I just wanted to reflect on some things I started to understand in Thursday July 5th's class due to my discussion with Dr.Shutkin and talking with my classmates. Going into talking with Dr. Shutkin I had a million questions and I tried to make an outline of what my paper would be about, but that just led to a million more questions. But what he helped me to understand is what I was missing. I felt like my topic was too broad and it would take years to research all of the questions I have about gifted programs and still never come to solid answers. What he helped me to realize is that I was just asking questions and not going off of my own lived experiences and assumptions from being in gifted programs. So what I am going to do right now is state my larger question and then state my assumption about it to help direct my research better.
A. How do we pick gifted students? What does it mean to be gifted?
I think gifted students should still be chosen using IQ tests, but maybe have special gifted classes for students who excel in specific subjects. I know that this idea is not very economical but we need to find ways to foster an individuals giftedness. I believe this is necessary because throughout my gifted program I saw kids struggle in the areas they weren't extremely gifted in and it probably deterred them from what they were very good at. I also saw kids that did not get into the program probably because they lacked in a certain area. I think a special class catering to their specific "gift" could have helped them. Maybe a pullout type program would be most beneficial so that they could just go to the advanced class that best fit their attributes. This exemplifies my idea that being gifted means excelling or having a talent in a certain subject. An IQ test can still determine giftedness in many areas. If we are looking for giftedness in the arts or music it may be better to use a different test. However I feel that sometimes children who excel at music are often good at math. Certain subjects tend to be grouped together based on how one learns.
B. Is pushing a child into a gifted program a good thing?
My opinion on this is no. My sister and I were in a gifted program but my brother was not. I feel that if my brother was forced into the program he would have struggled and I have seen that happen through a few of my friends. I do think pushing a child into gifted is wrong but I can kind of see why parents do it. What parent wouldn't want more individualized attention and better teaching techniques? I feel if there was a way for teachers to bring that curriculum into every classroom but adjusting to the level of the class it would be wonderful. I don't think that only the gifted children should get the advantages.
C. Do gifted classes really help in the long run?
I have two opinions on this question. My gut answer is yes. It has been shown to help children to not drop out due to boredom. In my personal experience it gave me great confidence and study techniques. But like I said before I think that experience should be available to all children. However my second opinion is no because I do think I'd be where I was today even without my gifted program. I think other factors along the way like family and motivation helped equally as much or more.
Now that I have my assumptions I can really explore and compare them to the history and how my assumptions came to be. I suggest that anyone who hasn't yet to state your beliefs so you aren't wandering aimlessly like I was in this research.
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