A seminar proposal on the social-emotional development of gifted and talented children By Carmen-Florentina Ionita Rationale The present seminar proposal focuses on the social and emotional development of children who are gifted and talented (G&T). It aims to increase teachers’ awareness of the unique needs of gifted children and to encourage them to design strategies to cope with possible issues G&T children may experience in their social-emotional development, considering their individual needs. Individual differences in children’s performance at school arise from socio-cultural, ability, motivational or socio-political factors; therefore, the educational system should not propose the same curriculum to groups of students who are the same age, but to consider the previously mentioned factors in order to offer them an appropriate education (Borland, 2005). Giftedness involves an advanced mental age of a child compared with his/her peers (Brody & Stanley, 2005). However, the concept of giftedness appeared at the same time with the concept of intelligence and it is viewed as “a social construct of questionable validity” (Borland, 2005, p. 2). On one hand, it is thought that identifying G&T and promoting their potential is crucial for the future of a society (Brody & Stanley, 2005), on the other hand, Borland (2005) proposed that there should be gifted education without the construct of gifted children. He argued that labelling may impair gifted education to reach its goals and he proposed the use of differentiated curriculum in order to accommodate the diverse students’ needs, instead of gifted programs. However, applying this could be really difficult, because it involves changing a system with well-established rules (Borland, 2005). Also, Borland (2005) did not take in account the difficulty of creating a differentiated curriculum, ignoring the asynchronous development of G&T. Gifted education often works with labels in order to offer new learning opportunities to gifted children (Gates, 2010). However, once labelled, a gifted child is expected to behave and perform in a certain way which can be different from his/her actual behaviour and performance, thus leading to confusion and frustration (Gates, 2010). Teachers involved in gifted education often fail to see the child as a person with individual needs and feelings, forgetting to look beyond his/her label of gifted (Gates, 2010). Labelling also means changing the perceptions about the labelled – both his/her self-perception and the perceptions of those who interact with him/her (Gates, 2010). This could lead to negative behaviours such as social isolation or negative emotional
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Educational Psychology Assignment by Carmen-Florentina Ionita
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A seminar proposal on the social-emotional development of
gifted and talented children
By Carmen-Florentina Ionita
Rationale
The present seminar proposal focuses on the social and emotional development of
children who are gifted and talented (G&T). It aims to increase teachers’ awareness of
the unique needs of gifted children and to encourage them to design strategies to cope
with possible issues G&T children may experience in their social-emotional
development, considering their individual needs.
Individual differences in children’s performance at school arise from socio-cultural,
ability, motivational or socio-political factors; therefore, the educational system should
not propose the same curriculum to groups of students who are the same age, but to
consider the previously mentioned factors in order to offer them an appropriate
education (Borland, 2005). Giftedness involves an advanced mental age of a child
compared with his/her peers (Brody & Stanley, 2005). However, the concept of
giftedness appeared at the same time with the concept of intelligence and it is viewed
as “a social construct of questionable validity” (Borland, 2005, p. 2).
On one hand, it is thought that identifying G&T and promoting their potential is crucial
for the future of a society (Brody & Stanley, 2005), on the other hand, Borland (2005)
proposed that there should be gifted education without the construct of gifted children.
He argued that labelling may impair gifted education to reach its goals and he proposed
the use of differentiated curriculum in order to accommodate the diverse students’
needs, instead of gifted programs. However, applying this could be really difficult,
because it involves changing a system with well-established rules (Borland, 2005). Also,
Borland (2005) did not take in account the difficulty of creating a differentiated
curriculum, ignoring the asynchronous development of G&T.
Gifted education often works with labels in order to offer new learning opportunities to
gifted children (Gates, 2010). However, once labelled, a gifted child is expected to
behave and perform in a certain way which can be different from his/her actual
behaviour and performance, thus leading to confusion and frustration (Gates, 2010).
Teachers involved in gifted education often fail to see the child as a person with
individual needs and feelings, forgetting to look beyond his/her label of gifted (Gates,
2010). Labelling also means changing the perceptions about the labelled – both his/her
self-perception and the perceptions of those who interact with him/her (Gates, 2010).
This could lead to negative behaviours such as social isolation or negative emotional
experiences (Gates, 2010). Thus, gifted education needs to be really careful with the
use of labelling, because it may raise stereotypes and misconceptions (Gates, 2010).
Giftedness was explained in terms of asynchronous development which assumes that
G&T may experience uneven development, heightened awareness, vulnerability, and
social alienation (Silverman, 1997). Adults interacting with G&T may fail to consider that
asynchronous development affects many gifted children, their social-emotional
development being less advanced than their cognitive development (Peterson, 2009;
Gates, 2010). This discrepancy can cause socio-emotional difficulties (Shechtman &
Silektor, 2012). G&T advanced cognitive development leads to emotional sensitivity and
awareness of issues they are not ready to cope with yet (Webb, 1994; Silverman, 1997;
Peterson, 2009). In a socio-cultural environment which promotes sameness, being
cognitively advanced may lead to social isolation (Silverman, 1997).
It was assumed that G&T should be with peers their own age (Cross, 2002). However,
G&T learning experiences need to be based on Vygotsky’s concept (1978, cited in
Callahan & Miller, 2005) of zone of proximal development, which describes the tasks
children can accomplish only with help (Callahan & Miller, 2005; McGlonn-Nelson,
2005; French, Walker & Shore, 2011). The notion of scaffolding defines the tutorial
interaction between a child and an adult or an older peer (Wood, Bruner & Ross, 1976).
In order to promote a normal social development in G&T, it is necessary for them to
interact with intellectually equal peers (Silverman, 1997) who can scaffold their learning.
Furthermore, it was proposed that G&T need more than one peer group, because they
have varied interests (Webb, 1994). Teachers should assist G&T in exceeding their
potential, by encouraging them to work with other G&T (McGlonn-Nelson, 2005).
Although G&T were found to be as well-adjusted as their peers, there are particular
situations which may affect their social-emotional development – inappropriate school
environment for their level and pace of learning, lack of support in their home, social or
school environment (Neihart et al., 2002, cited in Reis & Renzulli, 2004). G&T advanced
cognitive development compared with their age peers can make G&T appear different,
have fewer friends, become introverted and lonely (Neihart et al., 2002, cited in Reis &
Renzulli, 2004). They may hide their academic abilities in order to feel accepted by their
group, but finding intellectually equal peers would reduce the pressure to make friends
among their age peers (Reis & Renzulli, 2004).
Specialists working with G&T found that some of these children may be affected by
anxiety, depression, bullying, stress related to their giftedness, or even suicidal ideation
(Peterson, 2009). In addition, they may experience perfectionism, self-criticism,
underachievement, and indecision about their career path (Peterson, 2009). However,
Estell et al., (2009) reported that G&T were less involved in bullying than their non-gifted
peer, as rated by their teachers.
G&T difficulty in making friends among their peers could be now easily overcome
through the use of technology. The communication of gifted children sharing the same
interests can be facilitated by social media which promotes a feeling of connectedness
perceived as really beneficial by these children, even though they do not always meet
their virtual friends in person (Cross, 2013).
G&T may fail to reach their potential if the affective component of their giftedness is
ignored (Robinson, 2002, cited in Reis & Renzulli, 2004). Traditionally, gifted education
focused more on the identification of G&T and on designing instructional strategies in
order to promote their cognitive abilities, rather than their social and emotional skills
(Peterson, 2009). However, in the last years, gifted programs started to address the
affective component of giftedness, as well (e.g., Potential Plus UK). Persson (2012)
argued that the ineffectiveness of gifted education programs is due to the
misunderstanding of the concept of giftedness. He further explained that it is necessary
to understand the phenomenon from a socio-biological perspective as well – the
experience of being different in a group leads to unaware behavioural processes:
inclusion, exclusion, or submission.
Gifted children may prefer to work alone if they perceive the learning environment as
being unsupportive or inappropriate for their learning goals (French et al., 2011).
Teachers should create, therefore, learning environments based on social
constructivism, which promotes learning through scaffolding, thus stimulating the
interaction between students (French et al., 2011). Moreover, teachers should support
G&T by creating communities of learners (French et al., 2011) and a caring environment
where kindness and positive behaviour are promoted, whereas acts of unkindness are
not tolerated (Reis & Renzulli, 2004).
Teachers of G&T need to adopt creative ways to cope with these children’s needs,
looking beyond the traditional label of giftedness (Gates, 2010). For example, it was
proposed that exploring opera with G&T can promote their social-emotional
development, by presenting them with universal truths of humanity and stimulating their
self-expression and ethical awareness (Berman, 2003). This is because gifted children
are often concerned with existential problems – love, death, war (Berman, 2003). It is
important to appreciate and understand the complex and meaningful experiences of
gifted as they develop their identity, in order to support their psychosocial development
(Silverman, 1997; Cross, 2000).
Intended audience and necessary prior knowledge of participants
The audience of this seminar would ideally be represented by primary and secondary
school teachers who have professional experience in working with gifted and talented
children. This is because one of the aims of the seminar is encouraging participants to
share experiences in order to better understand the construct of giftedness and its
implications for children’s social-emotional development. Gifted children’s psychosocial
needs should be addressed as early as possible; however, some issues related to their
socio-emotional development occur during adolescence, when G&T tend to hide their
abilities in order to be accepted by their peers (Reis & Renzulli, 2004). This is the
reason why the present seminar would be useful for both primary and secondary school
teachers.
Moreover, it would be beneficial if participants came from different cultural backgrounds,
considering the fact that giftedness is directly linked to intelligence, and it was
recognised that the meaning of intelligence is culturally-dependent (Sternberg &
Grigorenko, 2004). Also, it is desirable that teachers involved in this seminar would
know how to use social media in their teaching.
Planned content
Morning session: Identifying and defining the problem
9:00-9:30: In the first half of hour, teachers will present themselves to the group, sharing
their names and describing what giftedness means to them in a few words. Also, they
will write on post-it notes their expectations about the seminar.
9:30-10:00: The tutor will present a brief overview of the session and then, there will be
a presentation about gifted education and the characteristics of G&T (see Appendix 1).
10:00-10:30: Teachers will be asked to create the profile of a gifted child they worked
with, using the given characteristics and adding their own if needed, and then, to
mention how these characteristics may impact (positively or negatively) on the child’s
social-emotional development. The profiles created will be analysed later.
10:30-11:00: The whole group will create a problem tree, having as main problem
“Issues in the socio-emotional development of G&T”. Participants will have to write on
post-it notes possible causes (e.g., asynchronous development) and effects (e.g.,
underachievement) of the problem presented. Their notes will be collected by the tutor
who will display them on a big “problem tree” (see Appendix 2).
11:00-11:15: Short break
11:15-12:00: Participants will work in small groups (4-5 people). Each group will receive
a case study (see Appendix 3) and will be asked to identify the potential socio-emotional
issues (and to write them down) that the gifted children presented in the case studies
may experience.
12:00-13:00: Teachers will participate in a large group discussion and will have the
chance to share their experience of working with G&T. The peer tutor will lead the
discussion, encouraging participants to emphasise how they cope with children’s social
and emotional adjustment.
13:00-15:00: Break
Afternoon session: Finding solutions
15:00-15:30: There will be a presentation about some potential strategies to promote
G&T social and emotional development (see Appendix 4).
15:30-16:00: Teachers will work in groups and each group will be given a topic related
to the socio-emotional development of gifted (e.g., bullying, depression, perfectionism,
social isolation). They will have to complete a table (see Appendix 5) and share their
answers with the whole group.
16:00-17:00: Participants will work again in small groups of 4-5 people, different from
those in the morning. They will analyse again the case studies presented before, along
with the identified issues, but this time they will be asked to generate a set of strategies
or to design a program to promote gifted children’s socio-emotional development. The
strategies proposed will be written on post-in notes. Teachers can use the strategies
mentioned in the presentation as a starting point, but they are required to add their own
ideas.
17:00-18:00: Based on the problem tree created in the morning, the group will be
required to create a solution tree (see Appendix 6), which will include the strategies
proposed for the case studies as solutions, but also participants will think about the
potential outcomes of applying these strategies.
18:00-18:30: Teachers will be given the profiles created in the morning session and will
be asked to think about the approach they would use to cope with children’s emotional
needs, based on the discussions and activities they were involved in during the
seminar.
18:30-19:00: The tutor will lead a free discussion about the session, summarizing the
outcomes and emphasising the need to understand the gifted as individuals having
unique needs. Teachers will write down on post-it notes their feedback about the
seminar. In the end, all participants will be added on a Facebook group to keep them
connected after the session, in order to share their experiences and the outcomes of
putting in practice the strategies they developed together in the session. The tutor can
add photos of the problem tree and the solution tree on the Facebook group or any
other materials used in the session, at participants’ request.
The content of the seminar is summarized in a table (see Appendix 7).
Planned method of delivery
The proposed seminar involves two 4-hour sessions – one in the morning and one in
the afternoon. The tutor leading the sessions will be a specialist in working with G&T,
who will be familiar with teacher’s perspective, but who will also have the expertise to
lead a seminar of this kind. Peer tutoring was found to increase learners' motivation
(Ormrod, 2006).
The sessions will include Prezi presentations, group activities, small group and large
group discussions, brainstorming, individual activities and case studies. Group based
activities will give teachers the chance to share their experiences and their methods to
cope with potential issues. However, there may be participants preferring to work alone
rather than in groups; therefore, the seminar will propose individual activities, as well.
The seminar is designed according to Bloom’s taxonomy (Krathwohl, 2002), being
based on six cognitive processes which vary from simple to complex:
knowledge – teachers are expected to have a basic knowledge about the topic,
but there will be presentations about gifted education and G&T during the
sessions
comprehension – they need to understand the information presented in order to
add new ideas
application – they are required to create profiles of gifted children they worked
with and then to apply their knowledge to create strategies to cope with these
children’s needs
analysis – participants will analyse case studies
synthesis – as a group, they will create a solution tree which will summarize all
their ideas
evaluation – they can apply the strategies designed in real-life situations and
evaluate their effectiveness.
Participants will be involved in authentic activities (e.g., creating a program for gifted
children) which can be easily transferred to real-world contexts (Ormrod, 2006).
However, authentic activities require participants to have a good knowledge about the
topic (Ormrod, 2006) and even though the seminar involves teachers who worked with
gifted children, they may not have the necessary knowledge to complete all the
activities proposed in a highly effective way. This is why additional information about
G&T is provided during the seminar.
Group activities and discussions aim to encourage cooperating learning which is based
on social constructivism, according to which knowledge is socially constructed through
the collaborative interaction between people (Ormrod, 2006). In this way, it is expected
to achieve an in-depth understanding of the socio-emotional experiences of G&T.
Moreover, sustained dialogue and interaction between participants help create a
community of learners which has multiple benefits including a sense of community
among participants who are supporting each other (Ormrod, 2006). The strategy of
dividing teachers into small groups to address different subtopics (e.g., social isolation,
depression, etc.) has the same purpose – to create a community of learners. The
analysis of case studies aims to increase teachers’ empathy for the unique needs of
gifted children.
All the activities proposed were designed to accommodate all the learning styles
described by Honey and Mumford (1992, cited in Coffield et al., 2004):
activists – those who learn better be doing, by taking action (e.g., brainstorming)
reflectors – those who learn by thinking and carefully observing (e.g., thinking
back at their own experiences with G&T)
pragmatists – practical, realistic learners (e.g., authentic activities which can be
transferred to real-life situations)
theorists – rational learners who like to analyse and synthesise (e.g., problem
tree-solution tree activity).
Based on the principle that “quantity helps breed quality”, brainstorming is a creative
way to generate ideas which are subsequently evaluated and processed to produce
solutions for a proposed problem (Osborn, 1963). The “problem tree/solution tree”
activity illustrates the brainstorming technique. However, the use of brainstorming was
criticised for not being a useful method to generate creative ideas, because telling
participants to be creative may inhibit them. In addition, people may generate more and
better ideas if they work individually (Bronson, 2010). Considering that those
participating in this seminar have experience in working with G&T, it is expected they
will have enough resources to generate ideas in order to complete the tasks effectively.
Furthermore, the tutor will scaffold their performance, being a specialist in the field of
gifted education.
Social media interaction is promoted through the use of the Facebook group which aims
to extend the impact of the seminar beyond the two sessions and to keep teachers
connected. This corresponds to the concept of connectivism according to which
individual is the starting point of the process of learning, but his/her knowledge consists
in a broad network, he/she being connected with other individuals, organizations or
institutions (Siemens, 2005). Teachers will be able to keep sharing their experiences
with the group and maybe to apply the strategies developed during the seminar and to
present their outcomes.
The post-it notes written by teachers at the beginning and at the end of the seminar will
be used to evaluate the impact of the seminar, in order to improve it in the future. The
summary made by the tutor at the end of the session helps teachers to review and
organise the ideas presented during the seminar (Ormrod, 2006).
Level of audience participation
The sessions proposed are based on learner-directed instruction, learners having most
of the control over the seminar, addressing the issues in the way they consider useful
(Ormrod, 2006). The tutor will only guide teachers’ interaction and discussions. The
benefits of a learner-led seminar include increasing participants’ self-esteem, because
each of them will bring a valuable contribution to the sessions, by sharing their own
unique experiences. Also, this type of seminar is more likely than a teacher-led one to
create a community of learners. Gates (2010) proposed that involvement in a
“community circle time” is beneficial for teachers to discuss and analyse gifted children’s
feelings and needs.
Intended outcomes
The present seminar aims to increase teachers’ awareness of how important the
affective component is when working with G&T and to emphasise the fact that G&T
should be seen as individuals, beyond their label. Teachers working with G&T will be
given the opportunity to share their experiences in order to learn from each other how to
effectively address potential issues in the socio-emotional adjustment of G&T.
Moreover, they will design instructional strategies to cope with gifted children’s social
and emotional needs. It is expected that teachers’ involvement in this seminar will
positively affect the socio-emotional development of the G&T they are working with.
Also, it will be created a community of learners who can interact and share their
thoughts about the topic after the seminar, by using social media (i.e., the Facebook
group).
References
Berman, K. B. (2003). The Benefits of Exploring Opera for the Social and Emotional
Development of High-Ability Students. Gifted Child Today, 26(2), pp. 46-53.
Borland, J. H. (2005). Gifted education without gifted children. In R. J. Sternberg & J. E.
Davidson (Eds.), Conceptions of giftedness (pp. 1-19). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Brody, L. E., & Stanley, J. C. (2005). Youths who reason exceptionally well
mathematically and or verbally. In R. J. Sternberg & J. E. Davidson (Eds.),
Conceptions of giftedness (pp. 20-37). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bronson, P. (2010). Forget brainstorming. Retrieved 12 January, 2014, from
http://www.newsweek.com/authors/po-bronson.
Callahan, C. M., & Miller, E. M. (2005). A child-responsive model of giftedness. In R. J.
Sternberg & J. E. Davidson (Eds.), Conceptions of giftedness (pp. 38-51).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., & Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning styles and
pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review. Retrieved 8
9:00-9:30 Ice breaker Getting to know each other is essential if the aim of the seminar is to create a community of learners. Also, teachers need to feel comfortable with each other, because they will work together in small groups during the sessions.
9:30-10:00 Prezi presentation including information about G&T and
Bloom’s taxonomy (Learners need to have a basic knowledge about
the field of gifted education the topic.)
Expository instruction using both visual (the Prezi presentation itself) and auditory stimuli (the voice of the tutor) in order to accommodate different learning preferences.
10:00-10:30 Creating the profile of a gifted child participants worked with
Authentic activity which helps teachers to make connections between the information presented and real-life contexts (Ormrod, 2006). This may be an activity preferred by both pragmatists – who like to apply theory into practice and reflectors – who learn by analysing their previous experiences (Honey & Mumford, 1992, cited in Coffield et al., 2004).
10:30-11:00 Creating a problem tree This activity is based on the brainstorming technique and aims to provide an in-depth understating of the topic.
It may be beneficial for both activists who like to take action and theorists who prefer to analyse in order to understand a problem.
11:00-11:15 Short break
11:15-12:00 Group work – analysis of case studies
Vygotsky’s social contructivism theory proposes knowledge is socially-constructed, as a result of a cooperative interaction between people (Ormrod, 2006).
Working in groups may be beneficial for a deeper understanding of the cases proposed.
12:00-13:00 Large group discussion – sharing experiences
The purpose of this activity is to increase participants’ self-esteem, because they get the chance to make a valuable contribution to the seminar, by presenting their own
experiences.
Break 13:00-15:00
Aft
ern
oo
n s
essio
n
15:00-15:30 Prezi presentation about potential strategies to promote G&T socio-emotional adjustment
This presentation aims to provide a starting point for the next activities, by suggesting methods teachers can use when working with G&T.
15:30-16:00 Group activity The main topic (socio-emotional development of G&T) is split into few subtopics (e.g., perfectionism, social isolation, depression, bullying) and each group will have to analyse a subtopic; in the end they will share their answers. This technique helps create a community of learners (Ormrod, 2006).
16:00-17:00 Group work – analysis of case studies
Based on the information provided, teachers will work again in groups to create strategies appropriate for different gifted children. The aim of this activity is to increase teachers’ awareness of the G&T individual needs and to increase their empathy for these children and their unique experiences.
17:00-18:00 Creating a solution tree This activity involves a synthesis of all discussions and activities from the afternoon session, being based on one of the six cognitive processes of the Bloom’s taxonomy – synthesis.
18:00-18:30 Individual activity – finding appropriate strategies for each profile created before
Reflectors may prefer working alone rather than being involved in group activities.
This activity is a chance to apply all the information teachers were exposed to during the seminar to a profile of a gifted child.
18:30-19:00 Summary The purpose of the summary made by the tutor is to organise all the
FB group
material presented during the sessions.
The Facebook group aims to keep teachers connected after the seminar so they can continue sharing their experiences.