Our perceptions, beliefs, and assumptions serve as a filter/lens for how we view our students, and thus, how we teach and interact with them.īelieving that gifted students are easy to discover or easy to teach, for instance, or totally self-sufficient without need for differentiated instruction, can dangerously influence one’s teaching. The activity was a powerful lesson in reevaluating assumptions and pre-conceived perceptions of students. Instead, they perceived gifted students now as “hidden treasures” (their talents had to be discovered) and “like every student” in the sense they need differentiated instruction. Like those student teachers in the study, the class mostly viewed gifted students as “butterflies,” “flowers” and “redwood trees.” However, after I had the class read the Olthouse article and discussed the findings, many students reconsidered and revised their original images. Recently, when teaching an instructional planning course, I asked the students (27 pre-service teachers) to collaboratively create their own similes for the gifted. The group inaccurately believed, for example, that gifted students almost always displayed their talents and abilities in the classroom-though research suggests some may hide their talents due to fear of social stigma. A study (Olthouse, 2014 ) found that pre-service teachers mainly represented gifted students in this fashion. If your similes were predominately positive, you are not alone. What did you say or write? What images did your simile draw upon? Do you view gifted students as “shining star,” “shooting rockets,” or “diamonds in the rough?” Please go ahead and finish this statement: a gifted student is like…

Gifted student gifted clipart