Gifted & Talented

 *This is British Columbia's criteria for designations of talented & gifted.

Criteria:

1. High Ability: I.Q. of 130+ for talented & 145+ for gifted & 160+ for genius.  Teachers, parents, etc. can also supply testimonials of a child's high abilities.
2. High Creativity: Different types of creativity, academic, musical, artistic. 
3. High Task -Commitment: When student is interested in task/material they will stick with something for a very long time.

Characteristics: 

(Gifted children versus Bright kids) 

1. Asks questions vs. knowing the answers
2. Wild & silly ideas vs. has good ideas
3. Play around during instruction but test well vs. works hard
4. Strong feelings & opinions vs. listening attentively
5. Takes 1-2 repetitions for mastery vs. takes 6-8 repetitions for mastery
6. Prefers adults versus enjoying the attention of peers
7. Good guessers vs. good memorizers
8. Highly self-critical vs. pleased with their learning 

Tips: 

• These students will start the year knowing half of what will be taught.
• Very few of these students are given extra opportunities to excel - they do not enjoy doing extra work or being teacher's little helper.
• Co-operative learning does not work well for these students.
• Often gifted children are graded harder than other students, that will lead to them resenting the teacher as it is not fair that they are required to do more work than other kids for the same grade.
• If, by grade four or five these children will often detach if they haven't been challenged yet. 
• Remember that "geek" and "nerd" are powerful bullying words (as are "moron" and "retard") that affect these children greatly - do not turn a blind eye.
• These children have the highest rate of substance abuse, depression and anxiety.
• Do not argue with these children, they will often win. 
• Do not try to force them to do anything, instead explain why the task is worthwhile.   

Curricular Options:

• Grade skipping-takes away boredom but presents a social issue.
•  Self-paced instruction-a contract detailing what the student needs to complete in a certain time frame.
• Acceleration-stays in class with age group but moves ahead with the curriculum.
• Credit by examination-if child says they are bored then offer opportunity to pass the test to see if they actually know the material already, if they pass do not have to sit through the material. 
• Extra-curricular programs-offer outlets for creativity and space to test knowledge.
• Mentorships-if the child can get all their work done int he morning they are afforded the opportunity to go into the "real world" in the afternoon and apprentice in a business.

-Information from Heikkila.