Educators
Understanding the gifted student
Here is a snapshot of the needs of gifted and talented students from the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority (ACARA).
Up to 10% of the students in a class are gifted and talented.
Up to 5% of gifted students have a corresponding learning disability.
Gifted students do not always excel at school. They are not necessarily high achievers.
Giftedness does not automatically guarantee a student's future success.
Many gifted and talented students are perfectionists. They may work on a task until it is completed to their satisfaction. Or, they may not want to start a task that they cannot perfect.
Giftedness may be physical, intellectual, creative, social or perceptual.
The skills and abilities of gifted children may develop at different rates across the social and academic domains. This means that they may excel in one area but not in another - but they still need to be extended in the area they excel in.
Adjustments include:
- faster pace (acceleration, compacting)
- greater breadth (enrichment)
- more depth (extension).
What can educators do?
Work with families. Families know their children incredibly well and have great insights into what they need at school. Trusting and working closely with families helps gifted students thrive.
Understand the traits of giftedness and the impact they may have on a child's learning and development. You'll find some great information here.
Be willing to differentiate and learn to adapt to the needs of the child.
Read some of our articles and resources listed below, including ideas for extension. The articles and resources listed in our section for families might be of interest too.
Become a member and learn from us. We provide great information in our newsletter to members each term.
Browse our book sale. We are currently selling our amazing library of resources that we have collected over the years. There are heaps of resources for educators and they are all $5 each.
Come to our talks and events. We love talking to educators and supporting you on your journey too. We run seminars and information sessions to help educators as well as families.
Tell families about us! We’re here to help. We provide peer support to parents and help gifted kids meet like-minded peers.
Helpful articles and resources
High-ability Toolkit from the Victorian Government Department of Education
Meeting the needs of gifted and talented students from ACARA.
Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners from ASCD, a community of educators in the United States.
How to Engage Gifted and Talented Students in the Classroom from the Resilient Educator, also from the United States.
The Diverse Learner's Hub is a Victorian Government resource for teaching children with learning disabilties. While it doesn't specifically mention gifted or twice exceptional children (we wish it would!) it does give you guidance on adjusting for autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia.
The Gifted Policy from the Australian Association for the Education of the Gifted and Talented (AAEGT) is a great starting point for schools who want to start making changes to the way they support gifted and talented students. This site also has a range of resources for educators and is worth checking out.
The Victorian Association for Gifted and Talented Children (VAGTC) also has good resources for educators.
Resources for extension
We've listed some helpful websites where you can find great extension activities for the gifted student.
Please also see the Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series for more great ideas.
English and LOTE
Teach Your Monster to Read (free)
Duolingo (free with ads)
Art
Minecraft Build Battle!
Set students time-limited challenges to build structures in Minecraft based on 1-2 word themes. Then everyone votes on their favourite.
Humanities
Civilisation VI (Gathering Storm has Australia expansion)
Information Technology
Minecraft, redstone building - get your students to create these builds (Uses Boolean Algebra and basic Electrical Engineering):
ilmango’s redstone basics playlist
Scratch Programming (MIT) (free) (visual programming)
Human Resource Machine (serial programming) / 7 Billion Humans (parallel programming)
