Kids come in all shapes and sizes and their learning is no different. In the teaching trade, it is known as readiness. It’s a great term as no matter what your child can or cannot do now, they are all ready for a next step. In my experience as a teacher, some of the most challenging students, were those who were ready for something beyond what the rest of the class were. Frustration and boredom are common outcomes for a child that thinks at the next level to their peers and who isn’t being recognised and catered for.
It is crucial to extend a gifted student and there are 2 ways to go about it: vertically or horizontally. Vertical extension is really another term for acceleration. Whilst sounding good in theory (as the child is certainly challenged), it comes with some major draw backs. The teacher must source, deliver and give feedback on completely different learning content for the child. The child is seen to be more obviously different by his/her peers. In the past, a student might have skipped a grade and been placed in a peer group that they are socially unprepared for. Acceleration is also finite. Assuming the child stays with their peers, at some point they reach the end of the curriculum road so to speak: possibly with 1 or 2 more years of schooling left!
Horizontal or lateral extension is a far preferable option in my books. The gifted student will learn/reinforce and apply the same concepts or skills as the rest of the class. The trick is to provide options for the student to apply higher order thinking skills to tasks that relate to these concepts and skills. A very basic example could be for multiplication. Whilst the bulk of the class may be working on problems such as 24 x 6, the gifted student may have an answer but be missing digits from the question. It is assumed they can multiply. (using bigger numbers doesn’t make it much harder BTW, it just takes a little longer). The gifted child is using problem solving strategies and applying their knowledge of the multiplication strategy in reverse to determine what the question must have been. Further yet, may be a task requiring a child to compare and evaluate all the different methods of multiplication. The skills themselves are implicit in the task but students could demonstrate each of the methods and compare and contrast their effectiveness.
A good teacher will strive to provide options for horizontal extension in all their learning activities. They can be presented and explained at the same time as the class activities as outwardly, they shouldn’t seem radically different to what the rest of the class is doing. The student is challenged but feels included. Whilst a gifted student might be academically older than their peers, socially and emotionally, they may be exactly the same age and their needs may be identical. Gifted students are often far better served by being included rather than lauded. Those activities being available, might also provide the opportunities for other highly capable students to reveal themselves.
At Giant Strides Tutoring and Learning Support, we can help cater for a gifted or highly capable student (or any student for that matter). Our home learning packages may be of particular benefit. Please get in touch if you feel your child is not being provided the learning opportunities they are ready for.
