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Faculty Support
Ideas :
Faculty can make a significant difference in the lives of their
gifted undergraduate students “by expressing an interest
in their development, inviting them to discuss educational and
career plans, encouraging high aspirations, and in come cases,
opening doors to college resources and graduate study”
(Robinson, 1997, p. 8). Within the classroom, though, faculty
can make small changes to accommodate for the intellectual needs
of gifted students. Curriculum differentiation, or providing
“different avenues to acquiring content, to processing
or making sense of ideas, and to developing products so that
each student can learn effectively” (Tomlinson, 2001,
p.1), is frequently used at the K-12 level to meet the needs
of gifted students. The following strategies of differentiation
can also be used at the university level to meet the needs of
varying types of students:
Low-Prep Differentiation
- Choice of textbooks/reading assignments
- Choice to work alone or together on projects
- Choice of topics for projects, papers, etc.
- Lower-end and higher-end discussion questions
Higher-Prep Differentiation
- Tiered Activities
Tiered activities are varied levels of activities that allow
students to explore material at an appropriate level. For
example, students could choose to turn in five different 2-page
papers or one 10-page paper.
- Compacting
“A 3-step process that (1) assesses what a student knows
about material to be studied and what the student still needs
to master, (2) plans for learning what is not known and excuses
the student from what is known, and (3) plans for freed-up
time to be spent in enriched or accelerated study” (Tomlinson,
2001, p. 98).
- Flexible Grouping
When using groups, for either in-class activities or out-of-class
projects, students are grouped on the basis of interest, ability,
etc. For example, group majors together and non-majors together,
or group honors students together and non-honors students
together.
- Using Multiple Methods of Presentation
Use varying methods to present material to the class, such
as lecture, discussion, simulations, activities, small group
work, case studies, role playing, debates,
- Contracts
“Contracts take a number of forms that begin with an
agreement between student and teacher: The teacher grants
certain freedoms and choices about how a student will complete
tasks, and the student agrees to use the freedoms appropriately
in designing and completing work according to specifications”
(Tomlinson, 2001, p. 106).
- Choice During Exams
Allow students to choose which sections and/or questions of
an exam they will complete. For example, my exams consist
of three sections: multiple choice, short answer, and essay.
Students pick only two of these sections to complete. Within
the short answer and essay sections, students choose which
questions they will answer.
What happens, though, when a gifted student does not even come
to class? Chances are, a gifted student is either bored with
the course or is uninterested in the course. Using differentiation
in the classroom may prevent boredom, as students will be able
to stay engaged at a level parallel to their ability. Differentiation
does not serve as a magic wand, however, so a one-on-one conversation
may be necessary with those harder-to-reach students. Gifted
students may also have failed to develop good study habits to
accommodate the more difficult college work, since things came
easily for them in earlier grades, so referral to The Learning
Center on campus may be beneficial.
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