Tier 1, the first level of instruction in the RtI (Response to Intervention) framework, is designed to meet the needs of 80% of students within the regular classroom. The only way to accomplish this goal is to use differentiation. Differentiation is not a singular process; it is rather a complicated process of adapting instructional strategies so…

Bullying has been an ongoing problem for students, but the issue is becoming more critical with changes in the society and the school systems. A bully is no longer "a person who hurts, frightens, threatens, or tyrannizes over those who are smaller or weaker". According to Tracy Cross, the definition of a bully now is evolving to include any person…

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was the ultimate child prodigy. It is said that Mozart, after attending a service at the Vatican, wrote down an entire sacred piece of music after one hearing. There are countless examples of the amazing feats that Mozart accomplished through his childhood, not to mention his huge compositional output through…

Gifted students thirst for knowing and understanding. They are quick to learn new information, have great recall, are capable of investigating topics in depth, and pose meaningful questions. These youngsters go beyond the basic facts to seek answers, draw conclusions, and evaluate information. Young gifted students, however, may lack the skills…

How do educators create and nurture environments that respect and meet the developmental needs of gifted children? They know that many young bright youngsters exhibit intense sensitivities from birth, ask many probing questions, and are often verbally sophisticated beyond their years. They may have exceptionally long attention spans within their…

"Fast Track" is a pseudonym for an accelerated, advanced language arts program for verbally gifted and high potential students in grades 6-8. The critical thinking model used for "Fast Track" was gleaned from Coalition of Essential Schools founder Ted Sizer's Habits of Mind: significance, evidence, connections, perspective, and supposition, as…

Teachers know their students must struggle and grapple with authentic tasks in order to grow stronger. Classroom teachers of the gifted know that their students cannot advance cognitively without facing relevant and challenging material that demands higher level thinking and reasoning. Therefore, the teacher of gifted mathematics students must…

Many gifted children and teens live with the same sorts of family factors that place the general population at risk. These include chronic illness, substance abuse, significant academic underachievement of parents/guardians, low socioeconomic status, teen pregnancy, and teen parenthood. Another predictor of risk for gifted kids may be the…

Children who live in poverty are frequently at risk for underachievement. This is not to say that poverty automatically causes lack of achievement, but being poor can certainly take its toll. Gifted low income students can be compared to diamonds, which can only be formed under conditions of extreme heat and pressure. Both diamonds and…

The author's parents taught her that merely "adequate" is not sufficient. The author began homeschooling halfway through her 5th-grade year partly because of this philosophy. One reason why the author's parents chose homeschooling was because of her dedication to classical piano. The author and her parents agreed that she would probably be able to…

Often, bright young people languish in a setting where repetition and rote learning lull them into passivity. When students are not challenged, they fail to understand that true achievement comes with effort. Because of bureaucratic pressure, limited funding, and large class sizes, teachers often find themselves "teaching to the middle" or…

In this article, the author talks about the responsibility of parents to help kids to become financially educated. The author contends that it is the parents' responsibility to insure that their children learn important financial skills. If it is not happening in school, it is time to add financial education to parenting priorities. For parents…

Distance learning has been around for a long time and can be defined as any situation in which the teacher and the student are separated by geographical space. Over the years, a variety of tools have been used to bridge that distance between teacher and students, but today, the term "distance learning" almost always implies the use of the Internet…

During the summer and on weekends, it is not unusual to see many children, the youngest holding their parents' hands, walking to classes amongst the beautiful landscaping and old buildings of Northwestern University on Lake Michigan's shores in Evanston, Illinois. The Center for Talent Development (CTD) has been offering services and programs to…

A talented child's motivation and artistic gift can suffer when the environment at home and at school are inadequately supportive. It's crucial, therefore, for parents and teachers to understand that any child's involvement in the arts can enhance overall success in academics and in later life. It's just as important to learn about the many ways…