Gifted Learners Guide

Recognizing Gifted Students

A Brief Guide for Teachers and Parents

By Kathleen Gardner

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Intro

There are a lot of misconceptions that center around what it means to be a gifted learner. It's often mistaken with behaviors and characteristics that are regularly attributed to high achievement. Yet, it is much more complex than that. This guide serves as a simple, but practical tool to identify the similarities and differences between a gifted learner and a high achiever. Finally, we'll take a look at strategies that parents and teachers can utilize for their gifted learners.

Understanding the Terms

Definitions for both

High Achiever

According to researcher, Dr. Bertie Kingore (2004), a high achiever is a student who is "noticed for their on-time, neat, well-developed, and correct learning products." A high achiever is the student who is studious and consistently commits to practice and repetition to improve their understanding. They're willing to participate frequently and focus heavily on their class performance (Taibbi, 2012).

Gifted Learner

Gifted learners are high ability students who exhibit high intellectual and academic ability. They aren't necessarily thinking about what it the 'right' answer, but also the varying possibilities beyond it by dissecting the question itself (Roberts & Boggess, 2020). With gifted learning comes conditions such as asynchronous development, underachievement, perfectionism, and social and emotional deficits to name a few conditions that can occur in addition.

Similarities and Differences

Note: No two gifted students are the same

High Achiever

Similarities

Gifted Learner

• Already knows content
• Beyond the class in undestanding
• prefers the comapny of intellectually similar peers
• Can be lax with assignment due dates and completion
• Masters information and can manipulate it to use
• is not always grade motivated
• Does well with inference-making
• Inconsistent with tasks

• Capable of interacting with advanced ideas
• Detail oriented in discussions
• Complex, abstract humor
• Enjoys learning (whether self-directed or instructor-led)
• Can be self-critical of performance

• Learns with ease
• At the top of the class
• Prefers company of age similar peers.
• Completes assignments on time
• Absorbs information
• Gets A's
• Quick recall of answers
• Consistent with tasks

Adapted from Kingore (2004) and Roberts and Boggess (2020)

Strategies

1. Customize Learning: Give them more challenging tasks and let them explore topics they're passionate about. 2. Extra Activities: Offer fun and educational activities that go beyond regular classwork. These can include special projects, experiments, art, or joining clubs related to their interests. 3. Personal Plans: Create individual plans for each gifted student that set goals and strategies tailored to their strengths and needs. Keep updating these plans as they progress. 4. Grouping Options: Let gifted students work with others who are also talented. Sometimes, they can work with kids of different ages or abilities. This helps them learn from peers and share their ideas. 5. Thinking Skills: Help them become better at thinking critically and solving problems. Encourage them to ask big questions, have discussions, and do creative projects.

References

Kingore, B. (2004). Differentiation: Simplified, Realistic, and Effective. Austin: Professional Associates Publishing.

Roberts, J. L., & Boggess, J. R. (2020). Teacher’s survival guide: Gifted education (2nd ed.). Prufrock Press.

Taibbi, C. (2012, January 29). “bright child” vs. “Gifted learner”: What’s the difference? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/gifted-ed-guru/201201/bright-child-vs-gifted-learner-whats-the-difference

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