This document discusses differentiating instruction for gifted learners. It begins with presenting true/false statements about gifted education and having participants decide if each one is true or false. It then discusses the importance of differentiating for gifted learners and not assuming they don't need help. It outlines four approaches to differentiating: compacting curriculum, increasing complexity, promoting creative and critical thinking, and allowing student choice. Specific strategies for compacting like study guides and learning contracts are explained. The document emphasizes giving gifted students opportunities to learn beyond their grade level and explore their interests.

1. Differentiating for
Gifted Learners
Carrie C.
CB School District

2. Truth or Myth?
• I will reveal a statement related to
gifted learners and gifted education.
• Decide as a group if it is true or false.
• If you believe it is true, hold up your
green card.
• If you believe it is false, hold up your
red card.
According to NAGC

3. Truth or Myth?
Gifted learners are not at risk so
they don’t need the teacher’s help.
FALSE – Intelligence is developed through a
combination of genetic factors and environmental
opportunities. Therefore, as teachers, it is our responsibility
to provide environmental opportunities that will challenge
gifted learners appropriately to fully develop their abilities
or potential. If we don’t provide the appropriate level of
rigor, gifted students get bored and frustrated, which can
lead to low achievement or unhealthy work habits.

4. Truth or Myth?
A student receiving B’s and C’s can
be gifted.
TRUE – There are a variety of reasons why a gifted
learner may not be performing at the level of which they
are capable. Some students lose interest or develop poor
work habits due to being unchallenged. Some students
mask their ability in order to fit in socially. While other
students may have this discrepancy because of an
unidentified disability.

5. Truth or Myth?
• All children are gifted.
FALSE – The label “gifted” in an educational setting
means that the child has an advanced capacity to learn and
apply what is learned when compared with students of the
same age.

6. Truth or Myth?
• Gifted students are happy, popular
and well-adjusted in school.
FALSE – It is estimated that 20 to 25% of gifted
learners have social and emotional difficulties. While many
gifted learners are able to flourish, some gifted students
suffer from perfectionism and anxiety or the inability to
relate to their same-age peers, leaving them ostracized or
wanting to isolate themselves.

7. Truth or Myth?
• Giftedness is measured by
intelligence tests (IQ).
FALSE – Identifying giftedness is a complex task, due to
the complexity of brain development. It requires a variety
of samples of a person’s abilities from many different areas.

8. Truth or Myth?
• It is not beneficial for gifted learners to
review skills they already know by
teaching other students.
TRUE – This is not beneficial for gifted learners or
average learners. Watching or learning from a peer who
already understands what the average student does not, is
detrimental to the self-confidence of the average student.
At the same time, gifted learners are not being
appropriately challenged and would benefit from having
opportunities to complete more rigorous tasks with learners
with similar abilities.

9. What is Differentiation?
What It Is What Is Is Not
• An approach that recognizes • Assignments are the same
learning differences and taps for everyone with variety in
into them the level of difficulty of
• Allowing students to explore questions.
curriculum content through • Allowing students who
active learning and flexible finish early to play games
grouping related to curriculum
• Providing varied activities or content
assignments that meet • Providing extra homework
varied needs or extra projects after
• An environment that is advanced students have
enjoyable, challenging, and completed their “regular”
choice-filled
work

10. The Four C’s of Differentiating
for Gifted Learners
1. Compacting
2. Complexity
3. Creative/Critical Thinking
4. Choice
Turn and talk with your grade level about how you
are already doing this for your gifted learners.

11. Compacting Curriculum
• What does it mean to compact the
curriculum?
• To provide a way for students to “buy back” school
time that we planned for them, so they can spend it in
ways that extend or accelerate their learning.
• Reasons to do it
• Students who are just going through the motions to
please the teacher become actively engaged in
learning.
• Careless students start caring about the quality of their
work because they are invested in their learning.
• Unmotivated students actually want to learn because
they can spend time on areas of interest.

12. Compacting for Skill Work
• Identify learning objectives required for all students.
1
• Pre-assess all students to determine which students
2 already have mastery of skills.
• Eliminate drill, practice, review of any skills students
3 already have mastered.
• Have un-graded extension activities available.
4
• Keep a record of compacting.
5

13. Keeping a Record Handout p. 2
Learning
Objective/
Standard
Pre-assessment
Type of
Extension
Activity

14. Compacting for Skill Work
Strategies that work great for math computation,
spelling, grammar, word skills, etc.
Most Pre-test for
Difficult First Volunteers
The Learning
Contract

15. Most Difficult First Strategy
Great way to start – compact one lesson at a time!
• Determine which problems in the class
assignment are most difficult (4-8 examples) and
post them as part of the assignment
• If students try the most difficult problems first
and demonstrate 85% accuracy, they do not
complete the rest of the assignment
• Students move on to extension activities

16. Pre-test for Volunteers Strategy
Compacting curriculum that takes a week to cover
• The assessment you plan to use at the end of
the week should be available to take at the
beginning of the week.
• Invite volunteer students to demonstrate that
they are already at a mastery level.
• Students may stop taking the pre-test at any
time if they think they will not meet the score to
demonstrate mastery.
• Students who score a 90% may spend their time
working on extension activities.

17. The Learning Contract Strategy
Compacting one unit at a time – the most effective!
• Based on pre-assessment (daily, weekly, or at
the beginning of a unit) students who
demonstrate 80% mastery of a skill may “opt
out” of direct instruction of that skill.
• Students who “opt out” work on pre-
determined extension centers that relate to
curriculum content.
• Meet with students to establish and sign a
learning contract that states expectations for
working on extension centers.

18. The Learning Contract Handout p.3, 4
Skills mastered/
lessons students
may opt out of
Extension Activities
available
Choice!
Expectations

19. Compacting for New Content
• In content areas where material is new for
everyone, some gifted learners still need
differentiation.
• Compacting for new content allows students to
learn material at a faster pace.
• This is best for those students who don’t
complete assignments, yet still seem to ace the
test.
The Study
Guide

20. The Study Guide
Reducing the amount of time students must spend learning
grade-level standards
• Describe to students the characteristics/abilities they need to
be successful with this strategy first!
• Develop a list of 10 key standards from the unit.
• Create a detailed task description that tells students what they
need to learn/be able to do.
• Write these statements on the Study Guide in the order they
will be taught.
• Include a “checkpoint” or assessment in the study guide at the
point in which they will occur. These assessments should be
the same that all other students complete.
• Allow students to learn material independently at their own
pace as long as they are successful on checkpoints and adhere
to behavior expectations.
• This can be used in conjunction with extension activities.

21. Handout p. 5-8
The Study Guide
Key standards or
objectives
Checkpoint

22. Types of Extension Activities
• Learning Centers
• A collection of curriculum-related activities that challenge
students and extend grade-level skills or standards
• Tic-Tac-Toe Menus/Choice Boards – Handout p. 9
• Carefully designed activities from which students can choose to
extend their learning
• Independent Study Project – Handout p. 10
• Students choose a curriculum-related topic to explore or research
that goes beyond grade-level standards.
• Personal Interest Project
• Students are given time to explore a topic they have an extreme
interest in.

23. Creating Extension Activities
• Bloom’s Taxonomy – Handout p. 11
• Challenge learners to go beyond the Recall and Comprehension
levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
• Learning Modalities
• Include a variety of activities for different learning styles.
• Cross-Curriculum
• Develop activities that require students to make connections with
other content areas.
• Open-ended
• Create activities in which students can be creative with how they
communicate their learning

24. The Four C’s of Differentiating
for Gifted Learners
1. Compacting
2. Complexity
3. Creative/Critical Thinking
4. Choice
Turn and talk with your grade level about something
you would like to change about how you teach your
gifted learners.

25. Taking the Leap…
Possible Fears Professional Potential
• It’s a lot of work and will • It will require initial time investment
but will actually save you time in the
take too much time. long run. Partner up with a
colleague, try it together, and split up
• It will be difficult to the work!
manage student • If you invest time in establishing
expectations and provide challenging,
behavior while they meaningful activities, students will be
work on extensions. so invested in their learning that you
won’t have anything to “manage”.
• I need to differentiate • Not all gifted learners demonstrate a
every subject area for need for differentiation in all subject
areas. Be sure to pre-assess to
every gifted student. determine student needs. Then, start
small with just a few extension
Your gifted students activities and differentiating one
lesson at a time.
will thank you!

26. Evaluation
• Please complete
the evaluation
sheet before you
leave!

27. Resources
Printed Professional Resources:
• Teaching Gifted Kids in Today’s Classroom: Strategies and
Techniques Every Teacher Can Use by Susan Winebrenner
• Advancing Differentiation: Thinking and Learning for the 21st
Century by Richard M. Cash, Ed.D.
Gifted Resources:
• National Association for Gifted Children – www.nagc.org
Educational Websites:
• www.education.com
• http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/diff_instruction.html