Pedagogy and Talented and Gifted Students

My pedagogy which includes providing a scaffolded learning environment wherein students are educationally and emotionally supported will promote successful learning for students with talented and gifted learner differences in an English classroom. As it is my ultimate aspiration to inspire all of the learners in my English classroom to make meaningful and transferable connections to, and from, literature, this aligns with the needs of a student with talented and gifted learner differences.

While scaffolding the student through the same lesson plan as the other students, the talented and gifted student can assume leadership roles in classroom discussions, in pair work and in group work. I would provide learning activities that can be experienced at a variety of cognitive loads, allowing the tag student to go as far as he or she might want to. Similarly, I would provide activities that allow for various levels of thinking about concepts, from low-level, to high level. For example, I would assign research projects wherein the students role play characters from other time periods related to a novel. Each student can individually prepare for the role. This would allow a tag student the opportunity to craft the project and make meaning at a higher level than students with lower cognitive abilities, while working within the same project framework. The tag student can also write in such a way as to tap into his or her higher cognitive ability by showing a higher understanding of the literature.

I believe that every student possesses unique and special qualities which allow him or her to shine in the classroom via active participation in ways that support and encourage that individual learner and his or her specific learning style. For tag students, this would also involve activities that support the social aspects of education, which would include group work and peer work with students at varying levels of cognitive ability. As tag students can experience social difficulties related to their leaner differences, social learning activities will supported structured social interaction.

As tag students can experience negative social reactions from peers, it is important that the students are not singled out in the classroom as the "go to" kid for answers, but that the students is allowed to assume leadership roles that develop organically and dynamically in the course of time. This needs to be carefully balanced to ensure that the individual student is supported and is comfortable in the potential roles. Further, the teacher needs to be attentive to possible emotional issues related to tag students such as anxiety resulting from pressure to perform.

The student will need to be supported and challenged, but not in such a way that he or she feels inordinate pressure to perform at a level or volume that is inappropriate for the student. By ascertaining, from the student, what he or she wants and needs, the teacher can craft a curriculum that allows that student (as well as the rest of the classroom) to attain success through differentiated instruction and highly scaffolded classroom activity and organic, authentic assessment that takes into account the strengths and weaknesses or individual students. Finally, depending on the student, challenge work or challenge problems could be provided to supplement classroom learning.

This pedagogy of supported instruction and conscious awareness of the emotionality of student context will allow tag students success in the classroom.