INTEGRATING Gifted Education into the Total School Curriculum

School Administrator, April, 1995 by Carolyn R. Cooper

Application of these principles and instructional strategies is not accidental. Central-office administrators must ensure that all teachers are trained in these specialized methods--not only as they are used with bright and talented students but with all students to the degree they can integrate them into their daily curriculum. Too often we assume teachers are proficient at using the open-ended tasks bright students need to strengthen their tolerance for ambiguity, to synthesize information, and to forecast.

Yet few teachers are comfortable with either open-ended instruction or genuine inquiry, both of which require more time than conventional didactic methods and are being encouraged by the school reform movement. In the perceived race to cover material in curriculum guides, teachers maintain that the crowded curriculum prevents them from differentiating the curriculum for bright students. Hence, staff development is vital. It must be planned carefully over the long term, scheduled frequently, and mandatory for teachers.

Allowing Differences

Creating a differentiated curriculum requires looking at each student's talents individually. For instance, let's say your goal for most of your targeted students is to become creative producers. You also have a few students with extraordinary ability in math and a few with advanced writing skills. Two types of service will accommodate these three groups of students:

* the advanced-ability students must be accelerated in the content areas of their respective ability, and

* the larger group must be provided services especially designed to develop their gifts and talents as budding creative producers.

Within the latter group, opportunities must be provided for individual talents to emerge. Some students may display artistic talent; others may demonstrate a talent for engineering. Once their talents are recognized and nurtured, these students will be taught to apply their respective talents to the creative production process.

This type of differentiated curriculum generates more accountability than activities best described euphemistically as an "eclectic curriculum." The acid test for appropriate curriculum for bright students is "Could or would every student at this age commit to this type of study that is long-range, rigorous, filled with trial and error, and has the potential to contribute significantly to extant knowledge in a given field?"

When the answer to the defensibility test is yes, the curriculum is unequivocally defensible; it meets all the criteria for creative production, our performance objective. Moreover, we know this is how bright and talented persons work on topics that consume their interest. Staff members generally respect academic rigor, also.

Teachers' Roles

Another tip for integrating gifted education into the total curriculum is to broaden the role of the teacher of the gifted and talented. Hire only a specialist with appropriate credentials in gifted education; he or she must have credibility with the rest of the staff.