Overlooked GEMS: New Directions for Gifted Identification

1. Overlooked GEMS: New Directions for Gifted Identification E. Camille Fears Floyd, PhD Gifted Coordinator Macon County Schools ALSDE MEGA Conference July 17, 2014 Mobile, Alabama

3. agenda Housekeeping/Welcome Embracing & Nurturing Diversity Cognitive and Affective Gifted Characteristics (Frasier’s TABs) Dispelling Myths Associated with Gifted and Talented Students Discovering Gems Parking Lot

4. Session backstory • Developing talent among gifted African American students in schools requires educators and communities to overcome a legacy of deficit thinking about intelligence among African Americans.  • Embracing the changing racial composition of rural classrooms in today’s society is also critical.  Educators must be culturally responsive to the diverse needs of African American children who are gifted.

5. Session Overview This session will focus on the cognitive and affective characteristics, strengths, and differences of gifted African American students. Myths and truths regarding gifted students will be shared. Diversity initiatives and guidance for the recruitment and retention of African American students will be provided. Recommendations for future research on talent development and educational opportunities for gifted African American children will also be shared.

6. Diversity • Celebrates differences instead of trying to hide or change them • Teachers are charged with ensuring that each student maintains his or her uniqueness while focusing on the mission and goals of gifted education

7. How do we nurture diversity? • Directly engage in differences as key issues for creating inclusion • Think critically about diversity, how it affects us, and what we can do about and with it • Immerse in diverse cultures

8. What diversity is • Building broad scoped inclusive organizations • Learning to use all human capacity for individual and group performance • Valuing, respecting, and including every member

9. What diversity is not • About quotas (counting the numbers of one type of person or another) • About highlighting cultural or ethnic differences as negative attributes • A “quick fix” or a quickly mastered solution

10. Diversity training • Initiatives must be grounded conceptually in the principle of inclusion. • Inclusion must serve as the fundamental unifying principle in diversity • Diversity initiatives fail when: • they are implemented improperly • they do not incorporate the perspectives and concerns of diverse individuals

11. inclusion • Opens the pathway for a variety of different individuals to marshal their personal resources to do what they do best. • Helps students feel validated, accepted, heard and appreciated • Happens at two levels (individual and organizational) • Developing it is everyone’s responsibility

12. How may I increase my knowledge about various cultural groups so that I do not rely on biased and stereotyped information?

13. Bright vs. Gifted vs. creative

14. Bright ChildGifted Learner Creative Learner Enjoys school Enjoys self-directed Enjoys creating learning Knows the answers Asks questions Sees exceptions Is interested Is highly curious Wonders Is attentive Is mentally involved Daydreams, may seem off task Advanced ideas Complex, abstract ideas Overflows with ideas Works hard Knows without Plays with ideas & working hard concepts Answers questions Discusses in detail, Injects new possibilities elaborates Top of the group Above & beyond the group Is in own group What’s the difference between a

15. Bright ChildGifted LearnerCreative Learner Listens with interest Shows strong Shares bizarre, feelings/opinions conflicting opinions Learns with ease Already knows material Questions: What if…. 6-8 reps for mastery 1-3 reps for mastery Questions need for mastery Understands abstractions Constructs abstractions Overflows with ideas Enjoys peers Prefers adult Prefers creative peers, works alone Understands complex, Creates complex Relishes wild, off-the wall abstract humor abstract humor humor Completes assignments Initiates projects Initiates more projects than will ever be completed

16. ALSDEGifted identification • Second Grade Gifted Child Find Procedures • Standard Referrals • Referral Process • Observation of Students • TABs • Evaluation (Matrix)

17. Dr. Mary F. Frasier(1938-2005) • Nationally recognized scholar and researcher in gifted education • Founder of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development in the UGA College of Education. • President of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) from 1987-89 • NAGC's Distinguished Service Award in 1991, and the Ann F. Isaacs Founder's Memorial Award for her work with NAGC. • Created the TABs and granted Alabama the use of a modified form.

18. Dr. mary M. frasier • As a researcher, scholar and advocate, Dr. Frasier had a profound effect on changing the way children are assessed for gifted services. • Designed the Frasier Talent Assessment Profile (F-TAP), a comprehensive assessment system with multiple indicators that is much more effective in assessing the gifts and talents of low-income and minority children than single-indicator tests previously used.

19. Traits, Aptitudes, and Behaviors • Identification of gifted children from varying cultural and economic groups • Ten (10) TABs which have been found through research to be consistently associated with the psychological construct of giftedness. • Core attributes of the giftedness construct • Foundation for creating a sufficient knowledge base about the characteristics a student demonstrates so that appropriate referrals, placements and programming decisions can be made.

20. TABs • Traits-A relatively persistent and consistent behavior pattern. • Aptitudes-The capacity to perform in the future or some future ability. • Behaviors-Any response made by an organism.

21. Frasier’s tabs • Motivation • Interests • Communication Skills • Problem-Solving Ability • Inquiry • Leadership • Insight • Reasoning • Imagination/Creativity • Humor

22. What do the tabsl k like in students?

23. MEMORY WALK • Think about the brightest children you have ever taught (or your own children). • I n what ways were they different from their age peers? • What did they do that amazed, surprised, puzzled or maybe even concerned you?

24. MOTIVATION- Evidence of desire to learn • demonstrate persistence in pursuing and/or completing self-selected tasks. Tasks may be culturally influenced. • focus motivation on non-school activities rather than school activities. • be an enthusiastic learner of non-school or school subject matter. • aspire to be somebody, do something. • Easily bored with routine assignments and repetitions. • May want to do things her/his own way. • Sometimes does not want to stop one project to start the next. • Dislikes interruptions. • May be overly aggressive • Challenges authority

25. INTERESTS-A feeling of intentness, passion, concern or curiosity about something. • demonstrate unusual or advanced interests • in a topic or activity. • be a self-starter. • pursue an activity unceasingly. • be beyond age group in activities/interests. • show concern for local and global issues • Reads constantly often at inappropriate times • Dominates discussions; may extend comments with details beyond the comprehension of age-mates • Goes on tangents with no follow- through • Loses other students by explaining or over-analyzing issues • Neglects other responsibilities

26. Communication Skills – Highly expressive and effective use of words, numbers, symbols. • demonstrate unusual ability to communicate verbally, • physically, artistically, or symbolically. • use particularly apt examples, illustrations, or elaborations. • use this ability in or out of the classroom. • Shows off. • Invokes peer resentment. • Constantly talking to and monopolizing the time of the teacher. • Losing or “turning off” students with high level of vocabulary

27. Problem-Solving Ability – Effective, often inventive, strategies for recognizing and solving problems. • have keen sense of humor which could be gentle or hostile. • have exceptional sense of timing • in words or gestures. • Is out-of-sync with classmates and becomes socially isolated. • Makes jokes at adults’ or classmates’ expenses. • Plays cruel tricks on others • Class clown

28. Inquiry – Questions, experiments, explores. • ask unusual questions for age. • play around with ideas. • demonstrate extensive exploratory behaviors directed toward eliciting information about materials, devices, or situations. • Goes on tangents • No follow-through • Dominates discussions • Impolitely correct teacher or other adults • Can become a “pest”

29. Leadership – Displays leadership among his/her peers. • be quick to help others. • carry out responsibilities well. • lead others on the playground or in other unstructured situations (could be in a negative or positive way). • Becomes “bossy” • Unwilling to listen to classmates • Lead others into negative behavior. • Can be too authoritative. • Impatient with others

30. Insight – Quickly grasps new concepts and makes connections; senses deeper meanings.. • show sudden discovery of correct solution following • incorrect attempts based primarily on trial and error. • display high ability to draw inferences. • appear to be a good guesser. • possess heightened capacity for seeing unusual & diverse relationships. • integrate ideas and disciplines. • May overlook details • Out-of-sync with classmates • Appears to be showing off or makes other students feel inadequate • Impolitely corrects adults

31. Reasoning – Logical approaches to figuring out solutions. • make generalizations. • use metaphors and analogies. • think things through in a logical manner. • think critically. • think things through and come up with a plausible answer. • Notices too much in classroom and may appear off-task • Does not readily follow directions • May overlook details • May tell teacher better ways to do things.

32. Imagination/Creativity – Produces many ideas; highly original. • show exceptional ingenuity in using everyday materials. • have wild, seemingly silly ideas. • solve problems through non-traditional patterns of thinking. • produce ideas fluently/flexibly. • be highly curious. • display figural or verbal creativity. • Gets lost in own thoughts • Appears to be daydreaming or inattentive • May not have follow-through

33. Humor – Brings two heretofore unrelated ideas or planes of thought together in a recognized relationship. • use effective & often inventive strategies for recognizing and solving problems. • be able to change strategies if selected solution does not work. • create new designs, invent. • use this ability in or out of the classroom. • Interferes with others • Perfectionistic • Avoids reflective, divergent responses. • Sometimes, too innovative. • Stubborn

34. Other ‘Different’ Manifestations • Finds it difficult to wait for others • Learns at faster rate • Unwilling to show work or details • Refuses to do assignments because “already know it” • Low self-image about academic performance • Over-concern for social problem • Bored by simple things in life • Unwilling /unable to follow basic rules or requirements • Constantly doodling or drawing

35. Common Myths in gifted education

36. MYTH: That student can’t be gifted, she’s receiving poor grades TRUTH: Underachievement describes a discrepancy between a student’s performance and her actual ability. Gifted students may become bored or frustrated in an unchallenging classroom situation causing them to lose interest, learn bad study habits, or distrust the school environment.  Other students may mask their abilities to try to fit in socially with their same-age peers.  No matter the cause, it is imperative that a caring and perceptive adult help gifted learners break the cycle of underachievement in order to achieve their full potential. 

37. MYTH: Gifted students are like cream that rises to the top in a classroom. TRUTH: Not necessarily. Gifted children can have hidden learning disabilities that go undiscovered because they can easily compensate for them in the early years. As time goes on, it becomes harder and harder for them to excel, which can lead to behavior problems and depression.

38. MYTH: Gifted students are so smart they do fine with or without special programs. TRUTH: They may appear to do fine on their own. But without proper challenge they can become bored and unruly. As the years go by they may find it harder and harder as work does become more challenging, since they never faced challenge before.

39. MYTH: This child can’t be gifted, he has a disability TRUTH: Some gifted students also have learning or other disabilities. These “twice-exceptional” students often go undetected in regular classrooms because their disability and gifts mask each other, making them appear “average.” Other twice-exceptional students are identified as having a learning disability and as a result, are not considered for gifted services. In both cases, it is important to focus on the students’ abilities and allow them to have challenging curricula in addition to receiving help for their learning disability. 

40. Challenges facing gifted africanamerican students • Deficit Thinking • Low expectations • Viewing cultural behaviors as deficits • Cultural Mismatch • Immersion in the dominant culture • Cultural Discontinuity • Educator prep program deficiencies • Field experiences, curriculum • Identification of CLD Students • Gatekeepers • Teacher pleasers • Traditional ID Measures-IQ tests, cutoff scores • Presumed Gifted Behavior Manifestations vs. uniqueness and creativity of culture

41. The challenges of being gifted In the words of gifted children….

42. “Sometimes it’s hard to talk to people. My vocabulary is a bit bigger than others. I get the ‘what?’ look all the time. I also get teased and questioned and poked and picked by teachers and kids!” ~ Lillian, 5th grade

43. “The teachers stop calling on me because they know that I know all the answers.” ~Charles, 7th grade

44. "People expect so much more of me than I can do. I'm not smart in every single category in school.” ~Kaitlyn, 3rdgrade

45. "Sometimes when I ask people what we're doing, they say, 'You're in GT, you're smart... Figure it out for yourself!' -- and I don't like that." ~Chad, 4th grade

46. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't so smart because then the teachers wouldn't always expect so much out of me. They wouldn't always expect straight A's and nothing less. It is also kind of annoying sometimes when kids ask you 'what's the answer to this problem?' or 'can you help me?' even when the answer is so simple if they would just take the time to do it." ~James, 8thgrade

47. "I get taken advantage of. People ask to be my partner or work with me on a paper and I am stuck doing all the work. The only thing they do is make sure their name is on the paper or project." ~Charlotte, 11thgrade

48. New directions for discovering gems

49. New directions… • Dynamic Thinking • Multiple Criteria for Identification • Frasier’s Four As • Teacher Advocacy & Training • Additional Support • District • Experts • Parents

50. Dr. Frasier’s four As • Dr. Frasier synthesized research related to problems associated with the identification of culturally and linguistically diverse students for gifted programs and concluded that there are four persistent issues. • ACCESS • ASSESSMENT • ACCOMMODATIONS • ATTITUDE