Gifted Education 101: Differentiation Through Process

Gifted Education 101:  Differentiation Through Process

Gifted Education 101:  Differentiation Through Process

In the second post in this series, I wrote about how teachers of gifted students can differentiate programming through content. Content differentiation is often the most common form of differentiation.  It along with product differentiation are also the most obvious and visible forms of differentiation.  These forms of differentiation are things which observers might SEE if they were examining the differences between a gifted and "regular" program.   Another very important part of planning for teaching gifted students is differentiation through process.

Process is defined as: 

• cognitive and affective thinking skills, 
• learning how to learn, 
• research and reference skills, 
• written, oral and visual communications skills.

The Toronto District School board Special Education Department created a flow chart to demonstrate how its teachers could differentiate the program for gifted students through process.

Click on image above to view larger PDF version of flowchart.

The first part of the flow chart looks at RESEARCH SKILLS.

Research consists of the following skills and competencies:

Organizational Skills: Time Management, Personal Work Space, Planning and Task Completion

Experiential Learning Skills: Hypothesize, Validate, Observe, Big Idea, Assess

Inquiry Skills: Sources of Information, Referencing Information, Selecting/Categorizing Information, Point form notes, Communication, Use of Graphs/Charts

Independent Study Skills:  Organization/Time Management, Problem Solving, Research, Presentation, Independence/Motivation

The second part examines AWARENESS OF SELF & OTHERS.

Awareness of Self & Others consists of the following skills and competencies:
Interpersonal Learning Skills: Contribution, Tolerance/Accepting of Differences, Listening, Working with others, Problem Solving
Self-Directed Learning Skills: Goal Setting, Self-Regulation, Strategic Planning, Engagement, Motivation, Self-Direction
Leadership: Role Model, Responsibility, Goal Setting, Communication, Student Led Participation, Activities
Intrapersonal Skills: Reflection, Self-Knowledge, Self-Discovery, Self-Esteem, Metacognition

The final section of the flow chart focuses on THINKING SKILLS.

Thinking consists of the following skills and competencies:

Critical Thinking Skills: Gather information, Evaluate Evidence, Consider Alternatives/Implications, Choose/Implement best alternative

Creative Thinking Skills: Generation of Ideas, Combining of Ideas, Analysis of Ideas, Evaluating Ideas

Problem Solving Skills:  Developing Solutions, Creativity, Persistence Organization, Analysis and Applications

Creativity: Fluency, Flexibility, Elaboration, Originality, Application 

I don't know about you, but when I first encountered this flow chart I was TOTALLY OVERWHELMED!  There are 3 areas, 12 skills and a GAZILLION competencies (61 actually)!  The good news is that there is a lot of overlap within each of these areas, and if you start to think about it, the skills outlined can also be effectively integrated with the content and product part of the program.

In Toronto, we are into the second year of implementation of the areas outlined in the flow chart above. At our school we are continuing to explore how to best use this information to program for the gifted students in the intensive support program.  I am by no means an expert at any of the areas listed, but I have learned a lot as I continue to work my way through it.  In our school we focus on all the three areas each year, but we have a specific concentration on ONE area in each of the three grades.  The grade fours concentrate on RESEARCH, the grade fives concentrate on THINKING and the grade sixes concentrate on AWARENESS OF SELF & OTHERS.

As a starting point for the upcoming year, teachers of gifted may want to focus on organization skills with their students.  Most students need help with organization skills to one extent or another and the beginning of the year is a great time to set expectations and goals.

Please download a copy of this Organization Rubric as a FREEBIE.   You can use it to demonstrate the criteria for your students and then help them work towards success.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD.

In upcoming posts in this series I will focus on each of the areas outlined above and explore some ways you can design a program to help meet the needs of the gifted students you teach.