Literacy for Gifted and Talented Learners

Differentiation is a struggle that we as educators face but needs to be faced if we are to meet the needs for all children in our classes. Often we are more adept at meeting the needs of the struggling children but truth is our able children need rigour and their unique needs to be met as well.

Issues to Consider

• Identification: Who are these children? Have they arrived already reading independently?
• Challenge: How can we help our gifted readers become more discerning readers?
• Interaction: How can these children share their reading with others? 
• Goals:Ensure we are setting realistic goals for these children.
• Reading skills: Are we teaching to read smartly, utilising features of text and to understand deeper concepts of print?
• Problems: Do we recognise that some of our gifted students may have reading problems and respond to these accordingly.

Brooke Trenwith from Cognition Education has provided these links to resources that primary schools are using to extend their gifted students.

Writing

Reading

A magazine created by kids for kids

 Reading lists can be found here

Resources to consider for purchase

Gail Loane's Book, 'I've Got Something to Say'.

Resources to Use

Search for Sandra Kaplan's 'Depth and Complexity Framework', via Google and you will find many examples that others have created that you might modify.

Experts to Contact

Robert Seney's reading lists and literacy tips are worth a look

• Books to inspire the gifted reading
• Wikispace with some links and resources from Robert Seney
• Gifted Readers and Young Adult Literature Reading
• Seney handout to read

Blogs from Children's Books that are Worth Remembering

This is a great post reminding us of the gentle wisdom in children's literature. It is worth checking out.

Feedback and a Growth Mindset

Austin's Butterfly is a fabulous illustration of how children are able to respond to quality feedback and make improvements to their work. In order to do this children must have a growth mindset and be aware that learning is a process, seeking to challenge and improve. The use of praise is interesting too, Austin is given praise for persevering and his efforts that lead to improvements.





Dylan Wiliam shares a snippet of his work with self and peer assessment.  This is not the marking of another's work but time for students to formatively assess each others work which has huge benefits for both children involved in the process.

Great Sites and Apps to Motivate Writing

At a recent professional development session with Louise Dempsey some great sites were share to motivate writing.

Bored Panda is a site filled with fabulous photos and motivational stories that will inspire writing.

The Kids Should See This is a collection of smart videos for curious minds of all ages. Topics included are: science, nature, tech, DIY, music and much more. They are high quality, age appropriate and kid friendly making them perfect resources for the classroom.

Go Pro is worth investigating as it houses hundreds of videos and photos submitted by Go Pro users from around the world. From wild animals to riding waves you can join in the fun and see if from a unique perspective. Perfect to use for first person stories.

Apps worth investigating include:
Book Creator - an app that easily allows ebooks to be published.
Popplet - a tool for the iPad and web that allows you to capture and organise your ideas.
Telligami - an app that lets you create an avatar in front of a background then record a message worth sharing.

Apps for Literacy

I am always on the hunt for quality apps to use with literacy. Anne Sturgess is the Te Toi Tupu Facilitator for Blended e-Learning and Gifted & Talented Education. She has compiled a fantastic list of great literacy apps.
Here is a link.

You will also find lots of other interesting things by taking a trip around her blog.