Thanks for your answers. I’m finding them quite interesting.
Do you notice kids who are gifted compared to other gifted kids? Not genius/savant but they stand out among gifted kids like they stand out in a normal class. If so, how are they different?
Around what age do gifted kids tend to equal their parents/adults cognitively?
In the example I gave above, what approximative percentage of students do you think would have come up with asking a negative numbers question? What percentage of students might not come up with it themselves but would quickly figure it out once exposed to it?
I didn’t respond to this earlier because I can talk more from anecdote than from percentages. Every kid is a different personality, and some kids will ask the negative number question. Others will see a loophole in my rule for a game and exploit it. Others will just put their heads down and answer every math question quietly and precisely and fully. Still other gifted kids won’t do that great in math, but can analyze a story like nobody’s business, or can write a poem that will take your breath away.
You PMed me a couple of questions, so I’ll answer them here:
I was in a self-contained gifted class as a child, and that–along with the Duke Young Writer’s Camp I went to as the enormous nerd I was–are some of my best academic memories. I still think about the fifth grade teacher who managed to teach our whole class more about relativity, black holes, and the four major forces than I’ve learned any time since in my life.
When I became a teacher, I found I was a lot better with the kids who learned things quickly than with the kids who require repetition. That is, by no means, a universal thing. Some teachers tend to neglect gifted students, or don’t really know how to challenge them, or how to respond to their often off-kilter understandings of things. They’ll see that a gifted kid is scoring well on tests and think, “Well, that’s sorted.” Meanwhile other teachers are really good at coming up with systematized ways to teach concepts to kids that need multisensory repetitive methods, e.g., Orton-Gillingham phonics.
I’m kind of the opposite. I struggle to use programs like Orton-Gillingham, and don’t always feel satisfied with how I’m teaching my students who are behind in math and reading. (Not for lack of trying, mind you–it just doesn’t come as easily for me as it comes for some others). Meanwhile, I am delighted to work with gifted students, to find ways to keep them challenged and engaged.
Oh, boy. I have textbooks, but honestly I don’t have anything right away that I can think of to recommend. If I think of something, I’ll add it in.