A Monthly Newsletter Provided by Whitehall Curriculum Department

Achieving Monthly

…a monthly newsletter provided by Whitehall Curriculum Department

editor: Patricia Farrenkopf, Ed.D.

Introduction: My name is Pat Farrenkopf. I am working in Whitehall again this year, with guidance from Darrell Propst and Kristin Barker, to provide supports for gifted education. You may not have gifted students officially identified in your classroom at this time, but the ideas shared will be applicable to high achieving students as well.

OCTOBER FOCUS…Visual and Performing Arts Gifted Identification

There are four areas of giftedness that district educators are charged with finding and serving. We are currently identifying and serving those identified as Superior Cognitive Ability (high IQ/ability scores) and Specific Academic Ability (high achievement scores.)

This year, we will be adding the other two categories required by ODE: Creative Thinking Ability and Visual/Performing Arts.

GIFTED STUDENTS ARE JUST AS SIGNIFICANTLY STATISTICALLY from “AVERAGE” as OUR SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS. SOMETIMES A STUDENT CAN BE BOTH!

The September issue focused on the creative thinker. This month, the focus is the gifted artist, musician, thespian, and dancer. We will be identifying gifted in visual and performing arts in our district by using checklist information from an ODE approved instrument: GATES 2. GATES stands for Gifted and Talented Evaluation Scale. We will also be using the ODE approved rubrics for each area. Before doing that, it is important to know the arts behaviors for which we are looking and how to tell them apart from the other characteristics of superior cognitive and specific academic abilities. This newsletter issue focuses on what to keep in mind when observing responses in our classrooms, whichis the very best place to find all four. It is also important to remember being identified does not mean the student is a better human being – it just means they learn differently.

The following links show examples of students who are gifted in each of the visual and performing arts. Take some time to view each:

Music: Gavin George

Art: Kieron Williamson

Dance: Rio Anderson

Drama: movie examples

An initial checklist for each area can be helpful in screening for identification in art, music, dance, and drama:

VISUAL ART

Elaborates on other people’s ideas and uses them as a jumping off point as opposed to copying from others

Shows unique selection of art media for individual activity or classroom projects

Has unusual and richly imaginative ideas

Composes with unusual detail and skill

Displays compulsive artistic pursuit

MUSIC

Matches pitches accurately

Is able to duplicate complex rhythms correctly

Demonstrates unusual ability on an instrument including voice

Has a high degree of aural memory/musical memory

Displays compulsive musical pursuit

DRAMA/THEATRE

Readily shifts into the role of characters, animals or objects

Communicates feelings by means of facial expression, gestures and bodily movements

Uses voice expressively to convey or enhance meaning

Easily tells a story or gives a vivid account of some experience

Regularly seeks performance opportunities

DANCE

Demonstrates exceptional physical balance

Performs sequences of movement easily and well

Communicates meaning and feeling with movement

Uses his/her body as an instrument of expression

Volunteers to participate in movement activities and dances

The final step in the identification process is reviewing products and performances.

Fair, accurate and consistent evaluations of student work are critical to the screening and

identification process. Trained individuals evaluating student work play a vital role in identifying

talent, providing feedback to students, and helping educators and parents make appropriate and

informed educational decisions. It may be helpful to instruct trained individuals to consider the

following guiding questions as they are assessing displays of work:

___Am I objective about assessing the natural ability of this student, regardless of my pastknowledge of or relationship with the student?

___Am I assessing the Display of Work in comparison to other works created by students of similar age?

___Am I assessing the Display of Work in comparison to other works created by students with similar training and experience?

___Am I assessing the Display of Work in comparison to other works created by students from similar environments?

___Do I have sufficient familiarity with works of art created by students of similar age, training and environment to allow me to make valid comparisons?

The rubrics for each of the visual and performing arts areas can reviewed at:

Finally, the question of service comes into play. We identify in these areas and then what do we do as a result?

First, it is important to know these areas of gifts and talents. If we never identify, we never know. As educators, we know the importance of really knowing our students.

Second, it is essential when motivating students to use their identified areas of gifts and talents as a lens. Chemistry may seem to be a foreign language until the gifted art student has to know the chemistry of glazes. Human physiology may not be of interest until the dancer realizes the importance of knowing the science of the human bones and muscles.

Finally, self-concept and self-esteem are important components of developing identify.

In a study comparing 9-13 year olds, the findings indicated that the development of self-concept in gifted children was different from that of nongifted children. Specifically, the self-concept scores in general of nongifted children increased from 11 to 13 years old, while those of gifted children decreased for the same age period. Both academic and nonacademic self-concepts were considered.