Compacting means condensing a course-worth of learning into a shorter time frame. For example, a semester of curriculum might be delivered in a quarter leaving the teacher and TAG student with time for challenging and meaningful enrichment along the way or upon completion. The teacher would need to determine the readiness of the student before any compacting can begin. If readiness is established the teacher would need to develop an accelerated timeline of activities. Finally, learning contracts can be created to detail and clarify all expectations to the TAG student.
Differentiation means providing TAG students with different tasks and activities that provide appropriate challenge and rigor. There are five elements of differentiation: Content, Process, Product, Environment, and Assessment.
Content: All students are expected to learn a body of knowledge in each course. This body of content is often guided by our alignment with the "Common Core Standards". Content is differentiated through the use of more advanced resource materials and enriched learning activities. Example: A TAG student masters the content before the rest of the class is ready to move on. The teacher and TAG student develop an individualized learning contract that outlines a project that will employ professional journals for more advanced research.
Process: This defines the method students use to make sense of the content. Process is differentiated through flexible grouping, opportunities for learning at more complex levels or doing sophisticated research. Flexible time limits are essential. Example: A teacher has reason to believe TAG students have already mastered the current material so they are grouped together and assigned a cooperative learning activity that requires deeper, more complex analysis.
Product: This describes the ways in which students choose to illustrate and demonstrate their understanding of the content. Product is differentiated by steering TAG students to exciting and unusual resources and to people who can help locate those resources and demonstrate ways to use them. Moving beyond readings and worksheets is essential. Example: A teacher offers TAG students a "menu" of possible projects and/or products to choose from instead of taking the traditional unit test.
Environment: This is the physical space and the conditions in which the students learn. TAG students typically spend more time in independent study than their classmates. They thrive in a challenging atmosphere. Environment is differentiated by changing the actual place in which students work, altering teacher's expectations, allowing flexible time limits, and providing a place for in-depth research. Example: A teacher might may collaborate with library media staff to allow for a small team of TAG students to work on a differentiated activity in the library media center instead of the classroom.
Assessment: This describes the method used to document mastery of curriculum. Assessments can be differentiated by allowing and encouraging TAG students to develop their own rubrics to assess knowledge acquisition. Example: A TAG student has taken a pretest and shown mastery of content. The teacher works with this student to develop an alternative project allowing for deeper understanding. The TAG student is then required to identify the key learning objectives and develop an individualized scoring rubric BEFORE beginning the project.
Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom, Winebrenner, Susan (2001)
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The first step to teaching Talented and Gifted students in the classroom is to understand them. This video clip, created by TAG students, identifies 10 myths in Gifted Education.
