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significance of differentiationin classroom context
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Classroom Mixtures for the Gifted- Homogeneous or Heterogeneous? John H. Holloway in his article, “Grouping Gifted Students”, looks at research to the question of whether or not gifted students can receive effective instruction in the regular classroom. He wants to know if researchers agree with Lisa Benson, a classroom teacher, who says no. Her reasoning is the gifted students become frustrated especially if they have a high degree of creativity and resources are not available in the regular classroom. Holloway first looks at the question from the homogeneous versus heterogeneous grouping perspective. From this perspective two researchers, Renuzulli and Mesler, found that the regular (heterogeneous) classroom could serve the gifted students. Renuzulli suggested that teachers would need special training or access to specialists. The four other researches cited found homogenous grouping was better for gifted students. Burns and Mason found this was true because “the higher ability classes received better instruction or had higher ability teachers and benefited from high-ability classmates” (p.89). In another research, Rogers concluded that gifted students need some form of ability grouping to broaden and extend their curriculum. Shields found that homogeneous grouping had a positive effect on the attitudes of the gifted and how they felt about themselves as learners and the school experience. The study by Gentry, Rizza, and Owen expressed concern that there was little differentiation for the gifted students in the heterogeneous classroom. The research of mixed-ability group options was next looked at by Holloway. Tomlinson’s research says the gifted can receive effective instruction in a differentiated classroom. However, s... ... middle of paper ... ...estion is not usually asked. Students at the high school level tend to want to take the easy way out. I think if I had to make the decision at my school, based on research and on my experiences I would choose to have homogenous grouping for the gifted students. My biggest challenge would be as to what criteria to use. Would it be ability, areas of giftedness, or some other criteria? Reference Holloway, J. (2003, October). Grouping Gifted Students. Educational Leadership, 61, 89-91. Retrieved January 29, 2010, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/oct03/vol61/num02/_Grouping_Gifted_Students.aspx Reference Holloway, J. (2003, October). Grouping Gifted Students. Educational Leadership, 61, 89-91. Retrieved January 29, 2010, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/oct03/vol61/num02/_Grouping_Gifted_Students.aspx
Ryser, G. R., & McConnell, K. (2003). Scales for Identifying Gifted Students. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
Jarosewich, T., Pfeiffer, S. I., & Morris, J. (2002). Identifying gifted students using teacher rating scales: A review of existing instruments. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 20(4), 322-336.
The problem associated with how students are chosen to join a gifted and talented program stems from the way that we define giftedness. Because there are countless ways in which any individual can define talent, the government created a federal task force in 1972 to study gifted education in order to standardize the way in which schools choose students for and implement their gifted and talented programs. The task force’s results are known as the Marland Report and include much information as a result of their research, including a decision that a public school’s gifted and talented programs should aim to serve between 3 and 5 percent o...
The Talents Unlimited Model was created under the philosophy that all students, both those identified as gifted and those not, would benefit from enrichment programs. The model is used to educate teachers on how to use differentiated instruction to use “higher order cognitive tasks to help students with varying abilities use their preferred thinking talents to manipulate instruction to solve problems, see broad relationships, evaluate varying perspectives, draw comparisons among disparate viewpoints, and predict causes and effects” (Schlichter, 2009, p. 434).
Donovan, M. Suzanne and Christopher T. Cross (2002, August). Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/lib/drexel/-docDetail.action?docID=10032383.
Based from the information provided by VanTassel-Baska, et. Al. (2009), gifted and talented students face the same issues as their regular peers but they have different way of viewing these issues and it affects them differently as well. The book discussed different issues that gifted learners face and recommendations on how to address these issues were also available for teachers, administrators and other school personnel. Also, Carol Strip Whitney (2011) in her book entitle Helping Gifted Learners Soar discussed stress as a factor that can distract and overpower anyone including gifted learners and for the gifted learners, there are many reasons and causes of stress. In this reflection, I will focus on two causes of stress, which are gifted learners as social capital and issues related to race and achievement.
Richards, S., Taylor, R., Smiley, L. 2009; Exceptional Students: Preparing Teachers for the 21st Century
Ryser, G. R., & McConnell, K. (2003). Scales for Identifying Gifted Students. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
Based off of the Enrichment Triad Model, the Schoolwide Enrichment Model is a flexible system that can be implemented in a variety of ways: gifted programs, enrichment programs, magnet and charter schools, and theme schools (Rice & Renzulli, 2009, p. 329). Utilizing the Total Talent Portfolio and the Service Delivery Components, the model stresses individualized learning paths for gifted students.
Gearheart, Bill and Carol and Mel Weishahn. The Exceptional Student in the Regular Classroom (Sixth Edition). Published by Merrill, 1999.
Meeting the needs of academic diverse learners is the responsibility of their instructor. These diverse learners may include students who are one or more grade levels below classmates and the gifted student who is that much above. How can educators meet the needs of these students when their learning abilities are found at opposite ends of the instructional spectrum? The answer is planning successful lessons involving engaging activities, a variety of texts, technology implementation, and flexible grouping. The following is a lesson I implemented covering these key components.
Research on the social and cognitive effects of grouping students in mixed-abilities versus same-abilities classrooms is gaining increasing interest among practitioners and researchers. In hopes of attaining higher scores, many schools have adopted homogeneous ability grouping. Unlike them, our school has adopted the policy of mixed ability classes where students of different academic abilities study together in the same class. Indeed, there is a lot of research in favor of heterogeneous ability grouping, but is this beneficial to us?
Mathews, M. (1992). Gifted Students Talk About Cooperative Learning. Educational Leadership, 50. Retrieved March 10, 2003, from http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/92101mathews.html.
Parke, B. (n.d.). Challenging gifted students in the regular classroom. Retrieved March 1, 2004, from http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/Challenging_gifted _kids.html
A mixed classroom approach is a structure that involves putting children from different social classes and intelligence levels into one classroom. The mixed approach is preferred because it gives all students an equal opportunity that may or may not push them to make an attempt in school (Lee 2013). As many different students are placed into one classroom, it is up to the teacher to create a classroom environment suitable for all students because of the many students from different backgrounds (Smith, 2005, p. 98-99). Therefore, a heterogeneous approach is better