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

Mindmapping and Beyond

When I had the privilege of teaching Year 6 students a few years ago, I enjoyed introducing them to the skill of mind mapping. I love these diagrams and ways of recording notes. I would have a lot of fun making them and they are far more interesting to revise than pages and pages of written notes. Maybe time could be spent in reading and/or writing lessons developing this skill.

Click on the picture to visit te@chthought and explore this idea further.

Reading and Quotes; Two of My Favourite Things

This page contains great quotes from the works of Roald Dahl.

Love them!