level instead of the typical state test for eighth graders. All states
are now required by federal law to provide such “out-of-level” testing when
it is needed for any advanced learner.
ESSA also encourages the use of computer-adaptive tests to better
measure how well students are growing academically and to show whether
students need advanced math classes to take their work beyond their actual
grade levels. All states are now required to describe how they plan to
provide all students with the opportunity to take advanced math. This is
another example of how attention to the needs of advanced learners can
positively impact entire schools.
When we provide what gifted kids need—namely, a consistently
challenging curriculum—other students are likely to benefit as well.
Teachers who are trained for cluster classes learn that the differentiation
opportunities are always offered to all students—not just those formally
identified as gifted. This practice demonstrates high expectations for all
students and most students react very positively to those expectations.

What Gifted Students Need

A good definition of learning might be “forward progress from a student’s
entry level at the beginning of each school year to her or his achievement
levels at the end of the school year.” So what do gifted students need in
order to learn? They need two crucial things: compacting and
differentiation. Compacting means condensing a semester’s or year’s worth
of learning into a shorter time period. Differentiation means providing
students with different materials, tasks, and activities than their age peers—
tasks that lead to authentic learning for them. Both compacting and
differentiation can be used to tailor learning for gifted students in the
following five areas: content, process, product, environment, and
assessment.
1. Content. As a teacher, you are responsible for making sure that all kids
learn the content standards they are expected to know. Students who
demonstrate that they have already learned some of the content, or who
are able to learn required content in much less time than their age peers,
should be provided with differentiated content.
Content is differentiated through the use of curriculum compacting,
learning contracts, accelerated pacing, learning centers, flexible
grouping, advanced resource materials, independent study, and
mentorships. The focus of differentiated content should be on students
attaining a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the issues and
viewpoints connected to a specific topic.
2. Process. This defines the methods students use to make sense of
concepts, generalizations, and the required learning standards. It
encompasses learning modality considerations, creative and productive
thinking and conceptualizing, focus on open-ended and problem-
solving tasks, opportunities for meaningful research, and the skills to
share what they are learning.
Gifted students should spend most of their learning time using
learning processes that are more complex and abstract than is suitable
for their age peers. They should collect and analyze knowledge and
data as though they are professionals in a given field, assuming an
attitude of inquiry rather than one of information gathering. And they
should be expected to support their findings with valid evidence.
Process is differentiated through the use of flexible grouping,
approaches based on learning modalities or multiple intelligences,
opportunities for learning at more complex levels, sophisticated
research practices, and adjustable time limits.
3. Product. This describes the ways in which students choose to
demonstrate their understanding of the content and process. Some
gifted students resist assignments that require a written product, as their
brains may move much faster than their hands. They may be more
willing to produce a unique artifact, exhibit, independent study, or
performance. Gifted students should be guided to produce what Dr.
Joseph Renzulli calls “real-life products for appropriate audiences.”
These go beyond the typical research papers or reports to include
alternatives that develop individual students’ talents and curiosities.
Product is differentiated by steering students to exciting and
unusual resources and to people who can help them mine and use them,
and by encouraging students to use available technology to its best
advantage.
4. Environment. This describes the physical setting where learning takes
place, as well as the expectations and attitudes present in the classroom
and other learning locales. Gifted students typically spend more time in
independent study than their classmates, and they sometimes may work
outside the classroom or school as part of their differentiated learning.
They thrive in a challenging atmosphere in which individuality is
valued and nurtured.
Learning environment is also differentiated by adjusting your
expectations as a teacher to require higher level responses to more
challenging lessons, establishing a positive attitude toward individual
differences, allowing flexible time limits, providing opportunities for
in-depth research, and arranging mentorships.
5. Assessment. Assessment practices have changed dramatically. They
now are coming much closer to the attributes of assessment we have
always used with gifted students. Gifted learners should experience
consistent opportunities to demonstrate previous mastery before a
particular unit is taught or to experience differentiated pacing. They
should be encouraged to develop their own scoring rubrics and other
methods to assess their independent study projects. We should strive to
be certain that the manner in which we set up the assessments for their
advanced work avoids simple extrinsic reward systems such as special
stickers or extra credit. When we do that, students are working for the
points or grades, rather than the intrinsic desire to learn all they can
 about a particular topic. To quote Karen Brown, a highly effective
teacher of the gifted, “It’s not just about the grades, it’s about the
learning.” In a perfect world, that should be the goal for all students
and teachers.
Assessment is differentiated for advanced learners by setting up
classroom conditions that allow them to get full credit for required
standards without necessarily being expected to do all the activities that
have been designed to lead to mastery.

We understand the uncertainty, and even fear, you might be feeling as

you contemplate the tasks of finding out what your gifted students already
know, giving them credit for it before you teach it, and providing alternate
activities for them to work on instead. You may be asking yourself, “How
will I gather the materials and resources I need? Won’t differentiating
content, process, product, environment, and assessment take a lot of time
and add more to my teaching load? Will I lose control of my classroom?”
We assure you this book will ease your doubts and fears and make your
efforts to teach your gifted students—and consequently all your students—
more successful and rewarding. As in all new learning, you will be less
stressed if you choose one strategy to use in one subject area, and
concentrate on that until you and your students have reached a comfort
level. At that time, you might choose to use the same strategy with another
subject area or try out another strategy in the same subject area. The
catchphrase is “start slowly,” as you build toward successful
implementation of several strategies from this book.

About This Book and Digital Content

Formerly titled Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom, this book
has been in constant publication since 1992, during which time hundreds of
thousands of educators have shared, discussed, dog-eared, highlighted, and,
most importantly, used it. The feedback from teachers, administrators, and
parents has been dramatically positive and readers often state, “I wish I
would have known the things in this book years ago—I might have avoided
a lot of heartache and frustration for myself and the gifted kids I have
taught and parented.” No guilt intended! Simply begin today to make your
own forward progress in your quest to have gifted students (and their
parents) feel happy that you are their teacher.
In creating the third and fourth editions, we chose a slightly different
title to more clearly state its mission: Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s
Classroom. It’s a guide written for educators of gifted kids in all grades,
kindergarten through high school, in a variety of present-day learning
environments—be they “regular” classrooms, gifted cluster classes, full-
time gifted classes, school- or district-wide gifted programs, or at home.
The design has undergone a complete face-lift, and extensive content has
been updated, revised, and added to such topics as technology and
assessment to make the book resonate with current teaching and learning
realities.
Each chapter presents proven, practical, easy-to-use teaching and
classroom management strategies, which are listed in a box at the start of
each chapter. These strategies have been used by many teachers for over
more than two decades. Scenarios profile students with whom the strategies
have been successfully used, so you’ll be able to draw parallels to the
characteristics, needs, and responses of your own students. The strategies
are described in step-by-step detail, frequently asked questions about the
strategies are answered, and chapter summaries review the main points of
each chapter. Of course, you are free to adjust any of the strategies as you
use them as long as you never lose sight of these students’ critical need for
consistent compacting and differentiation that are essential parts of their
total school program. The references and resources for all chapters appear
together at the end of the book, listed by chapter.
Chapter 1 describes the learning and behavioral characteristics of
gifted students. Special attention is given to populations that have been
underserved in the past, including young gifted children, nonproductive
students, gifted students from multicultural and low socioeconomic
populations, and those considered “twice-exceptional” (possessing both
gifted abilities and learning challenges). The chapter concludes with a
discussion of the qualities needed by teachers of gifted students.
The strategies in chapter 2 are designed to be used with curriculum that
is skill-based and lends itself to pretesting, because some of your students
will already know much of what you plan to teach. These strategies will
help you meet the needs of your gifted students in any skill work related to
reading, math, language arts, or other subject areas. Chapter 2 also contains
information about creating and using extension activities.
The strategies in chapter 3 are designed to be used with subject areas in
which most of the content is new to students, such as science, social studies,
literature, problem-based learning, and interdisciplinary or thematic units.
Methods other than pretests and learning contracts are often necessary for
these types of curriculums. Chapter 4 describes appropriate reading and
writing instruction for gifted students, and chapter 5 explains how to plan
differentiated curriculum for all of your students at the same time. Chapters
3 through 5 use many similar principles and methods, so you may want to
read and use these chapters together.
Chapter 6 shows you how to help gifted kids manage independent
study based on personal interests. Chapter 7 describes issues to consider
when grouping gifted students for instruction and learning. Strategies for
making cooperative learning fair for gifted students, and methods for
grouping gifted students in homerooms or self-contained classes—including
cluster grouping—are explained.
Chapter 8 includes discussions of assessment and grading practices for
gifted students and strategies for using technology to challenge gifted
students. There are also many references to technology throughout the
book. Technology is becoming integrated in students’ learning, facilitates
our easy location of extension activities, and can transform pretesting and
formative assessment.
Chapter 9 discusses issues related to gifted education programming,
such as acceleration, schoolwide cluster grouping, and International
Baccalaureate programs; record-keeping for differentiation experiences; the
roles of gifted education specialists; and how to interact with parents and
colleagues.
Chapter 10 (available in the digital content) is intended to be read by
parents of gifted kids. Teachers should read it, too, so they can anticipate
parents’ questions and expectations. Sharing this section with the parents of
gifted students before you conference with them is often very productive.
Finally, the conclusion pulls all of the book’s content together, while the
references and resources section lists research and information materials,
arranged by chapter, which can assist you in keeping your gifted students
motivated to move forward in their learning.
 The digital content included with the book contains all the reproducible
forms from the book. Many of the digital forms are customizable, which
means you can alter them and print out your own versions. The digital
content also includes chapter 10 on parenting, 20 additional extension
menus, and a PDF presentation that provides an overview of concepts and
strategies described in the book and can be used for professional
development. For information on how to access the digital content, see the
table of contents.

How to Use This Book and Digital

Content
The chapters presented here flow the best if the book is examined from start
to finish. However, if you decide to study one or two chapters ahead of the
others or to read the chapters in a different order, that’s perfectly fine as
well.
The book is intended for educators of gifted students. It is an essential
resource for every classroom teacher and every building principal, and even
for some parents. All classes have some overlooked gifted kids, and we
want this book to be a resource for all teachers, whether or not they have
any identified gifted students in their classes. As districts restructure the
way they deliver gifted education services, administrators often tell parents
that although self-contained and/or pull-out classes have been cancelled, the
“gifted program” will now take place in the regular classroom. That
promise cannot be kept unless those regular classroom teachers know how
to challenge gifted students. As a teacher of gifted students in any setting,
you can use this book as your guide to meeting those students’ unique
needs. Administrators promising to meet gifted students’ needs can fulfill
that commitment by sharing this book with all classroom teachers and
allowing them time to study its contents and plan for differentiation. An
ongoing book study will ensure that you implement the strategies
successfully.
This book is also useful in PLCs (professional learning communities)
studying issues regarding differentiation, keeping families enrolled in your
school or district, and gifted education issues in general. The PDF
presentation included in the accompanying digital content can be used at
grade-level or department meetings, and for coaching teachers toward
optimum success with all their students.
Overall, we must remember: Gifted kids are gifted 24 hours a day, not
just during those times they spend in separate classes or on challenging
projects or activities. Our goal must be to provide conditions that allow
gifted kids to experience consistent opportunities to truly enjoy school and
be as challenged and productive as possible. With that in mind, make this
your book. It’s written for you to use without much fuss. All methods have
been field-tested with educators like yourself who have found them to work
very effectively and who have found through this book the confidence and
capability to inspire positive attitudes toward school in gifted students and
to keep them on the path to being enthusiastic lifelong learners.
Here are our promises to you, our readers:
We promise you that the strategies presented here will work in your
heterogeneous classes as well as in gifted cluster classes and open-
enrollment Honors and AP programs.
We promise you that these strategies and techniques will also be useful
for many students besides those formally identified as gifted.
We promise you that there will be little or no resentment on the part of
your other students as they see gifted students “doing their own thing.”
We promise that you won’t have to spend long hours preparing extension
materials.
Finally, we promise you the following results for your gifted students:
They will be more motivated.
They will be more productive—they will actually get their work done.
They will feel safe to demonstrate their advanced abilities.
They will have more positive feelings about school.
Their parents will be pleased with what’s happening in your class and
will be content to allow their children to continue their education at
your school.
Their teacher (you) will be pleased with their attitude and productivity
and with the professionally satisfying results of your efforts.
 To make sure your gifted students never feel like you are stealing their
learning time, make use of the strategies presented in this book. Everything
you need to know to be able to teach them well is inside these covers.
Most importantly, don’t spend any time or energy feeling guilty about
what you should have done differently in the past. If you had known what
to do, you would have done it. This book will help you learn how to teach
gifted kids well, starting now. Watch these students become more motivated
to work, less sullen and hostile, less driven to always be perfect, and more
likely to enjoy school and your teaching. Listen to their parents thank you
for making their children’s school experience so enjoyable and rewarding.
Notice the positive feelings you experience as you realize you are truly
meeting the exceptional learning needs of all your students.
For the many years we have been presenting this content to educators
and parents, one question is always asked: “Aren’t the strategies you’ve
been teaching us good for all kids, not just gifted ones?” Our hearty answer
is yes! Good teaching is good teaching, regardless of labels. So you have
our blessing to apply the strategies in this book to any students who might
benefit from them. Let’s get started!
As always, we invite you to share your stories, questions, or concerns
with us at help4kids@[Link].

Susan Winebrenner and Dina Brulles, 2018

CHAPTER 1
Characteristics of Gifted
Students

STRATEGIES
The Name Card Method

Being gifted in schools today is not necessarily a positive experience.

Gifted students and their parents experience a lot of rejection from an
educational system in which conformity is valued and most kids are
expected to work along with the group without resistance or complaint. We
have long wondered why educators spend considerable time and effort
teaching students to appreciate diversity in ethnic and cultural terms but
don’t extend that mindset to differences in learning ability. Gifted children
do not ask to be born that way; it just happens. We need to consider
giftedness as simply another difference and make gifted children as
welcome in our classrooms as any other student.
In terms of classroom teaching, gifted students may be defined as those
who have ability that exceeds grade- or age-level expectations by two years
or more. Some gifted students have the potential to exceed expectations, but
need teachers who understand their innately different learning needs to
develop that potential. By this definition, the regular curriculum and
standard instructional strategies can’t possibly provide the challenge these
students need to continually move forward in their learning.
Some fascinating insights into giftedness have emerged from the work
of Polish psychiatrist and psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902–1980).
When Dabrowski studied a group of gifted children and teens, he found that
they displayed what he called “overexcitabilities.” They perceived all kinds
of stimuli more intensely than others did, they were super-sensitive to
everything in their environment, and they felt the joys and sorrows of life
more extremely than other children. Today, overexcitability, or OE, is
considered a marker of giftedness, one of the many things to look for when
identifying a gifted child. Dabrowski believed that OE can lead to a series
of “positive disintegrations,” or developmental crises, during which the
individual rejects the status quo and questions everything. When things go
well, the person emerges from this process as an autonomous, authentic
human being with carefully thought-out values and beliefs. When things
don’t go well, the person may get stuck in antisocial behavior, disharmony,
and despair. Dabrowski’s theories help us understand why living with and
teaching gifted kids can be such an incredible challenge.
In order to help identify those who might need an alternative approach
to learning, people often ask for a short list of common characteristics of
gifted children. Students who possess most or all of the following five
characteristics may be gifted, and may benefit from differentiated
instruction and compacted curriculum.
1. They learn new material faster and at an earlier age than their age
peers.
 2. They remember what they have learned for a very long time, making
review unnecessary.
3. They are able to deal with concepts that are too complex and abstract
for their age peers.
4. They have a passionate interest in one or more topics and would spend
all available time learning more about those topics if they could.
5. They do not need to watch the teacher to understand what is being said,
and they can process more than one task at a time.

Other characteristics are described throughout this chapter. All gifted

children do not possess all of these characteristics. However, when you
observe students consistently exhibiting many of these behaviors, the
possibility that they are gifted is very strong. Trust your own observations
more than how they perform on criterion-referenced standardized test
scores or grades. Listen respectfully to parents whose descriptions of their
children at home match some of the information presented here.
Sometimes, gifted kids do not appear gifted at school but demonstrate
gifted characteristics at home.
It’s rare to find a child who is gifted across all academic areas. Most
gifted kids are more likely to be advanced in one or two specific areas.
Asynchronous development is common with gifted kids. This is seen when
children are highly advanced in one or more areas and average in other
areas. For example, highly verbal children may appear emotionally
immature or deficient in bodily kinesthetic abilities (as seen in physical
education classes). Sometimes their physical abilities are developmentally
appropriate for their age but seem glaringly outpaced by their intellectual
abilities. Compacting and differentiation opportunities are just as
appropriate for children who show evidence of giftedness in one or two
areas as they are for those who are gifted in several areas.
You might never be asked to formally identify gifted students. In fact, as
you’ll learn later in this chapter, gifted students often informally “identify”
themselves by showing their readiness for compacting and differentiation.
The characteristics are included here in case you need guidelines for
recognizing behaviors associated with giftedness.
Learning and Behavioral
Characteristics of Gifted Students
Gifted students might:
Learn at a much earlier age than their age peers and make much more
rapid progress in certain areas of learning.
Be high achievers and motivated by high grades.
Delight in completing work with precision and excellence.
Exhibit asynchronous development. (Be highly precocious in some areas
while demonstrating age-appropriate or delayed behaviors in other areas.)
Have advanced vocabularies and verbal abilities for their age level.
Have outstanding memories, possess lots of information, and be able to
process it in sophisticated ways.
Learn some things very easily with little help from others and seek to
master certain topics of study.
Operate on higher levels of thinking than their age peers, be comfortable
with abstract and complex thinking tasks, and need a minimum of
concrete experiences for complete understanding.
Perceive subtle cause-and-effect relationships, and see patterns,
relationships, and connections that others do not see.
See better ways for doing things and suggest them to others, not always in
positive or appreciated ways.
Prefer complex and challenging tasks to basic work and may change
simple tasks or directions to more complex ones to stay interested.
Transfer concepts and learning to new situations.
Make intuitive leaps toward understanding without being able to, or
caring to, explain how they got there.
Want to share all they know and love to know reasons for everything.
Like to be noticed and appreciated for their advanced abilities.
 Be curious about many things and ask endless questions.
Be keen observers who don’t miss a thing.
Be very intense and extremely emotional and excitable.
Have a tendency to become totally absorbed in activities and thoughts and
lose awareness of what’s going on around them.
Have difficulty making transitions and be reluctant to move from one
subject area to another.
Have many (sometimes unusual) interests, hobbies, and collections, and
have a passionate interest that has lasted for many years.
Be strongly motivated to do things of interest in their own way, like
making discoveries and solving problems.
Prefer to work alone.
Have a very high energy level, seem to require little sleep, and have
difficulty calming down or falling to sleep because they are so busy
thinking, planning, problem solving, and creating.
Be very sensitive to beauty and other people’s feelings, emotions, and
expectations.
Have an advanced sense of justice, morality, empathy, and fairness,
especially about global issues that many of their age peers aren’t
interested in.
Have sophisticated senses of humor that can be inappropriate at times.
Like to be in charge and are natural leaders.

NOTE Not all gifted kids learn to read before starting school and not all kids who learn
to read before starting school are gifted. One significant indication of giftedness is the
child who teaches himself or herself to read, with little or no help from an adult.

While many of these characteristics can be considered in a positive

light, many pose inherent challenges in the classroom. Some challenges
associated with having outstanding talents are often perceived as problems
with behavior, motivation, or attitude. In addition to the characteristics
previously listed, gifted children whose learning needs are not met in school
might:
Resist doing schoolwork or homework, or work in a sloppy, careless
manner.
Become frustrated with the pace of the class and what they perceive as
stagnant or mundane progress.
Rebel against routine and predictability.
Ask embarrassing questions and demand good reasons for why things are
done a certain way.
Resist taking direction or orders.
Daydream.
Monopolize class discussions.
Be bossy with peers and teachers.
Become intolerant of their own imperfections and those of others.
React in a super-sensitive way to any form of criticism or cry easily.
Refuse to conform.
Resist cooperative learning.
Act out or disturb others.
Be the “class clowns.”
Become impatient when they’re not called on to recite or respond; blurt
out answers without raising their hands.

When you notice these problems, don’t panic! Before trying to “fix” the
child, fix the curriculum and instruction by following the suggestions in this
book. More often than not, an understanding of the academic, social, and
emotional needs of gifted students, while differentiating instruction and
compacting curriculum for them, can noticeably diminish negative
behaviors and enhance their more positive behaviors.
More often than not, an understanding of the academic,
social, and emotional needs of gifted students can noticeably
diminish negative behaviors and enhance their more positive
behaviors.

STRATEGY

The Name Card Method1

If there’s one thing many gifted kids have in common—except those who
have given up on school and retreated into full-time daydreaming—it’s the
tendency to blurt out answers and dominate class discussions. Even students
whose learning needs are being met by compacting and differentiation have
a hard time controlling these impulses. Conversely, there are also those
gifted students who are shy or insecure and choose not to show their
advanced intelligence by participating in class discussions. A method is
needed to ensure that all students are fully engaged in discussions at all
times. Sounds like a tall order, but it’s really not.
An alternative to hand raising, the Name Card method is a great
solution. Teachers who use this method claim they simply cannot teach
without it, because its benefits are numerous. The Name Card method:
Minimizes blurting and other attention-getting, discussion-controlling
behaviors.
Ensures nearly total participation in all discussions by all students; makes
it impossible for anyone to “hide.”
Greatly improves listening behaviors. Students feel the need to hear every
word said by the teacher and by other students.
Eliminates teaching behaviors that may inadvertently communicate
ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, or gender bias.

Start by trying this method in one subject area or class period. Don’t add
other subjects or classes until you feel comfortable with the method and can
see evidence of its positive outcomes.
1. Write each student’s name on a 3" x 5" card. (Some teachers prefer
using tongue depressors or Popsicle sticks.)
2. Tell your students that when you use the cards, instead of calling on
people who raise their hands, you will call on the person whose name is
on the card you’ve drawn randomly from the stack. Explain that you’ll
ignore any hand-waving, noise-making gestures, deep sighs, rolling
eyes, and other behaviors they use to attempt to get your attention.
3. Group students in “discussion buddy” pairs. Explain that they will stay
in their pairs for a specific period of time, perhaps two to three weeks,
after which you’ll match them with other partners. Make it clear that
you’ll choose the pairs, and that you’ll change them on a regular basis.
Each pair should consist of students who are at different levels of
competency. Exception: Students who are highly capable in that subject
or content area should be grouped with each other—especially the
blurters. They will be less likely to blurt and more likely to participate
when their partners are similar to them in learning ability and
understand and appreciate their passion for knowing everything.
If you have a student no one wants to partner with, privately ask a
particularly sensitive and helpful student if he or she will be that
student’s partner for this period. (“Future teacher/social worker” types
are usually glad to oblige.)
4. Use the Think-Pair-Share method created by Dr. Frank Lyman. Ask an
open-ended question. Give students a few seconds to think about their
response, and tell them they can jot down their ideas if they like.
5. Tell students you are going to give them time to talk with their
discussion buddies and come up with several more responses to the
question. Demonstrate the signal you will use to indicate when pair
time is over. When you give the signal, they should stop talking to each
other and redirect their attention to you. Some teachers find it helpful to
practice this in advance.
6. Let students know that when you call on them after pair time using the
name cards, they will have to give an answer. It could be their own idea
or their buddy’s idea; they don’t have to declare whose idea it is. The
goal is simply to have everyone engaged.
 Explain that they should answer loudly enough for the whole class
to hear, since you won’t be repeating anyone’s answer. Tell them also
that they cannot repeat what others have said, and that no one can say,
“I pass.” Since they will have time to confer with their partners, it’s
highly likely they will have an answer when you call on them.
7. Give the students 30–45 seconds of pair time. Tell them to use soft
voices. Like before, they can jot down their ideas.
You may be worrying that your kids will get off-task during pair
time. If you consistently keep the allotted time to under a minute, and
use the name cards, they will stay on task.
8. Using the name cards, call on students to share what they have
discussed. When you call on a student, he may share any response he
and his partner came up with, as long as no one else has already given
that answer.
To enjoy all the benefits of the Name Card method, it’s important to
follow these guidelines when calling on kids:
Don’t look at the cards before asking a question. If you do, you’ll try
to match the question’s level of difficulty with your perception of the
student’s ability. This sends a clear message of your expectations for
that student, whether high or low. Since you have paired struggling
students with supportive partners, it’s okay to ask challenging
questions of all students.
Don’t show the cards to the students. Every now and then, you may
want to call on someone other than the person whose name card you
pull—such as a student who’s getting very impatient to participate.
Once you call on a student, stay with him or her until you get a
response. Don’t ask the class to help. Wait 10 seconds (no more),
and if the student hasn’t responded by then, start to coach him or her.
Provide a clue or hint, give a choice between two alternatives, or
allow the student more time to consult with the partner while you
call on other kids. Always be certain to return to the student for a
response within 60 seconds, so the student will know you have
confidence that he or she is a capable learner. Important: Don’t call
on someone other than the partner to help. This is embarrassing and
counterproductive to the goal of total participation.
 When you finish with a name card, put it somewhere inside the stack,
never on the bottom. Shuffle the stack often. This way, kids won’t
stop paying attention once they’ve been called on, because they
know they might be called on again at any time. Of course, some
students will get more chances than others to respond, but that’s
okay, since all students actually answer every question anyway with
their partners.
If you use tongue depressors instead of cards, use only one can.
Never put the used ones in another can, or you run the risk of losing
the students’ attention.
9. Using the name cards, call on several students to share before
commenting or giving your input. Simply “receive” their responses in a
noncommittal way. You might nod or say “Thank you” or “Okay.”
When you show that you’ll receive multiple responses to the same
question, students don’t stop thinking about the question even after
someone else has answered it. They know their name card might be
next and they’ll have to come up with a reasonable response as well.
10. Before moving on to the next question, for the benefit of students who
enjoy sharing their deep wealth of knowledge, ask, “Does anyone have
anything to add that hasn’t already been said? Raise your hand if you
do.”
Make it very clear that they may only add to the discussion; they
may not repeat what has already been said. If they do repeat, they
forfeit their right to add anything more to the rest of that particular
discussion. (This encourages students to listen carefully to the
contributions of their classmates.) They can continue to participate in
the activity, however, because their name card stays in the stack.

Kids who have tended to dominate discussions in the past are now in a
very satisfying situation. They get to tell the answers to all of the questions
to their partners, and they always have the opportunity to add to a
discussion.

Perfectionism
In addition to dominating class discussions, many gifted kids also exhibit
characteristics of perfectionism. In the primary grades, these perfectionists
are easy to spot. They work ever so slowly to create a perfect product,
constantly asking you, “Is this okay? Is this what you want me to do?” In
the upper grades, perfectionism becomes harder to identify, since it may
look more like procrastination. Gifted kids begin avoiding assignments,
reasoning that, “Since I probably can’t do this perfectly because I don’t
have the right materials or the teacher hasn’t given us enough time, I may as
well not bother doing it at all.” This handy defense mechanism hides an
underlying anxiety that if they do give the assignment their best shot, and it
isn’t good enough to earn the top grade, they might not be able to handle the
consequences.

Perfectionist Characteristics
Perfectionists often:
Believe that what they can do is more important and valuable than who
they are.
Believe that their worth as human beings depends on being perfect.
Set impossible goals for themselves.
Have been praised consistently for their “greatness” and exceptional
ability; fear they will lose the regard of others if they can’t continue to
demonstrate that exceptionality.
May suffer from the “Impostor Syndrome”—the belief that they aren’t
really very capable and don’t deserve their success.
Resist challenging work for fear that their struggle will be seen by others.
Work very slowly in the hope that their products will be perfect.
Discover a mistake in their work; erase until there is a hole in the paper,
or crumple up the paper and throw it away—sometimes accompanied by
tears.
Limit their options and avoid taking risks.
Procrastinate to the point at which work never gets done or even started.
In this way, they ensure that no one can ever really judge their work, and
 they don’t have to face the possibility that their best may not be good
enough.
May cry easily in frustration when their work at school doesn’t seem to
reach a state of being perfect. (This is often misjudged as immaturity or
the result of too much pressure from home.)
Ask for lots of extra time to complete their work.
Ask for lots of help and reassurance from the teacher. (“Is this all right?
Please repeat the directions.”)
Can’t take criticism or suggestions for improvement without being
defensive, angry, or tearful. Criticism proves that they aren’t perfect, and
suggestions imply that they aren’t perfect. Imperfection is intolerable.
Expect other people to be perfect—especially classmates, teammates, and
teachers.
Are never satisfied with their successes.

Parents and teachers unwittingly contribute to the need of these students

to be perfect at all times. In their early years at home, these children notice
how the adults in their life make a pleasant fuss when they exhibit
precocious behaviors. Well-meaning teachers add fuel to the fire when they
call attention to a student’s exceptional work, holding it up as a model for
the other students without knowing whether any true effort was involved.
Meanwhile, capable students who just didn’t feel like doing their best
on a particular assignment get it back for revision, with some comment like,
“C’mon, Amy, you can do better than this! I’ll give you another chance to
earn an A.” To these students, the message is clear: “Adults like me more
when I’m the best—when my work is perfect and deserves an A.” Since
most adults have been known to goof off occasionally and do a less than
perfect job on some project that doesn’t interest them, perhaps those same
adults should lighten up on their expectations for gifted kids. We need to
teach kids how to struggle to learn, not how to keep completing tasks
without true effort.
Starting in kindergarten, it becomes the teacher’s responsibility to
communicate to students that authentic learning involves struggle, and that
what one already knows represents memory, not learning. The way to
communicate these important concepts is by consistently providing gifted
students with challenging, possibly even slightly frustrating work.
Furthermore, these students need to learn that the best grade possible
represents a long-term goal of mastery, and that lower grades are not a
reflection of inadequacy, but an indication that mastery has not yet been
achieved.

Students need to learn that the best grade possible

represents a long-term goal of mastery, and that lower
grades are not a reflection of inadequacy, but an indication
that mastery has not yet been achieved.

Teachers can support this risk-taking behavior by refraining from

always expecting perfect work and grades from gifted students, and by
encouraging them to try tasks that are truly difficult for them. Gifted
students need to develop an appreciation for the values that accompany the
struggle to learn. They need to replace their self-talk that says, “I must
make it appear that the work is effortless so no one questions my
intelligence” with a message that says, “True intelligence is reflected in my
willingness to stay with a frustrating and difficult task until mastery is
achieved.”

The Problem with Praise

It’s also possible that praising a child too much can contribute to
perfectionism, especially if the praise is for the child’s natural abilities or
products that didn’t require much effort. High praise can make a child
believe that if you’re smart, all learning should come easily.
Research by Dr. Carol Dweck at Stanford University has affirmed this
fact.2 Dweck conducted an experiment with 400 fifth graders of varying
ability levels to see what really motivated them to welcome difficult
learning tasks. Students were divided at random into three groups, and all
students were given a puzzle task that was challenging but attainable. Upon
completion of the task, a third of the students were praised for their
intelligence, with phrases such as, “You must be really smart—you got a
really good score.” Another third of the students were praised for their
effort: “Your answer was correct—I can tell you worked very hard on this
task. Good for you.” The final third were praised only for the outcome they
got, with no comment on why they had been successful.
The same students were then told another task was to follow. They were
asked if they wanted to try a more challenging task from which they could
learn a lot, or an easier task on which they were sure to do well. Can you
guess which of the three groups chose the more challenging task? Yes, the
students who took the most risk and chose the difficult task were not those
who had previously been praised for “being smart,” but rather those who
had been praised for their effort. Those praised for their innate ability
wanted the easier task, because they were afraid to do anything that might
cause others to question their smarts.
This is an important lesson for parents and teachers. When we praise
our gifted kids for their abilities with comments like, “You are really very
smart,” they are likely to choose the safe path that is guaranteed to allow
them to continue to think they are smart. These kids conclude that adults
prefer to observe them in situations where they are easily successful. But
when we instead praise young people for their effort and hard work, they
are more likely to want to remain engaged in the activity, believing that
hard work will lead to better outcomes.

When we praise our gifted kids for their abilities, they are
likely to choose the safe path that is guaranteed to allow
them to continue to think they are smart.

Attribution theory, or what Dweck calls “mindset theory,” can be used

to explain why this happens. People who attribute their success to their
inborn ability live in fear that one day their fixed ability will not be
sufficient for some required task; they have a “fixed mindset.” But people
who attribute their success to hard work are in complete control of the
outcome; they have a “growth mindset.” All they have to do is work harder
to grow. When we instill that essential knowledge in the children we care
about, they are on the road to lifetime achievement.
Teachers and parents who implement effort-based praise are often
astonished at how quickly they observe a difference in their kids—
sometimes in a week or less! They are delighted to observe a much higher
motivation to learn and to work hard on appropriately challenging
schoolwork.

Ways to Help the Perfectionistic Child

Our most important job as teachers of gifted students is to help them
understand that it’s perfectly all right to struggle to learn, and that the world
will not think less of them because that struggle is apparent. You need to
make sure that all of your students, including those who are gifted, are
always working on tasks that require real effort. In order to do that, you
must be willing to assess and give full credit for previous mastery each time
an instructional unit begins. Once you discover that some students have
already mastered what you are about to teach, their class time should be
spent on alternate activities that challenge them.
Help perfectionists learn that success with long-term goals is merely an
accumulation of successes with short-term goals. The Goal-Setting Log is
a very effective tool you can use to teach this concept. Once students
form the habit of taking pride in their ability to set and reach a goal
during today’s work period, they can worry less about whether the final
product, due two weeks later, will be perfect.
Teach them how to use creative problem solving (CPS). In CPS,
sometimes the best or most useful ideas come later in the brainstorming
process. This relieves kids of some of the pressure to get the “right
answer” quickly.
Avoid the phrase “Always do your very best.” When you want to
encourage your students to work their hardest, say, “Put forth your best
effort.” This shifts the emphasis from the product to the learning process.

How to Use the Goal-Setting Log

The Goal-Setting Log is designed to be used by students who have trouble
getting started with a task, who work too slowly, or who never seem to be
able to finish long-term tasks. It’s especially helpful for perfectionists.
You’ll find a reproducible Goal-Setting Log at the end of this chapter.
1. At the beginning of each work period, have students enter the date in
the left column. In the center column, they should write a brief
 description of the work they predict they can accomplish during that
single work period.
2. Five minutes before the end of the work period, have students complete
the right column by recording how much work they have actually
accomplished. If they accomplished less than they predicted, they
should move down a line, record tomorrow’s date (or the date of the
next work period), and briefly describe the work they have left to do.

Always keep the logs in the classroom—in the students’ folders, their
compacting folders, or a community folder if necessary. Have all students
who use the logs sit in the same general area. Work with them as a group to
set and review their goals.
For some students, old habits die hard, and they may have trouble
letting go of their perfectionism. Guide them through this review:
If the goal has been met, ask:
What was your goal?
Did you accomplish your goal?
Who is responsible for your success in reaching your goal? (It may take
patience and prodding, but the student must respond, “I am responsible
for my success in accomplishing my goal.”)
How does it feel to be successful? (Again, you may have to prompt the
student to say, “It feels good to be successful.”)
How can you congratulate yourself or give yourself some recognition for
a job well done? (Offer suggestions if necessary.)

If the goal has not been met, ask:

What was your goal?
Did you accomplish your goal?
Who is responsible for the fact that you didn’t reach your goal? (The
student may blame some external source. Don’t ask how it feels not to
accomplish the goal. Instead, prompt until the student can say, “I am
responsible for not reaching my goal.”)
 What plan can you make for tomorrow to prevent the same problem from
happening again? (Have the student write his or her plan on the back of
the Goal-Setting Log.)
Never reprimand students who don’t reach their goals. The best way to
get kids on track is to help them learn to set realistic goals and feel
satisfaction from reaching them. The inability to earn positive feedback
(from themselves and from you) is all the reprimanding they need.
If you must grade students’ work under this arrangement, we recommend
he or she earns:
a C for reaching a goal that is well below the work you expect from the
rest of the class.
a B when the goal gets into the grade-level range.
an A only for exceptional work that either meets most of the “Above
Proficiency” standards or exceeds grade-level standards altogether.

Have students work on one area or subject at a time until progress is

apparent and success feels comfortable to them. If you add other areas or
subjects too quickly, students may develop a “fear of success.” (As in:
“Adults always expect more of you if you show them what you can do. I
guess I should stop working so hard.”)

Creative Thinkers
Creative thinkers often aren’t identified as gifted because their behavior
tends to annoy teachers, and their apparent “fooling around” often results in
incomplete work. Many creative thinkers don’t do well in school. They get
poor grades, refuse or forget to hand in work on time, and constantly argue
for things to be done differently. They are so challenging that we sometimes
forget that the people who have made the most significant contributions to
humankind throughout history generally exhibit many characteristics of
creative thinkers. It’s the nonconformists who are the problem-solvers,
artists, dreamers, and inventors, thinking “outside the box” in ways that
profoundly affect our lives. Some people who come to mind are Thomas
Edison, Steve Jobs, Mahatma Gandhi, Oprah Winfrey, and Steven
Spielberg, to name a few.
Sometimes we forget that the people who have made the
most significant contributions to humankind throughout
history generally exhibit many characteristics of creative
thinkers.

Creative thinkers often:

Display original ideas and products. Are sometimes characterized as
thinking up “wild and crazy ideas.”
Are fluent in idea generation and development. Notice endless
possibilities for situations or ways objects may be used.
Are able to elaborate on ideas. Add details others don’t think of.
Demonstrate flexibility of ideas and points of view. Can see merit in
looking at things and situations from numerous perspectives.
Experiment with ideas and hunches.
Have outstanding senses of humor. Love to play with words and ideas.
Are impatient with routine and predictable tasks. Add or change
directions given by the teacher to make assignments more interesting.
Have a tremendous capacity for making unexpected connections.
Challenge accepted assumptions.
Say what they think without regard for consequences. Are capable of
great independence and autonomy.
Have a great imagination; daydream often. Enjoy pretending; may have
one or several imaginary playmates.
Dress or groom in nonconformist ways.
Can persist at one task to the total exclusion of others.
Are brilliant, but absentminded about details.
Are passionately interested in a particular topic or field of endeavor.
May be talented in the fine arts.
 May do much better on standardized tests than their classwork leads you
to expect.

Ways to Nurture Creative Thinking

Encourage children to observe and explore their environment and
universe from many perspectives.
Encourage children’s natural curiosity and accompanying need to ask
zillions of questions. Remember that you’re not expected to know all the
answers. Help the children predict their own answers or locate resources
where they might find the answers themselves.
Provide numerous open-ended learning experiences—those without a
single right answer, solution, or method of exploration.
Provide many opportunities for children to engage in meaningful decision
making.
Provide regular opportunities for daydreaming or reflection. In the
creative thinking process, this is called incubation—the time when great
ideas synthesize and emerge.
Group creatively gifted kids together with others like themselves on
projects and other activities. This experience validates their sense of self-
worth and gives them courage to continue in their talent and interest
areas.
Help creative children find outlets and audiences for their creative
products. Example: Pair them with adult mentors who can help them
explore their creative interests.

Creativity Inhibitors
Creative thinkers may be blocked and frustrated when:
They perceive they must succeed at everything they do, or that every
product must be perfect.
They feel pressured to conform in order to be accepted. Some of this
pressure may come from peers; some may come from parents, teachers,
and the media.
 They lack opportunities to work alone.
They are told to “stop daydreaming” and don’t understand the importance
of daydreaming in the creative process.
They spend too much time with highly structured toys and games and not
enough time playing with ordinary objects in creative ways.
Their creativity is met with misunderstanding, suspicion, or disdain from
adults in their lives.
Their creativity clashes with gender-related expectations.
They are told that creativity is a waste of time when compared to more
important endeavors.
Their parents and teachers are authoritarian (“Do this because I say so”).

Students Who Are Twice-Exceptional

Some gifted students exhibit behaviors that confuse their parents and
teachers and frustrate the students themselves. They have exceptionally
high ability in one or more areas of learning while simultaneously
exhibiting significant weaknesses in others. Their strengths are often
evident in the arts and in their ability to think and speak creatively. But
when you ask them to write down their thoughts, they may claim they
“can’t write.”

Scenario: Elizabeth
Elizabeth had a serious learning disability and didn’t appear to be very
gifted. But she also had an avid interest in geography, maps, and national
parks. During the year she was in Susan’s sixth-grade class, Susan took a
class period to introduce an upcoming review unit on map skills. At the end
of the period, Elizabeth came up to her, and they had the following
conversation.
Elizabeth: “You know, Mrs. Winebrenner, I know a lot about maps.”
Susan: “You do? How did that happen?”
Elizabeth: “I don’t know. I just love maps. I’ve always loved maps.
Maps are just really interesting things to me.”
 Susan: “What do you do with this love of maps?”
Elizabeth: “Well, when my family goes on a trip, I get to plan the
trip on the map.”
Susan: “No kidding! Where did you go last year?”
Elizabeth (proudly): “Yellowstone National Park.”
Susan: “And how did you get there?”

Then Elizabeth told Susan how she had gotten her family to
Yellowstone—remembering all the highways, states, time zone changes,
national monuments, and national and state parks!
Susan: “Pretty impressive. Where did you go the year before?”
Elizabeth (happily): “Great Smoky Mountains.”
Susan: “How did you get there?”

Once again, the same breadth of details emerged.

Susan: “Hmmm. I bet the prospect of spending several weeks
reviewing basic map skills is not very appealing to you.”
Elizabeth: “I’ve thought about that.”
Susan: “I’ll tell you what. I’ll bring in the end-of-the-unit test
tomorrow, and if you pass it with the equivalent of an A, you won’t
have to do the map work we’re doing. You’ll be able to spend your
social studies time on a different activity of your choice.”
Elizabeth (smiling): “Thanks!”

Next, Susan did something every teacher should do routinely when

offering “special consideration” to gifted students: Offer the same
opportunity to everyone in the class. Sixteen of Susan’s 27 students
volunteered to take the pretest she offered them, which they did during the
next day’s social studies period. Students who opted not to take the test
watched a video about the national parks.
Students were told beforehand that if they didn’t get an A, their tests
wouldn’t count. Six students completed the test. Two passed with A’s—
Elizabeth and another student.
 When Susan discovered Elizabeth’s superior competency in map
concepts, she faced a dilemma. Should Elizabeth be allowed to experience
compacting and differentiation in the map work? Or should her social
studies time instead be used to help shore up her inadequate skills in
sentence structure, handwriting, number facts, and most other areas of the
sixth-grade curriculum?
The dilemma was solved when Susan asked herself two critical
questions: “When compared to her classmates, is Elizabeth clearly
advanced in this particular content?” Yes. “By virtue of her exceptional
ability, is she as entitled to compacting and differentiation as any other
student who demonstrated mastery on the pretest?” Clearly, yes again.
Therefore, Susan chose to allow her to work on differentiated activities
during social studies. (For more about Elizabeth, see chapter 2.)

The Meaning of Twice-Exceptional

Although there are several reasons why gifted students fail to achieve at a
level compatible with their potential, many students in this group are now
recognized as “twice-exceptional.” Their giftedness coexists with a learning
challenge of some sort, most commonly a learning difficulty, behavioral
problem, attention deficit disorder (with or without hyperactivity), or autism
spectrum disorder.
These kids have some noticeable academic learning strengths but may
never be recognized as gifted. Their learning challenge may mask their
strengths. Since most schools usually stop looking for exceptional
educational abilities once a learning deficiency has been identified, their
giftedness will probably go unidentified.

As many as 30 percent of gifted kids may have some form of

learning disability, difference, or difficulty.

As many as 30 percent of gifted kids may have some form of learning

disability, difference, or difficulty. A study of twice-exceptional students led
to these conclusions3:
1. Many high-ability students who have learning disabilities are not
recognized for their giftedness and may have negative school
 experiences.
2. Traditional remediation techniques like special education classification,
tutoring, and/or retention offer little challenge to high-ability students
with learning difficulties and may perpetuate a cycle of
underachievement.
3. High-ability students with learning differences need support to
understand and effectively use their strengths.
4. Lack of understanding by school personnel, peers, and self may cause
emotional and academic problems for students struggling to cope with
learning differences and giftedness.
5. Parents are often the only ones to offer support to their high-ability
children who also have learning differences. Parents can increase their
effectiveness by exploring all available options and advocating for their
children from an early age.

Twice-exceptional children may demonstrate one or more of these

learning challenges:
On tests of ability, their scores may show significant discrepancies of 12
points or more between verbal and nonverbal subtests.
They have large vocabularies, which may be deficient in word meanings
and the subtleties of language.
They may be reading significantly below grade level but have a large
storehouse of information on some topics.
They may have the ability to express themselves verbally but an apparent
inability to write down any of their ideas, organize their thoughts, write
legibly, and spell accurately.
They may have difficulty following multistep directions.
They may excel at abstract reasoning but seem unable to remember small
details or follows steps sequentially.
They may seem bright and motivated outside of school but have difficulty
with traditional school tasks.
 Their slow reaction speed may result in incomplete work and low test
scores on timed tests.
Their general lack of self-confidence may manifest itself as inflexibility,
inability to take risks, super-sensitivity to any type of criticism,
helplessness, socially inadequate behaviors, stubbornness, and other
behaviors designed to distract others from their learning inadequacies.
They may lack effective organization and study skills and may have
difficulty estimating the amount of time it will take to complete a task.
Some of these children may have vision problems related to scotopic
sensitivity that interfere with their reading ability. Colored overlays or
lenses (try gray or yellow first) may help.
They may be sensitive to ridicule and become embarrassed easily, so they
may be reluctant to take academic risks.

Children with ADD/ADHD

When people look for children with ADD/ADHD (attention deficit disorder
or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), they usually expect to see all
four of these characteristics:
1. Hyperactivity (high energy).
2. Distractibility (inattention and difficulty with concentrating).
3. Impulsivity (which may be displayed as blurting or interrupting).
4. Disorganization (difficulty in finding materials and finishing tasks).

However, children who have ADD without hyperactivity may:

Appear lethargic.
Daydream a lot; seem like “absent-minded professors.”
Be easily distractible and unable to pay attention; have a short attention
span.
Have difficulty listening, following directions, and completing tasks or
chores.
Seem unaware of the risks or consequences of their actions.
 Lack social interaction skills; may be characterized as very quiet or shy.
Pay little or no attention to details; make careless mistakes.
Appear completely disorganized and forgetful; lose things; be unable to
get homework to or from home and school.

And children who have ADD with hyperactivity (ADHD) may:

Behave as if driven by a motor.
Be fidgety and squirmy; have difficulty sitting still.
Run, climb, and move about incessantly.
Blurt or talk excessively; be unable to wait for the teacher to call on them.
Have trouble sharing; be unable to wait their turn.
Intrude on other people’s conversation and play.

CAUTION These behaviors can often appear very similar to behaviors exhibited by
gifted students who are not being challenged by the regular curriculum. If a child who
possesses some characteristics of giftedness appears inattentive or frequently
speaks out of turn, try compacting and differentiation before pursuing a diagnosis of
ADD/ADHD. When ADD/ADHD behaviors are present, accommodating the student’s
learning modality and preferences and teaching compensation techniques can often
reduce the need to place the child on medication.

According to Deirdre V. Lovecky, Ph.D., director of the Gifted

Resource Center of New England:
Misdiagnosis of ADD/ADHD can occur in two directions. Highly
energetic gifted children can be seen as ADD/ADHD, and some
gifted children who can concentrate for long periods of time on
areas of interest may not be seen as ADD/ADHD even when they
are. Thus, knowledge about what is giftedness and what is
ADD/ADHD is vital in assessing ADD/ADHD, and in ensuring that
gifted children are not misdiagnosed.4
Colleen Willard-Holt suggests these questions to ask in differentiating
between giftedness and ADD/ADHD5:
 Could the behaviors be responses to inappropriate placement, insufficient
challenge, or lack of intellectual peers?
Is the child able to concentrate when interested in the activity?
Have any curricular modifications been made in an attempt to change
inappropriate behaviors?
Has the child been interviewed? What are his or her feelings about the
behaviors?
Does the child feel out of control? Do the parents perceive the child as
being out of control?
Do the behaviors occur at certain times of the day, during certain
activities, with certain teachers, or in certain environments?

Sources of help for living with and treating children with ADD/ADHD
may be found on the internet and are always being updated. See the
references and resources for suggestions.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the categories formerly referred to as
“Asperger’s syndrome” and “pervasive developmental disorder not
otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)” are no longer described as separate
disorders. “Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)” is a new umbrella term that
includes autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and PDD-NOS. ASD is
characterized first by persistent deficits in social communications and
interactions across many contexts. For example, some people on the autism
spectrum exhibit difficulty making or maintaining eye contact, show very
limited facial expression, and demonstrate no apparent interest in their
peers. The second criterion describes restricted, repetitive behaviors that
may include hand-flapping, insistence on a strict routine, or an unusual
fixation on a single topic.
Children with ASD often tend to:
Avoid direct eye contact with others.
Have trouble forming relationships with peers; cannot read social cues
that age peers understand instantly.
 Crave social acceptance but don’t know how to get it.
Lack empathy for others.
Have repetitious and monotonous speech patterns.
Be unable to engage in small talk.
Focus on a single topic and have very one-sided conversations.
Appear to lack enjoyment in certain situations.
Exhibit repetitive motor mannerisms, such as tics or hand flapping, which
may lead to a misdiagnosis of Tourette’s syndrome.
Have an unusual but passionate interest in one topic.
Rarely show emotion except during a meltdown; have a short fuse for
flight or fight.
Take words very literally; follow rules precisely as they are written or
stated.
Have difficulty understanding differing viewpoints.
Focus on details and rarely see the big picture.
Be hypersensitive to sensory extremes in noise, light, and touch.
Become upset by commotion and may hide when things become
overwhelming.
Dislike being the center of attention.
Be devoted to their routines and grow extremely upset over changes.
Demonstrate anxiety-provoked behaviors—bouncing their knees or
walking in circles talking to themselves.
Have food issues such as gluten and casein allergies.
Be focused on their own self-preservation.
Exhibit other characteristics associated with autism.

Some gifted children who exhibit characteristics of ASD may not be

properly identified. And some children who are perceived as odd or
eccentric may in fact have ASD and benefit from appropriate interventions.
Ways to Help Twice-Exceptional Students
Succeed in School
Twice-exceptional children cannot improve simply by “trying harder.” They
must be taught specific compensation strategies. They must know and
appreciate the fact that they have above-average intelligence. They and the
adults in their lives need to understand that their brains possess certain
physiological factors that influence their ability to learn.

Twice-exceptional children cannot improve simply by “trying

harder.” They must be taught specific compensation
strategies.

Following are ways you can help the twice-exceptional kids in your
classroom:
Provide a nurturing environment in which individual differences are
valued. Teach all kids to respect learning differences in all areas of
learning.
It’s unrealistic to expect anyone to be equally capable in all learning
areas. Strengths should be recognized and weaknesses compensated for.
Example: Learning number facts through song and rhythm is much easier
for some students with learning challenges than through rote
memorization with flash cards.
Before concluding that a gifted child is lazy or has an attitude problem,
consider that poor performance may indicate a learning difficulty. Look
for significant discrepancies in ability subtests and for evidence of
glaring strengths accompanied by equally glaring weaknesses.
Provide materials that will help students understand their learning
difficulties and find ways to compensate. For suggestions, see the
references and resources.
Assess each student’s learning modality and preferences and create tasks
that capitalize on them. Examples: Kids with certain learning difficulties
often work better in low light, while listening to soothing music through
headphones. They may prefer working in more relaxed positions and
must be allowed to move about at regular intervals. Eating, chewing, or
movement may also increase their concentration. Kids with ADD/ADHD
are more likely to stay focused on a task if it’s hands-on or related to a
passionate interest. Tip: Ask parents to tell you about times at home when
their child stays on-task for long periods.
Allow and encourage students to demonstrate their learning in ways that
are compatible with their learning modality and preferences. Avoid
traditional remediation techniques (special education classification,
tutoring, retention) until alternate approaches have been thoroughly
explored. Instead, teach compensation strategies directly. Compensation
enables one part of the brain to take over a function that another part of
the brain is unable to do. Be aware that a child’s ability to compensate
can be threatened by anxiety, fatigue, illness, or finding himself or herself
in a totally new situation.
For global, holistic learners, make sure they see and understand the “big
picture” of a unit or story before asking them to learn about it in sections.
Graphic organizers can help.
If students have difficulty writing, give them other options. Examples:
Instead of reading something and writing about it, they might record their
learning audiovisually by using a smartphone or computer with a built-in
video camera.
When students have significant reading problems, texts and other
information should be read aloud to them. A company called Learning
Ally provides audio recordings of most texts and literature books used in
schools, from elementary through post-graduate and professional levels.
(See references and resources for more information.)
Provide clear, concise written directions, and don’t give too many
directions at one time. Use colors and shapes to help communicate what
is expected. Ask students to describe what they think they are supposed
to do before they begin any task.
Teach organizational and executive functioning skills directly to students
who need them. Mastering these skills is as important as learning
required content. Use the Goal-Setting Log to teach students to set short-
term, realistic goals, starting with things they can accomplish during the
 next 30 minutes. Coach them to take pride in these accomplishments.
Emphasize that accumulating short-term goals eventually leads to
accomplishing longer-term goals.
Whenever possible, provide students with two sets of books and learning
materials—one to use at school and one to take home.
Recognize that twice-exceptional students, along with all students with
learning differences, need longer time periods for completing
assignments and tests. Also, some students do much better on tests if they
can read the test items aloud (or if someone else reads them aloud).
Whenever possible, design learning experiences for individual students
around their interests. Most standards can be taught in almost any
context.
Understand that gifted children with learning difficulties can experience
and enjoy many of the same opportunities we offer to gifted students
without difficulties. This includes interaction with complex and abstract
thinking concepts and project work around areas of intense interest.

NOTE School is designed for students of average ability, and so twice-exceptional

students sometimes feel doubly cursed. They know they are smart, but they cannot
show it the way that others can. When we treat them as gifted, we are acknowledging
that they are very smart and this can be quite motivating. When we ignore their high
intelligence, we alienate them from school. This alienation makes them withdraw and
eventually give up in school. Focusing on their strengths can help these students
become more productive in school.

When working with twice-exceptional students, the 2E Newsletter

recommends to teachers the following approaches6:
Involve teamwork between gifted education and special education
teachers.
Build on students’ strengths and interests.
Challenge the students’ intellectual abilities.
Include hands-on instruction.
Incorporate the arts to provide outlets for students’ creative abilities.
 Provide support for students’ areas of weakness in the form of
accommodations and compensation strategies.
Be flexible in the ways you allow students to receive instruction and
produce the required work.
Make provisions for someone to serve in the role of advocate for twice-
exceptional students, coordinating services and ensuring that everyone
involved in their education is aware of the nature and needs of a twice-
exceptional learner.

Dr. Beverly Trail, professor at Regis University, offers the following

practical ways that teachers can support their twice-exceptional students:
Provide extra time to complete work and tests.
Encourage effort. Help them develop a “can do” attitude.
Emphasize that mistakes are part of learning.
Promote the use of learning tools and assistive technology, such as
graphic organizers and special keyboards, to help them be successful.
Teach them the skills and strategies they need to succeed: problem
solving and study skills, and test-taking, learning, and coping strategies.
Help students learn how to plan and how to set realistic goals.
Give them the flexible structure they need to be successful.
Help them accept responsibility and seek support (i.e., self-advocate).

In summary, twice-exceptional students should receive actual advanced

learning opportunities in both their areas of strength and their areas of
weakness. Instruction and activities in their weaker areas should focus on
their visual and tactile-kinesthetic strengths. And time should never be
taken away from their strength areas to increase the amount of time they
spend daily in their weaker areas.7
Please see the references and resources for our recommendations of
excellent sources of information about twice-exceptionality.
The Mystery of the Gifted
Underachiever
As noted earlier, some so-called gifted underachievers are actually twice-
exceptional. But some of them don’t have a learning difference or challenge
. . . except the challenge of getting through another endless day at school.
Underachievement, a discrepancy between capability and achievement,
can be caused or affected by a variety of factors including:
Perfectionism
Work that is too easy or too difficult
The lack of opportunity for students to demonstrate what they know in
ways that are compatible with their learning modality or preference
Students’ perception that what they are learning does not have any
meaningful, relevant, and/or useful real-life application
The lack of opportunity to learn about areas of interest
Fear of being rejected for being different
The lack of dreams or goals, or the sense that dreams or goals are
unattainable
Family interaction patterns that may interfere with achievement

It can be difficult to understand how children with high intelligence can

get into a situation in school in which they are not “doing their work.”
However, in reality, we have rarely met gifted kids who won’t do their
work. Yet we know scores of gifted kids who won’t do the teacher’s work
—in other words, the work their teacher asks them to do so a checkmark
can be entered in the grade book. This is the basis of most power struggles
between gifted kids, their parents, and their teachers. When gifted students
are forced to do work related to content they have already mastered, they
resist (a.k.a. underachieve), and the power struggle is on. In truth, they are
not underachieving, they are under-challenged. They need to be given their
own work to do—work that is challenging and meaningful to them—and be
motivated to welcome these rigorous learning experiences.
We have rarely met gifted kids who won’t do their work. Yet
we know scores of gifted kids who won’t do the teacher’s
work.

Children also need to feel good about themselves. Our schools often
focus on the importance of all students enjoying high self-esteem, yet all
too often, gifted kids experience low self-esteem. This is partly because
high intelligence is not always respected in school, and partly because
gifted students fear that one day people will see them working hard to learn
and will perceive that they aren’t really very smart after all. To avoid
ridicule, some students might pretend that they are not highly intelligent or
that they do not need to work hard to learn material that may be challenging
for them. Bragging also is a sign of low self-esteem. The student who is
bragging is trying to keep others aware of his or her advanced abilities, so
any deficiencies will not be noticed. And there are few situations more
likely to diminish self-esteem than coming to school each day and
pretending to be someone different from who you really are. Only in
classrooms where individual differences in ability level and learning
behaviors are recognized and accepted will all students’ self-esteem truly
flourish.
Because of these reasons—lack of appropriate learning challenges and
low self-esteem—many gifted kids are working significantly below their
potential. Throughout this book, you’ll find strategies that will help you
avoid and remedy the school-related factors that inhibit achievement while
motivating your highly capable students to demonstrate their advanced
abilities in productive ways.

NOTE To provide gifted services to students who have dual exceptionalities such as
those described here, consider using an inclusive approach such as cluster grouping.
The Schoolwide Cluster Grouping Model (SCGM) is one method for enfranchising
gifted students who have exceptional learning needs. When included in a gifted
cluster group, these students learn with other gifted students and have more
opportunities to build on their areas of strength and develop their potential. See
chapter 7, for more information about cluster grouping.
Students from Diverse Populations
The current federal definition of giftedness includes “students, children, or
youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as
intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic
fields, and who need services and activities not ordinarily provided by the
school in order to fully develop those capabilities.”8 Yet many gifted
children from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds, minority
cultures, and economically disadvantaged families continue to fall through
the cracks when children are identified for gifted programs and other
learning opportunities. There are four main reasons why this happens:
1. Some standardized tests are culturally biased. They assume that all
students have had similar life experiences, which many of the children
in these groups might not have had.
2. The tests use language and idioms with which many of these children
might not be familiar. Although nonverbal tests of ability such as the
Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) can remedy this situation, they
are not always available in every school district, or are misunderstood
in that people think the test identifies only students who are gifted in
nonverbal ways. This is inaccurate: the NNAT is a nonverbal method to
identify general intelligence.
3. Many of these children attend schools in which gifted education is not a
priority. Gifted program opportunities may simply be unavailable, and
therefore, the gifted students remain unidentified.
4. Many teachers do not recognize the gifted characteristics and behaviors
in nonproductive students or students from cultures other than their
own.

Identifying Gifted Students from Diverse

Populations
Examine your school’s gifted identification process. Check to make certain
that one assessment is a nonverbal test of intelligence, such as the NNAT.
Except for an individual intelligence test administered by a trained
psychologist, no single test will identify all gifted students. Therefore,
schools should use multiple measures, which include both verbal and
nonverbal ability tests. At the very least, when administering any type of
assessment to kids, it’s imperative to first give them practice items or
activities that will familiarize them with the format of the assessment and
help them know what to expect.
Other options are available for identifying these students, and we
encourage you to look into them. Here are some examples:
The Entrada Scholars Program at Calvin College in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, offers ethnic minority high school students an opportunity to
participate in a college program accompanied by various levels of
support, including financial.
In Dade County, Florida, a program called T.E.A.M. for Success
(Teaching Enrichment Activities for Minorities) uses specific criteria to
identify students from diverse populations and retain them in gifted
programs. Retention is what separates this program from others of its
kind, since it has historically been easier to identify gifted kids in
minority populations than to keep them in programs for more than one
year. The T.E.A.M. program is so successful that teachers of the gifted
usually can’t tell the difference between kids who entered gifted
education via the program and those who entered through more
traditional pathways.

Several nonverbal standardized tests have successfully been used for

this purpose, including the NNAT previously mentioned. The results of
these tests should be combined with teacher observations over time that
look for evidence of particular strengths in any area of learning, especially
in open-ended tasks that require creative, visual, and spatial thinking and
the ability to solve real problems.
You can also watch for students who:
Exhibit unusual fluency or advanced use of their native language.
May develop fluency in English more quickly than others (if English isn’t
their native language).
Can maintain their unique cultural identity while functioning well in the
dominant culture.
Assume responsibilities maturely.
 Display leadership qualities.
Absorb information quickly.
Demonstrate a highly developed sense of humor.
Have an intuitive grasp of situations; are highly able to adapt to changes.
See cause-and-effect relationships.
Show interest in how and why things work.
Indicate intense interest in one or more topics.
Display originality.
Exhibit fluency in creative thinking activities.
Make intuitive leaps in thinking and problem solving.
Exhibit many of the characteristics described earlier.

In Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom, Joan

Franklin Smutny, Sally Yahnke Walker, and Elizabeth A. Meckstroth
propose two basic guidelines when looking at children from diverse
populations:
1. Use the broadest definition of giftedness to include diverse abilities.
2. Find and serve as many children with high potential as possible.

They suggest the following identification strategies:

Consider every possibility of exceptional skill when seeking to discover a
child’s outstanding abilities.
Find a child’s “best performance.” Look for any sign of exceptional, even
isolated, performance that could represent unidentified abilities. If you
find an outstanding ability, such as memory for music, you can begin to
invite a child’s confidence by creating opportunities for him or her to use
that talent. A single encouraging experience can often produce a ripple
effect on the child’s self-assurance and on the competence he or she
begins to show in other directions.
Consider “processing” behaviors, such as risk taking and the ability to
hypothesize and improvise.
 Ask other teachers.
Trust your hunches. If you suspect that a child has exceptional abilities,
your hunch will probably be reliable.
Make classroom observations, especially during multicultural-based
activities.
Interview the child to gain insight into her or his thinking, aspirations,
home activities, and sense of self.
Solicit a parent’s views about the child’s talents, abilities, and expressions
of creative and critical thinking.

A Few Ways to Help Gifted Students from

Diverse Populations
1. Seek out information about how cultural values may impact a child’s
classroom behavior. Example: Many students from Latin American
cultures prefer working in a communal environment, rather than
independently. They enjoy cooperative learning situations and subtle
public recognition for their performance and behavior. Many of these
students are uncomfortable in competitive situations. Some have been
taught at home never to maintain eye contact with an adult, since it is
considered disrespectful to do so. Their families and ethnic
communities are very important to them.
2. Whenever possible, send messages home in the child’s native language.
When visiting students’ homes, take someone along who can either
communicate directly with the family or provide translation assistance.
Similar opportunities should be available when these students need
counseling or social work services at school. Language and cultural
differences can keep parents away and can distance teachers from
discovering children’s exceptional abilities. One important and very
effective way to bridge this gap is by working with your school or
district to establish a “cultural liaison,” a contact person for parents
who are not comfortable speaking English.
3. Integrate curriculum from other cultures in literature, biography, and
history activities. This shows students that the school values their
 uniqueness. It’s much more effective than reserving cultural
information and experiences for “multicultural fairs.”
4. If your school has a gifted program, make sure that those who receive
services reflect the ethnic and socioeconomic composition of your
school’s student population. If it does not, consider creating a more
inclusive program that allows culturally and linguistically diverse
students to be equally served. By identifying and addressing the
learning needs of all your gifted students, you will build a school
culture that embraces students’ differences.

By identifying and addressing the learning needs of all your

gifted students, you will build a school culture that embraces
students’ differences.

5. Accept that culturally and linguistically diverse students who are gifted
might not be currently achieving at the same level as their intellectual
peers who are native English speakers. When we treat them as gifted,
we acknowledge that they are highly capable and we raise our
expectations. When provided with the same opportunities as other
gifted students, we often see that their achievement increases and they
begin working at higher levels.
6. Use instructional tools that minimize the amount of writing needed for
students to demonstrate what they have learned. When we rely less on
language, these students’ level of understanding frequently surprises us.
For example, use graphic organizers such as Thinking Maps to visually
document main ideas and show connections between ideas. Allowing
students to orally discuss an essay question can also help gauge
understanding more accurately than writing.

An Overview of Guidelines for Identifying

Gifted Students
Use a combination of formal and informal methods. Formal methods
include standardized tests of ability and achievement, and other testing
results. Informal methods include student observations, parent
nominations, nominations from former teachers, and even self-
nominations.
Consider results from both verbal and nonverbal measures, remembering
that using only one type of test may not identify all students who are
gifted.
Do not use student grades. Many gifted students purposefully choose not
to show their advanced abilities in school for various reasons.
Seek nominations from any teachers the student has had and invite
parents to nominate their child for inclusion in the program. Parents and
other caregivers are the only people who observe a student in two settings
—school and home—so their input is often valuable.
Combine formal test scores with teacher observation methods to create a
list of students who may benefit from the program. Match students with
available program options. For example, if you are offering an honors-
level chorus, you need demonstration of musical abilities rather than just
high intelligence test scores. If advanced math classes are available,
student candidates should have high scores in math assessments.
It is often easier to formally identify giftedness in young children versus
older children. This is because gifted kids who have experienced
frustration and boredom in the primary years may “go underground” in
the upper and middle school grades and become more difficult to reach.
Some reliable assessment instruments to use with young children:
The Kingore Observation Inventory (KOI) improves observational
skills in teachers of kids in kindergarten to grade 3. Visit [Link].
The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) assesses reasoning and problem-
solving abilities of students in grades K–12. Visit [Link].
The following assessment instruments are available from Pearson at
[Link]:
The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) assesses cognitive
abilities of students in grades K–12 and is considered reliable for
young children.
The Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) measures general
ability without the use of language.
 The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test measures receptive English
vocabulary in children as young as age 2.
For preschool children, investigate the Gifted Rating Scales.

For more information on identifying and serving young gifted children

and providing for them in your classroom, see our recommendations in the
references and resources section.

Gifted Students Identify Themselves

If you feel unsure about how to identify the gifted students in your class,
rest assured that many teachers share your uncertainty. You and your
administrators may have had little or no training in gifted education. No
wonder you worry about doing the right thing. What if you identify the
wrong students and they’re not “truly gifted”? What if you fail to identify
those kids who are gifted?
Relax! You don’t have to formally identify anyone. All you have to do
is provide learning opportunities that gifted students will appreciate, and a
magical thing happens: The opportunities allow students to identify
themselves—not necessarily as gifted, but as students who can benefit from
working on activities that extend the regular curriculum. Your other
students won’t resent that some students are working on more challenging
work, because all students will have the same opportunities to demonstrate
their readiness for extension activities. With these strategies, everyone has
the same opportunity to learn at his or her own level of personal challenge.

You don’t have to formally identify anyone. All you have to do

is provide learning opportunities that gifted students will
appreciate.

The Qualities of Teachers Needed by

Gifted Students
Do teachers have to be gifted themselves in order to teach gifted students?
Rest assured that you don’t have to have a superior IQ to teach gifted
students. The truth is that many teachers who pursue training in gifted
education have some personal connection to gifted students. They may have
children who have been identified as gifted, or perhaps they went through
gifted programs themselves. In the interest of being able to handle any issue
in their class, many teachers seek training in gifted education. Of course, it
sure helps to be a wonderful teacher who welcomes the challenge of
facilitating academic progress for all students.
Teachers who are successful with gifted kids often possess certain
qualities that gifted children respond to positively. They tend to:
Be enthusiastic about teaching and the joy of lifelong learning.
Have confidence and competency in teaching their content area(s).
Have flexible teaching styles and be comfortable with situations in which
students are flexibly grouped for learning and some students are doing
different activities than others.
Possess strong skills in listening, leading discussions, and using inquiry-
based instruction.
Be knowledgeable about the unique characteristics and needs of gifted
students and willing to accommodate them.
Be willing and able to create and nurture a learning environment where
it’s safe to take risks and make mistakes.
Know how to praise effort more than products.
Respect students’ strengths and weaknesses and have the ability to
encourage students to accept both without embarrassment.
Be eager and willing to expose students to new ideas and provide
opportunities for exploring those ideas.
Have a free-flowing sense of humor and a level of comfort with their
personal strengths and weaknesses.
Be comfortable connecting the curriculum to students’ learning profiles,
interests, and questions and are good at empowering students to follow
their passions.
 Be well organized—though not necessarily neat!
Be able to multitask and effectively manage their time.
Provide a wide range of learning materials, including those that are
appropriate for older students.
Network with organizations and local experts who can help gifted kids.
Be aware that gifted students need less time with practice and more time
with complex and abstract learning tasks.
Understand the importance of communicating with students and their
parents about their individual progress.
Be willing to advocate for what gifted students need.

Chapter Summary
Identifying gifted students has always been a tricky process. Historically,
we have identified some kids as gifted who were simply high achievers, and
we have failed to identify truly gifted students who were nonproductive in
school. Some gifted students have not been identified because they have a
learning difficulty or difference that masks their giftedness. Some have not
been identified because their performance on standard identification
instruments has been hampered by cultural, linguistic, or socioeconomic
issues.
We hope this chapter has made you more aware of the various ways in
which gifted ability can manifest itself and be identified. Subsequent
chapters will demonstrate how your gifted students can actually identify
themselves when you provide consistent opportunities for kids to
demonstrate and fulfill their learning needs in heterogeneous classrooms.

1
Adapted from “Think-Pair-Share, Thinktrix, Thinklinks, and Weird Facts” by Frank T. Lyman Jr., in
Enhancing Thinking through Cooperative Learning, edited by Neil Davidson and Toni Worsham.
Columbia, NY: Teachers College Press, 1992. Used with permission of Frank T. Lyman Jr.
2
Dweck, 2008.
3
Reis, Neu, and McGuire, 1997.
4
Lovecky, 2004.
5
Willard-Holt, 1999.
6
See [Link].
7
Winebrenner and Kiss, 2014.
8
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title IX, Section 9101 (22).
 Goal-Setting Log

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
CHAPTER 2
Compacting and Differentiating
for Skill Work

STRATEGIES
Most Difficult First
Pretest for Volunteers
The Learning Contract

Banishing the “B” Word

“Boring” is a word that has the power to create a very emotional response
in us as teachers. When we hear kids and parents use it, our first response is
probably to feel defensive. None of us feels good about watching students
painfully sit through instruction that is far below their challenge level. We
struggle to explain why all students must do the grade-level work before
working on material that appropriately challenges them. Yet, we receive
very little support or guidance on how to work with these highly capable
students in our classes who are ready to learn material beyond the level of
what we are currently teaching.
If we personalize the frustration gifted students feel with the regular
curriculum, we can better understand their plight. Suppose you sign up for
an adult education course. You choose an advanced class that you hope will
allow you to expand your skills in a particular area. At the first meeting,
you discover that most of the other people in attendance aren’t ready for the
advanced section. The instructor announces that she will spend several
sessions reviewing the basics.
You probably feel immediately frustrated. Your precious time is limited.
What will you do? Chances are you’ll drop the course and seek a more
suitable alternative. We adults are allowed to go elsewhere when it appears
that our time will be wasted. Gifted students in our schools don’t usually
have that option. When they think they are starting a year (or a class) filled
with new and exciting content, then discover it’s going to begin with four to
six weeks of intensive review of material they have already mastered, what
they feel may be close to panic. Certainly chagrin; certainly an
overwhelming sense of “Oh, no, here we go again!”
Happily, changes to the popular Response to Intervention (RTI) model
have made it possible for educators of gifted students to feel comfortable
applying the RTI approach to their students, instead of using it solely for the
benefit of struggling learners. RTI has been enhanced with a model called
Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), defined as a framework for
supporting both the academic and behavioral needs of all students within a
school in order to improve student outcomes and provide safe school
climates. MTSS adds attention to students’ social-emotional needs as well
as to their behavioral issues, and now specifically includes attention to all
learners, including those who are gifted. If you examine the MTSS process,
you will find that it asks you to:
1. Identify the student’s current level of competency with a skill or task.
 2. Diagnose an intervention that is likely to move the student forward.
3. Apply the intervention.
4. Evaluate the success of the intervention.
5. Prescribe the next intervention to move the student forward.
6. Repeat the process.

The same teaching approach is beneficial for gifted students. You can
identify their current level of mastery with the pre-assessments described in
this book. You can diagnose the next step they need to move forward and
make academic progress. After that intervention has been applied, you can
assess the degree to which it successfully documented academic progress. If
it was successful, you prescribe another intervention to move them forward
once again, and repeat the process. Since all differentiation opportunities in
this book may, from time to time, be available to students beyond those
formally identified as gifted, it follows that some of the learning models
designed primarily for struggling students should also be available for
gifted students.
The concept of teaching all students at their own challenge level is one
with which most teachers agree in principle. Yet in today’s heterogeneous
classrooms, large class sizes and increasing ranges of ability create
significant stresses for teachers who must find ways to reach and teach all
of their students. Sometimes, when we try to offer gifted kids opportunities
for challenge, they refuse to take us up on it. Complacency sets in when
gifted students get high grades and everyone (including the students
themselves, their parents, and their teachers) sees this as evidence that real
learning is taking place. Why should they work harder if they don’t have to?
When we assume that the required standards, curriculum guides, or
scope-and-sequence charts must be taught to all students, we are confusing
the words “teach” and “learn.” There is no state or national assessment that
can measure how well you have taught. The only thing such assessments
can measure is how much your students have learned.
There are probably students in your class right now who could have
taken any end-of-the-year standardized test at the start of the year and
scored at or above the 95th percentile. They simply don’t need the same
type of preparation as students who aren’t yet ready for the test. When we
insist that all students in a given class learn the total content together, we
create a situation that most gifted students find very difficult to cope with.
Many of them, because they’re teacher-pleasers, will go through the
motions, do the work, produce some very respectable products, and easily
get A’s. Others who are less compliant will do some of the work, but it will
be sloppy, messy, and/or careless. (Maybe what they’re trying to say is, “I
know I’ve got to do this, but I can’t stand wasting all this time!”) Still
others will give up, reject any more repetition, and refuse to do the work at
all. It’s just too boring.

Compacting Curriculum and

Differentiating Instruction
If gifted students are bored and unchallenged in our classes, it’s not because
they are not doing their work; it’s because the work that we plan for them is
really our work. It doesn’t become their work until it represents true
learning for them. We need to find a way to let students “buy back” the
school time we planned for them, so they can spend it in ways that extend
or accelerate their learning.
Fortunately, this process already exists. Dr. Joseph Renzulli calls it
compacting. Think of other contexts in which you use this word, and you’ll
probably come up with images of trash and garbage! Compacting helps
students deal with the part of the curriculum that represents “trash” to them
because it’s expendable. They can throw it away without missing it and
without incurring any academic harm, because they already have enough of
it to demonstrate mastery.

NOTE When you do a lesson plan, you are actually planning a budget! You are
budgeting the amount of time you estimate it will take for the average students in your
class to master the content. When struggling students need more time to demonstrate
mastery, you usually add more minutes to the budgeted time. When gifted students
need less time, they will be happy to hear they can “buy back” some of the time that
has been budgeted to spend on choice activities. They will love this option.

The Meaning of Differentiation

The practice of differentiating instruction is integral to the compacting
process. According to Dr. Sandra Kaplan, differentiation is defined as a
response to the cognitive, affective, social, and physical characteristics that
distinguish what and how students learn. A differentiated classroom is a
place where learners are provided with equal opportunity to learn, but are
not expected to learn the same curriculum in the same way at the same time.
Respect for individual differences among and between learners is key, as is
the belief that heterogeneity rather than homogeneity is the norm in any
teaching and learning environment.

Differentiation is defined as a response to the cognitive,

affective, social, and physical characteristics that distinguish
what and how students learn.

Going even further, we believe that when you practice differentiation

with your students throughout the grades, there will be fewer students who
will feel like an outcast. And outcasts are typically the students who, later in
their school career, might become so fed up with never being accepted for
who they really are, they start acting out. When teachers expect everyone to
be working together on the same task as one group, students may conclude
that their teacher likes them better when they are all the same. The peer
pressure in those classes will be to conform to this sameness. Conversely,
when teachers differentiate for those who need it, students will feel
accepted for their differences and will often demonstrate that acceptance
toward their classmates.
That said, following are three key strategies for differentiating
instruction and compacting curriculum in any skill-based area of learning.
They are: Most Difficult First, Pretest for Volunteers, and the Learning
Contract. All of these techniques can be used with skills from math,
language arts, reading, vocabulary, or other subject areas. Strategies for
compacting and differentiating content that is new to students—in subjects
such as literature, science, social studies, and problem-based learning—are
included in chapter 3. And for strategies that apply specifically to reading
and writing, see chapter 4.
You might anticipate some negative attitudes regarding compacting and
differentiation, especially from students who don’t experience these
opportunities. However, the cost of not providing these options may include
students who “burn out” very quickly from the lack of challenge and
become negative, seemingly lazy, and possibly even troublemakers.
Furthermore, we know that when you practice differentiation, you send a
clear message to students that you accept and accommodate their individual
differences. This sometimes makes it more likely that students will then be
accepting of differences in kids who are quite different from them. So,
rather than give up a practice essential to advanced learners, begin calling
the class’s attention to ways in which other students are experiencing
differentiation. Examples include when you assign fewer make-up items to
an advanced student who was absent, when a student who is hearing
impaired uses special equipment to comprehend what the teacher is saying,
when some students are grouped together because they need different types
of technology to maximize their learning, or even when a student with a
broken bone is allowed to engage in a different activity in place of physical
education class. These are all examples of students’ unique needs being met
appropriately.

How to Compact Curriculum

To compact the curriculum, we need to determine what competencies
certain students have and give them full credit for what they already know.
Then we need to decide how to let them use their “choice time” so it
doesn’t become a burden to them, their classmates, or to you. Note: Avoid
calling this “free time,” as this is likely to concern parents and
administrators. It really isn’t free, it’s choice.

Using the Compactor Form

Joseph Renzulli and Linda H. Smith created a record-keeping form called
the Compactor to use with students whose learning is compacted. You’ll
find a reproducible Compactor at the end of this chapter and samples of
compactors created for actual students throughout this chapter and in
chapter 6.
1. Use a separate Compactor for each student. You may need to use a new
one each month for a student who requires a great deal of compacting.
 7 Steps to Successful Compacting
1. Identify the learning objectives or standards that all students must learn.
2. Give students time to examine the content to be tested.
3. Offer a pretest opportunity to volunteers after explaining the level of
achievement needed to pass the pretest. Tell students they may stop the
pretest at any time if they realize they will score below the required level. Make
sure all students understand that the pretest results will not be formally entered
as grades. The pretest simply allows advanced students to demonstrate that
they need less direct instruction than age peers on upcoming content. See
Compacting One Week at a Time: Pretest for Volunteers for more details.
4. Have extension activities available for those who can “compact out” of
specific learning activities because they have demonstrated their existing
competence with that particular content on a pretest. These extension activities
should be connected to the unit of study but not limited to the required
standards. As states have pared down the amount and complexity of their
required standards so that struggling students have better chances for
proficiency, the narrowness of the resulting curriculum can be frustrating for
gifted students who desire to intensely explore a topic of interest. Until a time
when required standards focus on problem-solving tasks rather than on simple
skills, advanced students will spend considerable school time doing extension
activities. See more on extension activities.
5. Eliminate all standardized test drill, practice, and review for students who
have already demonstrated advanced levels of mastery.
6. Decide how you will keep accurate records of the students’ compacting
experiences, perhaps using the forms in this book, such as the Compactor.
Then instruct students how to keep their own records of their extension
activities.
7. Devise a method for storing compacting documents. You might use
hanging file folders in a plastic crate so all students have a place to store their
extension work. Gifted students will use them more often, but all students
should have occasional time to work on extension activities so it is helpful to
keep them accessible to your whole class. The Compactor, the Daily Log of
Extension Work, and other contract documents should all be dated and kept in
this extension folder.

2. Record all curriculum and independent study modifications.

In the left column, record the student’s areas of strength, one per box.
In the center column, describe the methods used to document the
student’s mastery of a particular skill, competency, chapter, unit, or
standard.
 In the right column, describe the alternate activities the student will
be engaged in during “choice time,” while the rest of the class is
doing grade-level work.

Some teachers make a copy of the required standards in a subject

area, insert them in the left column, and check off and date each item as
the student demonstrates mastery on pretests.
Alternate activities are usually drawn from the same subject area
from which the student bought back time. Sometimes, however, they
may represent different subject areas, or they may be ongoing projects
related to the student’s areas of interest.
3. Store the Compactor in the student’s extension folder, along with dated
pretests and post-tests, Learning Contracts (see chapter 3), any logs of
student work, evaluation contracts, brief notes about parent or student
conferences, and any other pertinent information.

IMPORTANT Never use the time students buy back from strength areas to remediate
learning weaknesses. Always allow students to capitalize on their strengths through
activities that extend their exceptional abilities. Remediate their weaknesses only
when the whole class is working on those areas of the curriculum.

Compacting and Flexible Grouping

Perhaps you’ve been expected to teach students in heterogeneous
classrooms as one large group, using direct teaching methods that keep the
whole group moving along together as one unit. You most likely realize that
this style of teaching is almost certain to hold gifted students back from the
pace and depth they need.
A practice called flexible grouping provides opportunities for
compacting without grouping the entire class in ability-based groups. To
group flexibly means to group students together by areas of interest,
achievement level, activity preference, learning modality, or special needs.
This type of grouping is not in conflict with the philosophy of
heterogeneous grouping. As a matter of fact, even when gifted students are
grouped with each other, there is quite a range of abilities, interests,
strengths, and weaknesses. The strategies described here and in the rest of
this book enable you to continually regroup students, unit by unit, who need
faster pacing or more complex activities in any area of learning depending
on the material being studied. See chapter 7 for more detail on grouping
gifted learners.
After reading this chapter, you should be ready to start compacting for
several students who will benefit from it. Use it in one subject, unit, or
lesson at a time. Do not move on to other content or classes until you are
confident you know how to use the strategy very well. If it takes you
several weeks to reach your comfort level, reassure yourself that you are
doing more compacting than you have done in the past! Always know that
you can schedule a “Lunch and Chocolate” meeting to ask for assistance
from other teachers who are trying to implement similar strategies.

Extension Activities
The use of extension activities complements successful compacting and
differentiation. When students demonstrate previous mastery of an
upcoming standard, their first activity should be to engage with that same
standard at a higher level of interaction—one that focuses on more depth
and complexity—to experience how a particular standard may be extended
in more challenging ways. This practice may lead to more students scoring
“above proficiency” on high stakes tests.

As students work on extension activities, it is acceptable for them to be

working with topics that are related to grade-level standards, but not limited
to them. The purpose of creating and offering extension activities that
broaden the students’ experience beyond the exact language of the
description of the standard is to accommodate gifted students’ desire to
learn everything there is to know about a topic in which they are interested.
It is reasonable to expect students to choose extension activities in the same
subject area in which they now have discretionary time.
You may be wondering how you will monitor the behavior of students
who are working on extension activities. Refer to the handouts: How to
Work Independently on Extension Activities and the Essential Rules for
Independent Work. Either use these forms as is or create one or both with
your own expectations on it and explain the responsibilities independent
workers will have. For some students, the behavior and productivity
expectations might have to be introduced and practiced, one at a time, and
cumulatively.

Working on extension activities is beneficial for all students.

Working on extension activities is beneficial for all students. Gifted

students might work on them throughout a unit. Other students can also
enjoy some exposure to them in a simpler format from time to time. Or they
might be given some time to work on one extension activity throughout the
span of a unit, perhaps with a partner or in a small group. All students
should keep an accurate log of their extension activities (see the Daily Log
of Extension Work).

STRATEGY

Compacting One Lesson at a

Time: Most Difficult First
You probably realize that some highly capable learners don’t need the same
amount of practice and work as their age peers. However, many teachers are
afraid to learn the truth about these kids, believing that once they do, they’ll
have to scramble to find appropriate extension materials and spend lots of
time they don’t have supervising the students’ work on those activities.
The Most Difficult First strategy is designed to help you overcome that
fear. Try it and you’ll discover that your gifted kids will sometimes rather
work on activities of their own choosing, instead of having you always
decide what activities to make available. Take it one lesson at a time with
this strategy; don’t worry about anything beyond that just yet. Once you
feel confident that compacting won’t create lots of extra work for you to do,
you can move on to other strategies in this book that link extension work to
the content being studied.
There is a very comforting aspect in using Most Difficult First as your
initial attempt at compacting. You still get to teach one lesson to all students
in a particular subject area every day. That makes it much less scary than
sending students off to work independently and feeling a loss of control
regarding their mastery of the day’s lesson.

What About Grades?

One of the first questions teachers ask us about compacting and extension
activities, “How do I grade them?” The answer is that you don’t (most of the time!).
The only grades you enter for students experiencing compacting are those grades
that document their mastery of a topic area at their grade level. For example, if a
student scores 90 percent or higher on a pretest, you will enter an “A” in your
grade book for that unit, even if 90 percent is not an A in your district. A 90 percent
correct result demonstrates mastery, and the letter grade for mastery is A. See
chapter 8 for further discussion of grading and assessment.

Scenario: Benjamin
Benjamin was a seventh grader with very high potential who, according to
most of his teachers, had made a career out of “wasting time and not
working up to his ability.” He had been denied permission to attend the
gifted education class because of his poor work habits in all of his subjects.
The gifted specialist at Benjamin’s school, Mrs. Lee, offered to come to
his class and demonstrate the Most Difficult First strategy for his teacher.
Mrs. Lee suspected it might help Benjamin be more productive in math
class and hoped that it would convince his teacher to let him attend the
gifted program classes.
First, Mrs. Lee taught the day’s math lesson to the class, allowing 20
minutes of practice time at the end so students could start their homework.
Benjamin was noticeably uninvolved; in fact, he had no work at all on his
desk, saying that he had lost his math book. At the end of the instructional
time, Mrs. Lee wrote the assignment on the board. It looked like this:
Homework: pages 59–60, problems 3–5, 8 & 9, 11–15, 21–23
#s: 5, 9, 14, 15, 22

Then Mrs. Lee announced:

“I have assigned these problems for your homework, because I think most
of you will need that much practice to master the standards we talked about
today. However, I may be wrong, so I have starred the five most difficult
problems. Anyone who wants to do the starred problems first, and who can
complete them correctly in a way that can be clearly read and understood
without getting more than one wrong, is done practicing. The problems
must be completed and corrected before this practice section of the math
period is over. You have 20 minutes. If you can’t finish them in that time
period, or if you find the problems to be challenging, that simply means you
need more practice than you thought. At that point, just stop your work on
the most difficult problems and begin practicing at the beginning of the
assignment.”
Benjamin had been in his characteristic “I-dare-you-to-make-me-work”
slouch. As the explanation was finished, his head shot up, and the following
conversation ensued.
Benjamin: “Excuse me, what did you just say?”
Mrs. Lee: “What do you think I said?”
Benjamin: “I think you said that if I get those five problems right,
and you can read them, I don’t have to do my homework!”
Mrs. Lee: “That’s correct.”
Benjamin: “Uh, is my regular teacher going to do this tomorrow?”
Mrs. Lee: “I’m not sure, but I’ll bet it has something to do with
whether or not it works today.”
Benjamin: “Yeah, right.” (Pause.) “What happens if I get two
wrong?”
Mrs. Lee: “Benjamin, how much of the 20 minutes’ practice time is
left?”
Benjamin: “Oh, yeah. Right. Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

Benjamin suddenly “found” his math book, a pencil, and some paper in
his desk. He got right to work and finished the designated problems
accurately and neatly. His classroom teacher had the evidence she needed
that he understood the standards, which made her more willing to let him
participate in the gifted program. And Benjamin had the joyful feeling that
somehow he’d gotten away with something.
How to Use Most Difficult First
1. When giving your class an assignment of skill or practice work, start by
determining which items represent the most difficult section of the
entire task. These might appear sequentially near the end of the
assignment or in various sections of the assignment. Five examples are
a reasonable number, but you may choose a few more or less,
depending on what seems appropriate for the assignment.

2. Post the assignment and then make note of the Most Difficult First
examples. Then give this explanation to the class:
“The regular assignment should give just the right amount of practice
for most of you to master the standards we learned today. As a matter
of fact, I expect most of you will need this much practice. However,
some of you may have learned this material before and don’t need as
much practice. Instead of doing the regular assignment, you may
choose to do just the five starred problems, which I consider to be the
most difficult problems in the assignment.
“When you finish, come to me and I’ll check your work. The first
person who gets four or five correct will become the checker for the
rest of the period, if that person wants the job. If he or she prefers not to
be the checker I’ll wait for someone else to become today’s checker.
Once I announce who the checker is, anyone else who completes the
most difficult problems should stay at your desk, put your thumb up as
a signal, and wait for the checker to get to you. If your work is neat and
legible and has no more than one wrong, the checker will collect your
paper to give to me.”
 (Note: Exceptions to this rule may be made for students with
exceptional educational needs. Perhaps you’ll want to correct their
papers if they might be embarrassed for another student to see it.
However, it has been our experience that when a teacher expects
neatness and legibility, students make an honest effort to demonstrate
those qualities to the best of their abilities.)
“After the checker has collected your paper, you may use whatever
time is left for any activity you choose in the same subject area, as long
as you follow the Essential Rules for Independent Work. During
practice time, I will be helping students who are doing the regular
assignment. If you need help, start at the beginning of the regular
assignment, and I’ll be happy to help you.”
3. As you walk around the classroom giving assistance to students who
need it, let those who are working on the Most Difficult First problems
come to you. Once you identify the checker (the first student who
meets the criteria and agrees to be the checker that day), she or he
checks the papers of the remaining students working on the Most
Difficult First problems, using his or her correct paper as the answer
key. When the checker finds papers that meet the criteria, he or she
places the papers in a designated place. Tip: Finding a checker usually
takes less than five minutes. After that, you can devote your full
attention to helping your struggling students. It is well worth the time it
takes to “train” your checkers. The guidelines in the following box
should be discussed with the entire class and posted in a prominent
place so each day’s checker can consult the guidelines.
4. If you use the beginning of the next period to check homework, the
students who met the Most Difficult First requirement may again have
some choice time—as long as they follow the Essential Rules. As soon
as you begin the new lesson, they should rejoin the rest of the class for
instruction.

How to Be a Checker
You may be a checker only one time each week. On other days, you may work
on extension activities when you meet the requirement for Most Difficult First.
 As the checker, you may not provide any help to students whose papers you are
checking. You may not return to any student more than one time.
If the student’s paper has zero or one wrong, say, “You can work on extension
activities.”
If the student’s paper has more than one wrong, say, “Continue with the practice
page.”
Never discuss any information about a student’s correct or incorrect answer with
the student or anyone else. You must keep that information confidential.
Place all papers you have collected in the designated place after checking the
work. Write the word “Checker” and today’s date at the top of your paper.

To make the most of this strategy, follow these guidelines:

Limit practice time to 10–15 minutes or less.
Don’t allow students to correct their own papers. Gifted students are very
competitive in this type of situation, and values get a little muddled.
Students wondering how their buddies are faring may not be totally
honest. That’s why you should correct papers until you identify the
checker, and the checker should correct papers after that.
Don’t allow students to correct any errors the checker discovers. Students
who get more than one wrong are expected to complete the regular
assignment, starting with the easier problems. In the first few days, some
kids may come to you to protest, “I was working too fast. I made a
careless mistake. I really know how to do it!” Your reaction is always the
same: “Then that means you need more practice time. You can try again
tomorrow.” Once students realize that your rules are firm, they will
accept the checker’s decision.
No student should be the checker more than once a week. Some students
will want to be the checker all the time as a way to avoid doing the
challenging extension activities.
If there are a lot of students who need a checker, appoint a second
checker for that day.

As you can see, this strategy doesn’t create additional work for you, nor
do you spend any extra time entering grades. You can still enter all grades at
the same time and be available to help your struggling students.
 Most Difficult First can be used with students who return from pull-out
classes, to document their mastery of the content you have been teaching in
their absence, without requiring them to make up all the work they missed.
You get the evidence you need that the kids are competent with the
material, and they learn that participating in a pull-out class will not lead to
more work for them. Everybody wins!

NOTE A few teachers in our workshops have reported that this method becomes a
privacy issue for their school. If this is true for you, make an answer key available for
students who need it. Remember, the checker sees only the papers of students who
volunteered for that to happen.

STRATEGY

Compacting One Week at a

Time: Pretest for Volunteers
For curriculum that takes about a week to cover, such as spelling or
vocabulary work, the pretest for volunteers is the best compacting method
to use. With this method, the assessment you plan to use at the end of the
week’s work should be available for volunteers to take at the beginning, as
a mode of formative assessment. At the start of the class period, give all
students a few moments to look over the upcoming content. Then invite
volunteer students who think they can demonstrate they are already at a
mastery level to take the pretest. Tell them that the scores they get on the
pretest will only be entered into your grade book if they represent mastery.
Be sure that they understand that the reason for the pretest is to find out
how much they know about the content so you can decide together if
compacting the week’s work is a good option for them.
Here’s an example of what you might tell your students at the start of a
new week:
“We’re about to start working on _________________. I will give
you 30 seconds to survey the word list to see if you think you are
familiar enough with the words to take the end-of-unit test right
now. If you score 90 percent or higher on the pretest, you have
 demonstrated that you do not need the required practice to become
proficient. Instead, you can spend your time each period working on
extension activities. For each day you do extension work, your
pretest grade of A will be entered in my records as an ‘equivalent
grade’ for the unit work you are not required to do. Your extension
work will not be formally graded, so feel free to choose challenging
words to learn.”
The acceptable score on a pretest for mastery is 90 percent or higher.
Students may stop taking the pretest and return to the whole class activity at
any point where they think they will not get the required amount of test
items correct. They do not have to turn in their pretest in this case.

NOTE Never do a quick review—not even of the specific rule being demonstrated—
before students look at the unit’s content to decide if they want to take the pretest. As
the students peruse the content, it is their job to determine if they understand the rule
being illustrated.

Pretests should always be optional. The practice of having all kids take
a required pretest at the beginning of a unit of work in order to have data
about students’ competencies before they have been taught a chunk of
content can be extremely frustrating and even embarrassing for students
who aren’t familiar with the content. Just try to remember the first time you
rode a bike, sat at a computer, or tried to play a musical instrument, and you
will realize how totally disheartening it would have been if you had been
required to take a pretest before you had any instruction. The same is true
for struggling students, who see their peers proceeding with some degree of
competence at something that is totally unfamiliar to them. They may
wonder, “What’s the matter with me? Why do these other kids seem to
know more about this than I do?”
However, if your school or district requires that all students take every
pretest, you will have to comply. Students who score at or above the 90th
percentile on a weekly pretest will still experience compacting and
differentiation for the remainder of that week, and may even be excused
from taking the post-test, if district policy allows.

Scenario: Elizabeth
Elizabeth was a twice-exceptional child with strong map skills, which she
demonstrated by acing the voluntary end-of-unit test before the unit began.
For the next six weeks, while the rest of the class learned basic map skills,
she spent those 45 minutes a day working on a project that represented true
learning for her. Note: This scenario illustrates a modification of Pretest for
Volunteers, since the unit of study is longer than a week.
We discussed several options, and she chose to create an imaginary
country. Because her learning disability prevented her from writing well,
she made a papier-mâché model showing the population centers, natural
resources, manufacturing centers, agricultural products, and other features
the class was studying in the teacher directed map unit. Thankfully, her
teacher realized that it was not appropriate to require Elizabeth to spend the
map learning time remediating one of her low performing areas. The
teacher realized that when compared to her classmates, Elizabeth was
advanced in map skills. As an advanced student she had the same right to
experience differentiation as others who would experience compacting in
several curriculum areas.
During that time, how many students complained, “That’s not fair!
Elizabeth doesn’t have to do the same work we’re doing”? None, because
everyone had been given the same opportunity to document mastery by
taking the pretest. However, students did ask, “Can we do what Elizabeth’s
doing? It looks like fun!” In response to their interest, and after Elizabeth
had shared her project with the class in an oral report with a multimedia
component, a similar activity was offered to small groups as a culminating
project for the map unit, during which time Elizabeth served as a “create-a-
country consultant” to the groups. Her self-esteem soared as her image
changed from a needy student with a learning disability to an expert others
turned to for help and advice.

NOTE This strategy suggests paper-and-pencil pretests, but you should feel free to
use other types of formative assessment that are compatible with your teaching
philosophy and style. Examples: Before beginning a map unit, you might ask students
to locate features on actual maps. Or ask the class to tell you what they already know
about maps, and observe for students who seem extremely knowledgeable. Any
method that helps you identify students who need compacting is fine. See chapter 8
for more information on formative assessment strategies.
Scenario: Liam
In Monica Wheeler’s seventh-grade social studies classes, an
extraordinarily gifted student named Liam demonstrated a very advanced
grasp of geography content. When Ms. Wheeler contacted Liam’s parents,
they told her that Liam was a returning contestant in the state’s geography
bee. This information validated Ms. Wheeler’s conclusion that Liam would
need a lot of compacting in geography this year.
Each time Liam passed a pretest on an upcoming section of geography
content, his formative assessment (pretest) grade became his summative
assessment (recorded grade) for that particular chunk of content. Since the
pretest was available to all students who wanted to take it, there was no
resentment toward Liam or the teacher regarding the fact that Liam did not
have to do much of the grade-level practice which he already knew.
Occasionally other students would pass the pretest and were encouraged to
work on other extension activities while those students who needed direct
instruction received it from Ms. Wheeler. That year, Liam placed first in the
state geography bee and went on to place seventh in the national contest,
bringing lots of pride to Liam, his school, and his friends and relatives.

Scenario: Ava Marie

Ava Marie had great spelling skills and consistently earned high grades on
her spelling tests. Her spelling was amazingly accurate in her written work.
It seemed clear to her teacher that she did not need as much instruction or
practice in spelling as her classmates. After each successful spelling pretest,
she was allowed to choose from the Extension Activities in Spelling and
Vocabulary.

Extension Activities in Spelling and

Vocabulary
If you are teaching spelling and vocabulary, you may find that many
students will enjoy choosing one of the following activities:
Working with a partner who also passed the pretest, to find 10 unfamiliar
words.
Keeping track of words they misspell in their own writing. This is called
functional spelling, since it helps students learn the words they need to
function well in their writing. Some teachers use the Extension Activities
in Spelling and Vocabulary with all students. Kids who test out on the
pretest study the alternate words; kids who don’t, study the regular
words. All kids choose the way they will study their own list.

Technology-Assisted Extension Work in

Spelling or Vocabulary
Here are a few ideas on how you can use technology to differentiate
spelling and vocabulary lessons for ability levels, learning profiles, and
student interests.
Word Lens from Apple is an app that allows students to hold a camera lens
up to any text and it translates it into another language automatically. This
is fun to use when studying other cultures or foreign countries. Download
the app from the iTunes store on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.
Rosetta Stone ([Link]) is an ideal program to get kids started
learning foreign languages in the primary grades. Students might choose to
select a new language every year.
Bookworm, another free game from Yahoo! Games, encourages players to
link letters together to make words. Just don’t let the red tiles reach the
bottom, or the library will catch fire!
Word Games ([Link]) is a website that provides different puzzles
and word games. The selection includes word searches, crossword puzzles,
and more to boost vocabulary, critical thinking, and spelling skills.
My Vocabulary ([Link]) is a “vocabulary university” for
students of all ages. The site includes extensive word work for all age
groups.
Words with Friends ([Link]) is a popular app that can be used on a
smartphone, iPad, or Kindle, or on a computer via the Facebook website.
Players exchange turns forming words horizontally or vertically on a board,
trying to score as many points as possible for each word. For students age
13 or older.

For more suggestions, simply enter search terms such as “vocabulary

activities” or “spelling games” into Google.
Note: Students may use the Daily Log of Extension Work in chapter 3
to keep records of their differentiated spelling and vocabulary activities.

STRATEGY

Compacting One Chapter or

Unit at a Time: The Learning
Contract
While trying out the Most Difficult First strategy, described earlier in this
chapter, you may have noticed its shortcomings. Gifted students still have
to sit through the teaching of standards they may have already mastered.
They are not allowed to demonstrate mastery until homework (practice)
time begins. And some students may need more structure for the time they
buy back.
The Learning Contract strategy has none of those shortcomings. It’s the
most effective strategy for compacting pretestable content and skills within
units lasting longer than a week. This method incorporates both of the
previous strategies: Most Difficult First and Pretest for Volunteers, and
presents a compacting option in which students complete extension
activities, yet may still receive direct instruction in areas in the unit they
have not yet mastered.
The Learning Contract strategy works best for students in second grade
and higher. In the primary grades, you can use the same process described
here, but you would keep a record of the standards for which direct
instruction is required, rather than giving the students a paper copy of the
contract. For days in which no direct instruction is needed, just list students’
names on the board at the beginning of the period to indicate that they can
spend the day’s lesson time working on extension activities.

Scenario: Julie
When Julie was in fifth grade, she consistently got A’s in her daily math
work and assessments. She appeared to remember most of what she had
learned in previous grades and seemed to catch on quickly to new concepts.
However, she began to develop some distracting behaviors during math
class. She stared out the window, occasionally hummed softly, and was
frequently found writing notes to friends. It became obvious that part of her
problem was boredom with the pace and depth of the fifth-grade math
curriculum.
When the Learning Contract option was explained to Julie, it was very
appealing to her. She volunteered to take the pretest for the next chapter,
with an acceptable score, and received the contract shown here. Pages that
were not checked represented standards on which Julie had demonstrated
mastery on the pretest. On the days those standards were taught, Julie
worked on math extension activities for the entire math period.
Pages with checkmarks indicated standards for which Julie did not
demonstrate mastery on the pretest. On days when those standards were
taught, Julie would join the class for direct instruction. However, every day
after the initial direct instruction and during the first practice period, the
Most Difficult First strategy was offered to all the students. More often than
not, Julie would remember the content as the lesson proceeded, so she could
usually demonstrate mastery with the most difficult portion of the
assignment. This meant that after the first practice period, she could usually
be done with direct instruction for that day and move on to working on her
extension activities. Julie started spending much more time on math each
day, alternating between the regular content and extension activities. Her
attitude and productivity in math improved dramatically, as did her behavior
during math time.

Introducing the Learning Contract

In keeping with the practice of offering compacting opportunities to
everyone in the class, you will want to introduce and explain the Learning
Contract to all of your students. They can then decide for themselves
whether to take advantage of the pretest opportunity and possibly receive a
contract. When the contract option is presented this way, the students who
do not choose to take the pretest will not resent those students who pretest
successfully and receive a Learning Contract for a particular chapter or unit.
The vocabulary and vocal inflections we use are critical in guaranteeing that
the options for advanced students are not perceived as special treatment. We
avoid words like “qualify” or “eligible” or “deserve” because those are win-
lose words. Better phrases are either, “You have shown you do not need
more practice,” or “You need more practice.” We also avoid “celebrating”
when students compact out of work. Instead, we handle it in a very matter
of fact manner.
Before starting a new chapter or unit, give your students the opportunity
to pretest out of the content if they wish (see the Pretest for Volunteers
strategy for details). Again, be sure that they understand that the only
reason for the pretest is to find out how much they know about the chapter
so you can decide together if a Learning Contract is a good option for them.
They will soon understand that Learning Contracts are not a good choice
for many students, and that is just fine. Those students who would benefit
from more direct instruction will get that as well. Neither option—Learning
Contract or direct instruction—is “better” than the other. Every student is
different and will be matched to the learning method that is best for them.
 An acceptable score on a pretest for a Learning Contract is whatever
represents a B or higher, because that demonstrates the student already
knows 80 percent or more of the upcoming chapter content. Clearly, if a
student is already competent with at least 80 percent of a unit of work, he
would be wasting his time if he was required to do the same amount of
practice as students for whom a good deal of the material to be learned is
new. As always with a pretest, students may stop taking it and return to the
whole class activity at any point where they think they will not get the
required amount of test items correct. They do not have to turn in their
pretest in this case.

IMPORTANT You’ll notice that the cut-off score for a pretest in the Pretest for
Volunteers strategy is 90 percent, versus 80 percent for a pretest for a Learning
Contract. The cut-off score for the Learning Contract is lower because the strategy
does not require that students demonstrate mastery of all chapter content. Students
who are on a contract will still get instruction when you are teaching standards for
which they did not show mastery on the pretest.

Schedule a meeting for those students who scored at or above 80

percent on the pretest. Students who attend the meeting can then decide if
they want to use the Learning Contract method for this particular chapter or
unit. Inform them that with a contract, they will be able to work through the
chapter more independently and have a lot more time to work on extension
activities during the course of the chapter work.
You may be wondering, “While some students are taking the pretest,
what will the others do?” Let them use this time to work with your guidance
on similar extension activities as those the kids with Learning Contracts
will be working on throughout the chapter. Or they might work on
extensions related to standards learned in earlier chapters. This simple
technique eliminates much of the potential resentment students might feel
toward kids who receive contracts, because pretest day can be an enjoyable
day for all. It shows your students that you believe all kids can benefit from
extension activities now and then.
How to Use the Learning Contract
1. Collect extension materials (both hardcopy and online) for the chapter
or unit you are about to begin and set up an extension center in your
classroom. Remember that the activities must be in the same subject
area as the one being compacted, but they do not always have to be
precisely connected to the required standards. To create the extension
center, use an empty desk or table, or a learning center format. For
extension materials, look in your teacher manuals, in the manuals of
discarded series, and in the place where your school or district keeps
materials that have been purchased with gifted education funds. Search
online for sites that contain interesting activities for enriching the
subject area on which you are focusing.
Note: Sometimes the extension activities will be called
“enrichment” in your sources. The words mean the same thing but we
prefer to use the term “extension.” All students deserve an enriched
curriculum, but only advanced learners require us to “extend” the
parameters of the grade-level standards.
If you don’t have space for an extension center, think about where
you want the contract students to work while you are teaching the rest
of the class. Some teachers group those who are on contract in one area
in the room near the place where the extension materials are stored.
Some teachers have their contract students work in another room, under
the direction of a resource person such as a media center specialist, a
librarian, or an adult volunteer. Many teachers simply have the students
work at their desks while the rest of the class is involved in direct
instruction. It may be comforting for all concerned if they stay in the
classroom, so they can at least be aware of your lessons and discussions
while they are working on their extension activities.
Prepare a master Learning Contract for the chapter or unit. Use the
reproducible Learning Contract or create your own. The Learning
Contract should have three sections. In the top section, list the content
for the chapter or unit, either by page numbers or standards to be
mastered. The chapter tests in most teachers’ editions indicate the page
on which each standard is taught.
In the middle section, list and describe the available extension
activities. Tip: To simplify contract management, offer one extension
option for the first chapter plus a student choice option (“Your Idea”).
Add a second option for the second chapter, and so on.
 The lines to the right of each activity labeled “Special Instructions”
may be used for students to record the date and other identification
information about the day’s extension activity near the end of each
class period. Be sure to take a few moments near the end of the class
period to remind students to do their record keeping.
In the bottom-third section of the Learning Contract, list the
working conditions you expect students to follow. If your classes all
take place in one room, you might create a chart labeled “Working
Conditions for Independent Study” to display in your classroom. That
way, you won’t have to include conditions on every contract. You can
get some ideas for the working conditions from the Working
Conditions for Alternate Activities form. The Essential Rules may also
be perfectly adequate. Keep in mind that for young children, the
expected behaviors must be taught, modeled, and monitored one at a
time. Other behaviors are added cumulatively.
Another way to display the extension options is with a nine-square
Extension Menu, several examples are given in chapter 4.
It will not be enough to just name certain extension activities. You
will get better results if you create task statements that let students
know exactly what they are expected to do with the designated
materials. If you use an Extension Menu instead of listing the options
on the contract, a different record keeping system will be needed. The
Daily Log of Extension Work could be used in this case.
2. Offer a pretest or other type of preassessment. Use the same tool you
plan to use for a post-test at the end of the chapter or unit with all
students. If the teaching materials you are using include both a chapter
review and a chapter test, use whichever one is most comprehensive for
the pretest.
If you want to add some items that are not included in the tests the
publisher provides, also include them in the post-test you use to assess
the other students later. It’s unfair to make the pretest more
comprehensive than the post-test only for those students who are trying
to demonstrate they are ready for the Learning Contract.
3. Correct the pretests yourself or ask a student teacher to do it. Don’t
allow students to correct their own pretests. Many gifted kids are afraid
of losing face if anyone finds out they are not always perfect, so the
 temptation to “appear perfect” might be great. Also, don’t use student
checkers when giving pretests. Sometimes checkers are influenced by
friendship issues. Other students or adult volunteers shouldn’t know
how students scored on the pretest. Finally, parent volunteers are also
not a good choice because they shouldn’t have access to sensitive,
personal information.
4. Prepare contracts for students who score 80 percent or higher on the
pretest. You will have already listed the page numbers or standards for
that chapter or unit on your master contract. For each student’s
contract, simply place a checkmark to the left of the page number or
standard for which the student did not demonstrate mastery on the
pretest. Those are the pages/standards for which the student will join
the rest of the class for direct instruction. See Julie’s contract for an
example.
Tip: Before giving out the contracts, indicate in your grade book
which pages/ standards you’ve checked for each student. One way to
do this is by highlighting the space or using a different color, font type,
or icon for those standards or pages. As you begin each class, you’ll be
able to tell at a glance which students will be receiving direct
instruction and which will be working on extension activities. If some
students who should be attending direct instruction start moving toward
the extension area, simply say, “Some contract students are going to the
wrong place right now. Please check your contract to see if this is one
of your direct instruction days.”
5. If you use cooperative learning groups, create them now. Place contract
students together in their own groups. Place all other students in
heterogeneous groups in which kids who are capable in the subject are
mixed with those who are average and below average. (For more on
cooperative learning, see chapter 7.)
6. Invite contract students to an informational meeting with you during
class time. See, “At the Contract Meeting” that follows for suggestions
about what to include at the meeting.
7. Offer Most Difficult First daily so gifted kids can still do compacted
work even on days when they are attending direct instruction with the
larger group for the first part of the period. Tip: Most Difficult First is
 also an effective way to allow students returning from out-of-class
experiences (such as pull-out programs) to document their mastery. If
kids only have to make up five of the examples they missed, they won’t
feel so torn about leaving the homeroom class.

At the Contract Meeting

1. Greet the students and explain that everyone there scored 80 percent or
higher on the pretest. Tip: Reassure students that their pretest grade
was not recorded, but was used simply to discover which students
might benefit from a contract. The perfectionists in the group might be
upset if they think a lower than perfect score has been recorded!
2. Hand out the Learning Contracts. Draw students’ attention to the first
section that lists the pages and standards to be mastered. Explain that a
checkmark indicates a standard they have not mastered. On the days
those standards are taught, they will join the rest of the class for
instruction. No checkmark indicates standards they have mastered. On
the days those standards are being taught, they are not required to
attend the direct instruction event, because they will be working on
extension activities for the entire period.
3. Tell students they are not to work on any of the checked pages or
standards independently. They must wait until the class learns that
material under your direction.
4. Explain how to use the extension center. Demonstrate one extension
activity. Call students’ attention to the “Your Idea” option, which
invites them to create their own alternate activity. Instruct them to bring
their ideas to you. They will need your permission to proceed. Note:
Some teachers are expected to direct their students to choose activities
that reinforce the standards covered in the chapter. Others may allow
students to choose any activity, as long as it relates to the subject area
being taught. All activities should be self-correcting. Parents of gifted
students may be willing to help create answer keys for extension
activities.
Demonstrate how to keep daily records of extension work. Under
“Special Instructions,” each short line represents one day’s extension
activity. When all the lines for a particular activity are filled with dates
 and labels, students should select another activity, unless they are
involved in a long-term activity that requires more time. It is also okay
for them to vary the type of activities they do.
Students will need a place to store their “work in progress” when
they leave the center and on days when they join the rest of the class
for direct instruction. One simple solution is to give each student in the
class a file folder and provide a plastic crate to contain them. In the
folder they may keep unfinished work and a record sheet, such as a
daily log. When parents return their comment sheet from the Extension
Activities and Differentiated Homework Report, file those as well.
5. Students working on extension activities on regular instruction days
may work on different activities and help each other when help is
needed. Let them know that you want them to be there to support and
motivate each other as they work on the challenging activities.

IMPORTANT Refrain from directing students to work on specific extension activities,

and don’t expect them to complete an entire activity during each period. If you do,
students may feel the need to choose easy activities or rush through the activities and
not benefit from their selected extensions. Your whole purpose for providing
differentiated learning will be compromised. Your most important task with kids
working on contracts is to encourage them to persevere even when they become
frustrated, and to praise them for their willingness to work hard on challenging
problems.

6. Reassure contract students that you will be working with them several
times each week, and that you expect them to need help with the
extension activities from time to time. This is important, since they will
be experiencing unfamiliar topics. See the Question Chip Technique for
a way to deliver on your promise. If gifted students perceive that
students on contract rarely get the chance to work with you, they may
stop taking the pretests. They have a right to your attention as they
engage in challenging work.

Reassure contract students that you will be working with

them several times each week, and that you expect them to
need help with the extension activities from time to time.
 7. Review the working conditions thoroughly and answer all questions.
8. Tell students how their grade for the chapter or unit will be determined.
(See chapter 8.) Make sure your contract students understand that
working on contract will not lower their recorded grade.
9. Sign the contracts and get students to sign their own contract. This
creates formal agreements with obligations and responsibilities for all.
In most cases, it is not necessary to have parents sign the contracts.
These are agreements between you and the students, not you and the
parents. You want to avoid creating a situation in which parents become
over-invested in having their children remain constantly “on contract.”
Since most of the work will be done in school, just like any other
schoolwork your students are completing, there really is no need for the
parents to sign. They will see the results at the end of the chapter when
you send home the extension work, Learning Contract, and Daily Log,
along with the Extension Activities and Differentiated Homework
Report.
Some teachers choose to send a letter home at the start of the
chapter or unit introducing and explaining the contract method. Then,
at the end of the chapter or unit, they send the contracts home along
with any extension activities or student logs they want the parents to
see. Some find it helpful to coach students in how to tell their parents
about the contract work they are working on. Parents are asked to invite
their child to explain the contract and the extension work. Parents then
complete and return only the Extension Activities and Differentiated
Homework Report to be filed at school in the students’ extension
folders.
10. Caution the students not to brag about being “on contract.” Explain
how this situation doesn’t mean they are better than other students,
only that they need a different type of learning plan.

IMPORTANT If you require a contract student to rejoin the direct instruction group for
the rest of the chapter because he had trouble following the working conditions, avoid
making it sound like a punishment. You wouldn’t want those students who are always
working in the direct instruction mode to feel there is anything unsatisfactory about
that arrangement.
Day-by-Day Plan for Using the Learning
Contract
Day One
Have all students survey the content to decide if they want to take the
pretest. Tell them precisely the number of problems they will have to do
correctly to demonstrate that a learning contract is the best option for
them (80 percent or higher).
Demonstrate the enticing extension activity available that day for the
students who choose not to take the pretest. Reassure all students that the
activity will be available for those taking the pretest to work on later in
the unit.
Stop scoring the pretest as soon as the student’s incorrect answers bring
his or her score below the required limit. In this case, do not enter the
pretest grades into your records. If students ask what their pretest grade
was, tell them you did not record it. We are trying to diminish their
addiction to grades and transfer their attention to moving forward in their
learning.
Prepare contracts for students as needed.

Day Two
Assign all students to learning groups for the chapter. Students who are
contract will be grouped together. All other students will be in
heterogeneous learning groups with stronger and weaker students
working together.
Give the contract students an extension activity to do while you teach the
other students the content for the day. Explain to students that their
learning groups have been arranged so there is help available for all
group members as needed. Explain the Question Chip method. Begin the
day’s lesson and try to keep your direct teaching time to 15 minutes or
less.
Allow noncontract students to practice what you just taught in their
learning groups while you hold the contract meeting with the contract
 students so they can begin their independent work. Explain all the
contract procedures, the working conditions, and the record keeping
expectations, and answer any questions. This meeting should be limited
to 15 minutes so you can get back to the other students and move on with
direct instruction.

Day Three and Beyond

Each day, tell contract students to check to see if they need to attend the
direct instruction group today. Those who do not need to attend can go
quietly to the extension center.
Direct students to their learning groups and conduct the direct instruction
of the lesson. If it goes a little longer than 15 minutes, don’t worry, since
your advanced students are working on extension activities you have
provided.
Always offer the Most Difficult First option to all students attending
direct instruction. Sometimes, students on contract will still be able to
compact out of the lesson at this point and proceed to the extension
center.
After the direct instruction lesson, provide a guided practice time for all
students, whether or not they are on contract, and allow students to get
needed help from their learning group members. Tip: If you are lucky
enough to have another adult in the room, you might designate them to
work at times with the students on contract, rather than always working
with struggling students.

IMPORTANT Every day, the first group you should visit during this guided practice
time is the students who are on contract. Those students appreciate knowing they will
not lose contact with you just because they are working more independently. During
your brief meeting with this group, help them understand the contract requirements for
record keeping and show appreciation for their willingness to work hard on difficult
tasks. Answer any questions regarding how to do the extension activities, but do not
give answers or indicate that some answer they already have is correct or not.

The Question Chip Technique

Naturally, all this sounds a little overwhelming. You are wondering how
you are supposed to get around to all of your students during a particular
class or period, especially if different students are working on different
tasks. Here’s a method that will help you offer these options without losing
your mind!
First, consider that students’ brains can only take so much direct
instruction at a time before it must be processed or lost. Translating this into
classroom practice means that you should never teach for more than 10 to
15 minutes at a time (depending on the grade level) before giving students
some time for guided practice. Of course, it’s not reasonable to teach the
entire standard in that time, but presenting information in meaningful
“chunks” makes good teaching sense. This “chunking” allows you to be
more available to the kids on contract, since you can spend some time with
them while the other students are practicing the lesson portion you just
taught.
At the start of each period, give each group or pair of discussion
buddies one Question Chip (poker chip or other plastic token). Ask students
to raise their hands if they sometimes feel annoyed when their conversation
with you is interrupted by another student. Explain that it is important to
respect the needs of every group to have your undivided attention when you
are with them. Explain that you’ve set up the learning groups so there is
ample help available from group mates. However, you’re aware that a group
might get stuck and need your help sometime during the period. Hence,
you’ll be able to take only one question from each group during the guided
practice part of each instructional period. If nobody in their group can
answer a question, they may send someone to find you. That student must
bring the chip, because when you answer the question, you will keep it.
The most amazing thing usually happens: Almost no one will come to
ask questions! They want to keep their chip at all costs, so usually they
work within their group until they find an answer. If kids ask what they will
get for their saved chips, you might suggest that the accumulation of a
certain number of chips will lead to homework passes, head-of-the-line
passes, five minutes at the end of the class period for students to “groom
and chat,” or other equally desirable perks.
Remind students that during direct instruction time, they may ask all
necessary questions. Suggest that if they have more questions after their
chip is gone, they write it down to ask at a later opportunity.
Especially for Primary Teachers
Many teachers in the primary grades believe that their gifted students don’t
yet have the necessary skills to work independently. In fact, there is ample
evidence that these skills can be taught to gifted kids of all ages. Several
primary teachers we know have been successful in managing differentiation
for their students. After all, if primary students’ mental capacity
significantly exceeds their chronological age, they should be able, with
guidance, to learn the skills of working independently in your classroom.
Many young gifted kids start out each year with a desire not to miss
anything the teacher is doing with the rest of the class. They may not be
able to handle the paper Learning Contract. You can differentiate for them
by preparing guided practice work at two levels of difficulty: entry and
advanced. When your direct instruction has ended say, “When I call your
name, please go to a table that has a red block on it.” That would be the
advanced-level task. Then, with the same level of excitement, say: “When I
call your name, please go to a table with a blue block,” which would have
the entry-level task for the day. Of course, you don’t tell the students which
block represents what level task, since tomorrow, you will swap the colors.
When the students complain that they are doing different tasks, say, “I know
—isn’t that wonderful! Since we are so different in so many ways, it’s
perfectly okay to be different in the type of learning task we need.” The
younger students are when they learn this truth, the more respect they will
have for all kinds of individual differences.
When your primary kids get ready for contracts, you could keep the
information in your grade book, so you will know which students should
participate in direct instruction, and which will work on extension activities.
Use highlights or different colored fonts to indicate the standards for which
each student needs direct instruction. Each day, when you write the
instructions for a particular lesson on the board, list the names of contract
kids who do not have to attend the direct instruction. Tell the class, “If your
name is on the board today, you may work on extension activities during
the entire period. Start new work, or continue your work from yesterday,
and I will come to see you about 15 minutes after the start of the period.” In
this way, children can begin to start before you get to them. It’s a routine
they can learn, just like any other routine.
Whatever method you use, call the contract group together for a few
minutes on the first day of a new unit or chapter before you teach the large-
group lesson. Explain the task that awaits them, and coach them on how to
go to the designated spot and start the work while you get the rest of the
class going. Reassure them that you will visit their group often, so they
know they won’t lose contact with you.

Other Learning Contract Options

Following are three unique methods for customizing Learning Contracts:
for accelerated learning, for problem-solving focus, and for specialized
math programs. Because the basic concept of the Learning Contract is so
widely applicable, and because Learning Contracts are so easy to use, it’s
fairly simple to customize this strategy to meet the needs of individual
students.

The Contract for Accelerated Learning

Once in a great while, you may encounter students who are so precocious
that they may be able to teach themselves much of what they need to learn.
Such students may be given more independent working time than others.
Keep in mind, however, that some adult must keep checking with these
students to make sure they are making adequate forward progress and
keeping accurate records.

Scenarios: Lucas and Martina

Consider the situation with Lucas, a fifth grader, who is very talented in
mathematics. When he took the grade-level yearly benchmark assessment at
the beginning of the school year (prior to having been taught the material),
he didn’t miss a single problem. Lucas then took the benchmark assessment
for one grade level above and he still didn’t miss a single problem. It wasn’t
until we went two grade levels beyond his actual grade that we could find
material that he had not yet fully mastered. If we had not done this out-of-
level benchmark testing, we would have wasted valuable learning time for
Lucas, and he would have wasted the entire year in his math class.
However, caution may be required, too. With Martina, an eighth grader
who was also exceptional with math, we encountered a surprise. Based on
the testing, we found that Martina had a huge gap in the area of data
analysis because she had previously skipped over some material. So we
went back, filled in that gap, retested, and then she too was ready to
accelerate. Going back to address that one area did not slow her down; to
the contrary, it allowed her to be more successful as she moved forward. We
need this documentation to prove that students will not be missing
information when we accelerate their math program.
The Contract for Accelerated Learning helps you document mastery of
95 percent or higher on an entire chapter, in which case students will not be
required to complete any pages in that chapter. Receiving full credit for that
chapter, they continue to pretest until their instructional level is found. In
some cases, these kids could be placed in higher grades for math and return
to their own class for their other subjects. When this is done, it must
become part of a written multiyear plan that involves the parents,
administrators, and anyone else who would be affected by such
acceleration. For seriously advanced students, especially in math, it’s not
appropriate to have them spend an entire year only on extension. Some
acceleration is needed as well.
How to Use the Contract for Accelerated Learning
1. Give very precocious students the end-of-chapter tests for as many
chapters as they can demonstrate mastery with a score above 95
percent. These tests may be taken out of sequence, since some students
will have mastered standards here and there throughout the text.
2. On the top part of the contract, record the dates when mastery was
documented. Date all tests and keep them in the student’s compacting
folder or in an electronic database.
3. On the bottom part of the contract, keep track of the activities or
program changes you choose for the student. If acceleration is not an
 option in your school, describe the extension activities in which the
student will be engaged.
4. Explain the Essential Rules for Independent Work students must follow
to be allowed to work at this advanced level of learning.

CAUTION Accelerated students who stay in their own classroom for instruction
should not use the actual subsequent grade-level materials to avoid the possibility of
textbook repetition in the future. There are a couple exceptions to this rule. First, a
separate class may be formed for students accelerated in math and a scope-and-
sequence developed that guarantees these students will not repeat the use of texts,
even if they fail to remain in the accelerated class. Second, if your school creates
cluster groups of gifted students, more than one student may be working at any given
time on the advanced-level curriculum. Never make acceleration arrangements
without informing the other interested parties, such as parents, other teachers, and
administrators. Any acceleration of content requires careful planning beyond the
current school year.

The Contract with Problem-Solving Focus

In some situations, such as those involving specialized math programs, the
traditional Learning Contract approach is not appropriate and must be
adjusted to focus more on problem solving.

Scenario: Elena
Elena’s class was using a math curriculum that stressed critical thinking and
problem solving. It didn’t lend itself to the more traditional Learning
Contract approach. Elena’s teacher had been told to teach the entire class as
one group, and she was having trouble keeping the gifted students
interested while the rest of the class went over the same standard several
times. Because Elena wanted to please her teacher, she never complained.
However, her parents were hinting that they didn’t think their daughter was
being adequately challenged.
Elena’s teacher planned activities to extend the basic problem-solving
experiences for her highly capable math students. Then she created a
Contract with Problem-Solving Focus. This contract made it easy to meet
the differentiated learning needs of students like Elena. Even when all
students are working on similar problem-solving strategies, the problems
themselves can be different, reflecting the degree of difficulty each student
is capable of handling.
How to Use the Contract with Problem-Solving Focus
1. Find or design an assessment tool or pretest for each problem-solving
strategy. Offer the pretest before you teach each strategy, or when you
observe that certain students have mastered a particular strategy.
2. On the top part of the contract, record the dates when the student
masters specific strategies.
3. Create extension options and list them on the contract. Explain how
students should keep track of the extension activities they do. (See “At
the Contract Meeting”.)

CAUTION Students’ grades should come from the top part of the contract, which
represents grade-level work. You may choose to give credit for time spent on the
extension activities. However, this should never be “extra” credit in addition to
completed regular work. It should replace credit that was not earned due to the
student compacting out of the easier, grade-level work.

Using Contracts with Specialized Math Programs

Contrary to some beliefs, it is entirely possible and practical to use Learning
Contracts with standards-based math programs or those that focus on
problem solving.
For teacher-directed programs that focus on hands-on learning, such as
Everyday Mathematics, we suggest a slightly different compacting
approach. As long as a student is performing in the range of 90 percent or
higher, he or she may be excused from the direct instruction and classwork
two or more days a week to work on extension activities. Since these
programs are spiral, and standards are always revisited, this arrangement
works well for advanced math students.
For highly structured programs that rely on large amounts of practice
and homework, such as the Saxon Math Program, advanced students should
be required to complete only one problem of each type on any classroom or
homework assignment. Some teachers require only one or two compacted
homework assignments per week as long as students maintain an average of
90 percent or higher.
 Using the Learning Contract in Other Subject
Areas
The contract method may be used for skill work in any unit of study. Several
examples of how to use this method for the skill areas of reading and writing are
described in detail in chapter 4. You are invited to use contracts in any subject area
when the method seems to meet some teaching and/or learning needs.

Here are some tips to try:

1. Always offer Most Difficult First, selecting problems from each
category.
2. Pretest by categories of content and arrange the contract so students
know which categories they can skip.
3. Allow students who maintain an average of at least 90 percent to skip
every other day of direct instruction and work on extension activities
instead.
4. Assign only odd- or even-numbered problems as daily practice.

Helpful Tips to Make Learning Contracts

Work Well
Do not grade the extension activities and average those grades into the
students’ overall grades for the chapter or unit. If you do, gifted kids may
resist working on extension activities, especially challenging ones. Why
should they risk getting a lower grade than they’re accustomed to?
Instead, for each day they work on extension activities, record the A they
earned on that standard on the pretest as long as they were following the
Essential Rules for Independent Work that day. Always remember that if
you were not compacting and differentiating for these kids, the only work
you would have to assess would be the grade-level work.
If students were not following the Essential Rules, have a quick, private
conference to explain that the next time they are not able to follow those
rules, it will be showing you that they are not comfortable with or ready
for the independent work plan and they will be expected to return to the
direct instruction group for the rest of the chapter or unit.
At regular intervals, offer the whole class a day to work on extension
activities. When all students have opportunities to engage in learning
tasks that are interesting, meaningful, and fun, there will be little or no
resentment toward the students who spend a lot of time on extension
activities.
Once a month, have all students, including those on contract, work on
activities that provide practice in already mastered skills and standards.
This will reassure you, your principal or supervisor, and the parents that
these students are keeping up with the required standards. Strive to make
sure these activities are highly interesting. Check the internet for some
possible options.
 Give mini-assessments at regular intervals to make sure the groups are on
track. At the appropriate time, give all students the formal end-of-the-unit
assessment—the same assessment that you gave at the start of the unit.

A Word About Homework

When you differentiate any skill-based lesson, you must also differentiate
the homework. Since most school districts that require homework use the
language of “how many minutes per grade level,” you can capitalize on this
policy in the following ways:
Allow advanced students to skip some practice and some homework as
long as they maintain a designated grade average. If their average falls
lower than what is expected, the students leave their contract and join the
direct instruction group for the remainder of the work. The same happens
if they fail to follow the expected working conditions.
If you’d like to use a method that does not require an actual contract, you
might allow students advanced in some skill area to skip the daily
activities and the homework for a few days each week, as long as they
maintain a designated competence in all assessments. While they
maintain their expertise, they work daily in class only on the extension
activities. Some activities can be reserved for homework only, and
students will keep a log of the time they spend at home on those activities
instead of on the regular homework tasks.
Using a “Lunch and Chocolate” approach, invite colleagues to create
Extension Menus for Homework Only. Include activities that you used to
enjoy teaching but that are no longer available to you because they are
not connected to your assigned standards. Explain in each square of the
menu what you want students to learn or do regarding a certain task.
Students will keep a separate Daily Log for recording their home-based
activities. Parents will be asked to monitor that the log entries are correct
in terms of time actually spent on the work. Even if kids don’t have adult
supervision during homework time, they are often highly motivated to do
the extension activities. Parents and students must both understand that
the goal is not to complete a large number of suggested tasks, but to
spend time exploring one or two topics in depth.
Assessing: Learning Contract Work
Here’s one way to grade contract students that is nonthreatening for them
and easy for you. Each day that you record the work done by the class, the
students working on extension activities will not have a paper to turn in for
a grade. This is because the pretest and their contract indicate they had
previously mastered that standard. At the same time as you are recording
grades for the class, record for the contract students the mastery grade (A)
they earned for that particular standard on the pretest. This grade represents
both their demonstration of standard mastery as well as their demonstration
that they followed the Essential Rules for Independent Work during that
instructional period. On days when contract students receive direct
instruction with the rest of the class, record the grades they actually earn for
that particular lesson.
Tips:
As you prepare each contract, do not record A’s for the lessons already
mastered. In your grade book leave those spaces blank and wait to record
those A’s until you record everyone else’s grades for that standard. When
contract students are aware there are blank spaces in your grade book, it
reminds them that anytime they cannot follow the working conditions,
you might invite them back to the direct instruction group for the rest of
the chapter’s work.
Some students may not be satisfied with “just an A.” They want their
grade point average to be “a very high A,” and they want the grade book
to reflect this. If that situation arises, you might offer to enter the
student’s actual average from the previous chapter or chapters.
At the end of the chapter or unit, simply average all of the recorded
grades earned during the days students attended direct instruction with
the A’s they earned from the pretest to get their grade for that chapter or
unit of work.

See chapter 8 for more information on assessment strategies.

QUESTIONS ANSWERS
Compacting and Extension Activities
“Why not require 100 percent accuracy for a student to
receive compacting?”
We can’t convince gifted kids to take risks and try challenging new learning
opportunities if we also communicate the expectation that they must
perform perfectly. It’s important for them to know that making mistakes is
part of the learning process. When a student accurately solves four out of
five most difficult math problems or correctly spells 90 percent of the
spelling or vocabulary words, that’s surely enough to indicate mastery.

“Shouldn’t I be concerned if some students just vegetate

and waste their choice time?”
When you create a lesson plan, you have estimated the time it will take for
average students to master the material. When some kids demonstrate that
they don’t need all the time you have planned, any remaining time should
become their own for working on choice activities.
There is a phrase that is magical in its effectiveness regarding your need
to impose expectations from outside sources. If a student wants to spend
extension time working on assignments from another teacher or class, you
might say, “I’m sorry, I’m not allowed to let you do that, so please select an
available extension activity or suggest an idea of your own in this subject
area.” Once the student has recovered from the shock that you (the teacher!)
are not allowed to do something, he or she will most likely get busy with an
extension task in the targeted subject area.

NOTE Answer keys should be available for activities that require specific answers.
However, appropriately challenging extension activities probably won’t lend
themselves to the use of simplistic answer keys. When students are working on these
kinds of activities, their grade for that day might instead reflect how well they were
following the Essential Rules for Independent Work or how well they were using
available rubrics. However, if you need answer keys, try asking some parents of gifted
students to create some keys with their child at home. In many classes, parents will
have the discretionary time for this task, and they will be happy to help because they
know their gifted child will benefit from your efforts.
“How should kids keep track of the extension work they
do?”
Prepare an extension folder for each student in the classroom for storing
work in progress and keep them in a hanging file folder box. Give students
copies of a student log (see the Daily Log of Extension Work) and explain
how they should use it. Show the logs to parents at conferences, since they
document that you’ve been differentiating the curriculum for their children.
Use the Extension Activities and Differentiated Homework Report to send
home completed extension activities, and use Daily Logs at the end of each
unit to communicate your compacting and differentiation efforts to parents
and other caregivers. Ask that an adult at home complete and sign the report
and return it to you so it can be filed in the student’s extension folder. Also
include compacting contracts and dated assessments.

“What if some students need my help to choose and do

alternate activities?”
Gifted students who need help from the teacher are still gifted, but they may
lack the skills to work independently. Just because they are working on
alternate activities doesn’t mean they automatically know how to manage
their time well, stay on task, use extension materials, ask for help when they
get stuck, keep track of their work, put things away, and so on.
Meet with your students often to teach these skills—and to prove that
they won’t lose contact with you when they choose to work more
independently. Some students have been known to avoid extension options
because they fear losing contact with the teacher. Your plans should include
spending regular time with students who work with alternate activities. See
the Question Chip technique for one way to manage all these irons in the
fire without losing your sanity.
Remind students often that the purpose of doing extension activities is
to learn that it’s okay to work on challenging material and still be
considered smart.

“Won’t students who never experience compacting have

self-esteem problems or feel resentment?”
When you find yourself considering this question, you will have two
choices: You can either deprive your exceptionally capable students of what
they need, or you can learn what’s causing the self-esteem and/or
resentment problems and do something about them.
When you carefully explain that you expect most students will have to
do the grade-level work in order to master a standard, students will realize
that nothing is wrong with those who don’t need compacting. (Naturally,
those who do experience compacting shouldn’t brag about it or tease the
others.)
Make sure that the activities available to gifted students are also
available at other times to all students. When class members perceive that
only the most capable get to do the work that looks like more fun on a
regular basis, they are likely to resent it. All kids deserve an enriching
curriculum—what author and educator Carol Tomlinson calls “respectful
work,” but only gifted students regularly need extension activities beyond
the regular curriculum.
As teachers, we meet with few objections when we make modifications
that benefit struggling students. We need to offer the same consideration to
students at the top end, whose learning needs are just as different from the
grade-level norm. Justice Felix Frankfurter said it best when he observed,
“There is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.” Equality
in education has never meant that all students should be treated the same.
Rather, it means that all students should enjoy equal opportunities to
actualize their learning potential.

“Is it necessary to keep a Compactor for every student

who works on differentiated activities during time
bought from the regular curriculum?”
It’s always a good idea to keep a brief record of changes you make from the
regular curriculum for any student, gifted or otherwise, who needs
differentiation. Accountability is a critical concern in education today. If we
choose to deviate from accepted practices, we are responsible for
maintaining records to document that we are following a specific plan and
we are never losing sight of the need for all students to document mastery
of all grade-level standards.

“Some students seem unwilling to work without close

direction from me. How can I give them the time they
need without taking time away from the other students?”
When gifted students ask a teacher for help with extension activities, the
last thing they want to hear is, “You’re pretty smart, you should be able to
figure that out yourself!” The unspoken message is that bright people
should never have to ask for help.
Be sure they have opportunities to work with another advanced student
on the extension activities. Getting the right answer isn’t nearly as
important as experiencing the problem solving needed to reach a solution.
Gifted students also need and want time with the teacher. When you’ve
gone to so much trouble to provide your students with truly challenging
activities, they will need and welcome your assistance. When you make
time to consistently visit their extension group, even briefly, over time they
will feel less of a need to ask questions directly of you. Finally, the
Question Chip technique can help you create time to work with groups of
contract kids on a regular basis.

“Shouldn’t my gifted students spend some of their time

tutoring students who are having trouble learning?”
All your students have the right to learn something new in every subject
every day. There may be some benefits for all students when gifted students
interact in a teaching capacity with those who need help, but consistently
having gifted students teach struggling students robs gifted students of their
own right to struggle and learn. Your capable students might conclude,
“Everyone else comes to school to learn math. Not me; I come to teach it!”
Or, “Once I’ve finished the material in the book, there must not be any
other math material for me to learn, since the teacher never provides other
math activities for me.”
It’s possible that your highly capable (though not gifted) students will
gain a better understanding of what they are learning by tutoring other kids
on a sometimes basis. We know they will be more patient teachers than
many gifted kids can be. Gifted students can become very frustrated at
always being asked to tutor, and the students they are tutoring may say they
understand a standard long before they really do, just to escape from an
uncomfortable situation.
“Where can I find the extension materials my students
need, and how can I afford them?”
Many of the extension activities can come directly from your current
curriculum. Select only the truly challenging activities provided by the
publisher in your textbook teachers’ editions. Students can also provide
ideas for the extension activities. One strategy that works well is to replicate
the Topic Development Sheet onto a large wall chart for each subject area
you are teaching. Write in the standard or topic you are addressing. Then
when your precocious students have an idea about something they’d like to
do differently from how you are teaching it, have them write their idea on
the wall chart. Formally incorporate those ideas into your extension menus,
tiered assignments, or independent project work. The students will have
total buy-in into completing that activity because it was their idea! They
will also be excited to point out to their parents that you used their idea for
an extension lesson.
You might also check the curriculum publisher’s website, various
teacher resource sites (see chapter 8), or simply by doing a Google search
for materials in the topic area. See the references and resources for this
chapter for more suggestions.

Most Difficult First

“What will students do with the time they have left after
successfully completing the Most Difficult First
problems?”
At the start of each unit, collect materials that represent extension activities
for the standards taught in the chapter or the subject area in general. Create
an informal extension center in your classroom, using part of a shelf, an
empty desk or table, or a learning center format. Students who successfully
complete Most Difficult First problems can spend the remaining practice
time there.
For the first extension experience for a standard, some schools expect
teachers to provide an extension activity that is closely related to the
standard being taught. That task should require the student to explore the
same topic with more depth and complexity. (See chapter 5.) For example,
if your math program begins each year with review of whole number
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, the extension activity
could be to use those same algorithms with decimals or much larger
numbers. This practice seems to help high-ability students move from
meeting to exceeding the standards, a goal of all teachers and
administrators.
After the first extension activity, however, you should feel free to
provide experience with other topics in the same subject area but not
confined to the required standard. Students working on extension activities
should be able to branch out to consider some topics in math that might not
even be taught that year. They should have choices with activities that
extend their knowledge about math in general. Standards-based learning
often dramatically limits the topics that must be learned in a certain grade or
subject. The last thing we want students gifted in math to think is that when
they have finished the grade-level content, they are “done” with math! This
is the perfect time for them to encounter noticeably different topics in math
or whatever the subject area happens to be. Parents appreciate that their
children are not just waiting for the others to catch up and the teacher has
thoughtfully extended the learning activity for their children.
Spend some time with kids as they work on extension activities. You
might have a weekly meeting for them to describe their favorite activities
and for you to monitor that they are keeping accurate records according to
the method you have indicated they should use.

“Is it okay for Most Difficult First to be the only

differentiation method available to gifted students in my
classroom?”
No, because the students are still required to stay with the class during the
entire lesson, and you may be spending many days teaching standards they
have already mastered. Most Difficult First is designed to be used as your
first attempt at compacting, so you can see that compacting doesn’t create
that much extra work for you, and that most gifted students can be trusted to
fill their choice time with activities that are challenging for them.

“Does Most Difficult First work as well for other areas of

the curriculum as it does for math?”
Yes. Feel free to try it with grammar, language mechanics, reading
vocabulary, or other skill work that students may have previously mastered.
It’s also a good strategy to suggest to colleagues who want to try something
for their gifted students but are worried that this might create too much
extra work for them. Most Difficult First will relieve this concern and free
teachers to move on to other differentiation strategies.

Pretest for Volunteers

“If kids are allowed to get one out of five wrong on the
pretest, what grade should I enter in my grade book?
Four out of five is 80 percent, and that’s a B in our
school.”
Count that score as 80 percent, then add bonus points for demonstrating
mastery. The issue is mastery, not having jumped through the hoops of
completing unnecessary practice work. The letter grade for mastery is “A,”
regardless of how many problems or examples the student completed.
However, older students may have become jaded with the attitude that if
there is no grade, there is no reason to do the work. You can entice them to
work on extension activities to receive alternative credit for the week’s
work. In other words, they still get daily grades recorded, but the grades are
always A, since they have already demonstrated their A-level competence
on the pre-assessment option. As long as they follow the Essential Rules for
Independent Work, their credit is recorded. The students get the high grades
they desire by working on related material that has more depth and
complexity. You get the joy of seeing them become involved in advanced
learning activities. Their parents see that they are being held accountable
for their grades through advanced learning opportunities. Everybody wins.
If you want your gifted students to choose more challenging activities
and to work on difficult problems for long periods of time, you must
provide an environment where it’s safe to risk being wrong. If you grade
gifted students’ extension activities and average those grades into their
formal grades for that subject, they will resist challenging work, telling you
that they would rather do “what all the other kids are doing.”
“What can I do when students who might benefit from
compacting choose not to take the pretest and indicate
they would rather work with the class?”
Many gifted students equate being gifted with getting their work done
quickly and easily. In their minds, someone who struggles must be less
intelligent than someone who breezes through assignments. Make it clear
that their alternative work will not be averaged in with the grade-level
work, and that the grade they earn for this chapter or unit will be no lower
than what they would have earned had they stayed with the class for direct
instruction.
Sometimes this avoidance behavior reflects a bid for social acceptance.
Sometimes it’s a way of playing it safe. If they take a risk, if they choose to
struggle, they might fail. And if they fail, they fear this will “prove” that
they aren’t really that smart after all. If quite a few students resist taking the
pretest, this probably means that they don’t understand that this option is
risk-free.
Consistently communicate your firm belief that it takes more
intelligence to hang in there when the going gets tough than it does to excel
at easy work. Emphasize daily the importance of honoring individual
differences.

The Learning Contract

“What happens when students on contract forget to join
the group for instruction on the days they’re supposed
to?”
Just because students are gifted doesn’t mean they are well-organized or
totally responsible. They may need to be taught those skills. Whatever code
you use in your grading system to indicate which students are on a contract,
you should be able to see at a glance which contract students should join
you for direct instruction on any given day. When you announce which
page the class will be working on that day, remind the contract students to
check their contracts to see where they should be. For a few weeks, you
may want to write their names on the board to help them form the habit of
checking when they should attend the class. When you notice that someone
who should be with the instructional group is absent from it, gently remind
all of the contract students to check their contracts.

“What should I do if students on contract waste time or

disturb the class on the days they are working on
extension activities?”
You can avoid potential problems if you plan to meet with contract students
several times during the first few days of the unit. This helps them feel in
touch, gets them focused, and starts them off on the right track. Then, speak
to the students you are concerned about once or twice, referring them to the
working conditions on their contract. Make sure they understand how to do
the extension activities and find out if the activities are proving to be
unrealistically difficult. Try to spend at least five minutes a day with kids on
a learning contract, cheering their efforts and willingness to take risks with
challenging content.
Even after all of this support, there may be some kids who simply can’t
or won’t do what is expected of them. At that point, advise them to rejoin
the direct instruction group for the rest of the chapter. Be sure they
understand that this is not a bad thing, and reassure them that they will have
a chance to show they are ready for a contract when the next chapter begins.
Do not lower the grade earned on any assessment because of behavior
problems. Record the actual earned grade, but reserve the right to have the
student rejoin the direct instruction group at any time during the length of
the contract. Once they rejoin the teacher directed group, they remain there
for the remainder of that chapter; they do not move in and out of Learning
Contract status. However, you might encourage them to notice what other
contract students are doing to meet the behavioral expectations, and suggest
they take the next pretest when it is offered.

“Will correcting work for students on contract create a

lot of paperwork for me?”
Extension work is rarely corrected, since much of this work is open-ended
to invite consideration of various possibilities. If the extension work does
require specific answers, you can ask a classroom volunteer, student
teacher, or even parents of gifted students to review it and prepare the
materials you need to continue offering extension opportunities for children
in your class.

Chapter Summary
For skill-based content that some students have likely learned and mastered
at an earlier time, compacting means:
1. Finding the students’ areas of strength.
2. Allowing students to complete the most difficult problems in a lesson
first and skip over the easier ones.
3. Offering voluntary pretests to students to determine which of the
standards you are about to teach they already know.
4. Giving students full credit for the content they have already mastered
without requiring them to do all the grade-level work.
5. Providing them with more challenging activities to work on when those
activities will move them forward in their learning.

Success on pretests and difficult problems provides the evidence you

need that some students don’t require as much practice as others.
Compacting frees them to use that time for work that is more challenging to
them. Students with high ability should have frequent and consistent
opportunities to demonstrate prior knowledge or skill mastery and use their
school time for work that represents true learning for them.
Compacting is remarkably successful with students who have become
behavior problems and who may be refusing to do their work. Many
behavior problems of gifted students are caused by boredom and frustration.
When we are in power struggles with such students and worry that they are
not doing their work, we are actually insisting that they do our work. Use
the methods described in this chapter with your students and watch the
amazing results. You’ll need to do some preparation, but once a system is in
place, it will practically run itself. Your reward will come as you watch your
students perk up and willingly engage in challenging work.
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use
(Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018.
This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district. For all other uses,
contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 How to Work Independently
on Extension Activities

Listen to the teacher’s lesson if you are required to

do so.

Ask any questions you have about the lesson while

it is being taught.

Do the problems or activities you are asked to do.

When you are allowed to, select an extension

activity.

Work on the extension activity for the rest of this

period.

Working with a partner is okay; if you need help,

ask your partner for help first.

Follow the Essential Rules for Independent Work at

all times.

Check the answers if they are available.

If you need to talk to the teacher, let her or him

know in an agreed upon way so that you do not
interrupt instruction.
 If you finish early, either select another activity or
make a more difficult version of the one on which
you have been working.

If you are working in math, make up some more

difficult problems just like the ones the class is
working on, or create some word problems for
others to solve.

Complete the necessary record keeping.

File your extension work in the required location.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 The Essential Rules for
Independent Work

1. Do your work without bothering anyone.

2. Work on your extension activity without

calling attention to yourself; please don’t talk
while the teacher is teaching.

3. Refrain from asking the teacher questions

while he or she is working with other
students.

4. Do the extension activity you have agreed to

complete. If you finish it before the class is
finished working, choose another extension
activity.

5. Keep records of the tasks you are working

on in the way your teacher has explained.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Extension Activities in
Spelling and Vocabulary

If you pass a spelling or vocabulary pretest with

a score of 90 percent or higher, you are excused
from the week’s grade-level activities and the
final test at the end of the week. Choose
something to do instead from the list of extension
activities below.

Using New Words

1. Working with a partner who also passed the pretest, find 10
unfamiliar words from glossaries of books in our room. (You choose 5
and your partner chooses 5.) Learn their meanings and spellings.
When the rest of the class is taking the final test for the week, you will
test each other on your personal word list. Here’s how:
a. Partner A dictates words 1–5 to Partner B, one at a time. Partner B
gives a meaning for each word before writing it down.
b. Partner A dictates words 6–10 to Partner B, who writes them down
(no meanings needed).
c. Partner B dictates words 1–5 to Partner A, who writes them down
(no meanings).
d. Partner B dictates words 6–10 to Partner A, who gives a meaning
for each word before writing it down. In other words, Partner A
defines 5 of the words, Partner B defines the other 5, and both
partners spell all 10. Words are counted wrong if either spelling or
meaning is not correct.
2. Keep track of words you misspell in your own writing. When you
have collected 5 words, use them on your next personal list.

Keep a list of any words you don’t master in activities 1 and 2. Learn them
the next time you get to choose your own spelling list.

Using Regular or Alternate Words

 3. Use all the words to create as few sentences as possible.
4. Create a crossword or an acrostic puzzle on graph paper. Include an
answer key.
5. Learn the words in a foreign language. Use the words in sentences.
6. Group the words into categories you create. Regroup them into new
categories.
7. Create greeting card messages or rebus pictures.
8. Create an original spelling game.
9. Create riddles with the words as answers.
10. Create limericks using the words.
11. Write an advertisement using as many of the words as you can.
12. Use all of the words in an original story.
13. Create alliterative sentences or tongue-twisters using the words.
14. Using a thesaurus, find synonyms for the words and create Super
Sentences. Ask your teacher for a model.
15. Use the words to create similes or metaphors.
16. Work on a Super Sentence or create one of your own. Ask your
teacher for a model.
17. Using an unabridged dictionary, locate and describe the history of
each word (its etymology). Create flow charts to show how the
meaning of each word has changed over time.
18. Create a code using numbers for each letter of the alphabet.
Compute the numerical value of each word. List the words from the
highest to lowest value.
19. Take pairs of unrelated spelling words and put them together to
create new words. Invent definitions.
20. Create your own activity. Get your teacher’s permission to use it.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Learning Contract

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Working Conditions for
Alternate Activities

If you are working on alternate activities while

others in the class are busy with teacher-directed
activities, you are expected to follow these
guidelines.

1. Stay on task at all times with the alternate

activities you have chosen.

2. Don’t talk to the teacher while he or she is

teaching.

3. When you need help and the teacher is

busy, ask someone else who is also working
on the alternate activities.

4. If no one else can help you, keep trying the

activity yourself until the teacher is available.
Or move on to another activity until the
teacher is free.

5. Use soft voices when talking to each other

about the alternate activities.
 6. Never brag about your opportunities to work
on the alternate activities.

7. If you must go in and out of the room, do so

as quietly as you can.

8. When you go to another location to work,

stay on task there, and follow the directions
of the adult in charge.

9. Don’t bother anyone else.

10. Don’t call attention to yourself.

I agree to these conditions. I understand that if I

don’t follow them, I may lose the opportunity to
continue working on the alternate activities and
may have to rejoin the class for teacher-directed
instruction.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
CHAPTER 3
Compacting and Differentiating
for New Content

STRATEGIES
The Study Guide

As you read the previous chapter, you probably noticed that the strategies
described would not be very useful in certain subject areas where the
standards are more likely to be unfamiliar to the students, including literature,
science, social studies, health, and other subjects that are more content-based
rather than skill-based. Most Difficult First, Pretest for Volunteers, and
Learning Contract options are applicable only if students have had
opportunities previously to learn the curriculum. Other compacting and
differentiating methods are needed for situations in which the curriculum may
be new, but gifted students can learn it much more quickly than their age
peers.
In content areas where the material is new for them, gifted students should
be allowed to move through it at a faster pace than the rest of the class. These
students are easy to spot. They are the ones who tend to ace quizzes and tests,
sometimes dominate class discussions, but hand in little or none of the daily
work or homework. They may also lack enthusiasm for going above and
beyond the expectations of the regular classroom. They are trying to tell you
that they can learn the material without doing the actual activities.
How can you let them work at a pace commensurate with their ability,
while avoiding a power struggle over the work they may not need to do? The
two methods described in this chapter for using the Study Guide strategy will
help you capitalize on your gifted students’ exceptional learning abilities by
inviting them to move through the required content at a faster pace than their
classmates, while sometimes becoming “resident experts” on related topics.

STRATEGY

The Study Guide

The Study Guide method, with all its accompanying components, enables you
to compact new content in any subject area by reducing the amount of time
gifted students must spend learning grade-level standards. At the start of a
unit, students may choose to follow a prepared Study Guide of the material
and agree to meet the required assessment checkpoints by pursuing their own
independent study. In this way the method increases the amount of time
students have for working on extension activities and exploring related topics
of their choosing in greater depth. The most significant difference between the
skill-based compacting strategies in chapter 2 and the Study Guide method is
that we do pretest when the content is skill based and we generally do not
pretest when the content is new, because it makes no sense for students to
have to take a test on material about which they know nothing. Of course, if
you are required by an administrator to give a mandatory pretest, go ahead.
However, advanced learners, whether or not they take a pretest, still need
compacting and differentiation opportunities.
We do pretest when the content is skill based and we generally
do not pretest when the content is new.

The idea of exempting some students from regularly assigned work may
make you uncomfortable. You may worry that they will develop poor work
habits, or that other students will resent what they perceive as “special
privileges” for only a few. Remember that you never excuse students from the
regular work until they have demonstrated that 1) they have already mastered
the required standards or 2) they can learn them in a much shorter time than
their age peers. With the Study Guide method, you will have documentation
that students have learned the required standards, because they are held
accountable for demonstrating that mastery at the same time as their
classmates. We do not want to offer assessments “on demand,” but we do
want to increase available time for working on extension activities. The faster
pacing, along with student choice about the extension work, makes gifted
students (and their parents) happy.

Scenario: Cleon
Cleon, an eighth-grade student, was “gifted across the board.” His ability was
exceptional in every subject area, as well as in art and physical education.
However, his actual classroom performance left a lot to be desired. His social
studies teacher, Mrs. Hernandez, found it frustrating that he seemed to spend
much of his class time daydreaming, and he seldom completed his homework
assignments, but he had an annoying habit of always acing the tests!
Furthermore, Cleon behaved rudely during class discussions. He blurted
out answers when he wasn’t called on, and he delighted in making remarks
under his breath that were designed to amuse and distract the other students.
His teacher slowly realized that Cleon’s negative behavior was related to his
superior learning ability. Rather than disciplining him, she sought a
management system that would allow Cleon to learn social studies in a
manner more commensurate with his ability. Naturally, she also hoped that the
added challenge would have a positive effect on his behavior.
When this situation was discussed with Cleon’s parents, they wanted to
take away his hockey lessons until he “shaped up in school.” Mrs. Hernandez
asked them not to do that. Cleon was a champion player, and his teacher
believed there was nothing positive to be gained by taking away a student’s
source of joy and satisfaction until his or her schoolwork improves. Cleon’s
predictable reaction would be to become even more negative toward school.
Since his performance on assessments indicated that he could learn the
material without actually doing the required activities, it seemed reasonable
that the solution should be found at school rather than at home.
At the time, the class was studying the Civil War. Mrs. Hernandez
explained the Study Guide method and asked Cleon if he might want to try it.
Cleon was interested in trains, so he said he would like to draw the trains and
locomotives of the Civil War period. However, simply drawing the trains
would not have provided an adequate challenge to his superior learning
ability. So a product was negotiated that allowed Cleon to draw his trains on a
huge piece of tagboard on which he also drew a map and located the major
Civil War battlefields and manufacturing centers. A related task was to
determine the extent to which the proximity of the manufacturing centers to
the battlefields affected the outcome of the war. This forced Cleon to become
more original with his thinking and to synthesize information from many
sources to create and defend a hypothesis, making this a highly challenging
activity for a gifted student. Of course, with access to the internet, there is no
limit to the options at a student’s fingertips.

Identifying Students for the Study Guide

Method
One way to help students decide if the Study Guide method is right for them is
by describing the characteristics and abilities they need to be successful with
the method. It’s best to do this during the unit before the one targeted for the
Study Guide approach, but you can also do it at the start of a current unit. A
sample script follows.
“In this subject area, we need to work together for the first unit so we
can determine which students might need faster pacing and more time
to extend their learning with extension activities. At the beginning of
the next unit, a method called the Study Guide will be available that
will require more independent work, and it will include optional
choice activities as well. For some of you this method will be a good
match and will allow you to work at your own pace and develop your
interest in a topic you would enjoy learning more about. However, this
method is not a good choice for all students. Many of you will prefer
 to continue working with a larger group in a more teacher-directed
manner.
“The Study Guide method is a good choice for students who,
during this first unit, can demonstrate that they:
Enjoy independent reading and understand what they read
Are very curious about topics we may not have time to include in
our classwork
Find and bring to class information about topics from sources
outside of class, which shows their interest in learning about a topic
in a deeper way
Maintain a B average or higher on formal assessments during the
current unit
Show interest in becoming a resident expert on a topic related to the
unit
Want to learn a lot about the topic and share their expertise with the
class.”

NOTE You’ll see that “Turn in all their homework” is not listed here. The Study Guide
method is designed for students who can demonstrate mastery on assessments without
doing the actual daily work. They don’t need to complete the same assignments as
students for whom a more teacher-directed approach is desirable and necessary.

The Study Guide method is a perfect match for students who can
demonstrate the previously described behaviors, and for those students who
suffer from what is called “The Empty Grade Book Syndrome.” These
students often don’t turn in any work during a unit of study, complete no
homework assignments, and then have the “nerve” to ace the assessment! This
creates huge frustration for some teachers, and for the students and their
parents, too. Teachers may feel that it is not right or fair to give the student the
grade earned on the assessment as the actual grade for the entire unit. A more
accurate question might be, “Why should a student who can learn all the
standards without drawing the map or creating the flow chart or writing out all
the necessary definitions be penalized for that?”
If we want to serve gifted students well, there should be no punishment for
learning the required standards by means different than other students. No
zeroes or Fs should be in the grade book. There should be no missing recess
or special events, and no threats of not passing a grade level or subject. Gifted
students should simply receive the same credit earned by students who do
need to complete the assignments in order to learn the material.

IMPORTANT Students who are using the Study Guide method do not have to do the
actual work described on the guide. They are only responsible for learning the described
standards and achieving the agreed upon competence on the assessments.

Occasionally a student declares after looking at the Study Guide that they
already know most of the required standards. In that case, you may decide to
let him or her take the end-of-the-unit assessment immediately. If the test
grade is in the A range, that student works during the entire unit on extension
work, such as a related independent study project, following the working
conditions on an Independent Study Agreement. Then, you might use an
Evaluation Contract to assess the student’s extension work, and the final unit
grade would come from a combination of actual grades earned at Study Guide
checkpoint times, along with a single letter grade for the extension project.
Now, you are probably thinking, “Didn’t chapter 2 say very clearly that we
shouldn’t grade the extension work?” Yes, it did! That chapter described the
correct methods for differentiating skill-based work. The mastery result on the
pretest actually provides the summative assessment, which tells us that these
kids already know the required content. You do end up with grades in all the
necessary spaces in your grade book because the average of one A for the
pretest equals the average of any number of A’s, so you can just fill in the
blank spaces with A’s. However, when we are teaching content that is new to
the students, we cannot do the same thing for many reasons. Mostly because
gifted students have great short-term memories. They can “cram” material
quickly and store it long enough to ace a pretest. By the time the final
assessment rolls around, some of these kids have forgotten a great deal of
what they “knew” before.

Two Ways to Use the Study Guide

You may use the Study Guide alone or in combination with an Extension
Menu. In both cases, students are expected to master the same material as the
rest of the class, and they are held accountable with regular assessments. But
they can learn at a faster pace and spend the balance of their time on activities
that are more challenging and rewarding for them.

Using the Study Guide Alone

This option is the simplest. Some students become a resident expert on a
different topic within the same general category. For example, let’s say the
upcoming unit is about the Civil War. Some students may already know a
great deal about the Civil War and could easily ace the summative assessment
for this topic by independently reviewing the concepts on the generic
American Wars Study Guide. These students can instead do an independent
study about a different war in which the United States participated, such as the
Vietnam War. There would be no formal assessments on the Vietnam War, but
students would be responsible for participating in all class checkpoint
assessments for the Civil War unit. However, instead of doing the required
work for the Civil War unit, they will share some of the information they have
learned about the Vietnam War. This way everyone wins! Teachers get
mastery data from all students about the Civil War. Students who already
know those details spend their class time becoming experts on their chosen
war. The American wars experience for the entire class is enhanced.
Challenging behaviors from frustrated gifted students often disappear. And
parents are delighted that their children are fully engaged.

Using the Study Guide with Extension Menu

This option invites students to become resident experts on a topic related to
what the whole class is learning. They choose a topic from the Extension
Menu (or come up with one of their own), pursue it in depth, and later report
on what they learned to the class or other appropriate audience. This expands
the unit and makes it more interesting and enjoyable for everyone.
A reproducible Study Guide and an Extension Menu are shown at the end
of this chapter. The next section explains how to create your own guides and
menus. Use of all the Study Guide components will significantly improve the
student’s success. However, it is imperative to introduce the components in
small doses, and we must give students ample time to understand what is
required and expected of them. The effort you put into these explanations the
first time students use this method will greatly pay off, because by the second
time, the students you have already coached will be able to coach other
students and eventually leave you out of the explanations altogether!
Preparing the Topic Development Sheet
Before you prepare a Study Guide with Extension Menu, you must first create
your Topic Development Sheet.
1. Choose the topic for differentiating and make it generic, which cuts down
on your preparation time and allows the Study Guide itself to serve as the
differentiation tool for several related units over time.

Instead of this: Use this:

Civil War American Wars

Ancient Rome Ancient Civilizations

Digestive System Systems in the Human Body

Ramona the Pest Beverly Cleary Books

Sarah, Plain and Tall Life on the Frontier

Tyrannosaurus Rex Dinosaurs

2. Next, choose 8 to 10 standards to include in this unit and record them in

the left column of the Topic Development Sheet, labeled Required
Standards. You may combine standards, but your final list should not
exceed 10 statements. List them in the order in which you plan to teach
them. These topics will be transferred from this chart to the Study Guide
you will prepare later.
3. Next, choose 8 to 10 topics related to the main topic and list them in the
right column of the chart under Related Topics. Eight of these topics will
become the Extension Menu. It is not necessary to create a related topic
for each of the listed standards. Actually, it is preferable to list 8 to 10
different ideas that are related to the unit, but not confined to the required
standards. Gifted students love learning all they can about an interesting
topic, and they are frustrated when the curriculum is limited only to the
required standards. The Related Topics list provides an opportunity for
you to bring in topics related to the larger unit that you know students
would enjoy studying.
 A scary question may be running through your mind about now: What will
these students be doing if they do not have to do the assignments? The answer
is always the same: They should be working on extension activities or
conducting independent research on topics related to the designated content,
and they should share what they have learned with their classmates in order to
enrich everyone’s experience with the unit. The rest of this chapter explains,
step by step, how to do just that.

Preparing the Study Guide

1. Choose 10 required standards statements from the unit. (Note: If you are
using the Study Guide with Extension Menu, these are the same 10
standards on the Topic Development Sheet.) Create a task description for
each that tells students what they must learn about it. Write the statements
on the Study Guide in the order in which you will teach them.
2. Include as much information about what students are supposed to learn as
possible. Gifted students will use the Study Guide to learn the standards
at their own pace while you are teaching the unit directly to the rest of the
class, so task descriptions that are thorough result in fewer kids waiting in
line for your attention! Examine the American Wars Study Guide and the
study guides in chapter 4 to get an idea of how to word these tasks.
3. Insert the first checkpoint, along with the date at which it will occur, after
standards statement number two. Schedule it to occur no more than three
days after the unit begins. At that point, students who find they cannot
demonstrate that they are keeping up with the required standards will
return to the teacher-directed group for the remainder of the unit. This
situation should be treated very matter-of-factly, and the students should
feel comfortable knowing they will now be working with a format that is
the best choice for them. They may return to the extension activity they
started when the whole class does extension work at points during the unit
or as a culminating activity at the unit’s end.
4. Insert the second checkpoint, along with the date at which it will occur,
after standards statement number five. This checkpoint will be cumulative
for standards statements 1–5 for students who had to leave their
independent work after the first checkpoint results. Those students are not
required to “make up” the activities related to standards 1 and 2, because
they were trying out the Study Guide Method at the time. Since the
 second checkpoint is cumulative, those same students will be assessed on
all five standards at that point. Remember that all students, whether
teacher-directed or working independently, will be experiencing all
checkpoints together at the same time.
5. Insert the third and final checkpoint, along with the date it will occur, at
the end of the Study Guide and make it cumulative for all the included
standards.

Note: It is okay for the second and third checkpoints to actually happen
later than the announced date if your teacher-directed students need more
time, but they should never happen sooner. This is so students who are using
the Study Guide method will know exactly what standards are being assessed
on what day, which increases the likelihood they will be successful on those
assessments.

Preparing the Extension Menu

1. Choose 8 of the related topics on the Topic Development Chart to create
extension activities.
2. Write the extension activities. Use any or a combination of the thinking
models described in chapter 5 to create activities that provide structure to
your standards statement language on the Study Guide. Whichever model
you choose, take the time to teach its components to the students, either to
the whole class or to the students working on Study Guides.
3. In the extension activities, describe exactly what you expect the students
to learn about the topics, but do not specify the precise ways students
should share what they learn. We want to avoid situations in which a
student is interested in the topic, but is not comfortable with the suggested
product. Let students choose product ideas from the Product Choices
Chart. Named products should always be negotiable. In subsequent units,
add or subtract product options as the need arises.

Note: Younger students might feel more comfortable if you make specific
product suggestions. However, they should always have the right to ask to
create a different product to learn about a selected topic.
4. Record your 8 extension activities on the Extension Menu, leaving the
center space free for Student Choice. Examine the Extension Menus in
 this book. You’ll find a reproducible blank Extension Menu at the end of
this chapter and in the digital content.

How to Use the Study Guide Method

The Study Guide with Extension Menu may be used for all grade levels,
making appropriate adjustments as needed. For some students, it is preferable
that they work only with the Study Guide or with the Study Guide with
Extension Menu. The following sections will describe how to match each
student with the best use of the Study Guide.

At the First Study Guide Meeting

1. Hold a Study Guide meeting to explain the method to all interested
students. They can decide at the end of the meeting if they wish to try this
method. Reassure them they will not miss required standards.
2. Distribute the Study Guide you have prepared for the target content.
Explain all the standards and explain how the checkpoints will be used.
3. Explain that each student must choose which method they want to use by
the next scheduled meeting (within three days): the Study Guide Only or
the Study Guide with Extension Menu.
4. Tell students how their Study Guide work will be graded: “As the Study
Guide shows, you will have to learn standards 1 and 2 before the first
checkpoint when the whole class will have to demonstrate competence
with those standards. If you can demonstrate that you have mastered those
standards, you may keep working on your alternate topic or resident
expert project until the next checkpoint. As long as you keep
demonstrating mastery of the designated standards, and as long as you
follow the working conditions described on your Independent Study
Agreement, you may continue doing your alternate work. If it becomes
clear that you are not keeping up with what you need to learn, or you
cannot meet the terms of the Independent Study Agreement, you will be
expected to rejoin the teacher-directed group and do the assigned
activities from that day on. You may finish your project at home or when
the rest of the class works on projects in class.”
5. Explain that students will be tested only on the assigned topic on the
checkpoint dates. For example, in a Tall Tale unit, they will be assessed
 only on the stories studied by the rest of the class, such as Paul Bunyan
and Pecos Bill. There will be no formal assessments of the tall tales they
are learning independently, or the alternate novels they are reading.
However, they will be invited to share what they have learned with the
class at certain times during the unit.
6. Describe the alternate choices for the Study Guide Only method. For
example, if the class novel is Sarah, Plain and Tall, the Study Guide
might be on Stories About Frontier Living. Make available a list of other
novels with the same theme. Allow students to add more topics or books
to your suggested list.
7. Take the time to describe and explain the topics on the Extension Menu,
so that students who prefer this method know they have to choose only
one topic to start with. You might say, “There’s a lot more to this unit than
is included in our required standards. I have also prepared an Extension
Menu that you can use to become a resident expert on a topic related to
our study of (name the generic topic). You will be expected to share some
information with the class about your topic.”
8. Explain the details about how they will share what they have learned with
the class at certain times during the unit.
9. Allow students some time to study the Extension Menu and ask questions
about it.
10. Announce the date of the second Study Guide meetings, and explain that
by then students are expected to make their choice about which format to
use and which extension activity they have chosen, if applicable.
11. Hold separate second meetings for students based on their chosen method.
This prevents information overload and will probably lead to better
understanding of what is expected. You might color code the forms that
belong to each option.
12. If students ask if they can work on their project at home, designate a
section of the work to be done only at home, but make it clear that the
work done at home will not be included in any formal grading.

Note: This Study Guide method is not designed only for differentiating
homework after students have all participated in direct instruction on a
particular day. It is designed to replace their school time with more
independent study. Even though students may work on aspects of the topic at
home, most of their Study Guide work, with or without the Extension Menu
option, is to be done at school.

At the Second Meeting for Students Choosing

the Study Guide Only
1. Examine the forms needed for this method. Students will use the same
Study Guide and Daily Log of Extension Work as all others use, and a
separate Independent Study Agreement.
2. Distribute the appropriate Independent Study Agreement and go over
each of its components slowly and carefully until students seem to
understand the requirements for working independently. Once they
understand and agree to each item, have them write their initials on the
line to the left of the item. This represents their agreement to follow the
requirement and their understanding that if they are not able to do so, they
will join the teacher-directed group until the end of the unit.
3. Discuss grading with the students. Be sure they understand that their
grade for the unit will come from a combination of their assessment
results from all the checkpoints and their compliance with all the
expected working conditions. Explain that the alternate work replaces the
assigned work for the topic described on the Study Guide.
4. Remind students they will be expected to complete the assessments
described at the checkpoints at the same time as the other students.
5. Describe how to use the Daily Log of Extension Work. The same log will
be used for both groups.

At the Second Meeting for Students Choosing

the Study Guide with Extension Menu
1. Examine the forms needed for this method. Students will use the same
Study Guide and Daily Log of Extension Work as the students who are
using the Study Guide only. However, they will use a separate
Independent Study Agreement as well as the Evaluation Contract.
2. Give students time to choose their preferred extension activity. Provide
advice and approval for anyone who wants to suggest their own activity.
 Ask them to write out what they will do as a task statement, similar to the
other task statements on the Extension Menu.
3. Remind students about the checkpoints and all the working conditions,
and ask students to write their initials on the line to the left of each
statement to indicate their intent to comply with it.

Note: All students who are working independently will use the same
Study Guide and the same Daily Log of Extension Work.

IMPORTANT Be sure to reassure both Study Guide groups about the difference
between “more” and “different” work. Tell them: “Please understand that this does not
mean more work for you, since you do not have to actually do the activities described on
the Study Guide. You just have to learn the described content, take the same
assessments as others do, and spend lots of time learning about your selected topic for
independent study.”

The Product Choices Chart

After students choose a topic from the Extension Menu, they can use the
Product Choices Chart to choose a way to represent the information they find.
You might choose four or five from each column for each topic so that
students are not overwhelmed by the huge list. The chart describes four types
of products, three of which are linked to the learning modalities: auditory,
visual, and tactile-kinesthetic. A fourth column suggests digital products that
might be posted on your school’s website or Intranet where grandparents,
friends, and even students and teachers from other schools can view them to
share the enjoyment of your students’ work!
Auditory learners like typical school tasks that allow them to think logically,
sequentially, and analytically. They like to read, write, make oral
presentations, argue, and debate.
Visual learners like to make posters, dioramas, collages, pictures, video clips,
iMovies, and other digital presentations, or other visual products.
Tactile-kinesthetic learners prefer demonstrations, Reader’s Theater, skits,
plays, role plays, or working with hands-on materials.

Don’t be concerned if a student always chooses products from the same

list. Your obligation is to demonstrate that students have mastered the content.
How they show their mastery is of secondary importance. A reproducible
Product Choices Chart is found at the end of this chapter. Further discussion
of learning modalities can be found in chapter 5.

Tools to Use with the Study Guide

Like any form of compacting and differentiation, the Study Guide method
should be carefully documented. This helps you know that your students are
learning the required material, it holds students accountable for their learning,
and it gives you a way to show parents and administrators that even though
your gifted kids aren’t doing the regular work, they’re still learning what
they’re supposed to know. It also gives you proof in writing that you’re
providing numerous differentiation opportunities for each unit.

Like any form of compacting and differentiation, the Study

Guide method should be carefully documented.

The Independent Study Agreement

The Independent Study Agreement is designed to guard against
misunderstandings, disagreements, and claims such as, “You never told me I
had to learn some content on my own!” All students who choose to use the
Study Guide, with or without the Extension Menu, must enter into an
agreement with you that describes the conditions of their independent study,
including both learning conditions and working conditions. If students fail to
meet the conditions, the logical consequence is that they will have to return to
the teacher-directed group for the remainder of the unit.
There are two versions of the agreement: The Independent Study
Agreement for Study Guide Only and the Independent Study Agreement for
Study Guide with Extension Menu. Feel free to change any of the conditions
or add new ones of your own. Those that are included describe things many
teachers fear might go wrong with this method. Once all these issues have
been openly resolved, you can relax knowing you have covered all the
necessary bases.
Hand out copies of the Independent Study Agreement you decide to use.
Go over the agreement with the students and make sure they understand all of
the conditions.
 You might say: “This agreement explains my expectations for you while
you are working independently. As you agree to each condition, please write
your initials on the line to the left. Then sign your agreement, and I’ll sign it,
too. Keep your agreement with your Study Guide at all times, and always
keep both at school. They should not go home until your project is completed.
If you work on your project outside the classroom at another location in
school, bring your Study Guide and Independent Study Agreement with you.”

When students take these documents with them outside the classroom, the
librarian, media center specialist, or other adult has concrete evidence that
students are expected to behave appropriately and stay on task while they are
away from the classroom. He or she also has been told by you that it is okay
to send these students back to your room if they are not following the
agreement’s expectations.
A few conditions described in the agreement might need additional
explanation. Share as much of this with your students as you think will be
helpful.
“I will participate in designated whole-class activities as the teacher
indicates without protesting.”
You most likely involve your students in many other interesting and
stimulating activities, some of which everyone should be present to
experience. Reserve the option of calling in your Study Guide students for
these “special events,” which might include field trips, speakers, video or film
events, simulations, or other activities all students will enjoy. Since it may be
difficult to pinpoint at the beginning of a unit the exact dates on which such
events will occur, reserve the right to announce that today (or tomorrow) will
be a whole-class activity. When the special event ends, the Study Guide
students are free to return to their independent work.
“I will share a progress report about my independent project with the
class or other audience by (date). It will not exceed five minutes and will
include a helpful visual aid. I will prepare a question about my report to ask
the class.”
Resident experts should prepare a high-level question to ask the class.
(See Build Blocks to Think.) This question should be recorded where
everyone can see it before the progress report begins. An additional “mystery
question” is allowed but not required. This sets up ideal conditions for
listeners. If resident experts are given your Name Cards to use to call on
students, listening will be magically accurate!
 Resident experts (students working on Extension Menu projects) are not
required to complete an entire project by the end of the unit. That’s why their
reports are called “progress reports.” In real life, researchers may spend a
lifetime on one research project. If they never finish, some other researcher
will take up the same topic and continue the work.
The more often you bring the resident experts back for “special events,”
the less time they have to work on their project. Gifted kids have a unique
capacity for wanting to learn all there is to know about a topic of interest. If
they think their learning will be limited by a timeline, they might not
volunteer for the Study Guide option again. In the real world, the goal of long-
term research is accuracy and being able to make a contribution to a certain
field, not to simply “finish” the work by a designated time.
Why would you want them finishing their projects quickly, since that
would mean you have to help them find and plan another? The best thing that
could happen is for a student to become so engrossed in a project that he or
she wants to work on it for many weeks or extend it to subsequent units. As
long as the learning and working conditions are being met, there is no reason
to insist that students stop working on a project that clearly interests them just
because the class is moving on to another topic. As an example, Cleon did not
want to give up his train project when the Civil War unit was finished. Mrs.
Hernandez was fine with that since he would receive the Study Guide for the
next unit on Westward Expansion and he would be responsible for
demonstrating he was learning that material at each checkpoint. So Cleon was
allowed to extend his Civil War train project to a Westward Expansion train
project. This allowed for him to compare and contrast the railway systems
when he completed both aspects of the project.
Of course, it’s also okay if resident experts want to switch topics at the end
of the unit. Remember, they are still being held accountable for the required
standards. They will be given a new Study Guide for the next unit for which
they will also be held accountable for learning what the other students learn
during the same time frame. If this bothers you or the child’s parents, you
might consider asking students to complete one of every three projects they
begin.
Note: The report does not have to be written. Writing slows down the
mental processing for many gifted kids. The purpose of the report is to
demonstrate that kids are learning alternate material. The format should be
decided by the student, with your approval.
The Daily Log of Extension Work
The Daily Log of Extension Work is useful as a portfolio record sheet and
helpful in conferences with parents and administrators. It also helps gifted
underachievers and perfectionists who have trouble completing long-term
projects. A reproducible Daily Log is found at the end of this chapter.
Hand out copies of the Daily Log of Extension Work and tell students how
to use it:
“At the start of any class period during which you are planning or
working on your project, fill in the left column with the date and the
center column with a brief description of what you plan to accomplish
during that one class period. Five minutes before the end of the period,
complete the right column by recording information about the work
you successfully accomplished. I will remind you to do this for the
first week or so.”

Tips for Using the Daily Log of Extension Work

Never take a student off a project just because he isn’t keeping good
records. This is a skill many gifted kids have to learn; it doesn’t
automatically come with high intelligence. Offer frequent reminders and
modeling as long as needed.
By giving kids permission to accomplish less than they planned, you are
teaching them an important survival skill: The world won’t end if you don’t
finish everything today. State, “If you discover that you accomplished less
than you planned, drop down to the next line in the center column and write
a note about where to start again the next time you return to the project.
Don’t write a date because you may not know when you will have more
time to work on it. During your next working period, the note you wrote to
yourself on your Daily Log will tell you where to pick up your work in
progress.”
Remind your students, “Remember that your Daily Log is never to leave the
classroom until the class moves on to another unit. You may not take it
home or to another room in the school, and do not put it in your backpack.
It must stay in this room so that you have it handy whenever you need it to
record progress on your project.” The one exception to this rule is when you
choose to send the Daily Log home with students to show their parents,
 along with extension work, a Learning Contract, and the Extension
Activities and Differentiated Homework Report.
Show students the place where their Daily Logs will be stored. If you have
several classes during the day, use color-coded folders to distinguish
between classes. At the same time, demonstrate the method you want
students to use to keep track of their papers related to this method. Pocket
or manila file folders kept in a crate for hanging file folders works well.
Provide a folder for each student in the class, since other students will have
opportunities for project work every so often.
If your students are working at a location outside the classroom, ask the
adult or older student who is monitoring them to tell the students to return
to class before the end of the period. This will give them time to complete
their Daily Logs and hear any announcements or discussion of plans for the
following day.

NOTE Have regular checkup meetings with your Study Guide students. Some students
will reject this option if they observe that you rarely spend time with students who are
working independently. Provide technical assistance with their projects and give them
their fair share of your time and attention. Coach them on improving their research and
record-keeping skills. Make sure their Daily Logs are up-to-date and they are keeping up
with the learning goals listed on the Study Guide.

Extension Activities and Differentiated

Homework Report
Your students’ parents will greatly appreciate knowing the steps you are
taking to differentiate their gifted students’ learning experiences. The
Extension Activities and Differentiated Homework Report might be used at
the end of each unit in which students experienced differentiation. The part of
the form that is returned to you should be kept in the student’s compacting
folder.

The Teacher’s Role in Independent Study

As a teacher, your role with gifted students is to be the “guide on the side”
rather than the “sage on the stage.” Since these students’ abilities to quickly
learn something and then take off and run with it on their own make them
welcome opportunities to work independently, they appreciate a teacher who
can smoothly facilitate that process and directly teach only when students
need instruction. However, it is important to be aware that in all grades, kids
appreciate knowing that you are willing to support their independent learning
preferences and that you will not ignore them in the process. Remember that
when they encounter challenging advanced learning material, they still need a
teacher’s guidance.

When students encounter challenging advanced learning

material, they still need a teacher’s guidance.

Following are several ways to make this happen:

When other students are working alone or in groups, spend time with the
kids using the Study Guide method.
When your class is reading independently for 10–15 minutes, meet with
your Study Guide kids.
Invite your Study Guide kids to eat lunch with you in the classroom once a
week.
Invite an interested parent to come into your classroom to help kids locate
resources, to supervise time spent on the internet, or to provide any other
helpful services.
Require students to keep all documents related to the Study Guide method
at school at all times. Provide special folders for that purpose, and keep the
folders in a central location.
If students are having significant trouble completing tasks, show them how
to use the Check-Off Sheet for Resident Expert Project.

If parents wish to assist with the project at home, identify a separate part
of the project as the “home project.” Evaluate it separately from the school
part of the project. We don’t want to average it in with the work done in
school if it gives an unfair advantage to some students with an extremely
helpful and available parent. Suggest that the student keep a separate Daily
Log at home to document the differentiated homework. See chapter 6 for
more information on independent study as it relates to self-selected topics.
Assessing Study Guide Work: The Evaluation
Contract
(for use with the Study Guide with Extension Menu)
If you, the student, and the student’s parents are comfortable with the actual
grade for the content area units coming from only the assessments at the
checkpoints, then no other grade is required for Study Guide work. But by the
time students are old enough to benefit from the Study Guide approach, they
may have developed a resistance to doing any work that is not accompanied
by a grade; the Evaluation Contract addresses that issue.
Once students choose a project from the Extension Menu, they indicate
their choice on the Evaluation Contract and specify the grade they want to
earn for their work, based on the level of work they will do. When you hand
out copies of the contract, say something like this:
“I will record your checkpoint assessment grades as you earn them.
All other blank spots in the grade book will be filled in with your
contracted grade for your resident expert project. That grade will
replace the grade you would have earned from doing the regular daily
work with the rest of the class, from which you have been excused.”

The Evaluation Contract has a space where students describe the project
they plan to do. They can use words or draw a diagram. This is your chance to
check the appropriateness of each project. A resident expert project should be:
Broad enough to be relevant to the unit.
Complex enough to hold the student’s interest for an extended period of
time.
Sophisticated enough to provide a valid showcase for the student’s talents.
Manageable enough for the student to work independently.
Reflective of the student’s ability to think in abstract and complex ways.

IMPORTANT Because Extension Menus describe learning on different levels of thinking

models such as the Taxonomy of Thinking, you will want to make sure your students
understand what this means. It is productive to teach each section as a critical thinking
lesson so students are familiar with the concepts of various levels and kinds of thinking.
So instead of saying, “Choose a high-level task,” they will know, from their learning
experience, exactly how a Recall activity is different from one that requires analysis. In
other words, don’t just tell them about levels and give them the verbs to describe them—
 create an activity so they can actually have an experience with each type of thinking
task.

The Evaluation Contract also includes a generic rubric that may be used to
evaluate any project. The rubrics exist to help students produce high-quality
work on their projects. Rubrics can eliminate the frustration we face when
students work on a project for a long time and produce disappointing
products.
The grade earned by a resident expert should reflect the complexity and
sophistication of the content and thought process used, rather than the
appearance of the product or the number of activities done by the student. A
grade below B is not possible, since the student would have to revise the work
until the basic conditions for an acceptable grade had been met. After all, if a
student could get a recorded grade lower than a B, why should she or he
volunteer for the Study Guide options? See chapter 8 for more information on
assessment.

The Study Guide Method Summarized

Students who choose the Study Guide, with or without the Extension Menu,
are allowed to work in this more independent path through the required
standards as long as their assessment results for this content are at an
acceptable level. If at any assessment point they are not able to demonstrate
competency at the required levels, they must return to the teacher-directed
format for the remainder of the unit. If that happens, the independent study
on which they were working may be completed outside of class for
alternate credit or during the time the entire class is working on Extension
Menus.
Students are excused from doing the daily work assigned to the class as long
as they meet the learning and working conditions set forth in the
Independent Study Agreement.
Students who work on these independent study options are expected to
share what they have learned with their classmates, thus enriching the unit
for all students in the class.
When time permits, all students can work on activities from the Extension
Menu for a shorter time period, perhaps in groups, as a culminating
experience at the end of the unit.
 Students who choose this method must complete an Independent Study
Agreement, an Evaluation Contract, if applicable, and a Daily Log of their
progress.
Select some time each week to meet with students working more
independently to assess their progress and assist them in their research.
Expect students to keep a folder of their independent work in your
classroom so they always have it to work on. Anything that goes home
would represent the “home part” of the project, and although it would be
included in the project report, it is not considered as part of the grade.

QUESTIONS ANSWERS
“What happens if the resident experts don’t finish their
projects?”
Ask yourself why you want them to finish their projects. Once they’re
through, you’ll have to help them find and start another! Remind yourself that
people who make their living in research sometimes spend a lifetime working
on one project. Often, the only deadlines they have to meet are related to
getting their grant applications in on time. So they hire logical-sequential
thinkers with a penchant for meeting deadlines who are very successful at
keeping the project on track.
Besides, your resident experts have to be ready for the checkpoint
assessments, so they are meeting deadlines. If it weren’t for the Study Guide
option, that’s all the content they would be learning. We need to lighten up
about deadlines for independent study projects.
If you require your resident experts to participate in many whole-class
activities and special events, this further limits the time they have available to
work on their projects.
Some kids may not want to carry their current project into the next unit of
work. Others will want to work on only one project for the semester or year.
Always remember that the Study Guide holds students accountable for the
required content. Make your decisions about their project preferences on an
individual basis. It’s absolutely justified to hold students accountable for the
progress reports as described on the Independent Study Agreement.
Keeping all this in mind, there may be times when you and a student
decide it’s in his or her best interests to return to the direct instruction group
for the daily work. If you create resident expert opportunities for the entire
class as a culminating activity, the student could finish his or her project at
that time.

“What happens if students purposefully sabotage their

results on an assessment because they really want to stop
working on their project?”
During your initial meetings with the students, be sure they understand they
should talk to you about any frustrations they encounter as they work through
this method. During your checkup meetings as the unit progresses, ask
students directly about their comfort level with the Study Guide method. If
they are feeling overwhelmed, help them select smaller chunks to work on one
at a time, rather than worrying about the entire project all at once. Show them
how the Daily Log of Extension Work can help them break overwhelming
tasks into more manageable short-term goals. If you want to make the goal-
setting focus even more obvious, use the Goal-Setting Log.

“How can I make sure that a student’s parents don’t

become overly involved in trying to influence the content
or quality of the resident expert project?”
Interested parents can assist their resident experts by helping them locate
information, either by taking them to museums or finding other sources of
information. Or a certain portion of the project may be designated as the
“home part.” It is not included in the formal evaluation but may be included in
the progress report. The student keeps a Daily Log at home to record progress
there. In this way, even homework can be differentiated.
Remember that the project doesn’t go home until it is completed. It is
designed to be done in school so more capable students have meaningful work
to do while the rest of the class is learning the basics with the teacher. The
project represents the student’s “real work” in school, and it must be available
in school whenever it is needed. This includes work on any visual aid.

“How can I guarantee that students’ independent work will

be of high quality?”
Keep in mind that quality is measured not so much by the product’s physical
appearance, but by its substance. However, the Evaluation Contract is
designed to let students know certain conditions must be met for the project.
You can also use John Samara’s Product Guides and Bertie Kingore’s
Portfolio Assessment tools for this purpose. See the references and resources
section.

“Are identified gifted kids or kids who have been placed in

a gifted cluster automatically able to use the Study Guide
method?”
No, they are not. Always remember that gifted kids who have been identified
for a cluster in your classroom must demonstrate they are ready for and would
benefit from any compacting or differentiation option in the same way other
students are asked to demonstrate it. Likewise, any student who has not been
identified as gifted, but who can meet the criteria for eligibility for
differentiation, should be allowed to participate in the compacting plan. For
more about cluster grouping, see chapter 7.

“What if a resident expert is extremely uncomfortable

presenting a progress report to the class, or just refuses
to do it?”
You might provide an alternate audience—another class, a community group
interested in the topic, or even a private conference with you.

Chapter Summary
If you have ever been in a situation in which you felt you were trapped by the
need to be polite to a teacher or lecturer, even though the content was
extremely boring, you can understand how gifted students feel when, for the
sake of struggling students, we slow down the pace of learning to a point at
which it becomes completely ineffective for advanced learners. This chapter
has demonstrated two ways in which to compact and differentiate the
curriculum in subject areas that are completely new to students.
The Study Guide Only option allows gifted students to study other
examples of the specific unit being learned by the class. The Study Guide with
Extension Menu invites students to become resident experts on topics related
to the regular curriculum learning new material from a more challenging
perspective.
You have learned specific, classroom-tested ways to compact and
differentiate instruction for students in subject areas that may or may not lend
themselves to pretesting. Some teachers still provide pretesting opportunities
in these subjects and use the Learning Contract approach described in chapter
3 to manage the alternate activities for students who pass the pretest. Some
teachers pretest and use the Independent Study Agreement to manage the
students’ alternate activities. The choice is yours!
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use
(Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018.
This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district. For all other uses, contact
Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 American Wars Study Guide

Be prepared to:

1. Discuss the political, social, and economic

causes of the war.

2. Explain the basis of the economy for both

sides before the war began.

3. Give the meanings of all designated

vocabulary words.

4. Show on a map the disputed territory before

the war began, at its midpoint, and at its end.

5. Recite from memory an important speech from

this particular war period on a war-related
topic. Be able to explain its background and
significance.

6. Describe typical battle conditions experienced

by soldiers and commanders. Include
 information about commonly used battle
tactics.

7. Narrate a first-person biographical sketch of a

person connected to the war effort.

8. Write an account of a non-battle event related

to the war and post it on an appropriate
website.

9. Describe the peace plan—its location,

components, and effects.

10. Summarize the implications of this war in

today’s time period. Hypothesize how history
would have turned out differently if the other
side had won. Make predictions for the decade
following the war as well as for the present
time.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher
Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D.,
copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district.
For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 American Wars Extension
Menu

Present a detailed Research the patriotic Locate information

biography of an music used by both sides about the medical
important person in the war. Point out practices used on
during the time of similarities and differences. the battlefield and
this conflict. Include Describe how music in field hospitals
evidence of this influences patriotism in during this war.
person’s influence civilians and soldiers. Include
during the war Compare the patriotic biographical
period. music of this war to that of information about
other wars. famous medical
people of that time.

Discover how Investigate battles

military people in which creative or
communicated with uncommonly used
each other and with tactics were
their commander-
in-chief during this
war. Focus on
Student employed. OR
design strategies
that you think
events in which
poorly understood Choice would have led to
more victories and
or poorly delivered fewer casualties.
communications Be sure to use only
influenced the the technology
outcome of a available during
military effort. that time period.

Discover words or Investigate other types of Investigate and

phrases that were wars: between families, describe ways in
“coined” during this clans, children in school, which this conflict
war period and mythical creatures, etc. or wars in general
remain part of our Share information about could be avoided.
English usage them and include a
today. comparison of elements
found in a traditional war
between countries.
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher
Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D.,
copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district.
For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 Study Guide

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher
Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D.,
copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district.
For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 Extension Menu

Student
Choice

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher
Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D.,
copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district.
For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 The Product Choices Chart

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher
Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D.,
copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district.
For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 Independent Study Agreement
for Study Guide Only

Read each condition as your teacher reads it

aloud. Write your initials beside it to show that you
understand it and agree to abide by it.
Learning Conditions

______ I will learn independently all the required

standards described on the Study Guide. I
will not have to complete the actual
assigned activities as long as I am doing
work related to what the class is learning.

______ I will demonstrate competency with the

assessments for the Study Guide content
at the same time as the rest of the class.

______ I will participate in designated whole-class

activities as the teacher indicates them—
without arguing.

______ I will keep a Daily Log of my progress.

______ I will share what I have learned about my

independent study with the class in an
interesting way. My report will not exceed
five minutes and will include a visual aid. I
will prepare a question about my report to
ask the class when my report ends.
 Working Conditions

______ I will be present in the classroom at the

beginning and end of each class period.

______ I will not bother anyone or call attention to

the fact that I am doing different work than
others in the class.

______ I will work on my chosen topic for the

entire class period on designated days.

______ I will carry this paper with me to any room

in which I am working on my chosen topic,
and I will return it to my classroom at the
end of each session.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher
Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D.,
copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district.
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 Independent Study Agreement
for Study Guide with Extension
Menu

Read each condition as your teacher reads it

aloud. Write your initials beside it to show that you
understand it and agree to abide by it.
Learning Conditions

______ I will learn independently all the required

standards described on the Study Guide. I
will not have to complete the actual
assigned activities as long as I am working
on an independent project.

______ I will demonstrate competency with the

assessments for the Study Guide content
at the same time as the rest of the class.

______ I will participate in designated whole-class

activities as the teacher indicates them—
without arguing.

______ I will keep a Daily Log of my progress.

______ I will work on an independent project and

complete an Evaluation Contract to
describe the grade I will choose to earn.
 ______ I will share a progress report about my
independent project with the class or other
audience by ____________ (date). My
report will not exceed five minutes and will
include a visual aid. I will prepare a
question about my report to ask the class
when my report ends.
Working Conditions

______ I will be present in the classroom at the

beginning and end of each class period.

______ I will not bother anyone or call attention to

the fact that I am doing different work than
others in the class.

______ I will work on my project for the entire

class period on designated days.

______ I will carry this paper with me to any room

in which I am working on my project, and I
will return it to my classroom at the end of
each session.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher
Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D.,
copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district.
For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 Daily Log of Extension Work

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher
Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D.,
copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district.
For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use
(Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018.
This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district. For all other uses, contact
Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 Evaluation Contract

I am choosing a grade for my project based on

these criteria:
For a grade of B:

1. I will use secondary sources of information that

have been gathered and recorded by other
people, including some from several reliable
websites.

2. I will prepare a traditional product. I will

present it using a traditional reporting format.

3. I will be learning on the lower levels of Bloom’s

Taxonomy: Recall, Understand, and Apply.
This means that I will find information and be
able to describe what I’ve learned.
For a grade of A:

1. I will use primary sources that were created by

me or people who lived during the time about
which I am learning. These include interviews,
diaries, speeches, letters, official records,
creative products, virtual tours, and other
sources.
 2. I will produce an original type of product. I will
present it to an appropriate audience using a
unique format.

3. I will be learning on the higher levels of

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Analyze, Evaluate, and
Create.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher
Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D.,
copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district.
For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
CHAPTER 4
Extending Reading and Writing
Instruction

STRATEGIES
The Contract for Permission to Read Ahead
The Reading Activities Menu
The Contract for Reading Skills
Teaching Reading Skills in a Trade Book Reading Program
Individualized Reading
The Great Friday Afternoon Event
How well are your reading and writing programs meeting the needs of
students who are gifted in those areas? How can you accommodate the
passion for reading shared by so many gifted students? How can you
provide appropriate challenges in all of the language arts for students who
need it? This chapter answers these and other questions. It also describes a
host of reading and language arts strategies that challenge gifted students
and may be used as extension activities.

Characteristics of Readers Who Are

Gifted
When trying to identify the advanced readers in your classroom, look for
students who:
Comprehend reading materials that are two or more years above grade
level.
Understand abstract ideas quickly and easily; have very little to learn
from being required to participate in grade-level reading instruction.
Know, understand, appreciate, and use advanced vocabulary.
Love to read and do so with great concentration and enthusiasm.
Retain what they read for a long time.
Make connections between various reading selections and between what
they are reading and other content areas.
Understand authors’ styles and the uses of various literary elements.
Read earlier than age peers. Some are spontaneous preschool readers;
some start school having already mastered basic reading skills. Most
learn to read independently soon after classroom instruction begins.
Need less drill to master reading skills and techniques, because they
usually learn new content after one direct instruction lesson.
Need opportunities to read at their own pace and demonstrate previous or
early mastery of reading skills and vocabulary.
 Interact with what they read in creative ways. Gifted students don’t
simply read and absorb. They also question, examine, contemplate, argue,
discuss, elaborate, and come up with new ideas based on what they read.
They speak and write using complex sentences and vocabulary that are
significantly more advanced than what is being produced by their age
peers.
Have interests in reading that set them apart from other readers. Their
preferences may include science, history, science fiction, biography,
travel, poetry, and informational texts, even sometimes those written for
adults.

Scenario: Eric
Eric had failed fifth grade once, and he was now the tallest and biggest boy
in his class. His former teachers described him as “lazy” because he never
completed his homework in any subject. Some referred to his “poor
attitude.” Eric refused to read the stories from the required reader, never
even opened his workbook, and had been overheard proclaiming, “I hate
reading. It’s dumb!” Over the years, he had spent many hours in the
principal’s office where he was often sent by frustrated teachers.
Eric’s new teacher noticed that he always had a magazine about cars or
trucks hidden in his desk. Eric delighted in challenging his classmates to a
contest of wits over the engine capacity and speed potential of the latest
cars, and he always seemed to have that information at his fingertips. It was
obvious to his teacher that he was actually reading and understanding the
material in his magazines. Yet he was still failing all of his classes,
including reading.
One weekend, Eric’s teacher attended a seminar on teaching gifted
students. While listening to a description of characteristic behaviors of
gifted kids, she realized that she had observed many of those behaviors in
Eric. Upon returning to school, the teacher arranged to meet with other
teachers and the school principal. She asked them to tell her which students
came to mind as she read aloud a list of characteristic behaviors. Eric’s
name was mentioned over and over again. Could it be that his school
problems were caused by boredom and frustration rather than laziness or a
poor attitude?
 The teacher decided to test her theory by offering Eric pretesting and
compacting opportunities in several subjects, including reading skills and
vocabulary. At first, Eric seemed unable to believe that a teacher would
allow him to demonstrate mastery by doing less work than he had
previously been asked to do. When he learned that he could spend class
time reading his magazines, as well as novels and books about car racing
and race drivers, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
The results were nothing short of miraculous. Within days, Eric was on
the right learning track, completing his compacted work quickly and
demonstrating a more positive attitude about school than anyone on staff
had ever observed. His mother commented to the teacher about the
remarkable changes she was seeing in her son. After about two weeks, the
principal dropped by the class to see if Eric had been out sick since he was
no longer being sent to the office to be disciplined! Eric’s story provides
ample evidence that modifying the curriculum can help us see gifted kids
we once perceived as lazy in a totally new light.

Teaching Reading to Gifted Learners

Most reading programs, whether traditional or literature-based, fail to meet
the advanced learning needs of gifted students. Most high-ability students
have already mastered the vocabulary and skills they will be expected to
“learn” in any given year. They need opportunities to demonstrate those
competencies and to work with advanced reading materials in order to
maintain their natural enthusiasm for reading.

Most reading programs fail to meet the advanced learning

needs of gifted students.

Gifted students who are exceptionally strong readers process and

understand materials designed for older students. Therefore, their
instruction in reading must be differentiated from the program that is
suitable for grade-level learners. It should focus on interacting with more
complex or higher-level reading and comprehension skills. The books these
students read should be excellent examples of rigorous use of language,
syntax, and challenging literary elements such as simile, metaphor, allegory,
foreshadowing, and others. Content should demonstrate challenging
examples of enriched language and multiple opportunities for readers to
experience the interaction of text with critical and creative thinking.
Critical reading is more complex than the ability to simply comprehend
the text. To be a critical reader, the student must be able to assess the
selection’s effectiveness and understand its use of highly challenging
content. Appropriately challenging selections allow students to experience
reading as a series of thinking processes. Readers are encouraged to project
their own attitudes and experiences into the story. Advanced vocabulary
study complements gifted learners’ delight with etymologies, syntax
variations, and the use of customized vocabularies for different reading and
writing purposes.
When readers who are gifted are grouped together, their entire reading
experience is greatly enhanced. They feel safe in articulating their thoughts,
reactions, and emotions, and can feel confident that the other students in
their group will understand, identify with, and react appropriately to all that
happens in the group. They enjoy less-structured approaches to their
reading instruction and activities. Opportunities for meaningful choices
allow students to feel connected to the text and characters in unique and
satisfying ways.

Scenario: McKensi
McKensi came to our school as a first grader. When she was tested for
academic placement, she scored at the sixth-grade level in reading
comprehension. All other scores were near her age level. She was placed in
a third-grade reading program and worked with her age-mates in all other
subject areas. In early December, her teacher asked for help from the gifted
program coordinator.
The teacher explained that she was frustrated because McKensi would
not complete her reading assignments, which consisted of completing first-
grade phonics workbook pages. When asked why McKensi had to do that
work, the teacher replied, “Just because McKensi is reading at an advanced
level does not mean she knows the phonics rules.” The coordinator
explained that since the goal of phonics is to learn accurate decoding and
word recognition, and since the child was using some method that worked
well enough to allow her to pronounce words correctly and easily handle
the third-grade reading program, it was unnecessary for her to complete the
required first-grade phonics program. The teacher was relieved to hear this
information and appreciated the “permission” to allow McKensi’s decoding
ability to speak for itself. The requirement for the phonics assignments—
both classroom work and homework—was released, and everyone involved
breathed a sigh of relief.
For all skill and vocabulary work, you can provide regular pretesting
and compacting opportunities using the methods described in chapters 2
and 3. You’ll find a blank reading contract and a sample writing contract at
the end of this chapter. Contracts allow you to see which vocabulary words
and specific reading and writing skills students have already mastered.
Students who demonstrate mastery should be engaged in alternate activities
at the same time as others in the class are working on the standard
instruction. Ideas for alternate activities are presented throughout this
chapter.
The reading program that is most appropriate for all students and
essential for gifted students is one that allows them to read, discuss,
analyze, and write about literature that challenges them, while excusing
them from practicing skills they have already mastered. They should be
able to do this either independently or while grouped with other advanced
readers. The literature that advanced students read should:
Include a variety of forms including prose, poetry, biographies,
nonfiction, and outside sources including newspapers, magazines, and
journals, both print and digital.
Be open to other interpretations and various viewpoints.
Contain rich, challenging, and varied language forms.
Provide opportunities for them to learn personal problem-solving
behaviors that are relevant to their lives and experiences.

CAUTION Be careful about having kids read books that offer challenging vocabulary
and content but describe situations that are beyond the levels of their maturity and life
experiences.

In some districts, teachers are expected to use whole-class instruction,

keeping all students on the same reading level, even on the same page.
Although there may be a good reason to prevent students from using basal
texts assigned to different grade levels, their access to literature at all levels
of reading should never be restricted. Some staffs or districts have decided
to earmark a limited number of novels for each grade level, and they have
asked their colleagues to refrain from using those books not assigned to
their particular grade. When the number of restricted novels is limited, this
practice is perfectly reasonable, since there is clearly an abundance of
available materials from which students may choose their independent
reading selections. However, trying to convince enthusiastic readers that
they should postpone reading a book they are interested in just because they
will read it later in class is probably an exercise in futility!
One of the most significant purposes of teaching reading is to generate a
lifelong love of literature. Any classroom practices that accomplish that
goal should be preferable to those that cause students to avoid reading and
writing whenever they can. Talk to parents about their kids’ attitudes toward
reading at home, and observe the extent to which your students choose to
read when they have opportunities to make choices in the classroom.
Incorporating highly motivating strategies such as those presented in this
chapter will help you keep your gifted learners enthusiastic about reading.
The following figure shows, at a glance, how you might differentiate
reading for your gifted students.

Differentiating Reading

Whole-Group Instruction Differentiation for Readers Who

Are Gifted

All read the same book All read different books on the same
theme

Whole-class learning Study Guide Only or with Extension

Menu

Students read different books but do Students read self-selected books

the same learning tasks and do differentiated learning tasks

Skill work by direct instruction Compacting and contracts for

selective skill work and faster pacing

Theme-based literature circles; Self-selected literature with Study

 teacher-directed learning Guide Only or with Extension
Menu/Reading Activities Menu

Standards and regular curriculum are Students take direct instruction only
taught directly to students on content they have not mastered

Great Friday Afternoon Event Great Friday Afternoon Event

Reading for Gifted Children in the Primary

Grades
Not all gifted kids come to kindergarten reading, and not all kids who come
to kindergarten reading are gifted. But show us a youngster who taught
herself to read without any apparent support from adults and we’ll bet the
child is gifted.
For decades, educators believed that most kids who were reading when
they started school would “plateau out” or revert to the levels of more
average readers by third grade. Many of those who did plateau were cited as
proof that they were taught to read before they were truly ready. Recent
studies have shown that advanced readers who were expected to do the
regular reading program in kindergarten and first grade did become more
average later, but advanced readers who were taught at their challenge level,
regardless of their grade level, generally continued at advanced levels into
the upper grades. Advanced readers need to be taught at their challenge
level in reading, regardless of how soon (or late) they learn to read.
Dr. Bertie Kingore discusses this dilemma in her book Reading
Strategies for Advanced Primary Readers:
For decades, educators assumed that children who read early or at
advanced levels had been pushed by a well-intending adult. The
accompanying conventional wisdom has been that these students
plateau and read at grade level by third or fourth grade. Indeed,
advanced readers who are limited to a grade-level reading program
can regress in their pace of progress. However, when advanced
readers are taught with resources and instruction commensurate with
their needs and abilities, regression need not take place. By
eliminating work on skills already mastered and progressing through
 the language arts curriculum at an accelerated pace, students
generally continued to extend their reading proficiency (Gentry,
1999; Kulik & Kulik, 1996).
The lack of challenging materials is one factor that discourages
the continued reading development of advanced readers. However
bright students may be, they are less likely to demonstrate advanced
or gifted performance if learning experiences are limited to the
regular, grade-level reading curriculum (p. 111).
You can use the pretest and contract methods described in chapters 2
and 3 with your precocious primary readers. The Contract for Reading
Skills and Vocabulary at the end of this chapter can also be helpful. For
litereature, use either the Study Guide Only as a genre or author guide, or
with a related Extension Menu. Read the section, “Especially for Primary
Teachers” in chapter 2 for suggestions on how to manage differentiation for
students in the primary grades.

Alternative Reading Approaches for Primary Students

Readers who are gifted should experience compacting opportunities in all
work involving reading skills. You might use the Most Difficult First
strategy or even weekly pretests. They should be allowed to read self-
selected books while the class learns a skill or has a discussion in which
they do not need to participate. You can provide weekly meetings for the
independent reading group and center discussions on book or story
recommendations, author styles, genre components, character development,
interesting vocabulary, plot details, and unique qualities of particular books.
Instruction on skills or literature aspects that require more directed teaching
are included in this group time. Avoid round-robin reading, as it slows
down the excited reading pace of advanced readers. Don’t worry about
errors in oral reading, advanced readers often skip words as their eyes dance
far ahead on the page. The only accurate test of a reader’s ability is
comprehension.
Ask students to participate in some of the reading lessons, if you
determine that their time would be well spent in that way. Your skills of
diagnosing what students need to make continuous forward progress,
combined with your skills of prescribing specific beneficial activities, can
present a reading program that will keep gifted learners very interested and
enthusiastic.
Students should not be required to finish a book before being allowed to
share what they are reading at these small group meetings. Book reports in
a formal way are never required. Instead, the group discusses alternative
methods for sharing what they have learned with others. Students use their
Books I Want to Read list to record information for future reference. You
might want to use the Teacher’s Conference Record Sheet to keep track of
meeting details.
Acceleration of reading level is another way to accommodate the
advanced learning needs of readers who are gifted. While the typical reader
in the primary grades is unable to comprehend advanced texts, readers who
are gifted can be guided to view reading as both a thinking and a language
process. Combining reading skills with learning in the content areas is
another way to accelerate the reading program for advanced readers.

Readers who are gifted can be guided to view reading as

both a thinking and a language process.

See the references and resources for specific recommendations for

readers who are gifted.

STRATEGY

The Contract for Permission to

Read Ahead
This simple strategy will save you many headaches as you differentiate
reading for your gifted students.
As you no doubt already know from experience, most advanced readers
ask the same question at the beginning of any reading selection: “Can I
please read ahead?” Perhaps you think that if you tell them you don’t want
them to read ahead, they will honor your request. In fact, they will probably
read ahead anyway.
 Would you ever let anyone tell you how much time you should take to
read a story or book, or how quickly or slowly you should read it?
Especially one in which you are intensely interested? It’s not surprising that
these passionate readers will finish the whole story or book before dawn
tomorrow. What can you do to manage this situation?
Group these accelerated learners together and ask them each to sign a
Contract for Permission to Read Ahead. Tell them it’s okay to read ahead,
but they need to understand how important it is to honor the terms of the
contract. They shouldn’t spoil the selection for others by giving away plot
twists or endings. And when they hear other kids talking about a book or
story and what might happen next, they should avoid joining in.
This contract is a simple way to help advanced readers understand the
rules they should follow if they want to read ahead. Use the strategies and
activities in this chapter to keep them challenged and motivated during
reading class.

STRATEGY

The Reading Activities Menu

Use a Reading Activities Menu when you want to provide your more
capable students with alternate activities that extend the regular reading
unit. Students who compact out of the regular work in reading may choose
from the list of options. The menu also allows for choice days, when
students may create and work on their own activities or continue with listed
activities.

If you prefer, you may present alternate activities in an Extension Menu

format. See the Extension Menus on animal stories and on biographies.
Also examine the sections in chapter 3 on Preparing the Study Guide and
Preparing the Extension Menu. Use the information and forms in that
chapter and this one to design and use Study Guides and/or Extension
Menus with your differentiated reading curriculum. Choose several
products for each learning modality from the Product Choices Chart for
students to use for their extension activities.

How to Use the Reading Activities Menu

 1. Prepare a list of activities that will provide your students with several
options they can choose to complete. Or use the reproducible menu that
is designed for use with any literature selection.
2. Tell students they may choose an activity to work on during times you
designate. They can continue working on their activity until it is
completed; they do not have to start and finish an activity by a
specified deadline. This will help encourage them to explore the topic
in depth. They should record the dates they begin and end each activity
on the date lines.
3. Invite students to come up with their own ideas for projects or
activities. They should discuss their ideas with you before starting to
work on them. After you give your permission for a specific project or
activity, the student should record it on the menu in one of the blank
spaces provided.
4. Have students record their work on a Daily Log of Extension Work.

NOTE Literature responds extremely well to the Study Guide method. The Study
Guides can be about specific books, but they work better when they are about the
specific genre being considered at that time.

STRATEGY

The Contract for Reading Skills

Appropriate interventions with students working at advanced levels in
reading and writing often require a combination of the compacting methods
in chapter 2. The strategies described in that chapter—Most Difficult First,
Pretest for Volunteers, and Learning Contracts—address effective reading
skills, grammar, and vocabulary which these kids often have previously
mastered.

Scenario: Leandra
Leandra was reading several years ahead of her age peers. Her writing was
sophisticated and colorful. Her teacher recognized that it was not necessary
for Leandra to complete all of the skill-and-practice assignments at grade
level, and she created a learning contract so Leandra could spend more time
doing what she truly loved: reading and writing.
You’ll notice that this contract doesn’t list any specific activities as
extension options since this option is designed for students who are already
engaged in their own type of independent study based on a personal
passion. Students may spend the time they buy back reading books they
have chosen and/or writing and revising ongoing pieces. It’s very important
to realize that it isn’t necessary to provide paper-and-pencil activities to
replace those activities students have been excused from doing. Students
should have much freedom of choice in how they spend time they buy back.
 To differentiate skill work in reading and vocabulary you can use the
same general type of Learning Contract described in chapter 2.
A reproducible Contract for Reading Skills and Vocabulary is found at
the end of this chapter. Directions on how to use it are contained in the
directions for Learning Contracts in chapter 2. The vocabulary words from
a reading selection may be pretested using the directions for voluntary
pretests.

STRATEGY

Teaching Reading Skills in a

Trade Book Reading Program
Another way to extend reading instruction for accelerated students is to let
them read literature of their own choosing, then discuss what they have read
with each other and with you. Students may be grouped for skill work by
their assessed reading levels, but have more latitude in the books they select
for their independent reading. This is generally the format advanced readers
prefer for at least part of their reading time. They may all read the same
novel, different books of the same genre or type, or books by the same
author. You may decide to let each student read a completely different book.
It is possible to find skill-building books for reading skills that are not tied
to any specific reading series. (See the references and resources for ideas.)
See Strategy: Individualized Reading.
Regardless of the approach you use, provide challenging reading and
related writing activities for these students. Expect only one or two
activities per selection; kids who love reading will balk if there is too much
written work. The choices could also be used in meetings of students who
are reading independently as discussion starters.
Locate inferences, cause and effect, and other examples of critical
thinking.
Find foreshadowing, personification, metaphor, or other literary elements.
Analyze the theme and its relationship to other books.
Analyze the bias of characters and/or the author.
Hypothesize and describe in writing what would happen if different
characters had interacted or if the same characters had interacted in a
different manner.
Evaluate the quality of this particular book when compared to other
books by the same author or other books of the same type.
Discuss personal opinions with others in the reading group.
Create pieces of writing related to the book’s content or message.
Rewrite certain events or create a new ending.
Write a similar story.
Write the same story, set in a different time period.
Write a new ending.
Write a new chapter to insert in the book or an epilogue.
Write a letter to the book’s author explaining your reaction to the book
and asking questions about the author.
Discuss the validity of the content and events described.
Using an interesting format, create a dialogue between you and one of the
characters in which you try to convince that person to behave differently.
Create new possibilities for plot or character development.
Share the story as a storyteller would. Deliver the story in that manner to
an appropriate audience.
Read biographies about real people in similar situations to the one(s)
described in the novel.
Research the life of a famous person and write an original biography.
Compare and contrast books by the same author.
Compare and contrast books of the same genre.
Create a dramatic reading or short play about the story.
Create illustrations for a story or book that doesn’t have them.
Understand and be able to describe point of view and characters’ various
perspectives on an issue.
If your class is using Accelerated Reader, use any of the thinking models
in chapter 5, including Build Blocks to Think, to create more challenging
questions for the most popular books.
Using Internet Resources for Self-Selected
Reading
Create a “Fakebook” page for one of the characters
([Link]/FB/home-page). Have the character’s “friends” post
comments that relate to what is occurring in the story.
Start a blog with another group of advanced students in another school,
state, or country who are reading the same story.
Create a Wikipedia page for your book, or add facts to the book’s existing
Wikipedia page.
Summarize information found on websites devoted to the book or its
author.
Develop an online project using Google Docs or Dropbox with advanced
students from another school, state, or country who are reading the same
story.
Create an individual presentation on your book using Keynote or
PowerPoint, or a shared presentation with advanced students in other
schools using online programs like Prezi or SlideRocket.
Select a theme in the book and create a digital movie to post to your class
website to share information on your book.
Use Storybird ([Link]) with one or more other students to
collaborate on a story in a round-robin fashion by writing your own text
and inserting pictures.
Use [Link] ([Link]), a more advanced version of Wordle, to
create a word cloud in which every word is linked to Google search
results for that word.
Use the Author Extension Menu and record your progress on a Daily Log
of Extension Work.

All Reading the Same Novel

1. Give the pretest on reading skills and vocabulary for the designated
class novel to anyone who wants to take it.
2. Offer students who already know a predetermined percent of the
required skill work a Contract for Reading Skills and Vocabulary.
3. Help this group agree on a novel they would like to read together by
describing several alternative novels that match the genre being read by
the other students in the class. If the group chooses two different
novels, that should also work well.
4. Relate the vocabulary, writing activities, and other skill work to their
alternate novel. In some cases, you may be able to use selected pages
from the same skill work the whole class is studying, instead of having
to create new activities. Remember to provide voluntary pretests for the
skill and vocabulary work. Notice also the many ideas for extension
work contained in this chapter.

NOTE Many companies have produced inexpensive and comprehensive

prepackaged units for teaching novels. Some have these supplemental materials
online for little or no additional cost. Searches for online resources can yield dozens
of related ideas you can use. Check them out before you use precious planning time
to come up with your own activities.

5. Meet with this group in much the same way you would with a typical
reading group. The main difference is that your discussions and
activities will relate to their chosen novel instead of the selection the
rest of the class is reading. If you wish, you may prepare a Study Guide
to help students notice the most important elements. Students who
finish the novel ahead of the others may use the remaining time to read
other books by the same author or in the same genre.
Don’t be surprised if the group studying the novel is much more
enthusiastic than the group working with your anthology or required
reader materials. If this happens in your classroom, you may decide to
occasionally have all students study a novel related to a theme or genre.

You may decide to occasionally have all students study a

novel related to a theme or genre.
 Most skills can be taught in any context, and you can use games to
teach the vocabulary words students would otherwise miss. Some
teachers use this method as a transition to a literature-based program,
setting aside one day of the week for literature study while staying with
the designated material for the other four days, or replacing one entire
unit with literature-based reading, making sure to include the skills and
vocabulary assigned to the unit being skipped.
Some students who read quickly and love to read can’t resist
sharing, even if it means giving away the ending of a novel or
important plot twists along the way. To discourage spoilers, have them
sign a Contract for Permission to Read Ahead.

All Students Reading Different Novels by the

Same Author
If you choose this option, you may want to use a flexible grouping or
cooperative learning format. Put the advanced readers together in one group
and provide them with more complex novels to choose from. Removing
them from the other groups will encourage the rest of the students to work
more actively. Also, when gifted students are allowed to work in their own
cooperative learning group, they are more likely to participate in the group
activities than when they are in a completely heterogeneous group that
slows down their reading pace and limits their penchant for engaging in
complex thought and discussion. For more about gifted kids and
cooperative learning, see chapter 7.
Meet with each group separately to discuss their particular novel.
Discussions of the author’s style, vocabulary, and use of literary elements
may take place with the entire class, since everyone is reading books by one
specific author. Use the Author Extension Menu to invite students to
specialize in one aspect of the author’s life and work.

Students Reading Different Novels of the

Same Genre
When you want all students to read different novels of the same type or
genre, use a Study Guide and/or Extension Menu that describe the common
elements of the specific genre. Please examine the Study Guides and
Extension Menus in this chapter or in the accompanying digital content.
When you use the Study Guide method and allow kids to choose what
to read, the Study Guide will help them know what to look for in their own
selections. This is much more effective than telling kids to “go read other
biographies of this person.” For example, if your class is working on a unit
on folk tales, your highly accomplished readers can finish the designated
selection at their own pace, and then read other folk tales, such as those
from different countries. Class discussions would center on the
characteristics of the genre as described on the Genre Study Guide, and the
students who had read more widely would contribute to the discussion now
and then of the assigned book, adding information from their alternative
reading.

STRATEGY

Individualized Reading
To meet the needs of gifted students and boost interest for all students,
consider letting everyone read a different book. Perhaps you could start
with this option one day each week, and let it grow from there. You will
want to have a variety of titles, topics, and reading levels available in the
classroom. Several publishing companies distribute collections for this
purpose. See references and resources for this chapter at the end of this
book.
Initially, students should be free to browse through any books that
interest them. Advise them to use the “Rule of Three” to select any book
they actually plan to read. Tell them to:
“Open the book to some page in the middle, preferably a page
without pictures, and start reading. Whenever you come across a
word you don’t know, hold up one finger. When your count exceeds
three words on one page, the book is probably too difficult for you
to read independently. Go to another book and try again.”
If you are concerned that students will choose books that are too easy,
suggest that they try to read three consecutive pages from the middle of the
book. If they don’t find any unfamiliar words in that section, they should
probably look for another book.
Have students keep track of what they read. There are many ways to do
this. Two of my favorites are the Circle of Books and the Reading Response
Sheet. Both are easy to understand and use.
The Circle of Books. When students finish reading a book, they place a
tally mark in the appropriate section of the wheel. The marks help them
(and you) see if they are reading from a variety of categories or limiting
themselves to one or two. They should bring their Circle form with them to
any reading conferences they have with you. Naturally, you may use other
categories than the ones shown on the reproducible form.
The Reading Response Sheet. Gifted students may balk at having to do
too much writing connected to books they are reading for pleasure.
However, it is alright to have students who are working independently
spend a few minutes at the end of some reading period, jotting down their
thoughts about and responses to their self-selected books.
These might include their reactions to events and characters, predictions
about upcoming events, character studies, rewritten chapters or endings,
and so on. Completed pages may be collected to form a Reading Response
Journal, which might be kept in a dedicated spiral notebook or on a Word
document. Students must keep their journal or log in school so it is
available for your reading conference, until such time as you allow them to
take it home to share their differentiated work with their parents. See the
Extension Activities and Differentiated Homework Report.
Students are also invited to keep records of interesting words from their
reading. You might suggest activities that will help them learn these words,
or students might discuss their words when they meet with other students
who are doing individualized reading. See the special section on Vocabulary
Activities in this chapter.

CAUTION Low-level vocabulary activities and writing activities that are designed to
help students with knowledge and comprehension can become very tiresome for
prolific readers. If too much writing is required, gifted students might resist
differentiated reading. Some students will appreciate not having to complete reading
response sheets for every book they read.
Keeping Tabs on Individualized Readers
Schedule brief weekly conferences with students who are reading self-
selected literature. Keep an ongoing Teacher’s Conference Record Sheet,
using one hardcopy or digital copy of the sheet for each student. Have one
regularly scheduled conference per week for independent readers, and
provide a sign-up sheet they can use to request other conferences. You can
use the Teacher’s Conference Record Sheet. Tell students they must meet
with you on their scheduled day, whether or not they have finished their
book.
1. In the far left column, record the date of each conference.
2. In the second column, record the title of the book the student is reading.
3. In the third column, make notes about the conference discussion. Here
are some questions and suggestions to spark and guide your discussion:
What’s the best part of the story? Why? The worst/most boring part?
Why?
What techniques does the author use to hook you and draw you into
the story?
What is the primary theme in the story?
Find a good descriptive passage. As you read it to me, please point
out your favorite phrases.
Which characters do you like? Which do you dislike? Tell why.
How does the author get you to feel close to the characters?
Which character is the most thoroughly described? The least
thoroughly described? Which type of character description do you
prefer and why?
Select and define some of the interesting vocabulary words you
found.
Describe any parts of the book that didn’t seem to belong.
What did you admire about the author’s style that you might use in
your own writing?
 Was there anything confusing about the author’s style? Explain.
How would you change the book? The ending?
If you use the Recommended Books chart you might also ask, What
will you write about this book on the Recommended Books chart?
4. In the far right column, note any tasks you ask the student to complete.
These may be related to vocabulary development, story mapping,
character study, or anything else you would normally use to teach a
story.
5. Before the conference ends, write the date of the next conference in the
far left column. This helps you keep track of when students are
expected to return, and also makes it harder for students to “forget” to
come to conferences for long periods of time.

If students need additional conferences, have them sign up at a specified

location.

Book Sharing
Provide one or more ways for students to share their books with each other.
They can share print books and/or e-books if they all have compatible e-
readers (such as Kindles, Nooks, or iPads) or if there are e-readers available
for them to borrow. Some e-book programs allow buyers to share their
books with others for a limited time after purchase, which can save costs.
Avoid requiring formal written book reports, since these generally have a
negative effect on students’ attitudes about reading. Advanced readers are
about as excited as you would be if you were required to keep written
records of all that you read. Keep in mind that avid adult readers rarely wait
until they have finished a book before sharing something about it with other
interested readers, usually in a conversational format. Instead of book
reports, you and your students might prefer frequent book sharing times,
during which students give brief verbal reports about a book they are
currently reading or have recently completed.

Book Logos
Book logos are very easy for students of all ages to use to keep track of the
books they have read. They can also generate excited discussions about
books between the students. Here are instructions:
1. Gather as many colors of paper as you have students in your room. Add
a few extra colors so you’re ready for new students. You’ll need several
sheets of each color.
2. Cut 8.5" x 11" sheets in half. (A helper can easily do this part.)
3. Prepare two sample swatches of each color. Drop one of each into a
container. All swatches should be the same size.
4. Have students select their colors by drawing swatches from the
container. Tell them to write their name on their color and give it back
to you.
5. Attach the appropriate matching swatch beside each student’s name on
a Book Logos chart. If possible, laminate the chart before displaying it
to prevent fading.
6. Give each student a folder filled with a supply of her or his color paper.
Label each folder with the student’s name and corresponding color
swatch. Use a storage box to keep all the Book Logo folders together.
7. Direct the students to make a logo for each book they finish reading (or
just for their favorite books, if they are highly prolific readers). You
might explain it this way:

“Cut out a shape from a piece of your paper that represents the
essence of your book. This is your ‘logo’ for that book. Using
dark colored marker, print the title of the book and the author’s
name on your logo.”

An alternative method is to have students create their logos digitally

using graphics they find online or create themselves.
8. Display the logos around the room. They display particularly well
along the border area at the top of walls. When you run out of space,
display them in the hallways or other common areas. Students may
decide whether or not to show their logos when they talk about their
books to the class.
 NOTE Be careful about holding or joining contests that give prizes for the most books
read. Readers who are gifted are intrinsically motivated to read, and when we offer
them extrinsic rewards for simply doing what they love, they might lose some of their
intrinsic motivation. We have also seen some students obsess over the number of
books read to the extent that they don’t want to do anything but read!

One class of 27 fifth graders read 384 books in one year. The logos
filled the available space in the room and eventually spilled out into the hall
and wound its way around the entire floor. Imagine the lively conversations
about books that were stimulated by the presence of these colorful logos.
Furthermore, if students wanted to recommend certain books they had read
to other students, they could easily locate the appropriate logo by its color,
which would remind them of the books they wanted to share.

Imagine the lively conversations about books that were

stimulated by the presence of these colorful logos.

This method of keeping track of the books your students read is

certainly preferable to the traditional chart where each student’s books are
listed individually, representing a visual reminder of who the slower readers
are. With the logos, an observer would have to work very hard to add up the
number of books read by any particular student. Since the purpose of the
logos is to provide a forum for discussing books, nobody really cares about
the numbers anyway.

Books I Want to Read

You know how frustrating it is to try to remember titles of books people
have told you about. The Books I Want to Read method eliminates this
frustration for your students. You can find a chart to use in your classroom
at the end of this chapter. Whenever you find yourself with a few extra
minutes with advanced readers, try this activity.
1. Give all students a copy of the Books I Want to Read chart. Tell them
to keep it in their desk or reading folder at all times. It never goes
home. If students in your school have access to a school Intranet where
they each have their own account, they can keep their list posted there.
 This way, parents can have access to the list and encourage their
children to read the books on it.
2. Tell students how to use the form. You might say:
“When I announce Book Sharing Time, take out your Books I Want
to Read chart. Raise your hand if you want to volunteer to share a
book today. It is not required that you have finished the book. The
only requirement is you think others will want to read this book, too.
“You will have two minutes to ‘sell your book’—that is, make
other students want to read it. First, please write the title and the
author’s name on the board. At the end of two minutes, please repeat
the title and author of the book.
“Listen carefully as the speakers share information about their
books. If you think the book is one you would like to read, write the
author’s name and book title on your chart. You may also want to
write down a few notes about the book in the right column of the
chart.
“When you go to the school library, please take your list with
you so you will know exactly which section of the library your book
is shelved in. If one book is checked out, you can look for other
books on your list. When you finish reading a book, cross it off your
list.”

Recommended Books Chart

Using the Recommended Books chart as a model, create a large chart (at
least 24" x 36") to post on a wall or bulletin board. Attach a few pencils.
Watch the chart fill up with student recommendations! Post a sign
reminding students to use soft voices at the chart, which is sure to become a
center for engaging discussion about books and authors.

Vocabulary Activities
Many gifted kids love vocabulary activities, once they are introduced to the
magic of words. All gifted students should have their own thesaurus, access
to unabridged dictionaries for regular use, and also access to online
dictionary and thesaurus sites, if possible.
 To get your whole class hooked on words, bring in a copy of a baby
names book. Students will become fascinated with the history of their own
names. Once they’ve been enticed by that, they are likely to be excited
about studying the history of other words as well. Working with the school
media specialist, children’s librarians, or internet resources, you can collect
a variety of materials that help kids experience the delights of playing with
words, understanding how words change through time, and learning how
new words are added to our language. Use your internet browser to find
sites that focus on word play or fun with words. (See the references and
resources for specific suggestions.)
The next step in this process would be a study of etymology. Word
histories can be fascinating. It’s fun to learn that “alligator” comes from the
Spanish el lagarto, or lizard. Or that “fan” (as in sports fan) is short for
fanatic. Or that “sideburns” were named after General Ambrose E.
Burnside, a general in the United States Civil War.
Give students copies of Etymologies Activities and the Etymologies
Chart. Invite them to select an activity from the list. Then have them find 10
or more words or phrases that fit their chosen category (names, places,
sports, etc.). Turn them loose with unabridged dictionaries, college-level
dictionaries, and other print and online resources. Have students fill out an
Etymologies Chart for each category they investigate. Explain that to
complete the chart, they should write:
The original word or phrase in the far left column.
The original language of the word or phrase in the next column (usually
only available in unabridged dictionaries).
The meaning of the word or phrase in the original language in the center
column.
Today’s meaning of the word or phrase in the next column.
An original sentence using the word or phrase in the far right column. (To
make this more fun and interesting, students might write a rebus
sentence.)

Vocabulary Builders
Look for books and websites that help you teach one or more of the topics
listed on the Vocabulary Builders chart. Introduce one category at a time,
giving several examples. Then challenge students to come up with at least
10 more examples in the same category. Since gifted kids are highly
competitive, many will work very quietly on these so nobody else steals
their ideas!
Any and all of the activities described on the Vocabulary Builders chart
can be modified and expanded. For example, students can transmogrify
mottoes, proverbs, movie names, game names, or book titles. They can
even transmogrify stories or tales. Have them start by writing a one-page
summary of their chosen story, and then consult a thesaurus to put it in
more sophisticated words. This could be the basis of a class competition,
with different groups working on different stories, folk tales, or fairy tales.
When the groups are finished working, you may have to read their stories
aloud to the class, since many of their words are too cumbersome for them
to read themselves. The winning story is the one that takes the longest to
“decode.” Or, have your students read all of them as part of a blind review
process (removing the author’s name) and vote on their class favorite.
The Vocabulary Builders form provides many weeks of excellent work
with words. Brooke, a sixth grader, once told her teacher after the class had
been studying challenging vocabulary for several weeks, “Guess what, Mr.
Guardino? They just started using some of our words in the political
cartoons I look at every day online!” Of course you have guessed that
Brooke just started noticing the challenging words that had always been
there.

Super Sentences
These challenging vocabulary activities have enthralled gifted students in
many classrooms and include all levels of the Taxonomy of Thinking. The
two Super Sentences included here are from Super Sentences by Susan
Winebrenner, which include 22 examples (11 from Level One, 11 from
Level Two). Here are instructions for use:
1. Group students in pairs. Pair the outstanding vocabulary champs with
each other. Hand out copies of Super Sentence: Level One for word
mavens in grades 2–5, or Super Sentence: Level Two for word mavens
in grades 5–12.
 2. Read the sentence aloud several times, pronouncing all capitalized
words in an exaggerated manner. Tell students to listen carefully and
try to determine the parts of speech for the words in capital letters.
They should write the part of speech above each word to make sure
they select the correct dictionary entry when they go to look it up. As a
group, check for accuracy before proceeding to the definitions.
3. Tell students to work with their partners using advanced or unabridged
dictionaries—either hard copies or online—to complete the chart.
Explain that they should list the “mystery words” (those in capital
letters) in the far left column, write the pronunciation of each word in
the center column (using the pronunciation key from a dictionary or
from Super Sentences), then write the meaning of the word in the far
right column using their own words rather than the dictionary
definition.
4. Tell students that to complete this activity, they should be able to
pronounce and define each mystery word, read the sentence as it
appears—pronouncing all capitalized words correctly—and translate it
into simpler words. This may take more than one class period for
students to complete. Super Sentences may also be used individually as
an Extension Menu choice when studying language or grammar.
5. When the students are ready, bring the pairs together in a circle, if
space permits. If not, have partners sit together for this activity.
The first student reads the sentence up to and including the first
capitalized word.
The next student starts where the first leaves off, and reads all words
up to and including the next capitalized word.
Students keep taking turns until someone asks to read the entire
sentence aloud.
When several students have read the sentence aloud, ask for
volunteers to translate and reread it using simpler words.

Challenge students to make their own Super Sentences from vocabulary

they are learning in independent reading of books, newspapers, magazines,
the internet, or other sources. Be sure they prepare an answer key as well.
This is another great Extension Menu idea.
See the references and resources section for information about Susan’s
book Super Sentences.

Vocabulary Web
Educators at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia,
have produced many self-contained units for gifted students in several
subject areas. Their Vocabulary Web model is ideal for helping gifted kids
study words in depth. The goal of the web goes beyond simply learning a
particular word. See a completed web and a blank version you can copy and
give to your students.
Students can work alone, but it’s more fun to work in pairs. Assign
words or have students choose their own words. Use one Vocabulary Web
sheet for each word. Students write the word in the center circle, and then
work out from there, defining the word, finding synonyms and antonyms,
writing a sentence using the word, giving examples, and analyzing the
word. By the time they are finished, they have a thorough understanding of
the word.
Give students the option of sharing their findings with the class or other
appropriate audience. Create a bonus system when students use their Super
Sentence words in other forms of writing or speaking.

Bibliotherapy
Bibliotherapy is guided reading that helps readers cope with and solve
problems, understand themselves and their environment, build self-esteem,
and meet the developmental challenges of being a gifted kid. It can be
especially powerful with gifted kids because of their love of reading, their
ability to empathize, and their advanced grasp of literary devices including
metaphor.
For gifted students, reading a story or novel about other gifted kids is a
safe way to investigate, clarify, and validate their feelings. Confronting
issues objectively through fictional characters gives them practice in
dealing with their own real-life issues. Reading about characters who are
like them, with similar abilities, emotions, and experiences, helps gifted
kids know they’re not alone.
For gifted students, reading a story about other gifted kids is
a safe way to investigate, clarify, and validate their feelings.

Bibliotherapy involves more than handing books to your students and

sending them off to read. Judith Wynn Halsted, author of Some of My Best
Friends Are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School,
notes that:1
Rather than merely recommending a book to a child, bibliotherapy
includes three components: a reader, a book, and a leader who will
read the same book and prepare for productive discussion of the
issues the book raises. To be effective, the leader must be aware of
the process of bibliotherapy: IDENTIFICATION, in which the
reader identifies with a character in the book; CATHARSIS, the
reader’s experiencing of the emotions attributed to the character;
and INSIGHT, the application of the character’s experience to the
reader’s own life. The leader then frames questions that will confirm
and expand on these elements.
Source: Center for Gifted Education, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.
Used with permission.
 If you plan to use bibliotherapy with your gifted students, use the
internet to find suitable books. The characters and stories don’t have to
match your students’ lives exactly, but they should have some things in
common. (See references and resources for more information.)
Librarians or websites may also be able to help you locate other books
to offer your students. You will want to become familiar with whatever your
students read, either by reading the materials yourself, using internet
resources for synopses and reviews, learning about them in reading
conferences with the students, or by using prepackaged units for individual
novels. Then follow through with individual or group discussions.

Teaching Writing to Gifted Learners

Reading and writing are inextricably intertwined. In the activity lists in this
chapter, both topics are included. Your outstanding writers, by the very
nature of their sophisticated writing ability, need compacting and
differentiation in their writing work. Many gifted students write stories,
poems, and plays and keep them at home. Ask their parents about these
writing projects, and invite the kids to keep an ongoing writing project in
class and return to it whenever they buy back some choice time. Some
talented writers do not want to do this, unless you promise you will not get
overinvolved in the project. Sometimes, we can act as editors for students’
writing efforts, but we should not write directly on their product. Sticky
notes—both real and digital—can help with this effort.
Since much of the writing done in school is skill work (spelling,
grammar, and mechanics), you can use Most Difficult First and Learning
Contracts (see chapter 2) to make sure your advanced writers do not have to
spend precious class time “learning” skills and formats they already know
well. They need opportunities to do work that is meaningful for them.
The contracts allow talented writers to spend considerable class time on
their individual writing projects. See the sample Contract for Expository
Writing. For students who are using writing contracts but who need ideas
for writing projects, the Expository Writing Extension Menu offers several
interesting choices. Using the interactive version of this form in the
accompanying digital content, you can easily change the menu to fit other
types of writing, such as descriptive or narrative.
 Since writing is a skill-based activity and its elements can be pre-
assessed, the Study Guide method is not as useful as the contract strategies
described in chapter 3. Always have students record their progress on a
Daily Log of Extension Work and keep it in their Compacting Folder.

Storyboards
Storyboards are a type of graphic organizer used to create digital stories.
They are an exciting experience for many writers, and a downright miracle
for some twice-exceptional students, who often find it very difficult to
clearly understand a story’s sequence—both in the stories they write and in
those they read. They allow writers to plan the specific elements they want
in a story, and then help them organize and reorganize the story components
visually. There are no rewrites—multiple written revisions are not
necessary. Imagine the allure of this to a twice-exceptional student who
could always tell his or her story, but found writing it nearly impossible.
With storyboards, it’s not until all the essential components are in place that
the actual story production begins.
A storyboard can help ease project development for your students. It
gives them a plan and reduces frustration and the overwhelming feeling of
not knowing how to proceed. When teaching storyboards, post written
directions that walk students through the process. This is important because
some students will be working on these projects independently or in small
groups, while you are providing direct instruction to the full class. Students
can then use the storyboards to make notes for their audience to follow
while they are presenting their projects.
As students become more skilled with the technology, and if you have
sufficient computers available to you, students can create their storyboards
digitally. This planning takes time, but it helps kids create projects that are
well thought-out and maximizes time and available technology.
 See chapter 8 for more information on using technology to challenge
gifted learners.
Writing Activities Gifted Learners Enjoy
Many of the great ideas for writing activities you’ve come across or used
over the years will delight your gifted students. Some might be used as
writing suggestions, others will serve as extension activities. Remember,
gifted kids enjoy taking an idea and adapting it in some way to make it
“their” idea. Here are several suggestions from which your students may
choose:
Rewrite a story from a different character’s point of view.
Write opposing viewpoints papers. Enlist a friend to help you present a
two-sided argument that explores the two different sides of an issue.
Write any kind of poetry you want. You can follow a form or not, use
rhyme or not—whatever appeals to you. Find and explore internet poetry
sites, and consider submitting an original poem for consideration in
writing contests.
Listen to a piece of instrumental music, classical, jazz, world music,
relaxing music, or whatever you choose. Write about it. How does it
make you feel? What does it make you think about? What images do you
see in your mind when you listen?
Write a description of a work of art, painting, sculpture, drawing, or
photograph you admire or dislike. Include your interpretation of what you
think it is supposed to mean or of what it means to you. Go online to
access collections of many famous art museums all over the world.
Explore the techniques of technical writing via online sites. After
studying a technique, produce a sample on a topic that interests you.
Example: Write a user’s guide to playing a favorite game or using a new
electronic gadget or toy.
Contact a writer you admire. Interview him or her over email. Tell the
author what you liked about a specific work, and ask questions about her
or his writing process. Create a report about your interview.
Choose a topic that interests you and write an essay about it at the start of
the school year. Write an essay about the same topic in early May.
Analyze your growth as a writer according to a rubric.
 Submit a favorite piece you have written to a writing contest. A quick
search online will yield dozens of results for student writing
competitions. Winning submissions are typically published.
Analyze and assess your own writing using the same rubric provided by
your teacher.

Another activity many students greatly enjoy involves U.S. towns and
cities with unusual names.
1. Have students search an atlas, maps, or internet resources for unusual
city or town names and list at least 10.
2. Working individually or in small groups, kids choose one city or town,
and then write a story about how they think it got its name without
consulting the internet.
3. Students write a letter or an email to the mayor or city council,
enclosing their story and asking for information about how the town
really got its name.

Some town names that are particularly intriguing are Embarrass,

Minnesota; Bowlegs, Oklahoma; Bugscuffle, Tennessee; Boring, Maryland
and Oregon; Horseheads, New York; Rough and Ready, California, New
York, and Pennsylvania; Dime Box, Texas; Double Trouble, New Jersey;
What Cheer, Iowa; Truth or Consequences, New Mexico; Zap, North
Dakota; and Monkey’s Eyebrow, Pippa Passes, and Mouthcard, Kentucky.
Students will often receive replies to their letters and stories.

Getting Your Students’ Writing Published

Students who enjoy writing and excel at it need opportunities to reach an
audience beyond their classmates. School newsletters and newspapers are
great, but when you find a writer who’s truly exceptional, you’ll want to go
even further.
It’s absolutely thrilling to become a published author, and several book
and magazine publishers and internet sites welcome kids’ writing. For a list
of possibilities, see the references and resources. Students should contact
publishers directly by writing formal letters of inquiry. (Your job is to coach
them, not to do it for them.) Some publishers’ websites provide information
about how to submit work for publication.

STRATEGY

The Great Friday Afternoon

Event
The Great Friday Afternoon Event is language arts fun for the whole class.
It’s a way to celebrate language as well as provide welcome relief from the
required curriculum. You can use the Great Friday Afternoon Event handout
at the end of this chapter with your students.
1. Divide the class into four heterogeneous teams.
If you have more than 28 students, form more teams and create more
categories of events, such as Choral Reading, Commercials, and
Storytelling.
On the handout, the teams are called A, B, C, and D, but it is fun for
teams to choose their own names, slogans, etc.
Each week, each team is responsible for a different category. Each
week, each team has a new captain who is in charge of making sure
that all students contribute their part to the team’s Friday
presentation.
The teams stay together until all teams have presented all of the
categories. Four teams stay together for four weeks, five teams for
five weeks, and so on. Each week a different student acts as captain
of the team. After all teams have experience in all categories, you
may want to change one or more of the categories. Or you may keep
the same categories all year and have teams continue to rotate
through them.
2. Make sure the teams understand their tasks as described on the
handout.
3. Provide materials for students to use. Collect poems, plays,
newspapers, news magazines, etc. Allow practice time during the week;
 help the captains help their team members rehearse. Create simple
rubrics for good presentations. Invite parent volunteers to help collect
the materials and come to the classroom to provide whatever assistance
students need.

Although the teams are heterogeneous and all students contribute to the
fun, gifted kids really enjoy this opportunity to showcase their talents. This
event may be combined with Book Sharing Time, during which students
add to their Books I Want to Read list. You might finish the Great Friday
Afternoon Event with an academic competition in the style of a favorite TV
show to review the week’s learned standards in any or all subject areas.

QUESTIONS ANSWERS
“How can I find the necessary time to provide alternate
activities when I don’t have enough time to finish the
required reading program?”
Although some of the alternatives described in this chapter can be used as
extension activities, they are not intended to be offered in addition to the
regular program. They should be used instead of the regular program in
many cases. The most common reason for using a prescribed program is
because there’s comfort in knowing you’ll be teaching the required
standards. When you pretest skill or vocabulary work, you can allow kids
who achieve at the required level to work on extension activities instead of
the regular curriculum. Even when the content is new and pretesting isn’t
possible, you can use Study Guides and Extension Menus. Chapter 4
describes the steps to successful implementation of these methods in great
detail.

Invite grade-level colleagues to help you plan Extension Menus. Work

during lunch or common planning times. Don’t forget the chocolate! Create
the lessons using the templates in the digital content accompanying this
book. Then email them to other colleagues. You can tweak the lessons you
receive from others based on the needs of the students in your classroom
and your curriculum. Most schools have an Intranet site where teachers can
also share curriculum. Consider creating a repertoire of extension activities
that teachers in your school or district can access and contribute to.

“How will parents feel if students aren’t completing the

required reading, or are skipping some skill work?”
Very few of the educational practices we use in today’s classrooms
resemble the way things were done in the schools today’s parents attended.
It’s up to us to educate parents and keep them informed.
Whenever you implement a new strategy, send home a letter describing
what you are doing. Bring parents up-to-date at open houses and parent-
teacher conferences. Once parents see that their children are eager to go to
school and learn, it’s easy to convince them that your teaching methods are
effective for their children.

“What about the truly precocious reader who is several

years ahead of the others? Shouldn’t that student have
an accelerated program?”
Yes. For students who enter school reading several years ahead of their
classmates, accelerated instruction may determine whether they keep their
edge or slowly return to the level of their age peers. Remember never to
accelerate students into out-of-level required reading materials without
informing other people who might be affected in subsequent years. Any
decision to place students in higher-level materials in any subject must be
made as a team. Your team might include other teachers, the principal,
parents, and even some staff from the middle school or high school, since
they will eventually be affected by your actions.
Even if you can’t use some required reading materials, very few trade
books should be off limits, giving kids almost unlimited choices with real
literature. If you are at a school where acceleration is not allowed, keep to
the grade-level basals and anthologies, but differentiate like crazy with self-
selected materials. Pretest a lot! For more on the topic of acceleration, see
chapter 9.

“Isn’t it important for all kids to participate in the regular

writing program, since writing is such an important skill
in so many areas of learning and working?”
Never forget the difference between the words “teach” and “learn.” Your
state or province only requires you to document what kids have learned.
You only have to teach your assigned content to students who have not yet
mastered it. Keeping these principles foremost in your mind, you’ll never
have to worry whether extension activities in writing are appropriate for
kids with advanced writing abilities.

Chapter Summary
Gifted students usually prefer a reading program that offers choices about
what they read and the activities they do. If you are not presently using a
literature-based program with your entire class, the strategies described in
this chapter will help you offer independent learning options to better meet
the reading needs of your gifted students. If you are currently using real
literature for much of your reading program, these strategies may help you
differentiate for your readers who are gifted. Advanced writers probably
already know most of the writing skills you are planning to teach. They will
benefit most from contracts and extensions.
 Contract for Permission to
Read Ahead

Check each statement to show that you agree with it. Then sign the
contract.

I will not tell anyone anything about the story until everyone in the
group has finished reading it.

I will not participate in prediction activities.

Contract for Permission to

Read Ahead

Check each statement to show that you agree with it. Then sign the
contract.

I will not tell anyone anything about the story until everyone in the
group has finished reading it.

I will not participate in prediction activities.

Contract for Permission to

Read Ahead
 Check each statement to show that you agree with it. Then sign the
contract.

I will not tell anyone anything about the story until everyone in the
group has finished reading it.

I will not participate in prediction activities.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Contract for Reading Skills
and Vocabulary

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Reading Activities Menu

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Animal Story Study Guide

Be prepared to:

1. Identify and discuss all of the elements in our

story map as they appeared in this story.

2. Discuss the meanings of the vocabulary

words for this story.

3. Describe the animal(s) that are important

characters in this story. Include information
about physical appearance, behavior, likes
and dislikes, wishes, and the problem the
animal(s) need to solve.

4. Create a dialogue between a human and an

animal in this story in which the animal
describes what he or she really wants.
Continue by inventing a plan they form to
make the animal’s wish come true.

5. Explain the evidence from the story that

shows a bond between humans and one or
 more of the animals.

6. Use a visual to chart the similarities and

differences between an animal in the story
and a “real” animal of the same species.

7. Make a chart that describes the human

qualities each animal in the story possesses.
Write a story with anthropomorphic qualities.
(Anthropomorphism is a technique in writing
that makes animals appear to have human
characteristics.)

8. Illustrate in some manner some differences

between wild and domestic animals of a
certain species.

9. Prepare a want ad in which a human in the

story advertises his or her need for an
animal to help with a problem, OR in which
the animal advertises for help from a human.

10. Create a brochure describing how a child

should care for an animal in this story, if the
animal were the child’s pet.
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Animal Story Extension Menu

Write a first- Do a research study Read 10 or more

person story in about an organization that poems about
which the main is working to save animals. Write
character is an endangered animals from poetry about
animal who tries to extinction. Plan a animals that
live with humans. campaign to save an interest you.
animal you admire.

Read about Plan and present

people who have a debate about
tamed and lived the merits of
with wild animals. preserving a
Describe the
characteristics
such people have
Student certain area for
the use of its
existing animals
in common.
Choice and plants. The
other side of the
debate would give
reasons to
develop the area
into homes or
shopping.

Pretend you’re an Investigate a situation in Create a

archaeologist who which a government is in composite animal
has just conflict with animal rights with elements of
discovered the activists over which several animals.
remains of an species are good to keep Convince
extinct animal. and which are not. someone else that
Share information Hypothesize some of the it’s the best animal
about how the potential negative in the world.
animal lived, why it outcomes of the conflict.
became extinct,
and how it might
have been saved
from extinction.
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Biography Study Guide

Be prepared to:

1. Describe details from the subject’s early

years, including place and circumstances of
birth, childhood, schooling, siblings, parents,
and relatives who influenced him or her.

2. Describe details from the subject’s

adolescence, including hobbies, education,
and memorable experiences.

3. Describe the personal aspects of the

subject’s adult life, including relationships,
commitments, and significant events.

4. Explain when and how the subject found his

or her way to a chosen career. Include
information about the people or events that
influenced him or her.

5. Describe what qualities, circumstances, or

events made this person important enough
 to have a biography written about him or her.

6. Prepare a timeline of the subject’s career,

including both helpful events and setbacks.

7. Describe how the subject’s life ended, as

well as any awards or honors he or she
received.

8. Understand the meanings of all assigned

vocabulary words.

9. Describe how the biography helped you

better understand the events of the times in
which the subject lived and worked.

10. Find some events in the biography that you

think might not have happened as they were
portrayed. Find another source of
information about the subject and decide
how accurate the portrayal is in the
biography.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Biography Extension Menu

Create a Read three biographies in Illustrate the

bibliography of a specific category (see relationship
biographies in a the box at the left). between the
specific category. Illustrate the elements subject’s life and
Examples: they have in common. the time period in
women, which he or she
astronauts, lived. Include
children, information about
musicians, specific events
inventors, sports and how they
heroes, influenced the
entertainers. Read person’s life.
those that look
interesting to you.
Find a way to get
others interested
in reading them.

Describe gender Discover some

or ethnic issues in things about which
biographies written the subject would
for your age group have been proud.
during the past 10
years, and during
the first 5 years of
Student Use these to
create his or her
obituary and
any previous
decade. Choice epitaph.

Create an Act out a biography of a Use photography

illustrated timeline person who was to illustrate the
showing major and connected to a particular “snapshot
minor events in historical event your method” of
the subject’s life. classmates are studying. biography, in
Create a second Challenge your audience which you show
timeline showing to guess the person’s common themes
things the person identity. or elements found
 might have wanted in three
to do or biographies.
accomplish.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
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 Author Extension Menu

Read interviews Discover other things the Write something of

with the author. author has written that your own in the
Write a short don’t follow the same same style as the
biography of the style of the book you are author.
author based on reading.
that information.

Write a letter to Find out if the

the author. (Get author has worked
contact with other writers
information from and/or illustrators.
the publisher.)
Give your
reactions to the
Student Compare the
author’s “working
alone” style with
book and ask the
author some Choice his or her “working
with others” style.
questions about Is there a
himself or herself. difference? If so,
describe it.

Read other books Learn the steps a person Determine how e-

of the same type has to take to become a books and other
by different published author. digital publications
authors. Compare Illustrate at least three impact author and
and contrast the paths to publication, publisher income.
styles of the including hard copy and Share what you
various authors. electronic materials. have found with a
group interested in
publishing.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
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 Circle of Books

Each time you finish a book, put a tally mark in

the appropriate section. Check to see if you are
reading from a variety of categories or limiting
yourself to just one or two.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Reading Response Sheet

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
Teacher’s Conference Record Sheet
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use
(Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018.
This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district. For all other uses,
contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 Books I Want to Read

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Recommended Books

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Vocabulary Builders

1. ACRONYMS: Words made from the first

letters of a list of words you want to
remember.
Example: HOMES for the Great Lakes:
Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.
2. COINED WORDS: Words created to fill a
need that no existing word serves. Many
trademarks are coined words.
Examples: Kleenex, Xerox.
3. DAFFYNITIONS: Crazy definitions that
make some sense.
Examples: Grapes grow on divine. A police
uniform is a lawsuit.
4. ETYMOLOGIES: The histories of words,
including their origins and changes through
time and other languages.
5. EUPHEMISMS: More gentle ways of saying
things that sound too harsh.
Example: “He passed away” instead of “He
died.”
6. FIGURES OF SPEECH: Expressions that
mean something different as a whole than if
 you take each word literally.
Example: There are many skeletons in our
family closet.
7. MALAPROPISMS: Words misused on
purpose or by accident. They sound like the
words you mean to say but have different,
often contradictory meanings.
Example: “Complete and under a bridge”
instead of “Complete and unabridged.”
8. PALINDROMES: Words and phrases
spelled the same forward and backward.
Examples: Otto, Madam, “Madam, I’m
Adam.”
9. PORTMANTEAUS: Words made by
blending parts of other words.
Example: “Brunch” from “breakfast” and
“lunch.”
10. PUN STORIES: Stories that include as
many puns as possible. Puns are plays on
words.
Example: The pancakes were selling like
hotcakes because they didn’t cost a lot of
dough.
11. SLIDE WORDS: Words slid together from
abbreviations.
Example: “Jeep” from “GP” (a general
purpose vehicle during World War II).
 12. SUPER SENTENCES: Sentences made
from very difficult vocabulary words.
13. TOM SWIFTIES: Statements that combine a
word with its related adverb.
Example: “I just cut my finger!” cried Tom
sharply.
14. TRANSMOGRIFICATIONS: Simple
thoughts expressed in sophisticated or
challenging words.
Example: “Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid
minific” for “Twinkle, twinkle, little star.”
15. ROOTS: Study the Latin roots of 10 words.
Find words in other sources that have those
roots.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Etymologies Activities

1. First names, either gender.

2. Last names that describe occupations.

Examples: Hooper, Smith, Taylor.

3. Places or things named after people.

Examples: sideburns, Mansard roof,
sandwich.

4. Native American words or names.

5. Foreign words in common English usage.

6. Words or phrases from sports. Examples:

strike out, take a new tack.

7. Words or phrases from television and

movies. Examples: commercial, Foley artist.

8. Words or phrases from art. Examples:

Impressionism, fresco.
 9. Words or phrases from architecture.
Examples: flying buttress, Baroque.

10. Words or phrases from medicine. Examples:

penicillin, anesthesia.

11. Words or phrases from music. Examples:

concert, bebop.

12. Words or phrases from computers and the

internet. Examples: email, cyberspace.

13. Words or phrases from any other specialty

or field of interest.

14. Words or phrases from a new category you

create.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Etymologies Chart

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Super Sentences: Level One

Directions: Work with a partner to pronounce and

define each “mystery word” (words in capital letters),
read the sentence as it appears, and translate it into
simpler words.

We live near a GROTESQUE, HIDEOUS,

DETERIORATED old house filled with TORTUOUS,
IMPENETRABLE hallways that give me EERIE,
GHASTLY feelings of CLAUSTROPHOBIA and
TREPIDATION, especially when I hear the
FORMIDABLE CACOPHONY of BABBLING voices
when no one else is there.
Reprinted from Super Sentences. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press, 1989.
Used with permission in Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and
Techniques Every Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner,
M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use
within an individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc.
at [Link]/permissions.
 Super Sentences: Level Two

Directions: Work with a partner to pronounce and

define each “mystery word” (words in capital letters),
read the sentence as it appears, and translate it into
simpler words.

The TRUCULENT, OPPIDAN LICKSPITTLE

SEQUESTERED himself from the BROUHAHA
caused by the PUSILLANIMOUS MOUNTEBANK,
and MACHINATED a MACHIAVELLIAN
PREVARICATION to METE to himself some of the
mountebank’s LUCRE.
Reprinted from Super Sentences. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press, 1989.
Used with permission in Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and
Techniques Every Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner,
M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use
within an individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc.
at [Link]/permissions.
 Vocabulary Web

Source: Center for Gifted Education, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.
Used with permission in Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and
Techniques Every Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner,
M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use
within an individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc.
at [Link]/permissions.
 Expository Writing Extension
Menu

Write an Develop a lengthy piece Prepare to speak

expository essay of writing of your own at a government
to submit to the choosing. Contract with meeting to
editorial page of a the teacher regarding convince
local newspaper or ongoing progress legislators to
news website. conferences and record support your
keeping. position on a topic
of your choice.

Present a debate Prepare to speak

on a topic of your at a school board
choosing with one meeting to
or several other convince
students to an
appropriate
audience.
Student members to
support your
position on a

Choice school-related
issue.

Evaluate the Write an expository Rewrite a

effectiveness of paragraph in another paragraph or page
several expository language. from a textbook to
paragraphs in a make the
current nonfiction expository
best seller. language more
effective.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 The Great Friday Afternoon
Event

How It Works:

1. The class is divided into four teams. Teams

stay together for four weeks.
2. On Fridays, each team presents a different
program to the class.
3. Teams rotate categories and captains every
week.
4. After four weeks, all four teams will have
presented all four types of programs.

Poetry: Each team member reads or recites a

poem. You can choose a poem by someone else
or read a poem you have written.
 Declamation: Each team member reads aloud
or recites an excerpt or piece of prose writing.
You can choose an essay, speech, book chapter,
etc., by someone else or read something you
have written.

Play: The team works together to read or act out

a play or part of a play.

Newscast: The team works together to

broadcast a 5–10 minute radio or cable news
show about a current or historical event.

Other Possible Topics: Book or movie review,

storytelling, speech, scientific discovery, humor,
demonstration, persuasive message, PowerPoint
presentation.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
CHAPTER 5
Planning Curriculum for All
Students at the Same Time

STRATEGIES
Taxonomy of Thinking
Curriculum Differentiation Chart
Tiered Learning Experiences
The ThinkTrix
The Kaplan Model
Learning Centers
Socratic Seminars
Gifted students are expected to master the same standards, themes, and
concepts as the rest of the class. The difference is that they require regular
opportunities to become engaged with learning activities that require more
depth and complexity, to accelerate through grade-level standards when
needed, and to be able to make choices regarding their extended learning
opportunities. At the same time that you’re creating instructional activities
for the entire class, you can also develop deep and complex activities for
gifted students that provide more challenge.
This chapter describes several techniques that you may use either alone
or in combination to increase the amount of experience your students have
with appropriately challenging learning experiences. Each technique allows
you to start the differentiation process with the required standards, and then
move highly capable learners into unfamiliar content so they may
experience authentic learning.
The term “higher level thinking” is generic. For many years, Benjamin
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives was widely used. More
recently, other models have also emerged. The following sections describe
these models for you, so you can apply your creativity in presenting them to
your students. When educators limit their students’ learning opportunities to
simply knowing and understanding content enough to score well on related
assessments, many students will leave high school having learned only a
small portion of what was possible.

Learning Modalities
One way to create opportunities for differentiated learning is by offering
learning tasks that appeal to various learning modalities. Students then
choose the task that most appeals to them. You are not required to assign
students to the “correct” task. This approach is predicated on the belief that
all students can learn the required standards if the content is presented to
them in ways their brains can easily process. Some teachers reject this
notion, fearing that this level of accommodation will only pamper
struggling students into lifelong helplessness. On the contrary, this approach
empowers students to believe that if they are having trouble learning
required standards, their goal should be to search for another method that
will lead to success. A quote from Dr. Kenneth Dunn sums it up nicely: “If
students are not learning the way we teach them, we must teach them the
way they learn.”

“If students are not learning the way we teach them, we must
teach them the way they learn.”

Students generally belong to one or more of three learning modality

categories:
Auditory learners learn by listening, and the more their teachers talk, the
better they like it. Auditory learners’ favorite thinking styles are logical,
analytic, and sequential. Most of the learning tasks in many classrooms
favor auditory learners, because many teachers use learning tasks that
require logical, analytic, and sequential thinking. Each time you ask
students to listen carefully, learn and work in silence, take notes in outline
form, follow directions exactly the way you gave them, or predict events,
you are favoring auditory learners. Auditory learners do well on these tasks
because they like information presented in logical, sequential lessons. They
love to analyze the information, make predictions, and check out those
predictions as the lessons proceed. They prefer learning from the parts to
the whole. Unfortunately, auditory learners make up less than 25 percent of
the students in most classes.
Visual learners learn by seeing, mostly through images and graphic
organizers and other kinds of visual thinking tools. They do not enjoy
learning in little bits and pieces and much prefer teachers who demonstrate
the “whole” before teaching the parts. So in reading and literature, they like
to know how the story turns out ahead of reading it. In science and social
studies, they much prefer perusing the whole unit before being required to
learn its individual parts. Because of the early ages at which our children
now learn digitally, they expect school to be like those formats, and become
impatient if they have to do too much reading before getting the “big
picture.” You might be shocked to know that in typical classes, visual
learners comprise about 65 percent of all students. Therefore, teachers who
are unwilling to use teaching strategies that make learning more accessible
for visual learners actually become part of the problem, as a huge
percentage of students who are in the bottom fourth of any grade level
include visual (and tactile-kinesthetic) learners. Not because they are less
intelligent than auditory learners, but because teaching methods have not
been friendly to the way in which their brains process information.
Tactile-kinesthetic learners comprise about 80 percent of the group
recognized as struggling students. They are unable to learn if they are
forced to sit still for very long. There is nothing “wrong” with them—their
brains just process better if they are allowed to move.

Once you identify your students’ preferred learning modality, it

becomes much easier to create learning activities that are highly likely to
lead to success. For example, a kindergarten teacher discovered that her
students’ attention spans were dramatically improved when she took them
for a run around the playground before starting the academic portion of
their school day. A high school teacher discovered that his students learned
significantly more about the literature they were reading if they could act
out some key scenes in the story. Although these are simple interventions,
the results are dramatically effective.
You don’t have to worry about matching the right student with the right
task. When you use the Curriculum Differentiation Chart, it’s impossible for
students to choose the wrong task. And, since the tasks are designed to
accommodate learning modality differences, you can rest assured that
everyone will find things they can do with enjoyment and competence.

STRATEGY

Taxonomy of Thinking
One popular differentiation model is, of course, Bloom’s Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives1. It’s an especially ideal model to use to create
challenging activities for gifted students. It describes six levels of thinking,
arranged sequentially from least to most complex. The original model
placed Evaluate at the top of the figure. However, 20 years ago Susan began
placing Create above Evaluate, maintaining that if the model is hierarchical,
then the most challenging category should be on top. The 2001 revision of
the taxonomy, led by Anderson and Krathwohl, reflected that change. As
displayed in the Taxonomy of Thinking chart, the levels are as follows:
 1. Recall is simply that. Students can say that they “know” something if
they can recall it to recite it or write it down.
2. Understand means that students can say what they “know” in their
own words. Retelling a story, stating the main idea, or translating from
another language are several ways in which students can demonstrate
that they understand what they have learned.
3. Apply means that students can apply what they have learned from one
context to another. For example, they might use their knowledge of
fractions to double a baking recipe, or they may be required to decide
when to apply mathematical or social studies concepts to real-life
situations.
4. Analyze means that a student can understand the attributes of
something so that its component parts may be studied separately and in
relation to one another. Asking students to compare and contrast,
categorize, and/or recognize inferences, opinions, or motives would
give them experience in analyzing.
5. Evaluate gives students opportunities to judge what they have
analyzed. Susan’s version of Bloom’s model considers Evaluate after
Analyze, since it’s very natural to ask students to give their opinion or
state a preference about something they are analyzing.
6. Create requires students to create a novel or original thought, idea, or
product. All of the activities we call “creative thinking” give students
experience with creation.

STRATEGY

Curriculum Differentiation
Chart
The Curriculum Differentiation Chart (CDC) is a way to plan curriculum
for all of your students at the same time, in the same place—literally on the
same document. It includes your descriptions of different learning tasks for
auditory, visual, and tactile-kinesthetic learners, plus your extension
activities for gifted students.
 Right now, you’re probably thinking, “Where am I supposed to find
time to design four different sets of learning tasks? Help!” We know it
sounds daunting. The good news is, you don’t have to do it alone.
When Susan gives teacher training workshops, she asks teachers to
work in “job-alike” groups, sitting together by common grade level or
subject area. As they work together to plan differentiation opportunities for
their students, they are amazed at how much they can accomplish in 20
minutes or less.
Susan first discovered this during her classroom teaching years and
learned how to capitalize on it for everyone’s benefit. When she wanted to
plan an Extension Menu or Curriculum Differentiation Chart, she would
post a note in a conspicuous place on the day she wanted to work. The note
usually said something like this:
I need help with some curriculum planning today during my lunch
time. From 12:15–12:45.
If you are available during this time, please come to my room
and help with the brainstorming.
P.S. I’LL BRING CHOCOLATE!
The “lunch and chocolate” approach soon becomes a habit for teachers
who appreciate that many heads are better than one for all types of planning
experiences.

Scenario: José
José was a third grader who had always found schoolwork to be very easy.
Recently he had developed some distracting behaviors. He had started
turning in his work late, and much of it was sloppy and inaccurate. Even
though José was capable of doing complex activities, his work always
seemed to reflect his attitude of, “What is the least amount of work I can do
and still stay out of trouble?” His favorite question was, “How many lines
does this have to be?”
José’s teacher recognized that he was bored by work that was too easy,
and she decided to build some more challenging options into the upcoming
unit on nutrition. She hoped that by offering José some choices with
attractive incentives, he could function more like a gifted student should.
 When she planned the next unit, she used the Curriculum
Differentiation Chart. All students could choose activities from the chart;
the more capable kids could do fewer and more complex activities and skip
the simpler tasks. José’s eyes lit up when he heard the news, and his work in
subsequent units was much more in line with his advanced ability.

Scenario: Shanaya
Shanaya had not had a very successful school record in terms of grades.
However, she appeared to have a photographic memory for topics she really
loved. She actually knew a lot about boxing, and claimed to have
memorized many statistics on the topic, which she would often inject into
conversations in the most unusual ways. She was always humming softly,
and tended to use any available surface as a drum. Sitting in one place
bothered her greatly, so she was constantly looking for excuses to leave her
desk and move about the classroom.
When Shanaya saw the CDC on nutrition, she wanted to choose some of
the extension activities, and work on designing a nutritional plan for—you
guessed it—a female boxer in training! She chose a way to do it that
complemented her tactile-kinesthetic learning modality. She actually
prepared and tasted all the food she included, and even found a way to
compute the nutritional content. Her teacher decided to allow her to do this
as long as all the assessment expectations for the required standards were
met. Shanaya attended all the direct instruction lessons but did all her actual
work on her chosen extension activity. Shanaya got what she wanted and so
did her teacher, as Shanaya’s grades for her work in this unit were excellent.
Shanaya’s experience demonstrates that once we have found the style of
instruction that is most likely to lead to success for a given student, we
should not hesitate to allow students to choose activities in that category,
even exclusively. Some gifted students are equally comfortable with more
than one learning modality approach. However, if a student is interested in a
learning activity, but does not want to work on the suggested product, be
flexible about letting the student choose another way to demonstrate what
she or he has learned.
The CDC is designed to enable you to plan for all students’ learning
modalities simultaneously for an entire unit of work. A column labeled
“Extension” is for critical thinking tasks that gifted students may be allowed
to do instead of any of the other tasks on the same horizontal line.
How to Use the Curriculum Differentiation
Chart
A reproducible Curriculum Differentiation Chart can be found at the end of
this chapter, but you may wish to use the customizable file in the digital
content instead because it has expandable fields for more writing space. Or
you may choose to make your own charts on larger sheets of paper.
1. Look back at Preparing the Study Guide and Extension Menu in
chapter 3 for suggestions on determining standards and related topics.
2. Start each unit with an overview of the content. This is an essential step
for some of your global thinkers, especially those with learning
problems and gifted kids who are twice-exceptional (see chapter 1).
3. Write the standards as statements in the far left column of the
Curriculum Differentiation Chart.
4. Working horizontally across the chart, plan the differentiated tasks.
The Product Choices Chart can help you design tasks that will appeal
to auditory, visual, and tactile-kinesthetic learners. Feel free to add
other products that support the standards and fit the learning
modalities.
For ideas on how to phrase tasks, use the Trigger Words column in
the Taxonomy of Thinking chart. Average and below-average
students need considerable time with Recall and Understand tasks
before they can move on to more complex tasks. We recommend that
most of the tasks you design for your visual and tactile-kinesthetic
learners fall into the Recall, Understand, and Apply categories. For
the extension tasks, use the Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create
categories. (Apply is a “swing” category, depending on the
complexity of the task.)
All tasks on each horizontal line must teach the standard on that line.
After you write each task, check back to make sure this is the case.
Confirm that if a student completed only that task and none of the
other tasks on that line, he or she would still be learning the
standard.
IMPORTANT After entering all of the standards, you should always work horizontally
across the chart until you have completed all four columns for each
standard. This reinforces the idea that you’re not finished planning until you’ve
accommodated all types of learners. Once you’ve completed several charts, planning
for differentiation with each new unit will become a habit.

5. If you need more than one extension task per standard, create an
Extension Menu at the same time you’re creating your Curriculum
Differentiation Chart. See the reproducible Nutrition Extension Menu.
If you want to stretch this unit into other areas of the curriculum,
create an Extension Menu that allows for this, with one subject per
square. See reproducible example at the end of this chapter.
6. Let all students choose the task they want to work on. They can choose
anything that appeals to them, as long as it’s on the same horizontal line
as the standard you’re teaching. No matter what task they choose, they
will learn the standard.
Give students several days to work on their tasks. Then lead a
discussion about what they have learned. Since students will have
chosen different tasks and studied material from different sources, the
discussion will be enhanced by variety.
7. To manage the students’ extension activities, use the Independent Study
Agreement or the Personal Interest Study Project Agreement. Be
sensitive to the fact that many gifted kids resist writing tasks. Writing
slows down their thinking, and often it’s not necessary for their mastery
of a standard. Have students keep track of their progress using the
Daily Log of Extension Work.

NOTE Later in the unit, provide opportunities for all students to do higher-level tasks.
They might select a culminating activity from the Extension column or a task from the
Extension Menu, if you include one in your unit.

8. Decide how outcomes or grades will be determined. Use the Evaluation

Contract or any other method of evaluating student projects. Be sure to
tell students about the grading criteria you will use before they start
working.
 9. Plan the record-keeping procedures you will use. There are two parts to
record-keeping. The first is making sure that students are working
productively every day; the Daily Log of Extension Work takes care of
this. The second is recording their grades.
Students who work on tasks from the learning modality columns
(Auditory/Analytic, Visual/Global, Tactile-Kinesthetic/Global) earn
daily grades for their work.
Students who work on extension activities may take several days to
complete one task. In all available spaces in your grade book (or
computerized grading program), enter the grade they earn for that task.
This might require you to allow them to learn other standards on their
own, without producing actual products related to each standard. As in
the Study Guide method, these students would still be held accountable
for assessments on all of the content at the same time the rest of the
class is being assessed.

NOTE When teaching a thinking strategy to students, first use simple content so they
can concentrate on the strategy. Then, use the same strategy with your required
standards. Once students “get” the strategy, they can use it with greater
understanding when the strategy is applied to actual content.

STRATEGY

Tiered Learning Experiences

Another method for differentiating for all students simultaneously is Tiered
Learning Experiences, which uses the Taxonomy of Thinking or ThinkTrix
to plan appropriately challenging learning activities for students at all
thinking levels. The Tiered Lesson Planning Chart (see a blank form and an
example form) is created and used in much the same way as the Curriculum
Differentiation Chart has been designed for using the Taxonomy of
Thinking to plan lessons at several different levels of difficulty: entry level,
advanced level, and extension level. The required standard is described in
the left column. Working horizontally across the row, other activities should
give all students practice in learning the described standard. Although the
entry level task should be easier than the advanced level, the advanced level
should not simply be more work than the entry level task. Rather, the
advanced level task should connect to some of the trigger words on the
three higher levels of the taxonomy: Analyze, Evaluate, and Create.
Adapted from The Cluster Grouping Handbook by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., and Dina Brulles,
Ph.D. © 2008. Used with permission of Free Spirit Publishing Inc., Minneapolis, MN; 1-800-735-
7323; [Link]. All rights reserved.
Adapted by permission of Frank Lyman, ThinkTrix SmartCard, San Clemente, CA (800-933-2667).

NOTE The Curriculum Differentiation Chart and the Tiered Lesson Planning Chart
both follow steps to ensure that all students learn the required standards. The
difference between them is that the CDC relies on learning modality differentiation
and the TLC on differentiating levels of thinking. On both charts, the actual learning
task chosen by students will determine how that content will be learned. Assessments
are experienced at the same time for all students, although you are free to use
several different testing formats to give all types of learners an equal chance of
success. Ultimately, all students feel empowered because they get to choose their
specific work task and you feel empowered because you know all the standards are
being taught with a goal of mastery.

STRATEGY

The ThinkTrix
A third model of creating differentiated learning tasks is the ThinkTrix,
which is the creation of Dr. Frank Lyman, whose previous work included
the Think-Pair-Share method. The ThinkTrix has been field-tested and
researched thoroughly, and has proven useful at all performance levels, with
all ages, and in all content areas.
The ThinkTrix, or thinking matrix, is a thinking taxonomy consisting of
seven basic thinking types, or “mind actions.” These are from simplest to
most complex: Recall, Similarity, Difference, Cause and Effect, Idea to
Example, Example to Idea, and Evaluation. Teachers and students, when
fully comprehending and using the seven mind actions, are able to achieve a
shared metacognition—that is, they know and understand how they know
something. One way in which the the ThinkTrix is different from Bloom’s
Taxonomy is that the ThinkTrix is partially described by icons, is very
friendly to all types of learners, and is especially friendly to visual and
tactile-kinesthetic learners.
The ThinkTrix enables teachers to translate any thought process into
one or more of these seven types of thinking. All writing and test questions
can be categorized as to the precise thinking involved, and teachers and
students can enjoy more clarity during oral communication. For instance, a
hypothesis can be understood as a cause or effect hypothesis; a summary as
an idea or example summary, and so on.
 The ThinkTrix on Global Warming example demonstrates the model.
Students, working cooperatively either in pairs or two pairs interacting with
two other pairs, craft their own questions, identify the mind actions
involved, and respond to the questions. This interaction can be done orally,
in writing, using cognitive maps, or using a combination of all three. Gifted
and high performing students appreciate the independence and ownership,
the “enfranchising of their minds,” that working with the ThinkTrix grid
allows. The focal areas, or departure points, on the intersecting axis can be
changed as the students and teacher determine what is the best fit for a unit
or subject area.

Gifted students appreciate the independence and ownership

that working with the ThinkTrix grid allows.

See the sample ThinkTrix activity and the blank reproducible form. The
references and resources for this chapter include specific recommendations
of materials that support the ThinkTrix model.

Using the ThinkTrix in Small Groups

A double version of the ThinkTrix can be used by two to four students
working on independent studies. At several points during the research
process, they could use this method to discuss what they are learning.
Two pairs of students (or two individual students) sit across from each
other. The goal is for students to ask each other questions requiring
response to class content or ongoing research projects. Questions may
require critical thinking or they may be straight recall from readings or
classwork. Each team must answer the questions asked by the other team.
In addition, the answering team must be able to identify the ThinkTrix
category in which the question belongs. For this categorizing, partners may
collaborate for 30 seconds or less to come up with a united answer or
argument. Many questions could belong in several categories, and it is up to
the asking team members to allow unusual category selection by the
answering team members if there is a convincing argument in favor of the
interpretation. Sometimes, another class member can serve as the judge to
determine which category selections should or should not be accepted.
 STRATEGY

The Kaplan Model

An alternate model of differentiating learning tasks by applying categories
of thinking is to follow Dr. Sandra Kaplan’s model of depth, complexity,
and novelty. Dr. Kaplan has spent decades developing and refining the
model and teaching educators how to use it to its best advantage. Her icon-
driven program has been successful in raising expectations and the level of
thinking and learning for all students. Many online resources can be
downloaded and used with the Kaplan Model. See the references and
resources for recommendations.
The definitions that follow may be easily blended. Their characteristics
often overlap and no effort should be made to assign specific categories to
various learning tasks.3

Depth
Depth is a process of thought that seeks generalizations and universal
principles. Students analyze details, patterns, trends, and ethical dilemmas.
Students practice how to:
Learn as many details as possible, including traits, factors, variables,
nuances, and elements that distinguish the topic being studied from other
topics.
Look for unanswered questions, including incomplete data, in the content
being studied.
Understand the ethics involved including discrepancies, inequities,
injustices, biases, prejudices, and discriminations.
Understand the specific language used by specialists in a particular
discipline.

Curriculum based on depth moves quickly from the concrete to the

abstract, from foundations to complexities, and away from isolated facts
toward generalizations or universal themes. Students are encouraged to
formulate questions instead of reciting facts.
Complexity
Complexity is the quality or process of thinking that combines many ideas
or parts to develop complicated and interrelated wholes.
Students practice how to:
Combine various ideas or parts to develop complicated and interrelated
wholes to make interdisciplinary connections.
Understand complex concepts, problems, and generalizations in order to
create unique and effective solutions across many disciplines, over time,
and from different perspectives.
Examine elements from several perspectives that include viewpoints from
technicians, historians, futurists, critics, philosophers, and people they
know.

Novelty
Novelty is a unique perspective, interpretation, or solution through original
insight.
Students practice how to:
Work together to develop creative solutions to complex situations.
Channel their talents into methods such as Future Problem Solving.

STRATEGY

Learning Centers
If you’re comfortable using Learning Centers, you can transfer the learning
tasks you created for the Curriculum Differentiation Chart to color-coded,
laminated task cards for use in a Learning Center format. In addition to the
task cards (perhaps arranged by standard), a good Learning Center should
contain:
Clearly stated directions about how to use the center.
Clearly stated objectives or purposes of the center.
Interesting and inviting displays; enticing questions.
 Activities, resources, and materials that appeal to various learning
modalities.
Instructions about how to choose tasks.
Copies of the Product Choices Chart.
Examples of what completed tasks should look like.
Answer keys, if needed.
Tips about where to go for help.
A description of the rubrics and other evaluation criteria used to grade
students’ work.
Instructions on how to store work between visits.
Guidelines for students’ behavior.
Ideas of what to do when students finish ahead of others. Example: They
might prepare additional task cards on the same or related topics.

To reduce congestion at the Learning Center, try this variation. Set up

four centers around the same unit: auditory, visual, tactile-kinesthetic, and
extension. Let all students choose the task they prefer. They’ll still be
working on the same standards, and that’s what really matters. The centers
don’t have to be elaborate. They can be located on bookshelves or small
tables.
Regardless of the format you choose, pull the kids back for a large-
group discussion after they have had a few days to gather information about
a standard. Gifted students who have opted to learn standards more
independently and are working on tasks from the Extension Menu may be
excused from some of these discussions.
Students’ grades should be a combination of the work they do on the
tasks they choose and more formal assessments of what they have learned.
Credit can be given for following behavior guidelines and working
conditions.

STRATEGY

Socratic Seminars
Challenge your students’ thinking with the Socratic Seminar, a time-
honored question-and-discussion format. You might use it with your whole
class or with small groups of high-ability learners as a differentiation tool.
It’s an outstanding way to move content from recall to true understanding,
and all students benefit from it. Gifted kids love it because it gives them lots
of opportunities to think and share their thoughts with others. You can use
the Socratic Seminar to discuss literature, history, current events, school or
community issues, or hypothetical situations. All students must have read or
seen the same prompt in order for the discussion to lead to the best
outcomes.

A Socratic Seminar is an outstanding way to move content

from recall to true understanding.

1. After students have learned enough about a topic to think and speak
intelligently about it, schedule a seminar. Plan about 30 minutes to
start, then longer time periods as students become more comfortable
with the process.
2. Have 12–15 students sit in a circle. The rest of the class forms a second
circle, ideally with another facilitator. If this isn’t possible, students
take turns sitting in an “inner circle” as active participants and an
“outer circle” as observers. Observers should be watching one specific
student in the inner circle for the best de-briefing outcomes.
3. Explain the rules of discussion.
Students speak directly to each other, not to you.
They take turns contributing without necessarily raising their hands
as long as they can handle the intricacies of talking to each other in
this way. If not, raised hands may be in order.
When they give an answer or offer an idea, they should also give
evidence from the reading to support it and announce its exact
location in the text so everyone else can follow along. Evidence
might come from what the student has read or learned, or from
personal experience. Each bit of evidence should be clearly
identified by its source.
 When referring to something another person said previously, they
should use the person’s name. Example: “Jason, when you said
______, it made me think of _____.” Students may challenge each
other’s statements in nonaggressive ways. Again, they should use
names, not pronouns. Example: “I disagree with what Kari said,
because the book says on page 32 that . . . ”
If it seems that students aren’t listening well, try asking them to
briefly summarize what the previous speaker said (using the
speaker’s name) before making their own contribution.
4. Ask an open-ended question—one for which there is no single or
correct answer. Here are some examples, in no particular order:
Why do you think _______ happened? Could it have been
prevented? Under what circumstances might the outcome have
changed?
What feelings, emotions, or events might have caused the people to
behave the way they did?
How do you think you would behave under similar circumstances?
Are you saying _______? (Restate or paraphrase what speaker has
said.)
Tell us more about _______.
How is what we’re discussing similar to _______ [another topic the
group has discussed]? How is it different?
Would anyone like to speak to the other side of this point of view?

From time to time, have students find something in the actual text
that supports their statements or opinions.
5. Wait one to two minutes for someone to reply. Be patient and resist the
urge to jump in. If no reply is forthcoming after two minutes, tell
students that they may talk quietly to one other person to generate
ideas.
Your hardest task as teacher/facilitator is to stay out of the
discussion. Your role is to ask questions that keep the discussion going,
not to give your opinion or declaration of what is correct.
 6. Allow 5–10 minutes for reflection on the Socratic Seminar process.
Invite students’ suggestions on how to make the next seminar more
effective at demonstrating the best qualities for a seminar.

This process may take a long time to get comfortable and seem truly
useful, but don’t lose heart. The results are worth the wait. For more
information about Socratic Seminars, see the references and resources.

QUESTIONS ANSWERS
“How can I create these alternate activities when I hardly
have time for everything I already have to do?”
Differentiation is not about adding responsibilities to your already crowded
schedule. Rather, it represents a holistic way of teaching that, in many
classrooms, has replaced more traditional methods of treating subject areas
separately. Time and again, strategies designed to benefit gifted students
have found application with all students. If you try these methods with one
unit, you’ll probably discover that you enjoy teaching this way, since it
allows you to be more creative while simultaneously guaranteeing that your
students will still be mastering the standards for which you’re responsible.
Creating all your units to incorporate differentiation will soon become your
natural, preferred way of planning.
See references and resources for recommendations of differentiated
units based on the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy.

“What if some students complete the extension activities

before the rest of the class is done with their work?”
Prepare and use an Extension Menu for the unit, similar to the ones found in
chapter 4 and in the digital content. Invite interested students to become
resident experts on a topic they want to learn more about (see chapter 6).
When you allow some students to become resident experts on topics related
to the unit you’re teaching, this enhances the experience for everyone.
Another strategy that works well is to teach the revised Bloom’s
Taxonomy directly to those early finishers, then have them create Learning
Center tasks for other teachers. They should start by interviewing the
teachers and getting a list of topics for which the teachers want tasks
created.
You might also have the younger students use Build Blocks to Think to
create questions based on the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy for you to use for
discussions or tests. Once students have learned the language of the
taxonomy, they can be directed to create a certain number of questions by
category.

“How can I translate these different activities into

grades?”
You may already have rubrics students can use to decide the grade they
want to work for before they begin any work. Much of the grade with these
strategies comes from the student’s willingness to follow the rules and
become invested in the strategy. If not, try the Evaluation Contract. We also
recommend John Samara’s Product Guides (see references and resources)
and Bertie Kingore’s Observation Inventory tools (see chapter 8).

“Why should I offer alternate activities for my one or two

gifted students, while my colleague next door is doing
the same for her one or two gifted students? This
doesn’t seem very efficient.”
There is a way to group gifted students without having to “track” everyone
else. It’s called cluster grouping. Only one teacher per grade level is
primarily responsible for differentiating the curriculum for gifted students,
and the gifted students are clustered in that teacher’s class as part of a
heterogeneous group. Cluster grouping allows gifted students to enjoy
alternate activities together. They no longer have to choose between
working with the class on less challenging activities or working alone. For
more about cluster grouping, see chapter 7.

Chapter Summary
In this chapter, you have learned how to simultaneously plan curriculum
units that reach and teach all of your students with appropriate levels of
depth and complexity. You have learned to design learning tasks that are
responsive to learning modalities and different levels of ability. You have
learned how to manage a classroom in which students are working on
different tasks simultaneously.
The first time you use the methods described here, the process may
seem tedious and time-consuming. As you use these methods again and
again, you’ll actually spend less time on each unit plan. Your reward will be
the positive response from students and their parents for the exciting
learning opportunities available in your classroom. Rather than trying to
find one way of teaching that meets all kids’ needs, you’ll be using one way
of planning to challenge and excite all of your students.

1
Bloom, 1984; Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001. Note: The verb forms of the original category names
(Recall, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create) are used throughout this book.
3
Definitions have been adapted from various sources, including the website of the San Mateo/Foster
City Schools ([Link]).
 Taxonomy of Thinking

Adaptation from “Bloom’s Taxonomy” from Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Book 1

by Benjamin S. Bloom. Copyright © 1956 by Longman Inc. Copyright renewed 1984 by
Benjamin S. Bloom and David R. Krathwohl. Reprinted by permission of Addison-Wesley
Educational Publishers, Inc. in Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and
Techniques Every Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner,
M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use
within an individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc.
at [Link]/permissions.
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use
(Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018.
This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district. For all other uses,
contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
 Nutrition Extension Menu

Locate studies that Research the history of Investigate eating

have been done nutrition in the past 50 disorders.
with babies who years. Notice how the Discover the
are allowed to attitudes toward what similarities and
choose their own people eat have changed differences in
foods from a high- over time. Hypothesize overeaters and
chair tray. the reasons for these undereaters. Find
Discover the changes. information about
results and treatment
hypothesize the programs and
reasons for them. their rates of
Should parents success. Which
insist that their “cures” seem to
children eat last for five years
balanced meals at or longer?
all times?

Dietary Invite a panel of

supplements (for professionals from
general health, local agencies that
weight control, and offer physical
muscle strength)
are taken regularly
by many people.
Student fitness programs
to speak to your
class. Help other
Investigate
supplements and Choice students prepare
questions to ask
hypothesize at the end of the
reasons for their panel’s
popularity. presentation.
Discover some Moderate the
negative effects of panel.
various
supplements.

Investigate the Design a menu of fitness Investigate the

attitudes and activities that you think problems faced by
behaviors of would appeal to people low income people
Americans and who are reluctant to in finding and
Europeans toward exercise. buying wholesome
 regular exercise food for their
and physical families. Find a
fitness from 1950 new way to
to the present day. provide them with
Hypothesize access to
reasons for the recommended
similarities and food options on
differences you [Link].
find.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Nutrition Extension Menu for
Other Subject Areas

Science Reading Writing

Find images Read Write a letter

that represent information on to your
the nutrition from parent(s)
[Link] several sources. describing
recommended good
Create several
food choices. nutrition.
challenging
Share this
questions about Write a story
information
nutrition for the about a
with your
class. food-related
classmates.
Read a novel or topic.
Explain the
story about a Write about
concept of person with an your need to
calories to the
eating disorder. eat in school
class. Give a talk during times
Predict how about it to the other than
people’s eating class. lunch.
habits may Present your
change in the request to
next 20 years. your teacher.
Talking Social Studies

Interview your Collect

parents about articles
your family’s
shopping/eating
Student about global
or local food
habits. Chart
your findings.
Choice problems.
Present a
 Survey brief
classmates summary.
about their
Show how
eating habits.
advertising
Chart your
affects food
findings.
choices.
Prepare and Demonstrate
present a
how regional
debate about dishes rely
school lunches.
upon
regional
agricultural
products.

Mathematics Medicine Politics

Determine your Find information Locate

average daily in medical information
caloric intake. journals or on about major
Count the the internet candidates’
calories you describing the positions
consume daily annual costs of regarding
for a week and people losing healthcare in
divide by work time due this country.
seven. to illness. Create Hypothesize
a tool to share how their
Compute the
this information concerns
percentage of
with the class. may reflect
your family’s
Hypothesize nutritional
weekly income
spent on food. which problems issues.
may be related
Create a more to poor
nutritious menu nutrition.
using the same
budgeted
amount.
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
Adapted from The Cluster Grouping Handbook by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., and Dina Brulles,
Ph.D. © 2008. Used with permission of Free Spirit Publishing Inc. in Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s
Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan
Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for
use within an individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 ThinkTrix

Adapted by permission of Frank Lyman, ThinkTrix SmartCard, San Clemente, CA (800-

933-2667) in Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Build Blocks to Think

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
CHAPTER 6
“I’m Done. Now What Should I
Do?”: Self-Selected
Independent Study

STRATEGIES
The Personal Interest Study Project
The Topic Browsing Planner
The Resident Expert Planner
The Note Card Method
As you have no doubt ruefully observed, gifted students often finish an
activity before the rest of the group; sometimes, they finish an activity
before others even get started! This may produce considerable anxiety for
you, especially since you now know that extra credit work may not be the
answer. You have learned that most gifted kids don’t need to be spoon-fed
activities to keep them busy. They just want time when they can spend
school time learning things that are interesting to them without being
required to account for their work following an arbitrarily imposed timeline.
If you have tried the compacting strategies described earlier in this
book, you’ve already discovered how easy it is to allow some students to
study what interests them when they compact out of the regular curriculum.
Some kids like to read. Others may be in the middle of long-term writing
projects and will eagerly return to them. Some may use their time to
daydream and plan, which is essential to problem solving and creative
thinking. Others may be curious about a topic, an idea, or a new technology
they would love to spend some school time exploring. With the availability
of online resources, the possibilities are endless.
Gifted students tend to get passionately interested in topics that may not
be connected to the current school curriculum at the current time, which is
one reason why school is often frustrating for them. They are seldom
allowed opportunities to learn the things they really want to learn. Even
when they are, those opportunities may not be very satisfying because they
are not able to develop their ideas to the level they wish. The teacher says,
“Write a report on (X topic)” with the underlying message, “Make sure it’s
done well, looks great, and that you use your time wisely.” When we speak
of using time wisely, we usually mean looking busy and producing an eye-
pleasing product. We expect students to be reading something, writing
something, or doing something else observable to indicate that they are
staying on task.
The impression students get is that all learning done in school must be
for a reason and must result in a formal product, such as a report. However,
we (adults) frequently enter bookstores or other people’s homes and browse
through books, idly wondering if we would like to know more about a
certain topic at a later time. We would be offended if a bookstore owner
posted a sign proclaiming, “No browsing allowed!” Why not provide
opportunities for students to browse in school?
 Maybe you have been frustrated by gifted kids who lose interest in a
topic shortly after they choose to investigate it. Many student researchers
don’t need coaching to learn how to get past traditional research methods
into those that truly challenge and interest them. We want gifted students on
independent study to experience how research can change the way they
think and learn. We want them to discover how to synthesize information
from many sources, to build on what they learn, to make connections
between what they know and what they are learning, and to emulate adult
researchers by using research methods that go way beyond simply looking
up information.
In elementary gifted education programs, gifted students usually get lots
of time to learn about topics that interest them. Frequently, our students
would return to visit us when they were in the secondary grades, and they
often complained that no one at that level seemed interested in even finding
out what the students wanted to research. This chapter provides many tools
to help you provide meaningful independent research opportunities at all
grade levels that are exciting for your students and easy to manage for you.

STRATEGY

The Personal Interest Study

Project
We can assume that many gifted kids have a desire to learn about some
topic in great depth. We can give them a way to pursue their interest in
school by undertaking a Personal Interest Study Project. This form of
independent study differs from the independent study involved in the Study
Guide method in chapter 3, because that approach is curriculum-related and
this one is based purely on student interest.

We can assume that many gifted kids have a desire to learn

about some topic in great depth.

Allow time for students working on Personal Interest Study Projects to

get together to chat, share resources, and brainstorm ways to solve problems
in their research. Plan to spend some time with these kids as a group so they
perceive you are interested in their projects and value the time they spend
on them. If time is short, consider meeting in a convenient place as the rest
of the class does sustained silent reading or works on reading activities.
Kids on independent study are already avid and skilled readers; it won’t
hurt them to substitute these meetings for silent reading periods.

Personal Interest Projects for the Primary

Grades
Even young gifted students relish opportunities to pursue topics of their
choosing. For students in the primary grades, personal interest projects may
be relatively unstructured.
Independent study with visual aids is a fairly unstructured and
developmentally appropriate way for primary students to explore and share
their areas of interest. Students enjoy it because they are allowed to
investigate large amounts of information without immediately being
expected to report on everything they learn. Most are willing to create more
formal projects on specific subtopics later, when they have had the chance
to satisfy their curiosity. The expectation that visual aids will be included in
the presentation relieves them of the burden of doing too much writing.
Teachers enjoy it because kids learn how to work on the same project
for several days or weeks, relieving them of the responsibility for providing
numerous shorter activities for those students who are always “done” and
don’t know what to do next.
For additional suggestions, see Acceptable Student Projects. At the end
of this chapter, see a project especially suited to primary students.

Personal Interest Survey

What if a student can’t think of a topic? Here’s where a personal interest survey
can be very helpful. You’ll find a reproducible survey at the end of this chapter.
Interest surveys help you learn things about your students that may not typically
come to your attention. You may wish to survey all of your students at the
beginning of every school year. (For younger kids, you may want to send the
survey home so parents can help fill it out.) Besides giving you insights into the
kinds of things your gifted students may want to study in depth, the survey can
also help you motivate reluctant learners. Raymond Wlodkowski, an educational
psychologist and expert on motivation, has found that one of the quickest ways to
 motivate students is to discover what they are interested in outside of school, and
then spend a short time each day talking with them about their interests. Watch for
dramatic, positive changes in their attitudes.
Using an interest survey and conversations with parents and former teachers, help
students identify topics of personal interest to them. Topics don’t have to be related
to any of the prescribed curriculum. Encourage students to select something they
may be working on at home. Reassure them that you won’t interfere with their
ideas, creativity, or product choices. Sometimes gifted kids resist bringing their
topics of passionate interest to school because they fear the teacher will take
control.

Scenario: Rahul
By the end of the first day of school, Rahul was “done” with fourth grade. It
was painfully clear to his teacher that there was little or nothing in the
planned curriculum that represented new learning for him. Worse still, his
class had more than its share of struggling students. No wonder his constant
refrain was, “I’m done! Now what should I do?” Although Rahul was
obviously precocious, his parents didn’t want him promoted to a higher
grade. Therefore, it was up to the teacher to find interesting and challenging
work that would engage him in learning throughout the school year.
His teacher took Rahul aside one day and said, “I’ve noticed that you
often finish your work very quickly and you have a lot of free time. Would
you like to use some of that time to investigate a topic you are interested
in?” Rahul’s instant response was, “Yes! Antarctica.” The teacher said,
“That sounds like a very interesting topic. Let’s start a Topic Browsing
Planner on Antarctica and see what resources can be found.”
The teacher and the media center specialist helped Rahul do a webquest
to gather information from various sources. Rahul’s parents agreed to help
with the search, and that became a way to differentiate Rahul’s homework.
Soon Rahul had bookmarked an extensive listing of online resources. At the
start of this experience, Rahul had asked the teacher, “Can I create my own
project?” She had said, “Yes, but use the first week or so to explore your
topic before you decide what you want your formal project to focus on.”
Relieved, Rahul became thoroughly engrossed in learning about Antarctica.
Rahul’s Topic Browsing Planner shows the results of several days of
browsing. Whenever he discovered subtopics he found interesting, he
recorded them. Eventually he became fascinated by the subtopic of how
global warming affects icebergs and, by extension, other bodies of water.
Rahul learned that an international committee had been formed to study the
problem, and that a scientist from his own city was on the committee. He
added this local expert to his list of possible interview subjects. To see how
melting ice affects stationary objects, Rahul designed an experiment using
melting ice cubes. This opportunity to present what he had learned using the
visual aid of an actual experiment, which he demonstrated to the class, did
wonders to rekindle the spark of learning in this young man.

STRATEGY

The Topic Browsing Planner

When we ask students to select a topic for a project, we usually insist that
they do it quickly. Then we encourage them to narrow large topics down to
smaller, more manageable subtopics. This leads to situations in which gifted
kids start a project with great enthusiasm, but lose interest quickly and stop
working on it. Sometimes the reason is that we have forced them to
prematurely choose something they already know quite a lot about.
How can students decide on a subtopic before they have a chance to
explore the larger topic? Given the speed with which information is
growing and changing, we should be encouraging gifted students to explore
a topic in depth before requiring formal feedback on a small part of it.
When kids are allowed extended time periods for browsing, they learn
that really good ideas may come later in the process of searching for a topic.
This relieves some pressure on perfectionists, who can relax about the need
to find the perfect topic quickly.
The Topic Browsing Planner creates opportunities for students to pursue
topics that interest them. It invites them to discover topics they never knew
existed, any one of which may become the focus of in-depth research. The
work is done in school, after they have completed their compacted work
and instead of the work the rest of the class is doing. Students can buy back
time for browsing by demonstrating mastery of certain standards on a
pretest, by completing the Most Difficult First problems on an assignment,
and/or by maintaining a grade average in the A range in any particular
subject.

How to Use the Topic Browsing Planner

Every personal interest project (or potential project) should start with a
Topic Browsing Planner. The Resources Record Sheet may be copied on the
back of the planner. Use a simpler version of the planner for primary
students.
1. Help students select topics to investigate. Make sure the students
understand that the topics don’t have to be related to the curriculum and
have verified that enough resources are available for them to learn
about the topic for an extended period of time.
Explain that they will eventually choose a subtopic to focus on and
a project to work on, but they shouldn’t worry about that yet. For now,
they should select something in which they are passionately interested.

NOTE For students who are unable to think of a project, allow them to search on
selected websites that you have bookmarked, such as Smithsonian, Discovery,
National Geographic for Kids, or others. Another option is to have students browse
through the books in the school or public library until they find a topic of interest.

2. Give students copies of the Topic Browsing Planner and Daily Log of
Extension Work and explain how to fill them out.
3. Call students’ attention to the Resources Record Sheet. Have them list
possible resources they may investigate. Explain that you don’t expect
them to complete all of the sections or use all of the resources they list,
and that you understand that additional resources will surface based on
their searches. They can add those to the list as they proceed. The
purpose of the form is to help students keep track of sources they may
want to consult or return to as their project progresses.
4. Tell students that they are not required to take any formal notes for a
few days. Instead, they should use that time to browse through all of
the information they can find on their general topic of interest.
5. Be available to guide students through the same process of exploration,
discovery, and delight that Rahul experienced.
Some students may already know their way around the library, the
internet, and other resources. Others may need help discovering the
wealth of information available to them. Give everyone a copy of the
Resource Suggestions list. Even experienced researchers might not
 think of contacting online travel agencies or seeking out a historical
reenactment group. Students can use the blank lines to add other
resources and websites they believe will be helpful.
6. After students are finished browsing the resources, meet with them and
help them choose subtopics on which to focus their ongoing research.

STRATEGY

The Resident Expert Planner

Once students choose a subtopic they want to study in depth, they’re ready
to move on to the next stage of the Personal Interest Study Project:
becoming a “resident expert.” A reproducible Resident Expert Planner and
a simpler version for primary students are found at the end of this chapter.
See also the Independent Study Option for the Primary Grades: The 4C
Booklet. For more information on resident experts, refer to chapter 3.

How to Use the Resident Expert Planner

1. Help students identify a topic they want to pursue in depth. Explain that
they will have the opportunity to really get into their topic, and they
will be expected to share some of what they learn with the class or
other appropriate audience.
Identifying the topic is simple. The specific subtopic from the Topic
Browsing Planner becomes the main topic for the Resident Expert
Planner.
For example, let’s say a student is interested in the general topic of
life in other countries around the world. He might browse his way
through various countries, then decide he’s most interested in learning
more about life in China. Eventually he may choose to focus on life as
a child in China. That becomes the specific subtopic of his Topic
Browsing Planner and the topic of his Resident Expert Planner.
2. Have students break down their main topic into six subtopics. For each
subtopic, they should come up with three questions to ask. (If you’re
using the primary version of the planner, your students will come up
with four subtopics and two questions each.)
 Conduct mini-lessons on writing questions that are designed to
elicit specific information. Give students a few days to think about and
write their subtopics and questions. This might take more browsing
time, during which students may return to some of the sources they
consulted earlier. They might also consult other sources they listed on
their Resources Record Sheet.
For example, the student who chooses to focus on life as a child in
China might come up with these subtopics and questions:
1. Daily Life
a. What are children’s routines at home?
b. What are their chores and responsibilities?
c. What types of foods do they usually eat and when?
2. Family Life
a. What might their parents do for a living?
b. How many brothers and sisters might they have?
c. Do extended family members live nearby or far away?
3. School
a. What days and times do they go to school?
b. What subjects do they study?
c. What kinds of teaching methods are used in Chinese schools?
4. Religion
a. What are the main religions in China?
 b. What type of religious education might a child have?
c. What religious holidays are celebrated?
5. Government, Laws, and Economy
a. What type of government does China have? How has it changed
in recent years?
b. What are some rules and laws in China that are different from
the laws you live by?
c. What are the country’s main imports and exports?
6. Recreation
a. What do families do together for fun?
b. What are the main government or state holidays?
c. How do Chinese people like to spend their vacations?
3. Once students have their subtopics and questions, it’s time for them to
start taking notes. Teach them a note-taking method (see Cornell Note
Taking).
4. You may want students to keep track of the resources they use and
prepare a bibliography. If so, teach them your preferred format in a
mini-lesson and provide websites for further exploration.

Cornell Note Taking is currently a preferred note-taking method. This method is

employed through the college years. For more information, visit
[Link]/[Link]. Graphic organizers are preferred by visual and tactile-
kinesthetic learners, and auditory learners often find notes taken in outline form to
be more satisfying.

Tell students to record only those resources they actually use, not
those they simply read or consult. Explain that even when they take a
lot of notes from a single source, they only need to make one card for
that source.

IMPORTANT Be sure not to make this requirement too tedious. We don’t want kids
spending hours recording reference source information and preparing lengthy,
 detailed bibliographies. You might ask younger students to record only two books, one
encyclopedia (or other reference book), one article, and one website. Older kids will
be relieved if you allow them to limit the number of sources that require formal
citations.

5. Work with students to identify the materials and supplies they need.
They may already have good ideas from the time they spent browsing
their general topic.
6. Help students plan how they will report on their project. Give them
copies of the Product Choices Chart.
7. Have students keep track of the work they do on their personal interest
projects. The Daily Log of Extension Work is an excellent tool for this
purpose. It also makes students accountable for being productive.
Provide class time for this.
You may decide to let students do part of their project at home, as a
way to differentiate their homework. They should note this on their
Resident Expert Planner and use a separate Daily Log to record their
progress at home. The home part of the project may be shared, but is
not formally graded, since some students have advantages over others
regarding how much assistance is available to them at home.
You might also use the Check-Off Sheet for Resident Expert
Project. Students fill in each square with a brief description of part of
their project. As each part is completed, they mark an X in the box for
that square and record the date they finished that task.
Don’t insist that they do the parts in any particular order. As long as
they get them done, it really doesn’t matter. Global learners may
actually do better if they plan their project backward from the last step
to the first.
Don’t set a time limit for any part or step. As long as students
follow the working conditions and are faithfully entering data in the
Daily Log, the amount of time they spend on a project isn’t important.
The most important goal is to foster excitement about doing the
research.
8. Work with the students to identify any potential problems they might
encounter while working on their projects. Help them brainstorm
possible solutions.
 STRATEGY

The Note Card Method

Some gifted students are not efficient or effective notetakers. They tend to
write down too much, and they may have trouble organizing their
information. The Note Card method can help them stay organized and be
more selective about the information they will record.
When students try to research one subtopic at a time in several sources,
things can quickly become very confusing. They may have trouble
remembering which books they’ve consulted, and there is no way to record
interesting information about other subtopics they notice along the way.
With the Note Card method, it’s okay if one source yields information
about several subtopics. Students can easily switch cards and keep taking
notes from that one source without interruption. The best part may be that
they only have to use each source once. When they put it aside, they are
done with it, because they have pulled everything from it that they need for
whichever note cards are needed. Students can then have a master list of all
the resources they have actually used in their research.
You’ll need a supply of 5" x 7" note cards in six different colors (or four
for primary students). Note: This method can also be used with a digital
device.
1. Give each student 18 cards—three each of the six different colors.
Have them decide which color goes with which subtopic on their
Resident Expert Planner. They might choose yellow for subtopic one,
green for subtopic two, and so on.
2. Tell them to label each card with a subtopic and a question. Examples:
For a study of the solar system, the subtopics might include planets,
meteors and meteorites, black holes, interplanetary travel, etc.
3. Explain that whenever they come across information about the first
question under their first subtopic, they should record it on the card
with that label. For example, if a student finds information from three
sources about black holes, the information would be recorded on that
subtopic’s card. Students are therefore using only one source of
information at a time, but moving freely between making their notes on
the appropriate cards. Tip: Prepare some sample cards in advance and
 display and demonstrate them as you explain this process. It’s easier to
show this than to tell about it.
4. Tell students that each note should be one or two lines long—no longer.
Each note should be a phrase—no capital letters on the first word, no
ending punctuation.
These simple instructions minimize copying. (Be very clear that
nothing should be copied word-for-word from another written source.)
Kids are more likely to make notes selectively and put information in
their own words. Teach them how to write phrases; sometimes just
subjects and verbs are enough.
5. Remind students to check each note carefully to make sure it belongs
on a particular card. They should pay close attention to the subtopics
and questions written at the top of each card.

The Personal Interest Study Project

Agreement
The Personal Interest Study Project Agreement is similar to the Independent
Study Agreement. It is an official contract between you and the student,
designed to teach kids how to behave responsibly while working
independently.
Hold a meeting for all kids who have decided to become resident
experts. Give everyone a copy of the agreement and have them follow along
as you read it aloud. Make sure students understand that if they fail to meet
the conditions, the logical consequence is that they will have to return to the
teacher-directed group for the remainder of the unit.
You may share the agreement with students’ parents, but their signatures
aren’t required, since most of the work will be done in school. Students
should bring their agreements to workplaces outside the classroom (the
library, media center, resource room, other classrooms) but should never
take them home until their project has been completed. If they leave the
classroom to work, they should always leave their record-keeping forms in
the classroom. Students and supervising adults should know that students
are required to return to class for the last five minutes to hear any important
information.
 Keep the signed agreements and the completed Daily Logs from both
school and home in the students’ compacting folders.

Independent Study Option for the Primary

Grades: The 4C Project1
For beginning researchers, fold a large sheet of drawing paper into four
sections, or prepare a four- or five-page booklet, perhaps with lines for
writing. The fifth page will be the cover. Label the top-left section
COLLECT, the top-right section COMPARE, the bottom-left section
CREATE, and the bottom-right section COMMUNICATE. See details.
Students work on their projects while you teach grade-level content to
kids who need direct instruction. This project is not homework. It replaces
the regular schoolwork that is not challenging for some students. Kids
working on a 4C Project can record their progress on a Daily Log of
Extension Work.

The 4C Booklet

COLLECT facts, words, ideas, and COMPARE your topic to something

pictures about your topic. else. Look for similarities and
differences, advantages and
disadvantages, relationships, ways to
classify or categorize, or something
else you can compare.

CREATE a way to express what you COMMUNICATE your findings by

have learned about your topic. sharing them with the class or other
appropriate audience.

Assessing: Independent Study Work

If students are intrinsically motivated to work on personal interest
independent study projects without receiving grades, encourage that
attitude. However, it is very likely that kids (or their parents) will want
grades. If they do, use the Evaluation Contract described in chapter 3 and
have students choose the grade they plan to work for. The only two choices
available should be A or B. Why would anyone want to do an independent
study project for a lower grade? Remember that the difference between a B
or an A is one of depth and complexity, rather than amount.

Internet Options for Independent Study

Freerice ([Link]) is a website where users play various educational,
multiple-choice games in order to fight world hunger. For every question the user
answers correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated to hungry people. There are
several interesting categories, and the program keeps track of the rice the player
earns.
Glogster ([Link]) enables users to create a “glog” (short for graphical
blog)—an interactive multimedia image that looks like a poster, but allows readers
to interact with the content. Glogster’s goal is to provide an outlet for unlimited
creative expression online.
Google Earth ([Link]) is a critical resource to include in your social
studies, history, geography, or language arts curriculum, to name a few. While
reading any book, news, or political or historical event, students can visit the actual
place on the internet.
Khan Academy ([Link]) is a dynamic site where curious students can
learn almost anything for free. Includes thousands of videos on everything from
arithmetic to physics, finance, and history, and offers hundreds of skills to practice.
Prezi ([Link]) is a digital presentation tool using a map layout that zooms to
show contextual relationships in a nonlinear format. It allows users to incorporate
not only text and pictures, but videos and other presentation objects.
My Wonderful World ([Link]) is part of National Geographic’s
campaign to expand geographical learning. The site provides high engagement
and interactive, geography-based activities for both kids and teens.
See chapter 8 and the references and resources section for more ideas for digital
learning.

Letting Students Evaluate Their Own Work

Whether or not a grade is attached to a personal project, you might ask
students to complete a self-rating every two weeks or so. Several methods
are available for doing this.
1. Create a checklist of desired project behaviors and abilities and ask
students to complete it every two weeks or so. The rating scale should
be a simple two-value process. A “1” or frowning face for “not yet
done,” a “2” or smiley face for “keeping up.”
 2. Use the Self-Evaluation Checklist. Ratings should be simple pluses (+)
and minuses (–). You may always add a place for your feedback.
3. Develop a rubric with your students. Having your students contribute
their ideas to the evaluation tool is very motivating for them and they
generally create more detailed and thorough projects.

Discrepancies between a student’s self-evaluation and a teacher’s

evaluation can lead to better understanding about the expectations for future
projects and improved performance on current projects.
See chapter 8 for more information on assessment strategies.

QUESTIONS ANSWERS
“What if a student who needs to do an independent
study can’t find a topic to work on?”
Suggest that he spend a few days writing down questions that pop into his
head for which he doesn’t know the answers. Those questions can become
topics for study. Provide him with several websites to peruse online or send
him to the library to browse the books in the nonfiction section. Any books
he finds interesting can lead to possible topics. Also, have him take the
Interest Survey.

“What if a student decides that she doesn’t want to

pursue her subtopic after finishing a Topic Browsing
Planner?”
Simply file the completed planner in her compacting folder and let her
move on to something else. Or, if this makes you uncomfortable, tell your
students that you expect them to study one subtopic in depth for every three
planners they complete. If they resist, try to find out why. Perhaps they are
reluctant to get up in front of the class to make progress reports. Find a
mutually acceptable way for them to share their information. For example,
you might allow them to create a digital project and present the information
digitally.
“Won’t other students also want to browse and share
what they learn with the class?”
Of course they will. Select a time in your weekly schedule and let everyone
browse through some topic. Leave time near the end for students to share
what they have learned, briefly and informally. Or use those mini-reports as
mini-rewards for when the class finishes a session early, or the kids have
been particularly wonderful on a given day during that week. Most kids
love to do a mini-photo share talk, sharing only one picture that describes
what they have learned.

“What should I do if students who are working on these

special activities become disruptive?”
You probably already know what to do. The response to this situation is
always the same. Ask the students to rejoin the class and participate in the
regular activities. Tell them that their behavior indicates that they would be
more productive in teacher-directed situations.
Whenever students take advantage of an opportunity to do alternate
activities, whether it’s a Learning Contract (chapter 2), Study Guide
(chapter 3), or Personal Interest Study Project (this chapter), start by
making sure they know what to do and have adequate resources and skills
for the task. Decide in advance on the working conditions and explain them
in careful detail. Have students sign an agreement to abide by the working
conditions. Attach the agreement to their contract, guide, or planner so they
can refer to it often.
For ideas and examples of working conditions, see Julie’s Learning
Contract, Working Conditions for Alternate Activities, either Independent
Study Guide Agreement in chapter 3, and the Personal Interest Study
Project Agreement. Please be selective. Even though Working Conditions is
a reproducible form, don’t simply photocopy it every time one of your
students chooses a special activity or independent study. You may find that
some of your students need fewer or different working conditions to stay on
track.
Sometimes, if gifted students find themselves working alone on a
project, they will misbehave on purpose to manipulate themselves into a
position where they won’t appear so “different.” Most kids prefer not to be
singled out by having to work alone. Allow kids working on personal
interest projects to work together, even if their topics are different.

“What happens if students refuse to work on their

planners and insist on just sitting and doing nothing
during their choice time?”
As the teacher, you must make it clear that they have only two choices:
Either they can develop an independent study project of some kind, or you
can assign them more “regular work.” Doing nothing isn’t an option. Our
response to this is, “My job is to teach, and your job is to learn. If you are
done learning what I am teaching, then it is your job to learn something new
and my job to help you.”

“What if a student never finishes the project related to

his personal interest topic?”
Celebrate! Why would you want the project to be finished? You and the
student would then have to go through the process of choosing another
topic!
Real expertise is an endless journey, and gifted kids are often driven to
become experts on a topic that interests them passionately. People who
make their living as researchers often spend many years on a single project.
So relax. There’s nothing wrong with a project that goes on forever, as long
as the student demonstrates mastery of the required standards, meets the
working conditions, remains invested in the research, and is willing to share
progress reports now and then.

“How can I justify using the time it takes to create and

monitor independent study activities when there’s so
much pressure on me to bring below-level students up
to par?”
Imagine how much less guilty you’ll feel when you’re no longer holding
back fast learners to the same pace required by students who don’t find
learning easy. When gifted kids are working on independent projects, you’ll
actually have more time to work with needy students. Any time you spend
teaching gifted kids to work well independently pays off in large dividends.
It reduces the stress you may feel because gifted students and their parents
are so frustrated with the learning pace of the classroom. When you know
all kids are really learning, you can feel better about your own effectiveness
as a teacher.

Chapter Summary
When we excuse gifted kids from regular class activities so they can pursue
topics that interest them, we must trust that they will use that time
productively—provided we have taught them the expected behaviors.
Students will be more successful at independent study if procedures and
expectations are clearly explained before they begin their work. Gifted kids
are usually so relieved and happy to discover that there is a place in school
for their passionate interests that they are eager to meet the required
working conditions.

1
Used with permission from Connie Webb, McMinnville Public Schools, McMinnville, Oregon.
 Interest Survey

1. What kinds of books do you like to read?

2. How do you get the news? What parts of

news reports do you look at regularly?

3. What are your favorite magazines or

websites?

4. What types of TV programs do you prefer?

Why?

5. What is your favorite activity or subject at

school? Your least favorite? Why?

6. What is your first choice about what to do

when you have free time at home?

7. What kinds of things have you collected?

What do you do with the things you collect?

8. If you could talk to any person currently

living, who would it be? Why? Think of three
questions you would ask the person.
 9. If you could talk to any person from history,
who would it be? Why? Think of three
questions you would ask the person.

10. What are your hobbies? How much time do

you spend on your hobbies?

11. If you could have anything you want,

regardless of money or natural ability, what
would you choose? Why?

12. What career(s) do you think might be

suitable for you when you are an adult?

13. If you could spend a week job-shadowing

any adult in any career, which would you
choose and why?

14. Describe your favorite games and why you

like to play them.

15. What kinds of movies do you prefer to see?

Why?

16. Imagine that someday you will write a book.

What do you think it will be about?

17. Describe 10 things that would be present in

a perfect world. Describe an invention you
 would create to make the world a better
place.

18. What places in the world would you most like

to visit? Why? Tell about your favorite
vacation—one you’ve taken or wish you
could take.

19. Imagine that you’re going to take a trip to

another planet or solar system. You’ll be
gone for 15 years. List 10 things you will take
with you to do in your spare time.

20. What questions do you think should be on

this survey that aren’t already on it?

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Acceptable Student Projects

For primary students:

1. Create a digital presentation of a topic you want to investigate.
2. Survey others about a topic. Display and explain the results.
3. Create a game that others can play to learn required standards.
4. Create a digital dictionary of words in any category.
5. Learn vocabulary or spelling words in another language.
6. Create animated attribute webs.

For students in all other grades:

1. Choose an idea from the primary section above.
2. Make a digital report on a topic of your choice.
3. Create and present a live or animated puppet show.
4. Create a radio or television broadcast, video production, or web page.
5. Hold a panel discussion, round-robin discussion, or debate.
6. Write a diary or journal of an important historical event or person.
Write a speech a person might have made at that time.
7. Create a time line of events. They might be personal, historical,
social, or anything else you choose.
 8. Working with several other students, create a panel discussion about
a historical topic. Or play the roles of historical figures reacting to a
current problem of today.
9. Create an invention to fill a personal or social need.
10. Study the life of a famous entrepreneur, such as Steve Jobs, Martha
Stewart, etc. Create a manual: “How to Be a Successful
Entrepreneur.”
11. Write and perform a song, rap, poem, story, advertisement, or jingle.
12. Create a travel brochure for another country or planet.
13. Create an imaginary country. Locate and describe its features.
14. Make a model of an idea or invention. Describe its parts and the
functions of each.
15. Create a product to represent a synthesis of information from several
sources.
16. Write a script for a play or a mock trial.
17. Write a journal of time spent and activities completed with a mentor.
18. Collect materials from a lobbying or public service agency.
Summarize the information. (Tip: Use the internet or the
Encyclopedia of Associations found in the reference section of most
public libraries.)
19. Write to people in other places about specific topics. Synthesize their
responses.
20. Create a learning center for teachers to use in their classrooms.
21. Rewrite a story, setting it in another time period, after researching
probable differences.
22. Gather political cartoons from several sources. Analyze the
cartoonists’ ideas.
23. Critique a film, book, TV show, play, concert, or other form of
entertainment and post it on an appropriate website.
24. Write a how-to manual for people who need instruction on how to do
or use something.
25. Contact publishers to find out how to get something you’ve written
published.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Topic Browsing Planner

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Resources Record Sheet

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Topic Browsing Planner for
Primary Grades

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Resource Suggestions

(Refers to both actual and online resources)

Books
Almanacs
Atlases
Biographies
Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
First-person accounts
Histories
Nonfiction books
Reference books
_____________________
_____________________

Internet Resources
Blogs
Chat rooms
Internet magazines
Newsgroups
Online encyclopedias
Websites
_____________________
_____________________

Libraries and Archives

Company libraries/archives
County records
Indexes to free materials
Indexes to periodicals
Library archives
Maps
Newspaper files/archives
Public libraries
Reference libraries
School libraries
Specialized bibliographies
Specialized encyclopedias
Specialized libraries
State, national, and world records
Websites, e.g., [Link]
_____________________
_____________________

Organizations
Chambers of Commerce
Groups
Professional associations
Social and professional clubs
Teams
Troops
_____________________
_____________________

Other
Documentaries
Field trips
Films
Videos
_____________________
_____________________

People
Experts in the field
Faculty members
Family members
Friends
Friends’ parents
Government officials
Historical reenactment groups
Neighbors
Parents
Professionals in the field
Senior citizens
Teachers
Youth group leaders
_____________________
_____________________

Periodicals
Brochures
 Catalogs
Diaries
Journals
Magazines
Newsletters
News reports
Trade magazines
_____________________
_____________________

Places
Antique shops
Art galleries
Businesses
Cemeteries
Colleges and universities
Historical sites and societies
Houses of worship
Living history sites
Museums
Schools
Smithsonian Institution
Travel agencies
Weather stations
_____________________
_____________________

Digital Resources
CD-ROM encyclopedias
Databases
Digital notetaking websites
Simulation programs
Online or device apps
_____________________
_____________________

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
Resident Expert Planner
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Resident Expert Planner for
Primary Grades

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Check-Off Sheet for Resident
Expert Project

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Personal Interest Study
Agreement

Read each condition as your teacher reads it

aloud. Write your initials beside each condition to
show that you understand it and agree to abide
by it.
Learning Conditions

______ I will spend the expected amount of time

working on my Personal Interest Study
Project.

______ I will complete all required forms and

keep them at school.

______ If I want my project to be graded, I will

complete an Evaluation Contract and
work at the agreed-upon level.

______ I will leave my project to participate in

designated whole-class activities or
lessons as the teacher indicates them—
without arguing.

______ I will keep a Daily Log of my progress.

______ I will share progress reports about my

project at regular intervals with the class
 or other audience. Progress reports will
be five to seven minutes long. Each will
include a visual aid and a question for
the class to answer.
Working Conditions

______ I will be present in the classroom at the

beginning and end of each class period.

______ I will not bother anyone or call attention

to the fact that I am doing different work
than others in the class.

______ I will work on my project for the entire

class period on designated days.

______ I will carry this paper with me to any

room in which I am working on my
project, and I will return it to my
classroom at the end of each session.

______ I understand that I may keep working

on my project as long as I meet these
learning and working conditions.

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
 Self-Evaluation Checklist

From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every
Teacher Can Use (Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina
Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018. This page may be reproduced for use within an
individual school or district. For all other uses, contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at
[Link]/permissions.
CHAPTER 7
Grouping Gifted Students for
Learning

STRATEGIES
Cooperative Learning Groups for Gifted Students
Cluster Grouping

Grouping practices have long been a hot topic and highly debated issue in
education. One of the challenges is that our educational system has been
trying to find the one grouping practice that is best for all students.
Historically, every time educators search for the one best practice that will
meet the needs of all students, the search is futile. The present attempt at
finding the “right” practice is the Common Core State Standards. Although
optimism is high for this initiative as of this writing, we must be constantly
alert to facets of its implementation that require compacting and
differentiation opportunities for gifted students.
Gifted students require different considerations than their age peers.
This becomes especially evident when students are grouped for learning
according to ability levels. Throughout this book, we have shown examples
of ways that gifted students choose to pursue more challenging work when
it is made available for them. We have also seen that teachers are more
likely to plan and provide for gifted students when there are more than one
or two in their class. When very small numbers of gifted kids are in
classrooms, they often decide to fade into the background to look more
“normal,” which is likely to impede their ongoing achievement.
The practice of grouping high-ability students has been challenged in an
educational climate that opposes ability grouping in general. However, the
research of James Kulik, Chen-Lin Kulik, John Feldhusen, Marcia Gentry,
and this book’s coauthor, Dina Brulles, clearly demonstrates that gifted
students consistently benefit from learning with students of similar ability.
The good news is that research shows that grouping gifted students together
in the same classroom does not have a negative impact on students who
have not been identified as gifted.1
We can accomplish our goal of allowing gifted students to work
together through the careful use of two practices: cooperative learning and
cluster grouping. This chapter describes both strategies in detail. Although
their benefits are similar, they are distinct practices, and therefore discussed
separately.

Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning has been suggested as one response to the challenges
inherent in teaching a class with a wide range of ability. In some
classrooms, gifted students who have already mastered grade-level
curriculum are expected to mentor their peers. This is grossly unfair to the
gifted students, who are then being denied the opportunity to make forward
progress in their own learning.
 Cooperative learning is an educational practice that can provide
achievement gains and improve social interaction. Just as the demands of
the adult workplace often require all people to work in groups from time to
time, cooperative learning skills are valuable for all students, including
those who are gifted. It is important to note, however, that on-the-job
groups are rarely totally heterogeneous in nature. In most cases, team
members have common training and experience.
Gifted students may have much to lose and little to gain from traditional
cooperative learning practices. As you will see, it’s not difficult to create
appropriate cooperative learning experiences for your gifted students.

It’s not difficult to create appropriate cooperative learning

experiences for your gifted students.

Scenario: Kim Liu

Kim Liu was a very unhappy sixth grader. His science teacher used
cooperative learning almost all of the time, and Kim Liu had exhibited
some decidedly uncooperative behaviors in his group. Most often, he
insisted on doing his work alone, sulked when he was forced to join the
group, and refused to carry out the jobs to which he was assigned.
Sometimes, he would act as though he had decided to participate in the
cooperative learning activity, but he would soon take over the group,
regardless of his assigned job, and try to boss the others into doing things
his way. At other times, he simply told his teammates the solutions so he
could get some relief for a few minutes at the end of science class. Kim
Liu’s teacher was using a lot of energy trying to come up with ways to
convince him to cooperate. No strategy seemed to work, and almost
everyone involved was totally frustrated.
During this period, his teacher attended one of Susan’s workshops on
teaching gifted kids. She was startled to hear Susan describe children whose
reactions were similar to Kim Liu’s. Using guidelines presented in the
workshop and detailed in this chapter, she was able to help Kim Liu and her
other gifted students develop a more positive attitude about cooperative
learning. They were especially thrilled with the regular opportunities to
work with each other on more advanced tasks in their own cooperative
learning group, which made everyone concerned much happier.

Cooperative Learning and Gifted Students

Imagine yourself at the first class meeting of a graduate course you need to
take. Your professor announces that a major course requirement, which will
count for 51 percent of your grade, will be a group project. To save time,
she has divided the class into groups based on your majors. She will be
providing a few minutes during class for the group members to get
acquainted.
Visualize yourself at the first meeting of your group when you
immediately discover not only one, but two students in your group who
give every indication of behaving like slackers. If you are a student who is
proud of your perfect 4.0 graduate record, you know you will be doing
everything you can to make sure your record is not threatened by these two
people who are already enumerating the various reasons why they can’t or
won’t work very hard on this project.
Nod your head if you know that you are probably going to be taking
over the management of your group. Nod if you realize that you are most
likely going to end up doing much more than your fair share of the work.
With cooperative learning, we often create situations in which some
students have to do just what we would try to avoid. Imagine that! There
are, however, more effective and productive methods for structuring your
cooperative groups.
Most training in cooperative learning directs teachers to set up
completely heterogeneous groups. Cooperative learning trainers teach that a
group of four students would ideally include one high achiever, two average
achievers, and one low achiever. Many experts in cooperative learning
contend that all students, regardless of their ability, realize achievement
gains from participating in heterogeneous cooperative learning groups.
They claim that high-ability students don’t suffer, and actually understand
concepts better when they explain them to other students.
Author, educator, and researcher Robert E. Slavin has observed, “Gifted
students working in heterogeneous cooperative learning groups are no
worse off than they are in more traditional classrooms.” Statements such as
this imply that it’s perfectly acceptable to place gifted students in
heterogeneous groups for learning. But consider this little-known fact about
Slavin’s research: It systematically excluded the top 5 percent of the student
body, meaning that his studies never actually included gifted students. His
data, then, may be accurate for high achievers, but not necessarily for gifted
kids. One must also question how much learning typically happens for
gifted students in traditional classrooms. “No worse off” is not synonymous
with “better off.”
When gifted students are questioned about their attitudes toward
cooperative learning, the majority typically say that they do not really
dislike cooperative learning per se. They just resent being taken advantage
of in cooperative learning groups and having to do most of the work. Many
adults can surely relate to that sentiment.
When the learning task requires lots of drill and practice, or when some
students are having significant trouble learning new standards, it’s highly
likely that gifted students in heterogeneous cooperative learning groups will
spend most of their time tutoring the other students. They may actually do
more teaching than learning. With the increased pressure to bring the least
capable students up to the levels of learning required by standards, the
practice of using gifted kids to teach others may appear even more
attractive. Parents do not send their children to school to teach others. All
parents have a belief that school is a place where their children can make
measurable academic progress and that outcome should be available for all
students.

It’s highly likely that gifted students in heterogeneous

cooperative learning groups will spend most of their time
tutoring the other students.

The implied message gifted students receive from always being placed
in heterogeneous cooperative learning groups is that once they master the
grade-level content, nothing is left for them to learn. Most teachers would
not consciously choose to send such a message.
Dr. Karen Rogers has studied for many years which instructional
practices actually produce learning growth for gifted students. According to
the data she has gathered, traditional mixed-ability cooperative learning
groups in which students are mixed purely heterogeneously with no special
attention paid to gifted students do not lead to measurable forward progress
for gifted kids.2 However, when the cooperative learning tasks are problem-
based and open-ended, and the teacher has enough training to make sure
gifted kids are not being taken advantage of in any way during the
cooperative group work, heterogeneous cooperative groups may be
defensible for part of the learning time.
Gifted students can benefit from learning how to work cooperatively
with other students. Cooperative learning experiences can specifically teach
them the important social interaction skills they sometimes lack, while
allowing them to enjoy the company of their age peers. The real question is
not whether gifted students belong in cooperative learning groups. Rather,
the question is under what conditions can they most benefit from
cooperative learning and be motivated to learn the social skills they need to
succeed later in life?

STRATEGY

Cooperative Learning Groups

for Gifted Students
When gifted students are removed from heterogeneous cooperative learning
groups and placed together in their own group with an appropriately
challenging task, their experience with cooperative learning is much more
positive than when they are forced to tutor or coach other students in
heterogeneous groups. Especially for tasks that focus on drill-and-practice,
it is desirable to place gifted students in separate groups to work on more
difficult tasks. The rest of the class is arranged in heterogeneous groups,
with the high-achieving students in the group being very capable students,
although not necessarily gifted. Another method that works well is to place
two gifted students in a group with two students of average ability. This
represents a mixed-ability learning group, yet still allows the gifted students
to work together.
Teachers may fear that when the gifted students are working in their
own groups, the other groups will lack appropriate role models. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Educational researcher, author, and
professor Dale H. Schunk from Purdue University has documented that for
one person to serve as a viable role model for another, there can’t be too
much difference in their abilities. This concept makes sense when you
compare it to almost any other learning process. For example, if you’re
learning to downhill ski, you’re more likely to gain confidence by watching
novices fall and get up unharmed than by watching expert skiers fly down a
treacherous slope.
It is usually true that high-achieving kids make much more patient
coaches than highly gifted students. When gifted students in heterogeneous
cooperative learning groups try to explain something to the others, it’s as if
they are speaking a foreign language. Their listeners may nod their heads in
agreement, but they may also feel intimidated, and they won’t ask questions
for fear of looking foolish or dumb. Additionally, many gifted kids cannot
explain things in a way that others understand. This is because gifted kids
make intuitive leaps in their thinking process, and therefore cannot explain
things in the sequential way that other students learn. This results in the
gifted students feeling frustrated about how long it takes the others to
understand an idea they grasped at once. In frustration, they may resort to
tyranny—“Just write down what I told you and don’t ask any questions.
Trust me!” Since the gifted students have not been trained in how to teach
(nor should they be) they commonly resort to just giving the answers. Since
the other kids may feel daunted in the presence of gifted kids, they may rely
on the gifted students to simply tell them the answers, thus feeling even
more inadequate. No one benefits from this experience.
You may have seen ample evidence in your own classroom that
heterogeneous cooperative learning can be problematic for gifted students.
They are the students who are most likely to complain about having to do
cooperative learning. It is their parents who tend to be most negative about
cooperative learning because they worry that their children’s own learning
time will be severely limited.
After one second-grade teacher placed her gifted students in their own
cooperative learning group, it took her class several days to adjust. One
group approached her and declared they couldn’t do any work that day
because, “We need Josephine and she’s absent!” The teacher verified that
Josephine was one of her gifted students. Finally, the teacher’s firmness and
confidence in the students paid off. As the students realized they were not
going to be saved by the return of the most capable students, all of the
groups got to work, completed their tasks, and began cooperating to learn,
instead of counting on the gifted students to lead them to success.
 Most teachers who have removed gifted students from heterogeneous
groups report that they are very pleased with the results. They observe their
gifted students moving quite happily through the more difficult material,
learning to cooperate on tasks few can do alone. Teachers are especially
thrilled when they see new academic leadership emerging in other groups.

IMPORTANT Not all gifted students enjoy working in groups and it’s okay to let them
work alone at certain times. When you think about it, most adults seek out
cooperation only when they need assistance. We prefer to work alone on tasks we
can do easily without help from others. If we want gifted students to learn how to
cooperate, we must make sure they are working on tasks difficult enough to create a
need for cooperation. The students must perceive that cooperation is necessary.
Forcing students to work together in groups without providing a reason for
collaboration is not a good practice and will hinder their success.

Gifted Student Groups vs. Heterogeneous

Groups: Which Is Better?
How can you decide when it’s best to place your gifted students in their
own cooperative learning groups, and when heterogeneous groups would
probably be better for everyone? Here are two approaches you might try.
1. Assess the type of cooperative learning task that has been assigned.
When the task is drill and practice (math computation, studying for a recall-
type test, answering comprehension questions about a story or novel the
class is reading), and you have evidence that some students have mastered
that material, place those kids together in their own group and assign them a
more complex task. Examples: They might read an advanced novel, work
on advanced problem-solving techniques in math, write story problems for
the rest of the class, use the content to produce an interactive activity for the
class, create a digital documentary on the topic, or work on resident expert
projects in small groups.
For tasks that focus on critical thinking, the development of concepts
and generalizations, or problem-based learning, placing gifted students in
heterogeneous groups may be appropriate from time to time. Such
experiences may be richer when a variety of viewpoints is represented. Any
open-ended activity with many possible answers or solutions lends itself to
heterogeneous grouping. So does any subject in which the content is new
for everyone, including the gifted students. Hands-on science experiments
and current events discussions are other good choices for cooperative
learning experiences with heterogeneous groups.
2. Ask yourself three key questions.
“Does the task require input from different types of learning modalities
and different perspectives?”
“Is the subject matter new for all students?”
“Is it likely that the gifted students will be engaged in real learning rather
than continuous tutoring?”

If you can answer yes to all three questions, then heterogeneous

cooperative learning groups are probably appropriate. If you answer no to
one or more of the questions, then it will probably be better to place the
gifted students in a separate group to work on the same kind of content
from a more challenging perspective. All other students would work in
heterogeneous groups comprised of one of the strongest remaining students,
one student who may find the task difficult, and one or two students of
average ability. As you circulate among the cooperative groups at work, let
your observational skills tell you whether your gifted students have been
placed where they belong for optimal learning for everyone.

STRATEGY

Cluster Grouping
You have probably asked yourself questions such as these numerous times
while reading this book:
“How am I ever going to find the time to implement these strategies when
I have the complete range of students in my class?”
“Is it fair to create learning extensions for just one or two students who
need this kind of attention? After all, their grades seem to indicate that
they’re doing just fine in school.”
“Isn’t it more important that I spend my time with the kids who really
need me since my principal is telling me to focus on helping my
 struggling learners master the required standards?”

In most schools, when teachers and principals meet to set up classes for
the following year, the gifted students are separated from each other so all
classes can have one or two of the “best students,” and erroneously, they
commonly believe that the gifted identified students are those “best
students.” So they separate them. This practice creates the troublesome
dilemmas previously described.
It is extremely difficult for gifted students to work at their levels of
potential when they are a minority of one or two in a heterogeneous
classroom. For many gifted students, being in a classroom in which they are
always the smartest one, with no one else working at their level, becomes
an excruciating experience. They sometimes pretend to be less capable than
they really are just to fit in with the other kids. This situation arises in
almost all socioeconomic conditions, within all cultures, and in all
geographic areas. If very smart kids perceive it’s not cool to be smart, their
potential contributions to our society may be lost forever.

For many gifted students, being in a classroom in which they

are always the smartest one becomes an excruciating
experience.

As educators dedicated to ensuring academic progress for all students,

many of us wonder why so many education practices appear to force us to
choose between meeting the needs of one group while sacrificing the needs
of another. School district mission statements promise to serve all students.
Yet, in daily practice, gifted kids often get less teacher attention and less
opportunity to work on challenging curriculum than anyone else in the
class. Their parents may take their children out of our schools to place them
in alternate learning environments. Since the state reimbursement for these
students also disappears from your school when these families leave, this
problem is both ethical and economic.
One increasingly popular solution is to group gifted students at each
grade level into a cluster group within an otherwise heterogeneous
classroom. The teacher of this class is one who has some understanding of
the social, emotional, and academic needs of gifted students and training in
compacting and differentiation strategies. All of the arguments used earlier
about cooperative learning apply to the logic of purposefully clustering
gifted kids together.

Scenario: Third Grade at Adams School

Six children at Adams Elementary School had been identified as gifted at
the end of second grade. As the teachers and principal met to set up the
classes for the three third-grade sections, they considered how to group the
gifted students. The traditional method called for them to divide the six
gifted students evenly, placing two in each of the three classes so all
teachers would have their “fair share” of the brightest students. Under this
system, all three teachers would have to develop appropriate compacting
and differentiation opportunities to challenge their few gifted students.
The staff at Adams decided to try something different. Instead of
separating the gifted students, they formed a cluster group of all six students
and placed them in the otherwise heterogeneous class of one teacher who
had some training in differentiated instruction. Knowing that at least six
students would benefit from any compacting and differentiating
opportunities she created, the teacher felt justified in taking the time to
develop and use them.
When the gifted kids found themselves in a group of others with similar
abilities, they started taking risks to experience learning activities that were
different from what the rest of the class was doing. They were also more
willing to take advantage of the differentiation opportunities because they
would have learning companions for those tasks.
Students placed in the classroom with the gifted cluster had been
formally identified as gifted. This included gifted students who were of
primary age, twice-exceptional, culturally or linguistically diverse, and
underachievers or nonproductive students. Productivity was not a factor in
identifying a student as gifted. This grouping method includes gifted
students who have advanced abilities, even if they don’t demonstrate those
abilities by consistently completing their schoolwork. This represents a
unique difference from many types of gifted programs: it allows us to
enfranchise gifted students who may not have previously been served.
The Schoolwide Cluster Grouping Model
(SCGM)
Cluster grouping works best when it’s a schoolwide initiative. It’s not
enough for individual teachers to simply cluster gifted kids together. It is
essential that a principal or gifted program coordinator carefully monitor
the clustering to ensure that consistent compacting and differentiation are
taking place.
Schools that implement gifted cluster grouping are providing something
that sounds almost impossible to achieve in our current educational climate:
attention to gifted education that requires only minimal funds for its
support. This is because the model’s structure becomes part of the school’s
system and utilizes many of the same materials purchased for other learners
at that particular school. When cluster grouping models are implemented
with fidelity, gifted kids can have their learning needs met every day, in
every subject area. Best of all, it prevents gifted kids from becoming the
group that benefits least from heterogeneous grouping practices.
A three-year study of cluster grouping at an elementary school
documented improved achievement at all grade levels in which clustering
was done, including classes where there were no gifted clusters. One factor
that accounted for that improvement was the unique way in which students
were grouped into classes. In the spring, when class placements were made,
students were sorted into the following five groups:
1. Gifted
2. High Achieving
3. Average
4. Below Average
5. Significantly Below Grade Level

Classroom A, taught by a teacher with some training in gifted

education, was assigned the cluster group of gifted students (1) and some
students from groups 3 and 4. Classes B and C had students from Groups 2–
5. Thus, Teacher A had no students from Group 5, and Teachers B and C
had no identified gifted students. See the example chart for a visual model
of this arrangement.
 Example of a Classroom Composition for the
SCGM
(For a Single Grade Level)

Benefits of the SCGM*

Schools implementing the SCGM have reported a number of benefits. The way in
which the model is implemented and supported determines the benefits realized by
the school community. The school’s population, demographics, size, and other
gifted services available can influence the outcomes of the model. Schools that
effectively support the model commonly report the following benefits:
Gifted students receive full-time attention to their exceptional learning needs,
allowing them to progress at their own pace in an inclusionary setting.
The gifted education program in the district can move from part to full time
without major budget implications.
Gifted students who may not have participated in traditional gifted programs,
including English language learners, twice-exceptional students, and
underachieving gifted students, become enfranchised in this model.
Although all teachers still have heterogeneous classes, the student achievement
range in each class is slightly narrowed, which facilitates effective teaching.
Achievement tends to rise for all kids across the grade levels being clustered
because of the narrowed range of ability and achievement levels in each class,
and due to the emphasis on training cluster teachers to provide and manage
differentiated instruction in their classrooms.
When not placed with identified gifted students, high-achieving students often
emerge as new academic leaders in their own classes.
Parents of gifted students support schools that provide appropriate services for
their gifted children. Some districts find that families who have left their home
school return when the district implements the model.
* Winebrenner and Brulles, 2008
 The SCGM reduces the range of achievement in each classroom. It frees
the gifted cluster teacher to spend more time with the gifted kids instead of
being pulled away by the needs of those students who are significantly
below grade level. Likewise, the other teachers have a slightly narrowed
range of achievement, and along with support from the special education
teachers, they also appreciate the narrowed range of abilities and
achievement levels in their classes. And yet, all classes still have a range of
achievement levels and all classes still have students who are positive
academic role models.

QUESTIONS ANSWERS
Following are some selected questions and answers regarding cluster
grouping for gifted students. For more detailed information on how to
create gifted cluster classes and implement a schoolwide model, please refer
to the references and resources. In particular, our book, The Cluster
Grouping Handbook: A Schoolwide Model, addresses this issue thoroughly.

“What does it mean to place gifted students in cluster

groups?”
Cluster grouping occurs when a group of identified gifted students is
purposefully clustered in a mixed-ability classroom. Gifted students are
clustered and placed with a teacher who participates in ongoing
professional development in gifted education and differentiated instruction.
If 10 or more gifted students are in one grade level, an additional gifted
cluster class may be designated.

“How should gifted students be identified for the cluster

group?”
Identification should be conducted each spring with assistance from
someone with training in gifted education. Standardized ability tests, using
both verbal and nonverbal measures, are recommended to identify students
for placement into the gifted clusters. If there will be more than one gifted
cluster class in one grade level, the gifted identified students can be
separated into the classes by their areas of strength, such as math or reading.
This works especially well at the middle school level. See chapter 1 for
more information about identifying gifted students.

“Isn’t cluster grouping the same as tracking?”

No, there are several important differences between cluster grouping and
tracking. In a tracking system, all students are grouped by ability for much
of the school day and usually remain in the same track throughout their
school years. When tracked, students are assigned a set curriculum based on
their ability level. They generally do not veer from that curriculum; making
it unlikely they would move to a different track in future years. In cluster
classes, students work at different levels for different subjects. All classes in
the grade level have students with a range of learning abilities; all classes
have high-ability or high-achieving students. In a cluster model, extended
learning opportunities are open to all students in the class. Teachers use
students’ entry points, or readiness, to determine levels and pace of
curriculum. Student placements change yearly, so only the gifted students
remain grouped together yearly. However, since classroom placements
change every year, the gifted students continually interact with different
grade-level peers every year.

“Why should gifted students be placed in a cluster

group instead of being assigned evenly to all classes?”
When placing gifted students evenly among all classes, each teacher still
has the full range of abilities. Teachers trying to meet the diverse learning
needs of all students, from levels of very advanced to very low, have
difficulty providing adequately for everyone. Often, the highest ability
students are expected to “make it on their own.” However, when a teacher
has a cluster of gifted students, taking the time to make appropriate
provisions for several gifted students seems more realistic. Gifted students
learn more when grouped with other gifted students. When gifted students
have opportunities to learn together they are more comfortable working at
extended levels of depth and complexity in a given area. Gifted students’
willingness to take risks in learning experiences increases when they spend
time learning with peers who have similar interests and abilities.

“Will the clustered gifted students inhibit the

performance of the other students in that class?”
When the gifted cluster group is kept to a manageable size, cluster teachers
report that there is general improvement in overall achievement for the
entire class. This suggests the exciting possibility that when teachers learn
how to provide for what gifted students need and offer modified versions of
the same opportunities to the entire class, expectations and the levels of
learning are raised for all students. Therefore, the cluster grouping model
can actually increase achievement for many students when the placement
recommendations of the model are closely followed.3

“Do gifted clustered students always work together?”

Gifted students have varying levels of achievement, interests, and
experiences. Therefore, their need for acceleration or extensions will also
vary depending on the content being learned. There are times when some
students in the gifted cluster group will be experiencing differentiation or
acceleration, and times when they won’t. There are also times when
students who have not been identified as gifted can benefit from available
differentiated learning opportunities. Opportunities for moving faster or
going deeper into the curriculum are routinely offered to the entire class.

“Is clustering feasible at all levels—elementary, middle,

and high school?”
Cluster grouping may be used at all grade levels and in all subject areas, but
the structure will vary when incorporated at the middle school and high
school levels. Gifted students may be clustered into one section of any
heterogeneous team, especially when there are not enough students to form
an advanced section for a particular subject. Variations of cluster grouping
are also a welcome option in small rural settings, and in almost any grade
level configuration.4

“Should cluster grouping practices replace our district’s

current program components in gifted education?”
Not at all. Cluster grouping can supplement existing program components.
The complaint many teachers (and parents) have about most gifted
programs is that they comprise only a small percentage of the student’s
learning time. Adding cluster grouping to a comprehensive program already
in place is a beneficial, cost-effective option. The program makes the job of
the gifted specialist easier since she has fewer teachers’ schedules to work
with and is therefore more available for the gifted cluster teachers.
If your school must choose between resource-room programs or cluster
grouping, our recommendation is to go with the cluster grouping. This
greatly improves the chances that gifted students will receive appropriate
learning opportunities on a daily basis. If your district has full-time, self-
contained classes for gifted students, their composition should be limited to
highly gifted students. If there are not enough highly gifted students for an
entire class, grades may be combined. The gifted students who are not
considered highly gifted become the gifted cluster students at their schools.
Therefore, cluster grouping easily co-exists and complements other
components of your comprehensive gifted education program. If your
school has a teacher who serves as a gifted education coach or leader, that
person’s time helping teachers who have gifted students in their class is
spent much more efficiently and effectively when cluster grouping is used.
That person’s presence also allows cluster teachers access to additional
coaching and assistance to help provide the best possible classroom
program for their gifted kids.

Chapter Summary
This chapter has pointed out how gifted students need special
considerations when grouping students for the most effective learning
outcomes in heterogeneous classes. It should now be easier to understand
that the same grouping practices are usually not equally effective for gifted
students as they are for average and below-average students. Since a critical
goal of all educators is to provide documentation of academic progress for
all students every year, the techniques described in this chapter are designed
to help you attain that goal for all students in your class.

1
Brulles, et al, 2011.
2
Rogers, 1993.
3
Gentry, 1999, 2008.
4
Gentry and Kielty, 2004.
CHAPTER 8
Assessment and Technology

STRATEGIES
One-Pagers
Show Me
Student Observations
Ticket Out the Door
Journaling
Roll the Die
Scoring Rubrics
Using Technology for Collaborative Learning
Using Mobile Devices
 Webquests and Cyberhunts

In today’s world, so much overlap exists between technology and

assessment that it seems natural to combine them into one chapter. Of
course, some aspects of assessment have nothing to do with technology, and
vice versa, but the two topics relate and can be used together. The essential
elements of instruction and assessment are enhanced by the use of
technology. Technology makes learning more active and productive, which
makes students more likely to learn the required standards, which makes
assessment results more positive and satisfying. As we strive for positive
achievement outcomes, we know that technology enhances the learning
experiences for the majority of students and teachers, thus improving their
self-confidence and assessment outcomes.
Technology has become an essential link in our approach to judging the
quality of our schools, and it helps us align all essential elements within that
process. Testing companies make many assessments available online.
Students are often very savvy about using technology as a tool in their
learning experiences. Some school districts have transitioned to full
electronic access and integration with all of their courses, classes, and
programs. And student achievement is measured much more accurately
with the use of technology.
A growing number of testing and learning experts argue that technology
can dramatically improve assessment—and teaching and learning. Research
projects demonstrate how information technology can both deepen and
broaden assessment practices in elementary and secondary education, by
assessing more comprehensively and by assessing new skills and standards.
And all of these can strengthen national standardized test results.
These new technology-enabled assessments offer the potential to
understand more than simply whether a student answered a test question
correctly. Using multiple forms of media that allow for both visual and
graphical representations, we can present complex, multi-step problems for
students to solve, and we can collect detailed information about an
individual student’s approach to problem solving. When these elements are
assessed, there is more incentive for schools to pay attention to problem-
solving experiences in their curriculum.
A report by the International Society for Technology in Education
(ISTE) asserts that technology has a positive effect on student achievement
and that correct implementation is key to its success. This includes:
Effective and ongoing professional development in the integration of
technology and instruction
Alignment of technology-linked work to required standards
Incorporation of technology into daily learning experiences
Individualized feedback to students to tailor experiences to individual
needs
Multiple opportunities for student collaboration
Frequent use of project-based learning and real-world simulations
Awareness that many students’ only access to computers is at school1

As interaction with technology is an everyday experience in more and

more schools, so is the focus on ongoing assessment. All students benefit
from the same practices. We start by assessing a student’s entry level with
targeted curriculum. We apply learning strategies that are designed to move
students forward in their learning. We check to see how the strategies
worked, and repeat the entire process over as needed. Technology can help
manage the data we collect in this process, see trends and patterns, and
share accurate information with our community.

Effective Assessment Practices

Assessment should not merely be done to students; rather, it should also be
done for students, to guide and enhance their learning. The National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) defines the role of
assessment:
To assist student learning
To identify students’ strengths and weaknesses
To assess the effectiveness of a particular instructional strategy
To assess and improve the effectiveness of curriculum
To assess and improve teaching effectiveness
 To provide data that assist in decision making
To communicate with and involve parents2

To make the best use of instructional time for all students, assessment
must drive instruction. That means, simply, not teaching a concept or
standard if your students are not ready for it or if they have already
mastered it. There is an abundance of educational research and articles
about how to teach students who are not ready for the required standards.
Assessment helps us determine exactly which interventions are needed and
how to measure their effectiveness.
Effective curriculum planning for all students is built around the
following questions:
What do my students need to know? (Learning objectives)
What kinds of learning activities will best present the required knowledge
and prepare students for the required assessment? (Instructional
strategies)
What kinds of assessment will document if the required learning has been
accomplished? (Assessment)
What are the most useful tools to help me in all of these areas?
(Instructional technology)

There are two general categories of assessment: formative and

summative. Formative assessments provide information to teachers about
the effectiveness of their methods and pacing to inform their ongoing
instruction. Formative assessments, such as pretests, are never formally
graded. Rather, the diagnostic information they provide is used to adjust
subsequent instruction. Summative assessments are used to evaluate growth
within particular standards when mastery is expected. Summative
assessments are generally experienced as chapter or unit tests, entrance
exams, and state or national required assessments. Teachers must focus on
what will be assessed at the end of a learning unit in the summative
assessment in order to choose effective formative assessments on the way to
assuring mastery.
Attributes of formative assessment:
 Learning progressions—“How do I know what my students already
know?”
Learning goals—“Have I clearly determined and stated expected
outcomes to my students?”
Descriptive feedback—“Am I providing authentic and relevant feedback
on my students’ work?”
Self and peer reflection—“Are my students involved in authentic,
reflective, and collaborative assessment of their work?”

Formative assessments answer critical questions that guide instruction,

such as:
Should you reteach using different methods that may have a higher
likelihood of leading to successful outcomes?
Should you consider longer or shorter pacing of instruction?
Should you move the entire class forward more quickly when many
students do very well on the formative assessments?
Which students need consistent compacting and differentiation
experiences?

You need accurate information and documentation to make these

decisions. As a wise saying goes, “You can’t manage what you don’t
measure.”

Formative Assessment for Gifted

Leaners
Formative assessment is a collaborative process that relies on constructive
feedback and creates a partnership between the student and the teacher.
Effective implementation of formative assessments for the gifted students in
your class who are working on extension activities may require a shift in
your normal assessment strategies.
Ultimately, these assessments should emphasize learning, not grading.
This may be a challenge for some gifted students who are accustomed to
their schoolwork being easy. It may be uncomfortable for you, as well. If
so, remember that getting good grades does not constitute learning.
Learning involves working at a challenge level. This quite often involves
academic struggle for the gifted child who has rarely struggled before.

Ultimately, these assessments should emphasize learning,

not grading.

Since gifted students learn new content very quickly, you should pay
close attention to document that they are conceptualizing the content as
opposed to simply remembering it. Ask yourself, “Can they transfer their
ideas? Can they relate what they have learned to new contexts?” The
assessment challenge with gifted students is that they may show evidence
that they need to work with advanced-level standards. When students can
prove they already know what will ultimately be included in a summative
assessment, some of the formative assessment process becomes
unnecessary.

NOTE We have already discussed several formative assessment strategies in

previous chapters as they apply to specific methods for compacting and
differentiating, such as pretests, learning contracts, study guides, and independent
study projects. The strategies described in the following section provide simple
alternatives to paper and pencil assessments.

Formative Assessment Strategies

These formative assessment strategies are simple to use, easy to assess,
require very little writing for the students, and convey accurate information
for you. The results of formative assessment strategies can be used to form
flexible groups for ongoing instruction, as well as to inform you about the
most effective ways to move the students through the content.
For these strategies to be effective with gifted students, you will want to
have your extension activities prepared even before you begin your
instruction. That way, you will feel much more positive about seeing kids
emerge who need advanced learning experiences and you won’t wonder
what to do with them.
 STRATEGY

One-Pagers
One favorite method used to find out what students know about a topic is
called One-Pagers. A One-Pager is basically a blank sheet of paper
sectioned into five parts: four equal quadrants with a fifth section in the
center of the page. This strategy can be used with almost any topic.
Let’s use the topic of literary elements to illustrate the strategy.
Designate the topics for each quadrant of the paper. For example, to assess
what students know about the essential elements of literature, the topic
headings could be Setting, Characters, Plot Details, and Theme. Have
students write one of these topics in each of the four quadrants. Then, have
them write a category title in the middle section; in this case it might be
Literary Elements. Announce to your students, “Tell me everything you
know about these elements under each heading on this piece of paper.” By
limiting it to one page, the students know to just jot down important
thoughts that describe each element. If all students do a quick One-Pager
before and after each story or novel, it will be easy to see which students
are ready for more complex work, and which need more review of the basic
story components. This provides valuable information you may use to
create learning groups for instruction and to match tiered lessons to the
needs of each flexible group.

STRATEGY

Show Me
This strategy demonstrates a quick way to assess students’ readiness to
move on to more advanced content. It relies on group signaling methods.
As a quick assessment regarding content that has just been taught, use
questions you have prepared in your lesson plans to determine how much
has already been understood by which students. The students response
should be simply yes or no, true or false, or a number from 1 to 10.
Model how students should use their hands to signal their responses.
The most critical part of this method is to train students not to show their
response until you give a verbal signal—often asking a question and then
saying, “Show me.” At that point, students use their fingers to show their
answer. The real beauty of this is you don’t have to even notice their
signals. When students know that they must all signal at exactly the same
time, you just have to pay close attention to which students’ heads whip
around at the “show me” signal, as they try to get help from their
classmates. Be sure to use plenty of variety including some signaling
methods that allow students to stand up and even move around.

Give Me a Five
A variation of Show Me is called Give Me a Five. After finishing a lesson,
ask your students, “Where are you with this material? Can you give me a
one through five?” With a fist held in front of their chest, students show one
through five fingers to indicate their level of comfort with the material. You
can easily get visual information about how to group students for
instruction at the time of the next lesson.

Give Me a Five

Signal What It Says Action Required

1 finger “I’m completely lost.” Invite student to join

tomorrow’s direct instruction
group.

2 fingers “I’d like some additional help Invite student to join

from you.” tomorrow’s direct instruction
group.

3 fingers “I’m pretty sure I have it, but I Invite student to join
think more practice would tomorrow’s guided practice
help.” group.

4 fingers “I’ve got it and I’m ready to Invite student to join

move on.” tomorrow’s extension activity
group.

5 fingers “I’m ready for more difficult Explore possibilities for

content.” content acceleration.
 As you can see, this formative assessment method makes it very easy
for you to look around at the students’ responses and use them to form your
flexible groups for the next day’s lesson. You will easily know which
students to group together for extension work, which for independent
practice, which for additional review, and which for more direct instruction
in a way that is more suited to their learning needs.

Quick Check
Yet another variation of Show Me is a quick homework check. Designate
five problems for the Show Me response, and give the correct answers to
the students. At your signal, students hold up the number of fingers that
describe how many problems they got correct. This provides an instant way
for you to know who needs another direct instruction lesson and who is
ready for extension work.

STRATEGY

Student Observations
Quite a bit of formative assessment can be gleaned from simply watching
and listening to students. Gifted students’ responses may appear
significantly advanced for their age group. You can direct the discussion in
any way necessary, such as asking students to use vocabulary that was
learned in previous lessons.
Dr. Bertie Kingore has designed a unique, accurate, and teacher-friendly
method to identify gifted students through guided observations.3 The tool,
called the the Kingore Observation Inventory (KOI), actually trains teachers
to recognize gifted behaviors, whether or not a student is also productive.
Unlike some other instruments that require you to rate all your students on
many behaviors, the KOI does not. Instead, teachers are trained to observe
their students for “gifted” behaviors, which are recorded on a special form
the teacher carries.
During active teaching and learning time, teachers systematically
observe their students for a week or two looking for students who exhibit
behaviors that indicate they are advanced in a particular category of
learning. There are several other categories as well, including
underachievers and students who are not fluent in English.

STRATEGY

Ticket Out the Door

During the last five minutes of class, rather than asking students if they
have any questions, try the Ticket Out the Door strategy. Give students a
slip of paper or an index card—which are uniform in size—and have them
write their name on it. Then ask a question that will provide you with
feedback to determine the level of understanding each student has achieved
from the day’s lesson. Have students write their answer to the question on
the card. Reassure them that the information will not be graded, just used to
create flexible learning groups for the next lesson. (See more on flexible
grouping.) Collect these “tickets” as students leave the classroom. Use the
information to flexibly group students for the next day’s lesson. Students
who obviously have a clear understanding can work on extension activities
the next day. Other students will return to the same required standards using
various methods of reteaching. You may also identify students who need
intensive assistance.

STRATEGY

Journaling
A simple way to informally learn what students know about a specific topic
you are planning to teach is by asking them to write about that topic in their
journals. Journaling allows students who have a lot of background
knowledge on a particular subject to really elaborate on it. This provides
you with valuable information about students’ readiness levels.
First, pique their interest by introducing the topic. Prior to providing the
prompt, you could show a video clip, explore a website, or read a brief
piece of literature on the topic. Then, give a prompt and have your students
write on the topic in their journals.
When reading through the journal entries, you can create your flexible
learning groups based on the students’ background knowledge and
readiness levels. Record your students’ names in three separate lists: those
with little or no knowledge of the topic, those with some knowledge, and
those with significant knowledge. When you begin the unit, these three
learning groups will work on the same material but at different levels of
complexity.

Summative Assessment for Gifted

Learners
The second major type of assessment is summative. Summative
assessments are used for evaluation or grading after a particular section of
content is expected to have been mastered. You’ll recall that with formative
assessments, formal recorded grading is discouraged because we are
measuring students’ competencies while the material is being learned. We
want the grades that will be formally recorded after summative assessment
to reflect student success with mastering the required standards.
While formative assessments can provide achievement information at a
time when classroom interventions may have an impact on learning
outcomes, many summative assessments cannot. We commonly receive the
results of “high-stakes” summative assessments during the summer or early
fall of the following school year. These assessments are mostly used to
evaluate the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction for an entire class
or grade level. They also evaluate the effectiveness of various school
programs to determine the extent to which school improvement goals have
been met.
Typical summative assessment experiences include:
End of chapter or unit assessments
End of quarter, semester, term, or year exams
District benchmark or interim assessments
Report card and transcript grades
Formal state or national exams
AYP (adequate yearly progress) scores or other indicators of a school’s
yearly achievement growth
 College entrance exams

Because there is such a wide variance in the ways summative

assessments are used in various states, we recommend that you contact your
local office of assessment to get the particulars for your school or district.

Grading for Gifted Students

Grading gifted students’ work requires careful attention and consideration.
Many of your gifted students and their parents have been conditioned to
believe that high grades guarantee that new learning is taking place. You
may also have thought this to be the case. However, we know this is simply
not true. Quite frequently, gifted students would be able to earn a high grade
even before you have “taught” them the material. Has real learning taken
place?
Imagine you are using one of the compacting and differentiation
strategies included in this book. Then you learn that your principal will be
doing an observation on this lesson. You may be concerned that your
principal does not understand the newly learned method you were planning
to use. If this feels like too great a risk, you might change the lesson to
something more traditional. In much the same way, if we expect gifted
students to embrace highly challenging work that is difficult for them, we
cannot attach assessments to it that might bring down their grades in any
formal manner.
Gifted students must experience two conditions in order to be convinced
it is safe for them to try more challenging work.
1. First, they must be reassured that they will not have to do a larger
amount of work than their classmates. As an adult, you probably would
not volunteer for work that was simply more than what others were
doing without any tangible benefit.
2. Second, they need to know that their extension work will not lead to
lower recorded grades. If you cannot guarantee those outcomes,
students may refuse to take advantage of the available Extension
Menus, saying something like, “No thanks. I’ll just do what the other
students are doing.”
 All the strategies described in this book provide those two guarantees,
and that is why gifted students are very likely to choose to take advantage
of them.
When we create challenging learning situations for gifted students, they
will probably stop having an “easy time” in school. While they’ll likely still
be getting high grades, they’ll also be required to engage in and often
struggle with difficult projects. This may upset them, as well as their
parents. You may need to reeducate some parents so they understand the
importance of their children experiencing frustration and struggle so that
true learning can take place. Chapter 10 (in the digital content) provides
information and reassurance for parents who may be alarmed that their
children are no longer breezing through school.
Our goal in grading should be to record successful outcomes that
document actual learning results, even for those who are working with
advanced material. Students and parents want to know how progress is
being documented. As long as they understand why an actual letter or
percentage grade will not be the way that documentation is recorded, they
can rest assured that the availability of the advanced work does not present
an insurmountable risk that would make gifted students reject opportunities
to move ahead.

Our goal in grading should be to record successful outcomes

that document actual learning results, even for those who are
working with advanced material.

When students are working above grade level, or with content that is
much more rigorous academically, we need to document their progress in a
different way than with simple letter or percentage grades. Here are a few
options:
As a separate document or on the student’s report card, add a box marked
“Curricular Adjustments.” Then make note of the student’s progress, such
as, “In math, Samantha has fully mastered the fourth-grade material and
is currently working at the fifth-grade level. The evidence of her success
is her ability to continue to work at that advanced level. This quarter she
has excelled in the standards: Operations, Algebraic Thinking, and
 Geometry. She has encountered more challenge in the standard in
Measurement and Data.” This assessment method allows close ongoing
observation of this student’s progress in math.
Address and document the student’s working habits in the appropriate
section of the report card, progress report, or other reporting tool. An
example of a narrative statement might be, “Esteben is currently working
two grade levels ahead in math. He eagerly attempts new and challenging
material.” Or, “Alicia is working above grade level in reading. She
becomes very frustrated when she does not understand what she is
reading. She is learning different strategies to make her comprehension
more dependable.”
For accelerated work, such as placement in a higher grade’s math or
reading work, the recorded grade would come from the actual grade
earned with that advanced content, since it represents the student’s full-
time curriculum in that subject area. You might add a note on the
reporting form that states the student is being graded on advanced-level
work.

As discussed in chapter 1, the research of Dr. Carol Dweck and others

has proven that some students lose courage when they get high grades
easily and then resist seeking out more challenging tasks. For decades, this
situation has been very confusing to parents and teachers. We wonder why
these very smart kids stop being willing to take the high-level classes in
favor of classes at more average levels. This research finally answers the
perplexing questions adults have about this issue.

How to Grade Students with Learning

Contracts and Study Guides
As we discussed in chapters 2 and 3, grades are handled a little differently
when a student is on a Learning Contract versus Study Guide. With
Learning Contracts, the A’s a student earned on the pretest are entered into
your grade book at the same time you enter grades for other students for a
particular assignment—as long as they follow the expected working
conditions on the days they are working on extension activities. When
students don’t follow a working condition, you might discuss with them
how to make better choices. However, when they continue to ignore the
Essential Rules for Independent Work, expect them to rejoin the direct
instruction group for the remainder of the unit.
With the Learning Contract strategy, students are therefore receiving
their A grade for two reasons: they demonstrated mastery on the pretest on
this particular standard, and they followed the working conditions on the
day you actually taught that standard to students who needed to learn it.
Their extension activities are not formally graded. Nor is a student expected
to finish one extension activity per day. If they were, students would choose
only easy activities, and the differentiated opportunities would not provide
the intended outcomes.
Things are quite different when using the Study Guide method for new
content, as described in chapter 3. When many of the standards are
unfamiliar to the student, we don’t recommend a pretest for the reasons
explained in that chapter. However, if there is no pretest, there is no
evidence of which standards the students may have previously mastered. In
that case, we compact and differentiate the pace at which the students work
and the amount of time they must spend working with grade-level
standards.
Their grades come from a combination of content checkpoints as shown
on the Study Guide and the grade they choose to earn for their extension
project. An Evaluation Contract may be used to assess a student’s extension
work, and this grade is recorded in the grade book in place of a grade for
work associated with the required grade-level standards. See chapter 3 for
details on Evaluation Contracts.

What About Extra Credit?

Most gifted students do not need extra credit work. “Extra” credit implies that
students have completed their “regular” work. However, since gifted students buy
time for extension work by successfully completing compacted work, and are
working on other activities to replace the grade-level work, they do not need to do
anything more to demonstrate mastery. The extra credit issue becomes moot.
Instead, if they receive credit for their extension work, it is called “replacement” or
“equivalent” credit, and is in no way “extra.”

How to Spend Less Time Grading

While grades are important, most teachers struggle with the amount of time
they spend grading, wondering about its effectiveness but feeling guilty if
they don’t consistently grade all student work. According to researcher Lee
Jenkins, there are no studies that prove any correlation between the amount
of time a teacher spends grading and student achievement. However,
Jenkins also documents there is a direct correlation between student
achievement and the amount of time a teacher spends doing lesson planning
that is based on formative assessments.4
The following formative assessment methods encourage students to do
high-quality, legible, and accurate work while decreasing the amount of
time you spend grading and entering the grading data in your grading
records.

STRATEGY

Roll the Die

Use a regular die with large numerals of one through six. Working on a
selected topic area, small groups of students complete six separate activities
and are expected to keep their dated work. On the seventh day of work, a
student from each group rolls the die, and whichever numeral comes up
represents the activity that was completed on that specified day. That is the
only activity that is graded, and that grade represents each group’s grade for
the total number of activities done for a topic area. Of course, you can make
this sequence take fewer days of study. Students, however, will value
accuracy with all their work since no one knows ahead of time which day’s
activity will represent the entire grade for that topic area.
Variation: To select the actual problems that will be used for the grade
for the entire assignment of 15 problems or examples, use a 15-sided die.
One student throws the die three times. The numbers that show up are the
only three problems that will be graded from that assignment. After the
answers are shared, students receive their grade by the number of
designated problems they have correct. Again, no one knows ahead of time
which problems will “count,” and you get measurable results without
grading all the problems for all students.
Students who have been excused from having to complete the entire
assignment through compacting opportunities as described in earlier
chapters will not have to participate in this event. We caution you to be
certain you never assume any proficiency exists until you have documented
evidence of that fact. It is a disservice to gifted students to place them in
situations where they are asked to learn something for which they have
never learned the required framework. In other words, just because a
student is very smart, we can never assume that “he must know this or
that.” Only formative or summative assessments can document that mastery
has actually been achieved.

STRATEGY

Scoring Rubrics
Rubrics contain specific sets of criteria that demonstrate various ratings
regarding students’ work products. Every project can be assessed by using a
rubric. Rubrics can be generated by you or by your students. If students
provide input into how their projects are developed, they should also help
develop the rubric for assessment. Make sure all students clearly understand
the language it uses, as well as the role of individual students in using the
rubric. Rubrics help make assessments and grading procedures more
objective than subjective, more informative than punitive, and more
descriptive than a single letter or number grade.
Rubrics are effective for all students, but gifted students find their use
particularly satisfying. Gifted kids often hate surprises—especially
unpleasant ones! Typical grading practices are very arbitrary. Students may
try to predict the grade they will receive, but their guesses are often way off
the mark. Rubrics allow students to know in advance which specific criteria
will be used to assess their work. Not only can the rubric be used to figure
out the grade a product will probably earn, it can also be used for students
to edit their products during the production process in order to satisfy more
challenging criteria. Rubrics are also a very helpful tool to use in peer
editing, a practice that allows students to deeply analyze the purpose and
the content of a lesson. Finally, rubrics can help students at various schools
within the same district produce higher-quality products that are more
consistent among schools. There is abundant information online for creating
rubrics. See references and resources for suggestions.
Using Technology to Challenge
Learners
Along with the recent increased attention to assessment has come the rapid
emergence of technology use in school. Formal assessment now is
commonly administered online, and a tremendous amount of differentiation
and content acceleration occurs through digital tools.
Students love using technology to learn. It is easy for us to observe that
students are more actively engaged using technology than they are during
some teacher-directed lessons, and we know that active engagement leads
to much better learning outcomes.5 Today’s students naturally want
technology to continue to be an essential part of their learning, since most
have been accustomed to using it since they were very young. Students in
technology-rich environments have been shown to experience positive
effects on achievement in all subject areas and improved attitudes toward
learning and their own self-concepts.6
Present-day students are noticeably different from the types of learners
many of us were trained to teach since they are accustomed to getting most
of their knowledge and information from digital sources. If you are equally
savvy, you might offer assistance to any colleagues who are not as
comfortable with the instructional technology currently in use. We must
model both how to access worthy information as well as ethical ways of
using it.
When today’s kids want to talk to someone, they want to communicate
instantly so they text their mom or dad, Skype with their grandparents, or
chat with friends on a social network. Today’s kids even perceive email as
obsolete and too slow. As educators, we want students to experience and
understand that technology can be just as exciting at school as outside of
school, and that we will facilitate their already-mastered technology skills
into their daily learning experiences.

Gifted Kids and Technology

Gifted kids, in particular, benefit from using technology in the classroom
because of the endless possibilities for research and collaboration with
others, including academic leaders in a particular field. Providing gifted
students opportunities to learn with technology gives them an outlet for
their creativity. Instead of simply writing a story about a boy who can fly,
they can create a digital project that enables them to depict their character
actually flying! They thrive on the opportunities technology provides to
enhance their creativity. Today’s software and digital programs provide an
endless array of possibilities for kids to create whatever they envision.
Twice-exceptional students are freed from their learning restrictions to
express their special brand of creativity in ways that help them overcome
their learning challenges. Gifted students can get lost in sites such as
NASA, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institute, and countless
others. It is intuitive for students to jump into one of these sites to explore
ideas, find topics for study, and then proceed with their research projects. It
is a rabbit-hole phenomenon, in which you don’t know where you are going
to end up once you start. Exploring topics in such an environment can be
highly engaging for gifted kids because it is fast-paced and appeals to all
the senses. They are also excited by the limitless content they can find.
The classroom is a place where kids can collaborate, create, assess,
build, and apply. Gifted kids want to find value or reason to come to the
classroom beyond learning facts and getting information. They can get facts
anywhere, anytime. Making learning meaningful and relevant for gifted
kids in our classrooms involves stepping into their digital world.

Making learning meaningful and relevant for gifted kids in our

classrooms involves stepping into their digital world.

Gifted children thirst for more and more information about topics in
which they are interested. Instantly, technology provides students with an
abundance of resources from different perspectives, which gives them
opportunities to consider all viewpoints and learn to evaluate resources.
They can then construct their own understanding about what they are
learning and how that information fits into their world.
You may have some concerns about kids’ fascination with technology
and whether it might be isolating them. Consider that instant messaging is
having a conversation; online gaming is collaborating and playing; social
networking sites do expand communication. Through Facebook, Twitter,
texting, and gaming, kids are communicating and collaborating more now
than ever before. What has changed, however, is whether kids actually
participate with each other in the same physical space! We must be willing
to teach kids the way they learn and try to keep up with their facility with
technology.

The Teacher’s Changing Role in the

Age of Technology
Your role as a teacher has changed more in the last decade than perhaps at
any other time in your teaching career—required standards, assessments,
curriculum alignments, and of course, technology. One thing you learn from
teaching gifted students over time is never to “fake it.” If you don’t know
the answer to something, have the good sense to admit it. Some of your
students know much more than you do. Learn to feel okay responding to a
question with, “I really don’t know this. I would appreciate your assistance
in explaining this software, technology, or app.” Your honesty might
actually encourage your students to have similar courage when they need to
tell you about what they don’t know.
The amount of technology you will use for instructional purposes
depends on your comfort level and experience with it, availability of
various programs and software, and opportunities for professional
development. Most teachers currently use computers for lesson planning,
record keeping, grading, projection systems, music, and class presentations.
In this new era, you will find numerous opportunities to become a student
again and enter a world that can help reinvigorate your teaching and your
students’ learning.
The good news is there are many options for you to improve or share
your technology skills. Ask the person in charge of technology at your
school or in your district to help you access whatever training you need.
Look for grants to help pay for what you need. Use the Khan Academy
yourself. As with anything we need to learn, start with one topic or program
of interest to you, and concentrate on that until you reach a comfort level
with its use. Then branch out—one new technological device at a time.

Helpful Websites for Students’ Creative and Critical Thinking

Kahoot! ([Link]) is a game-based learning site teachers can use in the
classroom to create, play, and share engaging quizzes on any topic.
Baamboozle ([Link]) is a game-based learning site that received a
2017 Best Website for Teaching & Learning award from the American Association
of School Librarians.
Cite This for Me! ([Link]) is a popular citation website that includes
Harvard, APA, MLA, and other styles.
Wizer ([Link]) is a teacher-made, intuitive spreadsheet platform that has
grading, sharing, and individual student assignment capabilities.
Buncee ([Link]) is a presentation app that can be used by teachers
and students for effective and fun communication and collaboration.
Mysimpleshow ([Link]) is a website for making “explainer videos”
that can be used for professional, educational, or personal purposes.
Seesaw ([Link]) is a website for teachers to help students create digital
portfolios.
GoNoodle ([Link]) is a video platform that engages children through
movement to introduce new topics in the classroom or hone skills at home.
Zoom In ([Link]) is an online platform that helps kid dive deeper into
historical content through primary and secondary sources.
Tween Tribune ([Link]) is a free resource from the Smithsonian
Institution that contains articles, videos, and historical stories for K–12 students.
OER Commons ([Link]) is a website that has free higher education
resources.
CommonLit ([Link]) is a free resource for reading passages and literature
exercises for grades 3–12.
Newsela ([Link]) is an instructional content platform that includes
differentiated texts grouped by subject area.
MediaSmarts ([Link]) is a K–12 platform that educates children about
the issues in “traditional” media as well as the arising issues in digital media.
[Link] ([Link]) is a database that includes poems by and biographies about
poets throughout history as well as some contemporary poets. You can sign up for
Poem-a-Day to receive a daily poem by email.
Duolingo ([Link]) is an app-based platform that first gauges and tests your
knowledge of a language you would like to learn. It then provides daily activities to
grow your knowledge and tests your skills as you learn. Available in multiple
languages and on most phones.
Bloomz ([Link]) is a free app that can be downloaded by teachers and
parents to effectively communicate with one another securely and privately.
Khan Academy ([Link]) is a personalized learning platform that
utilizes videos and articles to teach subjects from kindergarten to college.
Freckle Education ([Link]) is a differentiation platform for grades preK–12 in
multiple subjects. It claims to be the first differentiation platform to exist for these
ages.
 See more ideas for digital learning in chapter 6 and in the references and
resources.

Technology in your classroom can benefit you tremendously. Your

preparation time is minimal, since many kids are so computer and internet
savvy. The use of technology can deepen and broaden the learning for
students who have compacted out of the regular curriculum. Depending on
the availability of computers and other digital teaching tools, you may
group students into pairs or small groups so they can interact with the
technology on preapproved websites. The goal is to find websites that are
aligned with the required or advanced standards and with students’ personal
areas of interest.

Teacher Online Resources

The following are websites that provide teacher resources to help you
improve the interest level of your curriculum for your students. Since
hundreds of new programs and applications are made available daily, this
list serves simply as an example of the types of resources that are available.
You can search on your own and we encourage you to do so on a regular
basis. An excellent topic for staff, department meetings, professional
learning communities, or gifted cluster teacher meetings is to share any
websites colleagues are finding interesting and helpful.
Bertie Kingore’s website ([Link]) hosts the marvelous
collection of Dr. Kingore’s materials that assist in identification of and
educational interventions for gifted students of all ages.
Hoagies’ Gifted ([Link]) includes easy access to a treasure trove
of articles, books, studies, and suggestions for parenting and teaching gifted
students.
Khan Academy ([Link]) is as good for you as it is for your
students. This fabulous, free resource presents short tutorials for anyone
who needs to know just about anything.
Teachertube ([Link]) provides a free, safe, focused online
community for teachers to share instructional videos with their students or
other teachers.
Moodle ([Link]) is a free virtual learning environment that has
become popular among educators as a tool for creating online dynamic
websites for their students.
Free Technology for Teachers (freetech4 [Link]) supplies teachers
with free resources and websites they can use in their classrooms. Includes
a link to Fakebook, where kids can create fake Facebook pages as learning
aids.
Class Tools ([Link]) has tools you can use to create free game
formats for your curriculum.
TED Talks ([Link]) hosts a series of TED (Technology, Entertainment,
and Design) conferences dedicated to “ideas worth spreading.” Short, high-
interest lessons cover a variety of topics.
The G Suite for Education ([Link]) provides a free collection of
services to enable digital teaching to flourish in classrooms around the
world. The core services in G Suite include Calendar, Classroom, Drive,
Docs, Forms, Gmail, Hangouts, Keep, Sheets, Sites, Slides, and Vault.
Google Classroom (included in G Suite) is an online platform that allows
teachers and students to connect with ease and confidence. Assignments,
videos, and discussion forums are all at a teacher’s fingertips. Other
services provide the ability to create and share documents, spreadsheets,
and slideshows for an authentic learning environment. Add to the mix
Google Forms to simplify data collection and Google Keep, a note-taking
and organizational tool to support learners in the classroom.

School Website Resources

Another great way you can use technology in teaching is to start housing
some of your curriculum on your school’s or district’s website or intranet.
Create areas where students can go to access their extension work. Even if
no computers are available at the time, students can access the extension
lessons through any handheld device, such as a smartphone or tablet, the
same way they would on a laptop. Housing your curriculum in this way
serves numerous purposes and solves many logistical challenges for
teachers. Primarily, the practice eases accessibility for the students who are
working at different levels. Students access what they need, when they need
it. If you put your extension lessons online, you can build in hyperlinks that
lead kids straight to the sites you want them to visit. This also reduces the
amount of time and material you need to put into the lesson plan.
In addition, if your staff wants to do a study of this book, or other books
of interest to teachers, your school or district website can be used as an
“online” course so some of the face-to-face meetings can be replaced by a
digital format.
Also, visit the website of your state’s or college’s education department,
as well as those of the publishers of your adopted materials.

Making Differentiation Easier

Using technology in the classroom makes differentiation much easier. For
example, in math, if one student is working two years above grade level and
another is working four years above grade level, you can find online math
programs they can both use independently. You can do a search to find an
abundance of challenging, already prepared materials, including lessons,
games, competitions, and so much more. Applications or software for this
purpose can be accessed not only through computers, but also through
handheld devices such as iPads, smartphones, or tools that haven’t even
been invented or marketed yet!
Google Classroom, in particular, aids differentiation by giving teachers
the ability to customize lessons for specific groups of learners. For example,
in Mrs. Brown’s fifth-grade classroom, students are getting ready to engage
in a lesson on the use of figurative language in literature. When Mrs. Brown
pretested her learners on their knowledge of figurative language, she
discovered that her students exhibited a range of understanding. To
accommodate for this range, she has uploaded several different lesson
formats onto Google Classroom. Class begins with a discussion of the value
of figurative language, and then students take out their laptops and log into
Classroom. Every learner finds an assignment tailored to her or his learning
needs:
One group will watch a video selected by Mrs. Brown that goes through a
variety of different figurative language elements and then will respond to
a poem, identifying the different figurative language elements in it.
A second group has been given three poems, each containing different
figurative language elements. Working together through a shared
 document, group members will identify each element and share the
imagery they think the language choice is portraying.
The students in the final group have a strong understanding of figurative
language and are given the opportunity to create their own poems or short
stories using multiple figurative language elements. They may choose to
create a shared presentation, work together on a shared document, or
create individual works.

Mrs. Brown now has the freedom to move from student to student and
provide the individual support that each needs.
Digital learning is not exclusive to gifted students; all students enjoy it.
So it is important to make certain all students in your classes have equal
access to available technology. Using technology as a regular part of your
classroom instruction is an excellent way to engage other students when
you are meeting with your advanced students who are working on extension
projects, or vice versa.

STRATEGY

Using Technology for

Collaborative Learning
Think about how your gifted students get excited about collaborating on
meaningful projects with like-minded learners. In this section you will learn
a number of ways your students can collaborate in their learning
experiences through the use of technology. Web 2.0 allows students to
interact with the content and with each other both inside and outside their
own classrooms. Collaborating digitally with other gifted students
motivates them to work on projects and build off each other’s ideas to make
the work even more meaningful. And don’t forget to help students connect
with professionals in fields in which the students are interested.

Interactive Whiteboards
Interactive whiteboards, when used to their capacity, get learners out of
their seats and involved in hands-on learning experiences. They provide
numerous advantages that fit with inquiry, problem solving, and project-
based learning by helping students go beyond a traditional mode of getting
information to an integrated mode of using, manipulating, and sharing
information as they interact with it.
Although all students seem to benefit from interaction with technology,
it is especially beneficial for students who are twice-exceptional so they can
visually access the information they need to keep up with their gifted peers.
Other types of assistive technology products and websites can also help
with the challenges of teaching twice-exceptional students.

Technology-Assisted Problem-Based
Learning
Problem-based learning (PBL) focuses classroom projects in ways that are
intended to bring about deep learning. Students use technology and inquiry
to engage with issues and questions relevant to their lives. Student learning
is then assessed through their projects rather than traditional testing
methods. Through cross-curricular projects and individual exploration,
students move beyond the learning of data to shaping the areas in which
they choose to expand their knowledge base. PBL is essential in today’s
student experiences because the problems students will face during their
careers cannot be predicted yet. The best training they can get now is
learning how to figure out what to do when they don’t know what to do.
The basic features of problem-based learning include:
Personally meaningful, real-world situations
Complex and challenging questions that apply creative and critical
thinking
Interaction and collaboration on relevant, engaging, hands-on projects
Choice in content, process, resources, and product
Research and investigation skills
Positive and productive collaborative skills
Interdisciplinary long-term projects
Metacognitive skills: self- and peer-assessment of a product
 Discovery and development of unique perspectives
Real-world audience beyond the teacher and other students

Gifted students get excited about figuring out solutions to challenging

problems as well as using technology to share what they have learned in
very creative and innovative ways. Problem-solving opportunities start by
connecting your students to an overarching big question or problem to
solve, ideally one that is actually challenging their school or community.
They will need to do online research, come to some consensus on a
solution, and then create a digital product that shows the steps they took to
solving the problem or to an illustration or demonstration of the proposed
solution. With technology-assisted PBL, their final project is going to be so
much better, deeper, and more complex than more traditional products. A
Google search on “Problem-Based Learning Strategies Using Technology”
will lead you to many helpful ideas and even lesson plans, similar to the
following one.

Sample Lesson Plan

Your class is learning about a situation that has been experienced by many
countries: civil war. Using the tools in earlier chapters of this book, you
determine that some of your students are ready to learn about the required
standards with added depth and complexity. Your advanced students can
refer to the Tiered Lesson Plan you have created for the unit and choose to
participate in digital forums where the viewpoints of people from both sides
of the conflict are provided. Students might then take on the roles of
character prototypes from that period in the country’s history. Perhaps they
create an imaginary blog to create a dialogue about the events they have
“witnessed.” If the civil war in which they are interested is more recent,
students can access media materials from that time period to participate in a
blog as it might have been structured during the event. Students will be
using modern tools to learn about the past in much more realistic detail than
is possible to glean from textbooks.

Graphical Blogs
As discussed in chapter 6, a “glog” (short for graphical blog) is an
interactive multimedia image that looks like a poster, but readers can
interact with the content. Students start with a large digital screen that
resembles an actual large poster or bulletin board. They can pin up images,
pictures, texts, and other “objects” using interesting fonts, placements, and
orientations. Therefore, parents, friends, students from other schools, and
others can view the project if permission is given. Visit [Link].

Sample Lesson
When teaching characterization, have students depict a character from a
novel they are reading by creating a glog. On their glog they will include
pictures of their character, important events experienced by the character,
and other relevant elements. The final project will actually be a “digital
poster.”

Technology-Based Tiered Assignments

When preparing tiered lessons, use the internet to find information on the
same topic at several different reading levels. Websites (such as
[Link]/tools/read-able) check the readability levels of various
internet texts you are considering. In this way, students learn similar content
at levels they can read and comprehend, and everyone is better prepared to
participate in class discussions, simulations, Socratic Seminars, and other
activities. Other tools that help students combine their individual research
are shared Google documents or Dropbox folders, through which they are
able to continually add information, collaborate with their teachers or peers,
and continue their search for newly discovered relevant websites and other
resources.
Set up a digital forum with preset parameters for each level of activity
you create: entry level, advanced, and most challenging. Before starting the
unit, determine which activities you want to assign to which students. Some
kids may watch pertinent video, take quizzes, and answer questions that
give automatic feedback on the accuracy of their answers. Students who
need higher-level challenges may be asked to compare and contrast the
perspectives of information from two different resources. Gifted kids
operating at a very high level can be directed to online forums where
experts in the field can respond to questions that come up from their
research. To increase students’ active participation, you might also require
your students to respond to students’ postings from other classes or other
school years.

Sample Activity
If your class is studying the respiratory system of the human body, you can
differentiate the instruction for your advanced learners. While you are
giving the regular direct instruction to your class, students who are
experiencing compacting can discover websites their classmates might use
for the projects they will do later in the learning process. Students prepare a
brief description of the content from these sites. Then they add these sites
and a brief description of their content to the Google document or Dropbox
file in the appropriate categories.

STRATEGY

Using Mobile Devices

Many schools now allow students to use their own smartphones or other
handheld devices in the classroom. Be sure to establish and explain the
ground rules for using these devices safely and ethically. Mobile devices
help students explore, research, and create wherever they are. Their learning
and productivity are not limited to the classroom. These devices often have
cameras, which is extremely helpful for creating digital projects, because
students can interview others, take pictures and video clips of things going
on around or outside the school, and record their own thoughts and
messages in digital files.

Mobile devices help students explore, research, and create

wherever they are. Their learning and productivity are not
limited to the classroom.

Some of the many benefits to using handheld devices:

They are powerful research and production tools, yet inexpensive
compared to computers.
 Many students already have them and know how to use them so their use
does not take up much of your instructional time.
They start up quickly (since there is no hard drive).
They are able to connect to the internet so students can store and access
files anywhere and on any device.
When storing data on an online server (in the “cloud”) or similar storage
system, you no longer have to use USB flash drives or email files back
and forth. This is very useful for the disorganized student!

Cheating issues are a concern for teachers when deciding whether or not
to let their students use handheld devices to learn, even though students do
not need technology to cheat. Some strategies can help you avoid those
possibilities, and they all lead to better instruction. For example, teachers
who allow mobile devices as instructional tools learn how to teach at a
higher level, so students’ responses require significantly more complex
answers than students just giving simple answers they can easily look up on
their smartphones. The advanced tasks require students to search for
information, synthesize that information, draw their own conclusions, and
then offer their own informed opinions. You can even tier your assignments
according to the amount of technology the kids are using. Example: “If you
are using a smartphone, then ________ is expected of you.”
A number of apps are also available for taking quizzes on the iPad. The
teacher generates the quiz by loading the questions into the program using
an app. Students enjoy clicking their answers on an iPad instead of using
paper and pencil. The best part is that your students receive instant feedback
—they can see their scores immediately and you don’t have to grade papers.
You can sort the results in different ways. You can see which problems
everyone answered correctly and which ones you need to reteach. You can
also use these as quick formative assessments to see who doesn’t need to
spend time learning this material. If you have only four or five devices
available, you can rotate students through the quizzes. You can also use
internet question banks to change the questions on the quiz.

Sample Application
Consider the common scenario of a gifted student who has compacted out
of some of the material but may need to practice one or two skills before
moving on. It may be that the skills this student is missing you plan to
address at a later time. Instead of waiting until you address those skills with
the class, using a handheld device, the student can click onto a relevant
math app, select that particular skill, learn and practice it, and then be ready
to move on with her or his extension work. Note: The student would still be
expected to take the chapter or unit post-test to demonstrate mastery of
grade-level standards.

STRATEGY

Webquests and Cyberhunts

Webquests
A webquest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all of the
information learners work with comes from the internet. Teachers provide
multiple websites to use as reading content, allowing students to use the
resource that works best for their level of understanding. A webquest
generally includes an introduction, a task, resources, a process, an
evaluation, and a conclusion. For more than a decade, many teachers have
used webquests in independent study for their gifted students, as well as in
demonstrating how all students can locate and use online information to
enhance their learning.
A webquest about alligators might include the following:
Introduction: “Congratulations! You have been selected to work with a
team of scientists in the Florida Everglades to learn about alligators. You
will learn as much as you can and then present your findings at a scientific
reptile conference.”
Task: “As part of your study you will learn about where the alligator is on
the food chain, historical facts about alligators, and important vocabulary
words that describe alligators and their behavior. You will also illustrate an
alligator.”
Resources: List appropriate sites students can use during a webquest to
keep them on task and focused, and to lessen the likelihood of them
stumbling upon an inappropriate website, which is always a risk, even with
filters.
Process: Have students create a KWL (What I Know, What I Want to
Know, What I’ve Learned) chart or similar graphic organizer in this step.
They will look at photos of whatever they are studying, take notes, find
facts, and so on. Explain that all scientists need to keep a journal of their
investigations.

Evaluation: Offer some choices for products to be evaluated, which might

include:
Write an informational page for a textbook about reptiles.
Write a factual poem about alligators.
Write a letter to the Florida Department of Tourism asking questions
about alligators.
Draw a detailed picture of an alligator, labeling the body parts.

Conclusion: This is often the presentation of the final project to an

appropriate audience.
Possibilities:
Create a keynote presentation about alligators.
Film a factual movie about alligators.
Build a realistic model of an alligator.
Record a podcast about alligators that might be played on public radio.

Create a scoring rubric for the webquest to include a variety of factors.

Always show the students the rubric at the beginning of the project so they
understand the expectations. The rubric might include ratings for how well
the students:
Answered the questions.
Defined the vocabulary.
Used effective presentation skills.
Demonstrated effective work habits by staying on task, working well with
others, and keeping accurate records of their progress.
 Throughout the entire process, be sure the tasks represent a variety of
thinking levels, including the most challenging levels. Some basic
comprehension and definition work will be included, usually near the
beginning of the project. Further into the project, students might be required
to make a prediction, write a persuasive letter, compare several items or
events, or prepare an eye-catching summary. The final part of the webquest
includes demonstrations of creativity, such as making a movie, creating a
podcast, or enacting a dramatization.

Cyberhunts
A cyberhunt (short for “cyber scavenger hunt”) is a much shorter and more
basic activity than a webquest. It might be as simple as sending kids to
different websites to answer questions about a particular topic. A cyberhunt
is more of a reading comprehension and fact-finding activity, but it also
builds internet navigation skills, which are important especially for the
younger students who may not have had much exposure to certain concepts
or topics. There might be some extension activities at the end of a
cyberhunt, but not a big final project like a webquest.
It’s helpful to use online sources that store all of the data students gather
in a cyberhunt. This way they can update and store all of their information
in one location. Such an organizational piece is key to academic success for
some students, especially those who jump around from one idea to the next
and those who tend to lose their work.

Sample Cyberhunt
You might conduct a cyberhunt by taking a virtual fieldtrip to the Louvre in
Paris, France (louvre .fr/en). Try to put students in the mindset that they are
really there. Have them take notes, like, “What I really enjoyed doing
during the fieldtrip was . . .” or make it like a scavenger hunt, “Find a
_____ painting” or “Compare ______’s painting of flowers with
________’s painting of flowers.”
See references and resources for suggested sources for webquest and
cyberhunt ideas.

NOTE Often the most useful internet sources for gifted kids are ones that house
primary source documents. These documents allow students to read directly from an
 original source instead of interpreted versions. This helps them construct their own
interpretations of the material.

Acceptable Use Policies

The biggest concern you may have when you begin using digital instruction
is determining what is acceptable and what is not. Most schools and school
districts are realizing they must have policies in place to reflect the rapidly
changing digital world. Administrators and parents will want to know your
safety procedures and how you are teaching netiquette. Share this
information in your newsletters and on your class website.

Net Smarts and Online Safety

To be smart internet researchers, students need to be taught how to evaluate
websites. Set up a station in your classroom with a rubric that shows kids
how to do this. The students use this rubric for assessing the websites they
want to add to their class resource bank. These rubrics are available online
so you can either do a search yourself or ask your students to do it. When
posting website resources, have students list the link, the title, a brief
description, and the readability score. This can be an activity for gifted
students who have compacted out of your lesson. Your entire class will
benefit.

Netiquette
Netiquette (short for “network etiquette” or “internet etiquette”) is a set of
social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks, ranging from
user groups and mailing lists to Facebook, blogs, and other forums. Like
other forms of etiquette, netiquette is primarily concerned with matters of
courtesy in communications.

Sample Netiquette Lesson

At the beginning of the year, conduct a brainstorm activity to have students
answer the questions:
Do you have concerns about using technology? If so, what are they?
What are the concerns of your parents?
 Have students tweet their responses if they have smartphones or post
their responses in a Google document, or you can list the students’ answers
on an interactive whiteboard.
From there, go through the concerns, addressing issues such as:
bias
discerning truth
credibility
advertising
respect
inappropriate content
digital footprints

Other topics to discuss:

How is a paper journal entry different from a blog?
What might the concerns be about wikis?
How might information be different on a blog versus on a video log (or
“vlog”)?
What is the common language of netiquette?
What are some ways to evaluate a website?
When is it appropriate to use informal versus formal communication
styles (e.g., in blogs, tweets, chats, wikis, websites, emails, etc.)?

Discuss with students how all of these topics fit under the netiquette
umbrella. Teach them how to know if something is acceptable or not, how
to discern the real and possible dangers of using technology, and the
importance of being considerate and respectful in the digital world. Discuss
also what should be done if they become aware that some peers may not be
following the expected guidelines.

QUESTIONS ANSWERS
“It seems that we are constantly testing (assessing) our
students. Why?”
Assessment serves many purposes: to guide instruction, to ensure quality
teaching is occurring, and to document academic growth, to name a few.
Using formative assessment helps us plan instruction and using summative
assessment monitors students’ progress. We use assessments as
accountability measures to make sure we are using all the information
available to us to help our students learn.

“Is the use of assessment different for gifted students

than for others?”
The use of assessment is critical for all students. Gifted students are more
likely to have mastered grade-level content, and they learn more quickly
than age peers. Therefore, the use of formative assessment is especially
important for them so that teachers can document continuous progress in all
the content areas.

“What is the teacher’s responsibility when using

technology to teach?”
The teacher’s role is to locate reliable and reputable resources that help
students explore and expand on the information being learned in the
classroom. The teacher must monitor student usage and create classroom
systems that allow for safe and productive use of technology.

“How can parents be certain that their children will not

be able to access objectionable material online at
school?”
Schools have established systems in place, often called acceptable use
policies (AUPs), that clearly define the ways students can access online
information. They also use strong filters to block questionable sites. Some
teachers have built into the experience methods or rubrics for students to
judge the value of websites they visit. However, even with the filters
teachers find it necessary to continue careful monitoring of students’
internet use to ensure appropriate time on task. Teachers should be trained
in monitoring technology use. If they need help, they should ask a person in
the school district who is responsible for technology how they can acquire
training.

Chapter Summary
This chapter has explained how to appropriately assess all students, with
particular attention to the assessment of gifted students. We have also
described how technology impacts learning and assessment. Since the
world of technology changes so rapidly, we encourage you to work with a
group of colleagues to keep track of newer technologies and websites.

1
ISTE, 2008.
2
Kellough, et al, 2002.
3
The Kingore Observation Inventory ([Link]).
4
Jenkins, 2003.
5
ISTE, 2008.
6
Sivin-Kachala, 1998.
CHAPTER 9
Gifted Programming

This chapter provides information pertaining to a few topics that are

important to meeting gifted students’ learning needs. You are invited to
conduct further research on the topics that are of interest to you.
What types of gifted program options are available?
How can we manage differentiated instruction for gifted students and
keep useful records?
Under what circumstances is acceleration recommended? What types of
acceleration are effective?
How is the role of the gifted education specialist changing?
How can gifted education advocates work with parents to improve gifted
services?
Gifted Program Delivery Options
Identifying gifted kids and providing appropriate services for them has
always been a “chicken-egg” situation. Should we still identify gifted
students if programming is not available? How can we design programming
for gifted kids if we don’t know the needs of the gifted students we find?
Should we identify all of our gifted kids, or only those who will benefit
from programs we can actually offer?
Above all, gifted programming should lead to optimum learning for all
ability groups. If students in the advanced-level classes are simply getting
more work in class and significantly more homework, golden opportunities
have been missed for bringing into their learning experiences the qualities
of depth, complexity, and novelty in all possible forms.

Above all, gifted programming should lead to optimum

learning for all ability groups.

Over the years, gifted education programs have been delivered through
various models with varying degrees of effectiveness. This section briefly
describes some of the most prevalent program delivery systems and
discusses the pros and cons of each model. They include self-contained
programs, content replacement classes, pull-out classes, cluster grouping
models, and enrichment programs that occur outside of regular school
hours. Each of these models, as described here, has benefits and challenges.
In any of these regrouped classes, the most important consideration for
success at all levels is whether the methods used for each ability group and
learning levels have been correctly matched to the students’ strongest
learning modalities and the teachers’ preferred teaching styles. Grouping
advanced learners together is only the first step in providing what they
need. The second, and most important step, is making certain that the
learning experiences in these advanced classes provide all the elements of
depth, complexity, and novelty described in detail in chapter 5.
The purpose of these classes is to provide opportunities for gifted
students to work in more homogeneous groups at certain times during their
school day. When this happens, these kids often become comfortable
enough to really be themselves and to stop hiding their natural abilities for
fear of peer censure.

Option 1: Self-Contained Full-Time Classes

Pros:
Gifted students receive full-time attention to their differentiated learning
needs in the company of peers with similar abilities and with a teacher
who has had specialized training in gifted education.
The curriculum in these self-contained classes is expected to be more
rigorous and challenging than might be found in totally heterogeneous
classes.
Opportunities for accelerated learning are usually more prevalent in these
classes.

Cons:
Only a small percentage of identified gifted students can be served in the
self-contained model. Typically, only the top 1 to 2 percent of gifted
students is invited to attend these classes, and it is generally expected that
those chosen are also highly productive in the classroom.
Self-contained classes rarely serve highly gifted students who are not also
high achieving, which include English language learners, twice-
exceptional students, and those who underachieve.
Often, the classes are held in only certain schools in the system, and
students and their families must find transportation to and from the
classes daily.
Students who continue to be placed in self-contained classes over several
years are insulated, having few opportunities to interact with the general
school population. At times, the class composition does not reflect the
ethnic and socioeconomic diversity present in the district.

Option 2: Content Replacement Classes or

Switching Groups for Various Subject Areas
Pros:
In these classes, gifted and high-achieving students receive advanced and
accelerated curriculum, most commonly in mathematics and reading. Their
curriculum is expected to focus on more complex and engaging learning
experiences toward the goal of engaging and challenging all students.

Cons:
Often, in the advanced sections, students simply experience more work,
which is not necessarily focused on providing appropriate rigor to gifted
students’ curriculum. When this is the case, students may develop distaste
for having to do so much more work and may ultimately opt out of
advanced courses in high school. Of course, if teachers who teach advanced
sections have gifted education training, they have learned the principles of
depth, complexity, and novelty and will be much more effective with
advanced learners.

Option 3: Honors and Advanced Placement

(AP) Classes
Pros:
Gifted students tend to gather together in these classes because they enjoy
the benefits of working with a more homogeneous group of their learning
peers.
Their families perceive these courses will give their children certain
advantages in college.

Cons:
Honors classes may focus on more work instead of different work unless
teachers have had gifted education training.
AP classes are dedicated to making sure students learn the exact content
of specific college-level courses to enable them to get college credit for a
particular course. This may limit the percentage of time most AP teachers
can spend in activities that allow students to really learn in depth.

Option 4: Pull-Out Programs

Gifted pull-out programs have been disappearing from many school
districts all across our country for various reasons. In most places, attempts
to replace these programs center on a belief that gifted students will receive
the differentiation they need in mixed-ability classes. Unfortunately, that is
more likely to happen when teachers get the training that is necessary to
help them work successfully with their gifted students in these settings.

Pros:
Gifted students at least have some time on a regular basis when they can
just “be themselves”—very smart, highly competitive, and eager to show
off their exceptional abilities.
Sometimes the activities in the pull-out class are very enjoyable and
provide a needed break from the repetitious classroom learning situations
so often experienced by gifted students.

Cons:
When provided as the sole programming model, pull-out programs serve
gifted students only on an intermittent basis, ranging anywhere from an
hour a day to an hour or less a week. The model does not acknowledge
that gifted students are gifted throughout the school day, and in one or
several content areas.
Pull-out classes vary widely in the quality of instruction and in the degree
to which students’ experiences meet the curricular expectations of depth,
complexity, and novelty.
Classroom teachers may resent the interruptions in their teaching time.
Classroom teachers often insist that gifted students, returning from the
pull-out class, must make up all the work they missed while they were
gone. This gives very little value to the work these students did in the
pull-out class, and causes them to have more work than other students.
Classroom teachers may become complacent about challenging gifted
students during the time they spend in their classrooms, since they are
already “getting gifted education” in that program down the hall every
Wednesday morning, for example. For a pull-out model to be effective it
is critical that the classroom teachers also have an understanding of the
 social, emotional, and academic needs of gifted students, so they are able
to consistently make differentiation opportunities available in the
students’ regular classrooms.

Option 5: Acceleration
In the document titled A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back
America’s Brightest Students, the preferred method of intervention is
acceleration. In subject acceleration, highly advanced students are placed
into the classes at a higher grade level in one or more subjects, while the
balance of that student’s program may be taken with age peers. Grade
acceleration moves students ahead in all subject areas so they actually
complete their K–12 program in less than 13 years.

NOTE Please don’t form an opinion about whether pull-out programs for gifted kids
should continue until you have taught or observed one. It is difficult to overstate how
differently gifted kids behave when they are surrounded by like-minded peers and can
be their wonderfully competitive and knowledge-loving selves without fear of censure.

When considering the merits of a pull-out program, the critical question is related to
what students are doing in these classes: “Could all students do this work, and would
all students want to do it?” The content and activities gifted students experience in a
pull-out class should be more advanced, sophisticated, and rigorous than their age
peers could handle. If everyone could benefit from a particular activity, then everyone
should experience it.

Gifted students who attend a pull-out class should never be sent back to the regular
classroom with required homework, unless the teacher of the pull-out class and the
classroom teacher have agreed that the homework will replace the grade-level work
they have compacted out of. Likewise, classroom teachers should not expect gifted
students to make up all they missed once they return. Offering the Most Difficult First
option in chapter 2 is a good compromise for all. The classroom teacher gets the
evidence he or she needs that the student is competent with the material, and the
gifted students do not feel they are getting lots of extra work just because they are
highly capable.

The research on acceleration has found that the long-term benefits of

acceleration far outweigh any disadvantages for highly gifted children.
When gifted kids are grouped with their learning peers, instead of solely
with their age peers, they often find themselves feeling understood and
validated for who they are. Although some of these kids may experience a
difficult time in adolescence, when they are physically smaller and perhaps
less socially adept than their peers, by the time they reach college most
have adjusted quite well.
A student may be accelerated in several ways: through early entrance to
kindergarten, grade skipping (or double promotion), completing curriculum
for two grade levels in one year, or working ahead in a particular subject.

Early Entrance to Kindergarten

Some gifted children are ready to start kindergarten at age 4. Schools that
support this practice develop procedures and guidelines to help determine if
early entrance is appropriate for the child. Criteria include a specific birth
date and achieving a certain score on an achievement test.
Recalling the bell curve from the introduction, you will discover that a
child can be considered gifted if the IQ score is near 130. However, some
gifted students have IQ scores of 160. It is important for parents to know
their child’s actual IQ so they can advocate properly for the best type of
intervention. Testers can be found in the psychology departments of
colleges. Children with scores of 135 or higher are more likely to benefit
from early entrance to kindergarten and other methods of acceleration than
those who score below that level. Students who score at or above 150 are
considered profoundly gifted and will need to experience acceleration
several times throughout their school careers.
Dr. John Feldhusen researched the effects of early entrance to
kindergarten in the 1980s, and his findings have been validated by Nancy
Robinson, et al., in 1991.1 Feldhusen and his team recommended that a
child being considered for early entrance should:
Be within six months of the approved entering age.
Have been tested and evaluated by a trained psychologist for IQ and
readiness.
Be more mentally mature than is expected for his or her age.
Have the necessary academic skills for kindergarten entrance.
Be physically healthy and well-adjusted socially and emotionally when
observed with her or his learning peers rather than age peers.
Want to go to school at this time.
 Not come from a family that puts a high value on competitive sports,
since the child might always be too small or not strong enough to earn a
place on teams. (This is not a concern if the child is large for his or her
age.)

Note: Schools that allow for early entrance generally have a provisional
period of the first quarter of the school year to make sure the placement is
appropriate.

Grade Skipping
When considering grade skipping, keep these guidelines in mind:
The students themselves should be part of the acceleration plan and
should want the change to happen.
Acceleration into the same grade level of an older sibling generally is not
successful unless there are many sections of that grade level. Siblings
should not be placed in the same classroom unless there is no alternative.
Concern over physical characteristics, motor coordination, and social-
emotional development are a consideration, but not a priority. Students
who are good candidates for acceleration generally can compensate in
these areas with great success.
A written implementation plan is essential and must have the input of the
receiving teacher as well as the present teacher.
Use the Iowa Acceleration Scale for concrete methods to identify which
students are good candidates for grade acceleration.
If your school is small, and the student’s out-of-grade placement will be
noticed, ask a gifted education or cluster group teacher, a social worker,
or a counselor to visit the class at the beginning of the school year to
discuss the matter of grade skipping in such a way that it appears to be
okay and natural.

If it’s clear that a student would benefit from grade skipping but isn’t
given the chance, don’t be surprised if his or her motivation and
productivity in school are adversely affected. Kids who are rarely
challenged in school become less willing to work hard. Furthermore, if the
primary reason for keeping the student with his or her age peers is concern
about social adjustment, this sends the message that peer relations are more
important than academic achievement. This can put pressure on the student
to conform to peer attitudes, behaviors, and values. In the words of Sylvia
Rimm, “No one expects an average child to repeat skills after they’ve
demonstrated competence. Why should an intellectually gifted child be
punished with such meaningless learning tasks?”

Completing Two Grades in One Year

Some schools prefer this method to the more typical practice of having a
student skip an entire grade. Here’s an example of how it might work in a
first-grade and second-grade combination class:
Ben begins first grade already very mature and sociable and with
exceptionally high skills in all subject areas. It soon becomes
obvious that he has mastered most of the first-grade curriculum. The
teacher recognizes that Ben is bored. The teacher and principal
determine that it would be appropriate for Ben to complete first-
grade and second-grade curriculum in the same calendar year. Since
he is placed in a first-/second-grade combo class, he does it without
missing any significant portion of either year and without cutting
himself off from social contact with age peers from either grade.
After completing his first year in this class, Ben proceeds to the
third grade with the second graders who are moving forward at the
same time. The entire process is seamless and feels very natural to
all concerned.

Acceleration in One Subject

More frequently, we find students who are precocious in one or two subject
areas but only slightly above average in others. For these students,
accelerating the curriculum only in their areas of strength is more
appropriate than skipping a grade. This is most easily done in a cluster
grouping model. The second-grade students who are working at a fourth-
grade level in math should be grouped in a classroom with other second
graders who are also accelerated. This way, the teacher can bring the more
challenging curriculum to the student(s) who need it.
To ensure success, all those who will be affected by this schedule
change should be involved in the planning stage. For some teachers, this
will mean facilitating the continuation of the plan into the next grade level
and beyond. For some parents, it may mean providing transportation when
the student goes to a middle school for math each morning and returns to
the elementary school for the rest of the day.

Option 6: Out of School Time Services

Sometimes gifted education opportunities are only provided outside of
regular school hours. This system is fraught with inconveniences and
questionable objectives.

Pros:
When formal gifted programs are not available, teachers can implement
some of the same instructional strategies and auxiliary opportunities that
many programs routinely provide. Some schools offer extension programs
after school, before school, or on Saturdays. Possible extension program
activities include chess, spelling bees, science fairs, and online activities.

Cons:
When gifted services require that students attend school before or after
the regular instructional day it sends the message that their learning needs
are auxiliary to the school’s priorities.
These services also require that families schedule schooling (and related
transportation needs) outside of the regular school schedule.
These services negate the expectations of many state departments of
education that provisions for gifted students should be included in the
regular instructional day.

Option 7: Supplemental Activities

Supplemental activities are great experiences that enrich learning and
stretch the imagination of all students, not only the gifted. These activities
should be open to your entire class, or to all students at certain grade levels.
None of these represents a valid gifted education component that can stand
on its own merits.
field trips
working with mentors
 career exploration
academic competitions
digital media immersion
dual enrollment/early entrance to college
digital learning opportunities
programs designed to engage high-ability students

Option 8: International Baccalaureate (IB)

Classes
IB classes focus on developing students’ abilities for conceptualization,
data analysis and interpretation, uncensored curiosity, and problem solving
with actual issues. IB students demonstrate what they have learned with
exhibitions, portfolios, extended essays, and other types of assessment.
More and more schools are attracted to IB as a way to keep their local
populations satisfied so they won’t seek out greener pastures in other
schools or educational settings.

Pros:
Classes are more interesting and relevant than typical honors or AP
classes.
Classes connect students with the topics and discussions being studied
worldwide and provides a good transition to studying abroad.
The required extended essay gives high school students an opportunity to
explore a self-selected topic in depth and gain experience with the type of
required work done at the college level.
Writing and oral presentation skills often improve.
In some schools, IB grades are weighted.
Some IB classes and certificates are possible without doing the full IB
diploma.
IB work that earns specified high grades can translate into college credit.
 The program is well-rounded since it expects students to complete
community service.

Cons:
The program requires serious dedication to academics, and IB students
may have to significantly curtail their social experiences. (However,
students often have more in-depth interaction with their IB friends.)
The program is not available in some locations or at all grade levels.
The program is costly. All involved teachers are required to attend special
IB training.

Option 9: Cluster Grouping Programs

Cluster grouping models have been used in various formats for several
decades. In the Schoolwide Cluster Grouping Model (SCGM), gifted
identified students are clustered together in otherwise heterogeneous
classes. Their gifted cluster teacher is expected to provide consistent
compacting and differentiation opportunities in that classroom for all
students who need them.

Pros:
Because teachers have a noticeable group of these kids, it is more likely
that their exceptional learning needs will be noticed and met. Gifted
students receive full-time services by teachers trained in gifted education
Gifted students have other gifted students to learn with.
Achievement rises for all students in the grade level that uses the SCGM.
Gifted students’ test scores rise as well.
Success in this model requires monitoring by an administrator to ensure
that gifted students experience differentiated learning opportunities when
needed.

Cons:
One challenge with cluster grouping models occurs when schools group
the identified high achievers into the same classes as the identified gifted
students, another long-standing practice.
 This practice may lead to other classes having no potential academic
leaders, which causes strife with staff members and parents.
Another issue is that some principals have not been successful in keeping
students who score below proficiency levels out of the same classes in
which the gifted cluster group is placed.

See chapter 7 for more information on the cluster grouping model.

So . . . what is the best gifted program for our students?
Knowing that one single gifted service model cannot fully provide for
the differentiated learning experiences gifted children need, school
administrators should strive to implement services that are more inclusive
than exclusive, have the potential to provide full-time gifted services on
existing budgets, and can improve learning outcomes for identified gifted
students.
Many districts are finding that a gifted education program that combines
cluster grouping and pull-out classes or cluster grouping with self-contained
classes for the top 2 percent of the school population is the most beneficial
for their schools. So if your school presently uses pull-out classes, self-
contained classes, or any other component and wants to keep them going,
consider supplementing them with cluster grouping.

Program Management and Record

Keeping
Although only a few states require Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)
for identified gifted students, it’s a good idea to keep track of differentiation
opportunities and outcomes over time. Careful record keeping is vital
whenever you do something new and different. Each chapter in this book
has various forms designed to be used to keep accurate records of students’
compacting and differentiation experiences.

The Differentiated Learning Plan

When working with gifted students, consider using a Differentiated
Learning Plan (DLP) if your state or district does not provide any IEP for
gifted students. One version of a DLP can be found at the end of this
chapter. In some schools, this form is used as a group DLP for all students
who are placed in a gifted cluster group. For ideas on what to record on the
form, consult the section on differentiating content, process, products,
environment, and assessment in chapter 1. For information about cluster
grouping gifted kids, see chapter 7.
The Meeting Record Sheet may be printed or copied on the back of the
DLP or stapled to it. Use it to record information from every meeting about
a student’s Differentiated Learning Plan.

The Gifted Student’s Cumulative Record Plan

The Gifted Student’s Cumulative Record Form provides an ongoing record
of the alternate activities in which gifted students are engaged. Teachers can
learn about the projects students have completed in previous grades and use
this information to plan for the current year.
The form helps teachers provide consistency and continuity from one
grade level to the next, and it also gives some assurance that appropriate
compacting opportunities will be available for students as they move
through the grades.
1. Prepare one form for each gifted student. If your school uses
cumulative record folders, this form should be kept there. If not, it
should be passed along from one teacher to the next. Middle and high
school teachers should know where these records are stored in their
buildings, and also have access to them to see what strategies and
projects have been successful in previous years.
2. Use the form to briefly describe all compacting opportunities, personal
project work, and other differentiation provided to the student during
the year. Record what strategies were successful for you with each
student.
3. Consult the form several times each year to assist with your planning to
ensure that the students continually study new or expanded topics every
year.

The Changing Role of the Gifted

Education Specialist
If you are in the rare position of being employed as a gifted education
specialist, you may be called on to:
Monitor the learning needs of gifted students.
Provide leadership in equitable identification methods and practices for
gifted students and those who are twice-exceptional.
Find ways to offer differentiated learning opportunities to more than just
the identified gifted kids.
Provide ongoing consulting services to classroom teachers about
compacting, differentiation, and content acceleration.
Demonstrate compacting and differentiation strategies, coach classroom
teachers, and provide extension materials.
Help teachers use alternate methods of assessing the work students do on
extension activities and projects and show them how to document
whether gifted students are actually making forward progress in learning.
Provide ongoing opportunities for staff development on issues related to
gifted education.
Help parents understand their role in seeking out and obtaining
appropriate learning opportunities for their children.
Advocate for cluster grouping of gifted students. For a discussion of this
topic, see chapter 7.

How to Gain Parent Support

Some parents are confused by their gifted child’s advanced abilities. They
become uncomfortable when people call attention to the ways in which
their child is different from age peers. They may actually say something
like, “I only want my child to be normal!” Gifted children need to know
that they are normal. They are not, and never will be, average. They simply
are behaving in ways that reflect their advanced abilities.
Parents sometimes make the same mistake as educators in assuming that
if their child is gifted, consistently high grades will be the norm. Many
parents expect their gifted kids to be doing lots of work, all of which should
be graded by you. In order for them to support your efforts on behalf of
their children, you will need to reeducate them about what it means to be
gifted, and also what it means to provide appropriate school experiences for
gifted children. The following guidelines may be helpful as you teach the
parents of the gifted kids in your classroom.
Take time to explain your plans regarding compacting and differentiation.
Parents need reassurance that you are not just assuming that their children
have mastered certain standards. Explain how you will be carefully
assessing what their children know on an ongoing basis.
Be aware that parents are concerned about their children’s popularity.
Most will be happy to learn that their children are part of a gifted cluster,
especially if they understand that clustering has positive effects on the
social acceptance of gifted children. If you have no cluster, explain to
parents that compacting and differentiation opportunities are routinely
offered to other students, so their children will not appear so unusual or
always be expected to work by themselves.
Recognize that parents are concerned about their children’s grades. You
will need to reassure them that gifted kids and A’s don’t always go
together. Parents need to understand how your efforts to provide
meaningful learning experiences and opportunities for real struggle are
more important than perfect report cards.
Invite parents to share information about their children, anything that will
help you know and understand them better. For example, you’ll want to
find out about children’s areas of interest, hobbies, and collections as
possible topics for resident expert projects. Use the Interest Survey.
Be a source of information for parents. Refer them to appropriate articles
and books on parenting gifted children. For suggestions, see the
references and resources for chapter 10 in the digital content.
Encourage parents to read chapter 10 included in the accompanying
digital content. Invite them to come in for a conference when they have
finished the chapter. If you read it, too, you will have more information in
common, which will lead to better communication.

Chapter Summary
This chapter has touched briefly on several topics related to programs for
gifted students. Greatly expanded information is available from many other
sources, including those described in the references and resources section.
What’s really exciting is that the internet has become an excellent source of
information, research, findings, suggestions, insights, ideas, and more about
gifted kids. There are so many wonderful websites that didn’t previously
exist that any teacher, administrator, or parent who wants information about
virtually any topic can access it quite easily.

1
Robinson, N. & Weimer, L., 1991.
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use
(Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018.
This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district. For all other uses,
contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use
(Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018.
This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district. For all other uses,
contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
From Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use
(Updated Fourth Edition) by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., with Dina Brulles, Ph.D., copyright © 2018.
This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district. For all other uses,
contact Free Spirit Publishing Inc. at [Link]/permissions.
Conclusion

You may recall that in the introduction of this book you were asked: “Of all
the students you are teaching in a given class, which group do you think
will probably learn the least this year?” The answer is that the most able,
rather than the least able, will make the least forward academic progress
than any other group unless appropriate compacting and differentiation
interventions are used. Of course, the italicized phrase was missing in the
introduction, but its presence in this conclusion reflects our confidence that
you are now much more skilled in your abilities to:
Challenge all of your students.
Give your students opportunities to demonstrate that they already know
what you are about to teach or can learn it in much less time than you
have allotted.
Use compacting methods with all required standards.
Create instructional groups that are flexible and change their composition
depending on the content that must be learned and the learning needs of
the students.
Allow students whose abilities exceed grade-level expectations in any
area of learning to be grouped together for work on appropriately
differentiated activities.
Offer meaningful choices whenever possible regarding content, process,
products, environment, and assessments.
 Focus on open-ended tasks.
Encourage independent research on topics in which students are
passionately interested.
Make technology options available as actual learning tools.
Understand and apply differentiated assessment and grading options.
Be sensitive to what gifted kids need in cooperative learning situations.
Understand and support cluster grouping.
Take advantage of opportunities to learn more about gifted students and
their exceptional learning needs.

Gifted students whose teachers make opportunities available for

compacting and differentiation in all subject areas are generally happy,
productive students. They enjoy school and learning. They don’t feel bored
or like their learning time is being stolen from them.
And when you, their teachers, reach out to your colleagues to share
what works with your gifted students, and then coach other teachers in
successful implementation of these differentiated learning opportunities,
your school’s abilities to serve the exceptional learning needs of its gifted
students is greatly enhanced. That type of peer coaching is what makes a
significant, positive, long-term difference in the willingness and abilities of
teachers to make necessary changes in their teaching methods. And because
the methods in this book are potentially accessible to most students, many
more students than those formally identified as gifted can benefit from
getting that book study group going!

Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom

Professional Development Multimedia Package
A multimedia package is available for teachers who are using these strategies as
part of a professional learning community or book study group. The package
contains a copy of the book, a video that shows the strategies being used in actual
K–8 classrooms, and a Study Group Leader’s Guide that helps teachers lead a
book study group over the course of a school year. Visit [Link] for more
information.
 We hope you are as excited about using these strategies as we are about
sharing them with you. Writing this revised edition of Teaching Gifted Kids
in Today’s Classroom has allowed us to bring the 21st-century into the
book, especially in the topics of assessment and technology. We are so
grateful for the ongoing support for this book from teachers like you who
easily use its content to challenge gifted students and prevent their families
from leaving your schools to seek better challenges elsewhere. You have
our endless gratitude for taking the necessary risks to give your gifted
students what they need.
We would love to hear from you. Please send your feedback about this
book and your experiences with the strategies presented here. You can reach
us in care of our publisher:

Free Spirit Publishing

6325 Sandburg Road, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55427-3674
help4kids@[Link]

Susan Winebrenner, M.S.

Dina Brulles, Ph.D.
References and Resources

Chapter 1: Characteristics of Gifted Students

Giftedness
Clark, Barbara. Growing Up Gifted: Developing the Potential of Children at Home and at School.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2012. The definitive textbook for parents and teachers.
Colangelo, Nicholas, and Gary A. Davis. Handbook of Gifted Education. Boston: Allyn & Bacon,
2003.
Dabrowski, K. Theory of Positive Disintegration. Anna Maria, FL: Maurice Bassett, 2016. See Bill
Tillier’s website ([Link]), which includes an introduction to Dabrowski’s
psychological model, a glossary of terms and concepts, bibliographies, links, and more.
Kingore, Bertie. Developing Portfolios for Authentic Assessment, PreK–3. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Corwin Press, 2008. Using portfolios to identify gifted students and document learning progress for
all students.
——. The Kingore Observation Inventory, KOI. Austin, TX: Professional Associates Publishing,
2016. A unique and highly effective tool for identifying gifted students through their school
behaviors. This has been my favorite method of identifying gifted students in grades K–6. Using the
tool helps teachers gain more knowledge about the characteristics of gifted and advanced learners.
——. Recognizing Gifted Potential: Planned Experiences with the KOI. Austin, TX: Professional
Associates Publishing, 2017. Accompanied by a binder and flash drive, this resource empowers
teachers to use the KOI to its full potential.
Lee, Seon-Young, Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, and Dana Turner Thomson. “Academically Gifted
Students’ Perceived Interpersonal Competence and Peer Relationships,” Gifted Child Quarterly,
56(2), 90–104, 2012.
Smutny, Joan Franklin, ed. The Young Gifted Child: Potential and Promise: An Anthology. Creskill,
NJ: Hampton Press, 1998. Joan Smutny has collected a wealth of information from numerous sources
in this comprehensive examination of the issues and practices surrounding the topic of young
children who are gifted.
Smutny, Joan Franklin, Sally Yahnke Walker, and Ellen I. Honeck. Teaching Gifted Children in
Today’s Preschool and Primary Classrooms. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, 2016. The
companion to this book, for teaching gifted kids ages 4–9.
U-STARS~PLUS by Mary Ruth Coleman. Provides high-quality science and literature instruction
using popular children’s books, allowing teachers to respond to children’s strengths with challenging,
advanced educational experiences. Contact the Council for Exceptional Children at 888-232-7733,
[Link].

Perfectionism
Greenspon, Thomas S. Moving Past Perfect: How Perfectionism May Be Holding Back Your Kids
(and You!) and What You Can Do About It. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, 2012. Explains
perfectionism, where it comes from, and what parents can do to help their children, and themselves,
move past it.
——. What to Do When Good Enough Isn’t Good Enough: The Real Deal on Perfectionism.
Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, 2007. Helps kids understand what perfectionism is, how it hurts
them, and how to learn to accept themselves as they are.

Creativity
de Bono, Edward. Six Thinking Hats. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1999. Teaches kids how
to see any situation from several different perspectives. From the creator of Lateral Thinking.
Draze, Dianne. Creative Problem Solving for Kids. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 2005.
Eberle, Bob, and Bob Stanish. CPS for Kids: A Resource Book for Teaching Creative Problem-
Solving to Children. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 1996. Activities for students in grades 2–8.
Khatena, Joe. Enhancing the Creativity of Gifted Children: A Guide for Parents and Teachers.
Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1999.
PRIDE, GIFT, and GIFFI creativity identification instruments by Sylvia Rimm ([Link]).
Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Available from Scholastic Testing Service ([Link]).

Twice-Exceptional and Underachievers

AEGUS (Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students) focuses attention and
research efforts on able learners whose potential may be unrecognized, undeveloped, or not nurtured
([Link]).
Armstrong, Thomas. ADD/ADHD Alternatives in the Classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 1999.
Describes nonmedical interventions for children with attention deficit disorders.
Baum, Susan M., Robin M. Schader, and Steven V. Owen. To Be Gifted and Learning Disabled.
Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 2017. Helps parents and teachers understand twice-exceptional students.
Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Ballantine Books. 2016. The
source of the new research on the importance of praising kids for their effort and hard work rather
than for their intelligence.
Edu-Kinesthetics, Inc. ([Link]). Publishes and distributes materials for kinesthetic learners.
Their Brain Gym program has been used successfully by parents and teachers to significantly
improve learning attitudes and achievement.
Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page ([Link]). Everything you need to know about the social,
emotional, and academic needs of gifted persons.
Kay, Kiesa, ed. Uniquely Gifted: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of the Twice-Exceptional
Student. Gilsum, NH: Avocus Publishing, 2000. Chapters by 43 authors consider all types of
situations in which gifted students also have significant learning difficulties.
Lavoie, Richard. How Difficult Can This Be? The F.A.T. City Workshop. In a 70-minute video, Lavoie
leads a group of parents, educators, psychologists, and children through a series of exercises that
cause frustration, anxiety, and tension, feelings familiar to children with learning disabilities.
Available from PBS Video ([Link]).
——. Last One Picked . . . First One Picked On. Lavoie addresses the social problems that children
with LD face and offers practical solutions in this 62-minute video ([Link]).
Lovecky, Deirdre V. Different Minds: Gifted Children with AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and Other
Learning Deficits. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2004. Provides an insight into the challenges
and benefits specific to gifted children with attention difficulties.
NLDline ([Link]) provides references and resources to help increase public awareness and
understanding of nonverbal learning disorders.
Reis, Sally M., Terry W. Neu, and Joan M. McGuire. “Case Studies of High-Ability Students with
Learning Disabilities Who Have Achieved.” Exceptional Children 63, no. 4 (1997): 463–479.
Rimm, Sylvia. Why Bright Kids Get Poor Grades and What You Can Do About It. Scottsdale, AZ:
Great Potential Press, 2008. Helps parents and teachers get underachieving students back on track.
Tanguay, Pamela B. Nonverbal Learning Disabilities at School. Philadelphia: Jessica Kinsley, 2002.
Addresses issues related to the academic education of the child with NLD and related conditions.
2E Twice-Exceptional Newsletter ([Link]) is an online resource for parents and teachers of
twice-exceptional learners.
Uniquely Gifted ([Link]) is a collection of resources for families with gifted and special
needs children and for the professionals who work with them.
Videos on gifted students with learning disabilities:
“Susan Baum on Twice-Exceptionality” ([Link]/_R7OqJ14ST8).
“What Is Twice-Exceptional and Gifted? By Dr. Dan Peters, Summit Center” ([Link]/PlQ4z-
1OVw4).
“Maureen Neihart’s Workshop: Helping Twice-Exceptional Students Succeed—What Works?”
([Link]/sYaQuo08MO8).

West, Thomas G. In the Mind’s Eye: Creative Visual Thinkers, Gifted Dyslexics, and the Rise of
Visual Technologies. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2009. A compelling argument for the
importance of visual thinking and visual technologies as well as the high creative potential of many
individuals with dyslexia or other learning difficulties.
Willard-Holt, Colleen. “Dual Exceptionalities.” ERIC Digest E574, April 1999, ERIC #430344.
Winebrenner, Susan. Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in Today’s Classroom. Minneapolis:
Free Spirit Publishing, 2014. Ways to help “slow,” “remedial,” and other struggling students learn
and achieve.
Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity ([Link]), founded by Bennett and Sally Shaywitz,
serves as a nexus for research on dyslexia and is a leading source of advocacy and information to
better the lives of people with dyslexia.
Diverse Populations
Cline, Starr, and Diane Schwartz. Diverse Populations of Gifted Children. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 1999.
Ford, Donna. Multicultural Gifted Education. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 2011. Helps bridge the gap
that exists between educating advanced learners and educating culturally different learners.
Peterson, Jean Sunde. “Gifted—Through Whose Cultural Lens?” Journal for the Education of the
Gifted 22:4, 354–383, 1999.

Intelligence Testing and Identification

Gifted Development Center ([Link]) in Denver, Colorado, provides comprehensive
testing, referrals to testers in other states, and referrals to counselors who have experience working
with gifted kids and their families.
Johnsen, Susan. Identifying Gifted Students: A Practical Guide. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 2011.
Designed for practicing professionals, addresses definitions, models, and characteristics of gifted
students and provides a complete summary of all major assessment instruments, including scoring
information, reliability, and validity.
Kingore, Bertie. The Kingore Observation Inventory (KOI). Austin, TX: Professional Associates
Publishing, 2016. An observational tool for identifying gifted kids in the primary grades.
Osborn, Julia. “Assessing Gifted Children.” Davidson Institute for Talent Development
([Link]). A version of this article originally appeared in Understanding Our Gifted
(Winter 1998).
Standardized Tests. Standardized assessments that are culturally and economically bias-free:
Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) by David Lohman and Elizabeth Hagen. Rolling Meadows, IL:
Riverside Publishing.
Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Tests by Jack Naglieri. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Otis-Lennon School Abilities Test (OLSAT). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) by Lloyd M. Dunn and Leota M. Dunn. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson. Answers can be allowed in student’s native language.
Ravens Progressive Matrices by J. C. Raven. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. A group test of
nonverbal ability.
Slosson Educational Publications, Inc. ([Link]). Sells intelligence and other diagnostic tests,
including the Slosson, which can be administered by educators who are not trained psychologists.

Other Sources of Information

A.D.D. WareHouse ([Link]). Materials for teaching and parenting kids with learning
challenges.
Council for Exceptional Children ([Link]). A complete source for information, research, and
interventions for helping children with all kinds of special educational needs.
Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) ([Link]). Digital library of education literature
on topics including gifted education and twice-exceptional students.
The International Dyslexia Association ([Link]). A nonprofit organization dedicated to
helping individuals with dyslexia, their families, and the communities that support them.
LD OnLine ([Link]). Seeks to help children and adults reach their full potential by providing
accurate and up-to-date information and advice about learning disabilities and ADHD.
Learning Ally (formerly Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, [Link]). The nation’s
educational library for people with print disabilities, with more than 75,000 titles. Many states have
their own libraries.
PRO-ED, Inc. ([Link]). Publisher of standardized tests, books, curricular resources, and
therapy materials for all categories of special education and gifted education.
Renzulli Center for Creativity, Gifted Education, and Talent Development, University of Connecticut
([Link]). Visit the website for research-based resources, links, and more.
Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) ([Link]). Helps parents identify giftedness
in their children and helps children understand and accept their unique talents. Provides a forum for
parents and educators to communicate.

Chapter 2: Compacting and Differentiating for Skill Work

“Differentiation Using Curriculum Compacting” PowerPoint. ([Link]/wp-
content/uploads/sites/961/2015/01/Curriculum_Compacting.pdf) from the National Research Center
on the Gifted and Talented.
Gavin, M. Katherine, et al. “The Impact of Advanced Curriculum on the Achievement of
Mathematically Promising Elementary Students,” Gifted Child Quarterly, 53(3), 188–202, 2009.
Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom Professional Development Multimedia Package by Susan
Winebrenner and Dina Brulles ([Link]). Everything needed to conduct comprehensive
professional development for teachers of gifted students, including a DVD (100+ minutes) showing
actual classroom teaching sessions and a Study Group Leader’s Guide that directs users through the
book and video.

Extension Activities
ETA hand2mind ([Link]). Source for VersaTiles, Cuisenaire Rods, and other hands-on
materials for math, science, and reading/language arts.
Highline Advanced Math Program ([Link]/~math). Math enrichment for grades 5–7.
Also has activities for Math Olympiad competitions.
Marcy Cook Math ([Link]). Materials extend standards and problem-based learning.
The Math Forum ([Link]/mathforum). This online math education community center features
interactive projects, links, learning materials, and an online library.
Math Solutions ([Link]). Founded by Marilyn Burns, Math Solutions is dedicated to
improving students’ learning of mathematics by providing the highest-quality professional
development services, products, and resources to educators.
McGraw Hill Education ([Link]). A great source of extension materials including from
Glencoe, Wright Group, and Jamestown.
Mrs. Roberts’ Calculus Class ([Link]/MrsRoberts/Calculus/[Link]). Beginning online
lessons to learn calculus.
24 Game ([Link]). Published by Suntex International Inc., the 24 Game and other products at
the site can be used for math extension.
Distance Learning
Redbird ([Link]/prek-12/explore/redbird). Developed by Stanford University, Redbird
offers advanced multimedia computer-based distance-learning courses in math, language arts, and
writing for students in elementary, middle, and high school.
Virtual High School ([Link]). Offers online classes in art, science, language arts, and more.

Chapter 3: Compacting and Differentiating for New

Content
General
Black, Kaye. Kidvid: Fun-Damentals of Video Instruction. Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press, 2000. Helps
kids produce their own videos.
Brulles, Dina, Karen Brown, and Susan Winebrenner. Differentiated Lessons for Every Learner:
Standards-Based Activities and Extensions for Middle School. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 2016.
Lee, Seon-Young, and Paula Olszewski-Kubilius. “A Study of Instructional Methods Used in Fast-
Paced Classes,” Gifted Child Quarterly, 50(3), 216–237, 2006.
Smutny, Joan, and Sarah E. von Fremd. Teaching Advanced Learners in the General Education
Classroom: Doing More with Less! Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2011. Guides readers toward
existing resources to use in differentiating instruction.
——. Differentiating for the Young Child: Teaching Strategies Across the Content Areas, PreK–3.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2010. Offers differentiated strategies with examples and
classroom applications.
The Timetables of… series. These books help students see history and other disciplines from a
chronological point of view. Each one serves as a rich menu for independent study topics.
Bunch, Bryan, and Alexander Hellemans. The Timetables of Technology: A Chronology of the
Most Important People and Events in the History of Technology. New York: Simon & Schuster,
1994.
Cule, John. The Timetables of Medicine: An Illustrated Chronology of the History of Medicine
from Prehistory to Present Times. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2000.
Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events. New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2005.
Greenspan, Karen. The Timetables of Women’s History: A Chronology of the Most Important
People and Events in Women’s History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
Harley, Sharon. The Timetables of African-American History: A Chronology of the Most Important
People and Events in African-American History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Hellemans, Alexander, and Bryan Bunch. The Timetables of Science: A Chronology of the Most
Important People and Events in the History of Science. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.

Social Studies
Abby’s Resource Page for Social Studies Teachers ([Link]/abbysresources). Hundreds
of links to social studies, history, and education websites.
American Memory. Historical Collections for the National Digital Library ([Link]).
Multimedia collections of digitized documents, photographs, recorded sound, moving pictures, and
text.
National Council for the Social Studies ([Link]). Lesson planning help for social studies
teachers.
National Geographic Education ([Link]/education). Source for teaching world
geography and national geography standards.
NewsCurrents Online ([Link]/[Link]). A weekly current events
background and discussion program, available on the website 35 times a year by subscription. The
same content is also available in nonelectronic form, including a filmstrip and teacher’s discussion
guide, from Knowledge Unlimited, Inc. ([Link]).

Debate
[Link] ([Link]). Kids can choose a debate topic and weigh in online, or see how others feel
about the topic.
Opposing Viewpoints series. New York: Greenhaven Publishing. Each book explores a controversial
issue from all angles.

Science
Kinetic City ([Link]). A crew of virtual kids takes visitors on science-related adventures.
Also contains information about experiments to do at home and school.
MadSci Network ([Link]). High-interest science extension activities.
NASA Education ([Link]/offices/education/about/[Link]). This site features many activities
related to the study of astronomy and space, as well as information for educators.
Neuroscience for Kids ([Link]/chudler/[Link]). Experiments, activities, games,
links, and more about the nervous system.
Science Project Ideas series. Books by Robert Gardner include Science Project Ideas About Animal
Behavior, Science Project Ideas About Rain, and Science Project Ideas About the Moon. Berkeley
Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Catalogs
Delta Education ([Link]). Their catalog offers hundreds of products for K–8 science
teaching.
Enslow Publishing ([Link]). Publishes many educational series.
Social Studies School Service ([Link]). A mind-boggling collection of multimedia
resources in social studies. Although designed for secondary students, some materials are suitable for
younger gifted students.

Chapter 4: Extending Reading and Writing Instruction

Reading and Vocabulary
American Classical League ([Link]). Learning materials on Latin and Greek classical
literature for kids of all ages.
Be a Better Reader (BABR) series from Pearson Education ([Link]). A program of
reading skills that is not attached to any basal series. Works very well in a self-selected literature-
based reading program.
Bergman, Olivia. Reading for the Gifted Student and Vocabulary for the Gifted Student. Separate
books for grades 1–6. Find them online at [Link].
Funk, Charles Earle. Thereby Hangs a Tale: Stories of Curious Word Origins. New York:
HarperCollins, 2002. Provides the origins of hundreds of words.
Great Books Foundation ([Link]). Their K–12 programs provide courses and materials for
kids of all ages to study great literature from complex, higher-level perspectives.
Green, Jonathon. Chasing the Sun: Dictionary Makers and the Dictionaries They Made. New York:
Henry Holt, 1996. Shares the history of the dictionary, including why dictionaries were created and
what role the dictionary makers’ bias plays.
Halsted, Judith Wynn. Some of My Best Friends Are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool
to High School. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press 2009. Helps guide parents and their gifted
children toward fulfilling books.
International Literacy Association ([Link]). Provides lists of books for various ages
and interests; disseminates reading research; promotes literacy.
Khan Academy ([Link]). Several hundred 15-minute video lessons, many in advanced
math, that allow gifted students to teach themselves advanced concepts and allow you to keep up
with them.
Language Arts Units for High-Ability Learners. Curriculum units for grades K–12 created by the
Center for Gifted Education at the College of William & Mary ([Link]/centers/cfge).
Available through Kendall Hunt ([Link]).
Morris, William, and Mary Morris. Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins. New York:
HarperTrade, 1988. A unique resource.
Reis, Sally. The Joyful Reading Resource Kit: Teaching Tools, Hands-On Activities, and Enrichment
Resources, Grades K–8. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009.
Thompson, Michael, and Myriam Thompson. Caesar’s English: A Vocabulary Foundation for
Elementary Scholars. Unionville, NY: Royal Fireworks Press, 2000. Other books by Michael
Thompson include Classics in the Classroom, The Magic Lens, and the Word Within a Word series,
which helps kids increase their vocabularies exponentially through understanding Greek and Latin
stems or roots.
Winebrenner, Susan. Super Sentences. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2013. Vocabulary building
activities for ages 8 and up.
Wood, Patricia. “Reading Instruction with Gifted and Talented Readers: A Series of Unfortunate
Events or a Sequence of Auspicious Results?” Gifted Child Today, 31(3), 16–25, 2008.

Prepackaged Units for Teaching Novels

Accelerated Reader software. Helps gifted readers K–12 with self-selected literature. Wisconsin
Rapids, WI: Renaissance Learning, Inc. ([Link]).
Engine-Uity, Ltd. ([Link]). Ready-to-use units in literature and other content areas based on
Bloom’s Taxonomy.
HMH Reading Inventory ([Link]). A reading motivation and management program that helps
you encourage and monitor independent reading in students K–12.
Holt McDougal Literature, the Common Core Edition ([Link]). Helps students meet the
demands of college- and career-level literacy.
Novel Units ([Link]). Student packets and teacher guides keyed to particular works
of literature, currently available for more than 550 titles.
Primaryplots: A Book Talk Guide for Use with Readers Ages 4–8 by Rebecca Thomas (1993);
Middleplots: Ages 8–12 by John Gillespie et al. (1994); and Juniorplots: Ages 12–16 by John
Gillespie et al. (1993). Guides for book talks and independent reading. New Providence, NJ: R.R.
Bowker.

Wordplay on the Web

FunBrain ([Link]). Free games, activities, and word games for K–8 teachers and kids.
OED Online ([Link]). The Oxford English Dictionary online.
Pun of the Day ([Link]). Search for puns by category—the body, food, nature, and so on.
[Link] ([Link]). Vocabulary explorations and puzzles.
Wacky Web Tales ([Link]/tales). Word games for grades 3 and up.
Word Central ([Link]). Fun stuff for kids from Merriam-Webster.
Wordplay ([Link]). Anagrams, palindromes, spoonerisms, oxymora, mnemonics,
etymology, word puzzles, and more.

Bibliotherapy
Bibliotherapy Education Project ([Link]/colleges/ehs/bibliotherapy). An introduction to assisting
youngsters in overcoming emotional problems by reading about fictional characters with similar
problems.

Writing
Bare Books. Racine, WI: Treetop Publications ([Link]). Several blank books are available
for student authors to write in, including comic books and print and paste books.
Melton, David. Written and Illustrated by . . . A Revolutionary Two-Brain Approach for Teaching
Students How to Write and Illustrate Amazing Books. Kansas City, MO: Landmark Editions, 2002.
Old, but still a good writing resource.

Places that Publish Children’s Writing

Creative Kids ([Link]). Magazine by kids, for kids, published by Prufrock Press.
Dunn, Jessica, and Danielle Dunn. A Teen’s Guide to Getting Published. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press,
2006. Market and contest listings for teen writers.
Highlights ([Link]). The popular magazine for children contains puzzles, craft pages, jokes
and riddles, drawings and poems by kids, and more.
KidPub Press ([Link]). A site that publishes only children’s work.
Knowledge Unlimited, Inc. ([Link]). Ask about their NewsCurrents Student Editorial
Cartoon Contest.
Merlyn’s Pen ([Link]). A collection of juried, published fiction, poetry, and essays by
students.
New Moon Girls ([Link]). A magazine by girls, for girls ages 8 and up, featuring positive
messages and issues that matter to its readers.
Ranger Rick. National Wildlife Federation ([Link]). A magazine for kids interested in
animals.
Skipping Stones ([Link]). An award-winning multicultural magazine for children ages 8–
16.
Stone Soup ([Link]). Publishes stories, poems, and art by children ages 8–13.
Young People’s Press ([Link]). Resources for teachers: language arts, reading,
social responsibility, and math.

Chapter 5: Planning Curriculum for All Students at the

Same Time
General
Anderson, Lorin W., and David R. Krathwohl, eds. A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and
Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman, 2001.
Bloom, Benjamin, et al. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Handbook of the Cognitive Domain.
New York: Longman, 1984.
Brulles, Dina, and Karen Brown. A Teacher’s Guide to Flexible Grouping and Collaborative
Learning. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, 2018.
Coil, Carolyn. Standards-Based Activities and Assessments for the Differentiated Classroom. Marion,
IL: Pieces of Learning, 2004.
The Curry/Samara Model (CSM) of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. Teaches how to
develop unit plans using Bloom’s Taxonomy. ([Link]/curry_samara_model.php).
Kingore, Bertie. Assessment: Time-Saving Procedures for Busy Teachers. Austin, TX: Professional
Associates Publishing, 2005 ([Link]).
——. Rigor and Engagement for Growing Minds: Strategies that Enable High-Ability Learners to
Flourish in All Classrooms. Austin, TX: Professional Associates Publishing, 2013. This book’s
content is designed to engage students so they are motivated to exert the effort required to reach
higher achievement.
——. Tiered Learning Stations in Minutes! Austin, TX: Professional Associates Publishing, 2011
([Link]).
K–5 Arts Integration Curriculum Planning Kit by Susan Riley ([Link]). This kit and
related resources are available for free.
Tomlinson, Carol A. How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms. Alexandria, VA:
ASCD, 2004.
VanTassel-Baska, Joyce. Alternative Assessments with Gifted and Talented Students. Waco, TX:
Prufrock Press, 2008.

Extension Materials for Various Subject Areas

Engine-Uity, Ltd. ([Link]). Ready-to-use units in literature and other content areas based on
Bloom’s Taxonomy.
J Taylor Education ([Link]). This is the best source for materials that help you
understand and use the Kaplan methods.
Royal Fireworks Press ([Link]). Request their catalog of materials to implement Bloom’s
Taxonomy in primary classrooms.
Social Studies School Service ([Link]). Multiple catalogs of materials to support social
studies learning.
ThinkTrix and Think-Pair-Share models laminated teaching guides to use with the Name Cards and
Critical Thinking Methods ([Link]).

Socratic Seminars
Augsburg Paideia Institute, Augsburg University ([Link]/paideia/institute). Training in the
Socratic teaching method.
Copeland, Matt. Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High
School. Portland, ME: Stenhouse, 2005. Instruction on how to hold Socratic Seminars in the
classroom.
Letts, Nancy ([Link]). Training in eliciting high-level thinking in all students
through Socratic Seminars.
Metzger, Margaret. “Teaching Reading Beyond the Plot,” Phi Delta Kappan 256 (November 1998),
240–246, 256. This teacher gives very specific guidelines for using the Socratic Seminar to make
reading comprehension more interesting and complex.

Chapter 6: “I’m Done. Now What Should I Do?”: Self-

Selected Independent Study
Baum, Susan, R. Gable, and K. List. Chi Square Pie Charts and Me. Unionville, NY: Trillium Press,
1987.
Encyclopedia of Associations: International Organizations of the U.S. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale
Cengage Learning, updated often. A fabulous resource for free material for student researchers from
international headquarters of thousands of companies in the United States.
Encyclopedia of Associations: National Organizations of the U. S. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale
Cengage Learning, updated often. The national version of the thorough encyclopedia.
Independent Investigation Method (IIM) ([Link]). This method helps students of all ages
research and present information on any subject.
Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) ([Link]/IAPC). A
curriculum that teaches reasoning and judgment to advanced thinkers of all ages.
Johnsen, Susan, and Krystal Goree. Independent Study for Gifted Learners. Waco, TX: Prufrock
Press, 2005.
Kids’ Vid ([Link]). Helps kids produce their own videos.
Pollette, Nancy. Research Without Copying. Marion, IL: Pieces of Learning, 2009. Using four types
of students—the thinker, the mover, the nurturer, and the creator—the author shares strategies for
student research.
Prufrock Press ([Link]). Their materials on research and thinking skills raise independent
study into more complex and abstract realms.
Science Made Simple ([Link]). School science projects and experiments for kids.
Teacher Created Materials Publishing ([Link]). Differentiated strategies in all
subject areas for most grades.
WebQuest ([Link]). A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the
information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet. The website includes an
overview, readings, training materials, and examples.

Chapter 7: Grouping Gifted Students for Learning

Research and Practice on Cooperative Learning as It Affects Gifted
Students
Cohen, Elizabeth. Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the Heterogeneous Classroom. New York:
Teachers College Press, 2014. How to develop sophisticated, complex cooperative learning tasks that
can challenge all students in cooperative learning groups.
Matthews, Marian. “Gifted Students Talk About Cooperative Learning.” Educational Leadership
50:2, 48–49, October 1992. Dr. Matthews interviewed gifted students for their opinions about
cooperative learning.
Rogers, Karen. 1999. “Research Synthesis on Gifted Provisions” ([Link]/gifted). Discusses
instructional management services, instructional delivery services, and curricular services.

Research and Practice on Ways to Group Gifted Learners Together

Allan, Susan Demirsky. “Ability-Grouping Research Reviews: What Do They Say About Grouping
and the Gifted?” Educational Leadership 48(6), 60–65, March 1991.
Assouline, Susan, Nicholas Colangelo, and Joyce VanTassel-Baska. A Nation Empowered: Evidence
Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students, Volume 1. Iowa City, IA: University
of Iowa, 2015.
Brigance diagnostic inventories of basic skills ([Link]). Use the Brigance tools
with students in the primary grades to document their advanced learning ability in order to place
them in cluster groups and to know the level at which they need to be taught in almost all subject
areas.
Brulles, Dina. “An Examination and Critical Analysis of Cluster Grouping Gifted Students in an
Elementary School District.” Doctoral Dissertation. Arizona State University, 2005.
Brulles, Dina, et al., “Schoolwide Mathematics Achievement Within the Gifted Cluster Grouping
Model,” Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 23(3), 200–216, 2012.
Coleman, Mary Ruth. “The Importance of Cluster Grouping,” Gifted Child Today 18:1, 38–40,
January–February 1995.
Gentry, Marcia L. “Promoting Student Achievement and Exemplary Classroom Practices Through
Cluster Grouping: A Research-Based Alternative to Heterogeneous Elementary Classrooms,”
Research Monograph 99138. Storrs, CT: NRC/GT, 1999. ([Link]).
Gentry, Marcia L., and Bill Keilty. “Rural and Suburban Cluster Grouping: Reflections of Staff
Development as a Component of Program Success.” Roeper Review 26, no. 3 (March 2004).
Gentry, Marcia L., and Jamie MacDougall. “Total School Cluster Grouping: Model, Research, and
Practice,” Creative Learning Press, 2008.
Hoover, Steve, Michael Sayler, and John Feldhusen. “Cluster Grouping of Gifted Students at the
Elementary Level,” Roeper Review 16:1, 13–15, 1993. More evidence of the benefits of cluster
grouping for gifted students.
Kulik, James A. “An Analysis of the Research of Ability Grouping: Historical and Contemporary
Perspectives,” Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, 1992.
Olszewski-Kubilius, Paula. “Setting the Record Straight on Ability Grouping,” Education Week,
2013.
Park, Gregory, David Lubinski, and Camilla Benbow. “When Less Is More: Effects of Grade
Skipping on Adult STEM Productivity Among Mathematically Precocious Adolescents,” Journal of
Educational Psychology, 105(1), 176–198, 2013.
Pierce, Rebecca, et al. “The Effects of Clustering and Curriculum on the Development of Gifted
Learners’ Math Achievement,” Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 34(4), 569–594, 2011.
Rogers, Karen. “Grouping the Gifted and Talented,” Roeper Review 16:1, 8–12, 1993.
——. A Menu of Options for Grouping Gifted Students. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 2006.
——. “The Relationship of Grouping Practices to the Education of the Gifted and Talented Learner.”
Research-Based Research Document (RBRD) 9102. Storrs, CT: NRC/GT, 1991.
Schuler, Patricia A. “Cluster Grouping Coast to Coast,” National Research Center on the Gifted and
Talented Newsletter, Winter 1997. Results of a research study examining the actual practice of cluster
grouping in the United States.
Schunk, Dale H. “Peer Models and Children’s Behavioral Change,” Review of Educational Research
47, 149–174, 1987. Only study to prove that gifted students are not appropriate peer tutors for age
peers.
Teno, Kevin. “Cluster Grouping Elementary Gifted Students in the Regular Classroom: A Teacher’s
Perspective,” Gifted Child Today 23:1, 44–49, January–February 2000. A teacher documents the
benefits of cluster grouping for gifted students, other students, and teachers.
Winebrenner, Susan, and Dina Brulles. The Cluster Grouping Handbook: How to Challenge Gifted
Students and Improve Achievement for All. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, 2010. Explains how
the Schoolwide Cluster Grouping Model (SCGM) differs from grouping practices of the past, and
presents a roadmap for implementing, sustaining, and evaluating schoolwide cluster grouping.

Chapter 8: Assessment and Technology

Besnoy, Kevin D. and Lane W. Clarke. High-Tech Teaching Success! A Step-by-Step Guide to Using
Innovative Technology in Your Classroom. Waco, TX: Prufock Press, 2010. Gives teachers advice
from technology education experts on how the latest tools and software can be implemented into
lesson plans to create differentiated, exciting curriculum for all learners.
Cross, Tracy L. “Technology and the Unseen World of Gifted Students: Social-Emotional Needs.”
Gifted Child Today 27:4, 1–3, Fall 2004.
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). “Technology and Student Achievement—
The Indelible Link.” Do a Google search for the title to find the PDF online.
Jenkins, Lee. Improving Student Learning: Applying Deming’s Quality Principles in Classrooms.
Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press, 2003. Teaches educators how to improve student performance
through the use of quality principles.
Kellough, Richard D., and Noreen G. Kellough. Secondary School Teaching: A Guide to Methods
and Resources. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. A comprehensive guide to instructional methods and
contains many practical exercises for active learning.
Plucker, Jonathan, Nathan Burroughs, and Ruiting Song. Mind the (Other) Gap! The Growing
Excellence Gap in K–12 Education. Bloomington, IN: Center for Evaluation & Education Policy,
2010.
Siegle, Del. “Gifted Students and Technology: An Interview with Del Siegle.” Center for Talent
Development, Northwestern University, 2005.
Sivin-Kachala, Jay, Ellen Bialo, and Jonathan Langford. Report on the Effectiveness of Technology in
Schools, 1990–1997. Washington, DC: Software Publishers Association, 1998.
Tucker, Bill. “Technology and the Future of Student Assessment.” Reports & Briefs. Education
Sector, February 13, 2009.

Chapter 9: Gifted Programming

Acceleration
Assouline, Susan, et al. Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual: A Guide for Whole-Grade Acceleration
(K–8). Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press, 2009.
Assouline, Susan, Nicholas Colangelo, and Joyce VanTassel-Baska. A Nation Empowered: Evidence
Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students, Volume 1. Iowa City, IA: University
of Iowa, 2015.
Belin-Blank Center Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration, National Association for
Gifted Children, and Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted. “Guidelines for
Developing an Academic Acceleration Policy,” Journal of Advanced Academics, 21(2), 180–203,
2010.
Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University. Academic Acceleration: Knowing
Your Options. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
DeLacy, Margaret. Acceleration for Gifted Students. Created for the Portland Public School District
Talented and Gifted Advisory Committee, April 19, 1996.
Park, Gregory, David Lubinski, and Camilla Benbow. “When Less Is More: Effects of Grade
Skipping on Adult STEM Productivity Among Mathematically Precocious Adolescents,” Journal of
Educational Psychology, 105(1), 176–198, 2013.
Renzulli, Joseph, and Sally Reis. The Schoolwide Enrichment Model: A How-To Guide for Talent
Development. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 2014.
Robinson, N., and L. Weimer. “Selection of Candidates for Early Admission to Kindergarten and
First Grade.” In W. T. Southern and E. D. Jones (eds.) The Academic Acceleration of Gifted Children.
New York: Teachers College Press, 1991.
Steenbergen-Hu, Saiying, and Sidney Moon. “The Effects of Acceleration on High-Ability Learners:
A Meta-Analysis,” Gifted Child Quarterly, 55(1), 39–53, 2010.

Extracurricular Team Activities (Often parents will take the coaching

role)
Destination Imagination ([Link]). A nonprofit organization that provides
educational programs for students to learn and experience creativity, teamwork, and problem solving.
Programming
Renzulli Learning ([Link]). Founded by Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reis, Renzulli
Learning takes a strengths-based approach to understanding a student’s interests, learning, and
expression styles and provides an engaging educational environment with a personalized curriculum
to help any student achieve academic success.
Robinson, Ann, Bruce M. Shore, and Donna L. Enersen, D. Best Practices in Gifted Education: An
Evidence-Based Guide. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 2007. Provides the framework for effective
planning and instruction in teaching gifted children. Topics include parent involvement, twice-
exceptional students, gender differences, acceleration, and culturally diverse student populations.
Rogers, Karen B. Re-Forming Gifted Education. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press, 2002. Rogers
explains the body of research in the field of curriculum for gifted education, and for each educational
option, delineates what the current research says about the benefit or lack of benefit to gifted
children.

Additional Resources
Magazines and Journals
Gifted Child Today ([Link]/home/gct). For teachers and parents of gifted kids.
Gifted Education Press Quarterly. Newsletter of unique articles by authors often not found in the
larger journals (Gifted Education Press, [Link]).
Imagine Magazine ([Link]/imagine). Published by Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth,
Imagine is designed to provide bright teens with the information and inspiration they need to make
the most of their precollege years and beyond.
From the National Association for Gifted Children ([Link]):
Gifted Child Quarterly. Research and practice in gifted education.
Parenting for High Potential. Tips for parenting gifted children.
Understanding Our Gifted ([Link]). Quarterly journal for parents and teachers of gifted
children.

Videos
Webb, James. Parenting Successful Children. A 52-minute DVD of tips on raising children in our
high-speed society (Great Potential Press, [Link]).

Organizations
Talent search centers. A network of places in the United States through which gifted kids in grades
6–7 can take the high school–level SAT and possibly qualify for special learning opportunities.
Google “Academic Talent Search” for information for your state.
Belin-Blank Center, University of Iowa ([Link]/belinblank). Talent searches,
summer programs, scholarships, assessment, and workshops.
Center for Bright Kids (Regional Talent Development Center for the Rocky Mountain area)
([Link]). Offers K–12 enrichment and acceleration programming for high-interest
and high-ability kids.
Center for Gifted Education, The College of William and Mary ([Link]/centers/cfge).
Contact the Center for information about summer institutes, talent searches, conferences, curriculum
units, and more.
Center for Talent Development, Northwestern University ([Link]). Talent searches,
programs for gifted students during the school year (Saturday Enrichment Program, Gifted
LearningLinks correspondence courses), summer programs, conferences, and more.
Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP) ([Link]). Programs and services for
academically talented students.
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth ([Link]). Conducts national and international talent
searches; provides challenging and innovative learning opportunities in mathematics, science, and the
humanities through summer programs, distance education programs, and conferences; publishes
Imagine, a magazine for middle and high school students.
Midwest Torrance Center for Creativity, a Northern Illinois University partner ([Link]).
Summer and weekend programs for gifted kids.
National Center for Research on Gifted Education, University of Virginia
([Link]/research/centers/nrcgt). Conducts research on methods and techniques for
identifying and teaching gifted and talented students and for using gifted and talented programs and
methods to serve all students.
Summer Institute for the Gifted ([Link]). Information about U.S. summer programs for
gifted kids.

Other Organizations
Association for the Gifted (TAG) ([Link]). Promotes the welfare and education of children and
teens with gifts, talents, and/or high potential. TAG is a division of the Council for Exceptional
Children.
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) ([Link]). The largest international professional
organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities,
students with disabilities, and/or the gifted.
Future Problem Solving Program International ([Link]). Provides students with necessary thinking
and problem-solving skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.
Gifted Development Center ([Link]). Provides comprehensive testing, referrals to
testers in other states, and referrals to counselors who have experience working with gifted kids and
their families.
Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted Children ([Link]). A national volunteer resource
and support network for highly gifted children, their families, schools, and communities.
International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) ([Link]). A nonprofit educational foundation that
helps develop the intellectual, personal, emotional, and social skills of students ages 3 to 19 to live,
learn, and work in a rapidly globalizing world. Founded in 1968, the foundation works with many
schools in 140-plus countries.
Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program, U.S. Department of Education,
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education ([Link]/programs/javits). Created by an Act
of Congress in 1994, the Javits program funds grants, provides leadership, and sponsors the National
Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.
Mensa International ([Link]). The international association for children and adults with high IQs.
In the United States, contact American Mensa ([Link]).
National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) ([Link]). A national advocacy group of parents,
educators, and affiliate groups united in support of gifted education. Join to receive the quarterly
magazine Parenting for High Potential, discounts on other selected NAGC publications, and more.
NAGC has affiliates in every state.
National Conference of Governor’s Schools ([Link]). Summer programs for gifted and talented
high school students.
Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) ([Link]). Helps parents identify giftedness
in their children; helps children understand and accept their unique talents. Provides a forum for
parents and educators to communicate.
World Council for Gifted and Talented Children ([Link]). An international organization
that seeks to focus world attention on gifted and talented children and ensure the realization of their
potential.

Websites
A to Z Home’s Cool Homeschooling Website ([Link]). A comprehensive collection
of articles, links, and resources.
Gifted Child Society ([Link]). This nonprofit organization provides educational enrichment and
support services for gifted children, assistance to parents, and training for educators.
GT World ([Link]). An online support community for parents of gifted and talented children.
Look for articles, links, testing information, definitions, and five mailing lists.
Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page ([Link]). Much more than a “page,” this is a wide and
respected variety of resources for parents and educators of gifted youth, from research to everyday
success stories, personal support groups, and links.
Homeschooling SIG of American Mensa ([Link]/neo/groups/homeschoolingmensans). A
SIG is a special interest group. The Homeschooling SIG is a support group for parents who are
homeschooling their gifted children.
LD OnLine ([Link]). Seeks to help children and adults reach their full potential by providing
accurate and up-to-date information and advice about learning disabilities and ADHD.
 About the Authors

Susan Winebrenner has an M.S. in curriculum and instruction and

a B.S. in education. A former classroom teacher and gifted-program
coordinator, Susan is an internationally recognized leader in the
field of gifted education. She is the author of several books and
teaching resources, including Differentiating Content for Gifted
Learners in Grades 6–12, Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties
in Today’s Classroom (with Lisa M. Kiss), and The Cluster
Grouping Handbook and Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom
Professional Development Multimedia Package (both with Dina
Brulles). Through her consulting and workshop business, Education
Consulting Service, Susan presents seminars nationally and
internationally, helping educators translate education research into
classroom practice. She has contributed articles to various
educational publications and served on the faculty of New Leaders
for New Schools. She lives in San Diego, California. Visit Susan’s
website at [Link].

Dina Brulles, Ph.D., is a school administrator and the gifted-

education director for Arizona’s Paradise Valley Unified School
District. Recognized for her expertise in creating and supervising
schoolwide cluster grouping, she also assists districts throughout the
United States in developing gifted-education programs, including
those districts serving culturally and linguistically diverse gifted
students. She is the coauthor with Susan Winebrenner of The
Cluster Grouping Handbook and Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s
Classroom Professional Development Multimedia Package and the
coauthor with Karen Brown of A Teacher’s Guide to Flexible
Grouping and Collaborative Learning. She holds a Ph.D. in gifted
education and an M.S. in curriculum and instruction and serves on
the faculty of the Graduate College of Education at Arizona State
University. Prior to becoming an administrator, Dina was an
elementary classroom teacher, a bilingual teacher, an ESL teacher,
and a gifted-cluster teacher. She lives in Peoria, Arizona. Visit
Dina’s website at [Link].
 More Great Books from Free
Spirit

Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom Professional

Development Multimedia Package
by Susan Winebrenner, M.S., and Dina Brulles, Ph.D.
Package includes:
DVD (100+ minutes)
Study Group Leader’s Guide Paperback, spiral bound, 8½" x 11", 96 pp.
Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom Paperback, 8½" x 11", 256 pp., with digital
content
Shelf storage box with magnetic closure
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Contact edsales@[Link] or call 1.800.735.7323 and ask for Education Sales.
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