Fostering+Gifted+Children+in+your+Classroom

As teachers we are aware of the role we play in fostering the development of children with special needs in our classrooms. Children with special needs range from down syndrome to gifted and talented students. Schools need to provide opportunities in the curriculum for children who are gifted and talented to develop their knowledge further. It becomes the responsibility of teachers to achieve these goals for students such as:
 * Become familiar with the characteristics of giftedness
 * Use the appropriate methods to identify students who are gifted, underachieving or disadvantaged
 * Liaising with parents and caregivers – encouragement, providing stimulating and supportive home environments, becoming informed about options available
 * Enlisting the support of specialists
 * Seeking advice and resources from specialists to help with the curriculum in terms of learning experiences, content, learning processes and tasks of differing levels, as well as teacher practises and expectations.
 * Challenge students through activities that require depth of study, complex thinking and high level skills development. ( Krause et al,2010)

When teaching gifted or talented students it is important that they are allowed to work quickly and more deeply on tasks and activities associated with their own interests. ( Krause et al,2010)

**Gifted Education Professional Development Package**
The following link will send you to an Australian government site which contains modules created by the Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations to help teachers with gifted children.

http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/school_education/publications_resources/profiles/gifted_education_professional_development_package.htm

The Modules cover a range of areas such as understanding and identifying giftedness, Social and Emotional Development, Underachievers, Curriculum Differation, and developing Programs.

Each module covers all levels of schooling from early childhood to secondary.

The government has designed this program to cover the most essential information each teacher should know when teaching a gifted student in their classroom.

Reference list:

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 * Krause et al, 2010, __“Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching__”, Cengage Publishing, Australia
 * Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations, //Gifted Education Professional Development Package,// http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/school_education/publications_resources/profiles/gifted_education_professional_development_package.htm, retrieved on 29/7/2011