Growing Up Gifted: Developing the Potential of Children at Home and at School

696 Pages·1988·34.102 MB·English

by  Barbara Clark

Growing Up
Gifted
Third Edition
Barbara Clark

§ °i
Barbara Clark
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY,
LOS ANGELES
GROWING
THIRD EDITION
Developing
the Potential
of Children
at Home
and at School
Merrill Publishing Company
A BELL & HOWELL INFORMATION COMPANY
Columbus Toronto London Melbourne
To my beautiful mother, who started it all,
my son, who allowed me to live with giftedness,
my daughter, who taught me the gentleness of special gifts,
my husband, who believes in growing and miracles,
my dearest father, who loves us all,
and Emily, from whom I’m learning all over again.
Cover Photo: © Nicole Arena. Miss Axena, a senior at the Fort Hayes Career Center in
Columbus, Ohio, participates in a visual arts program for gifted students. Her instructors
are Phil Arena and Ken Valimaki.
Published by Merrill Publishing Company
A Bell and Howell Information Company
Columbus, Ohio 43216
This book was set in Garamond.
Administrative Editor: Vicki Knight
Production Coordinator: Anne Daly
Art Coordinator: Mark Garrett
Cover Designer: Cathy Watterson
Photo credits: All photos copyrighted by individuals or companies listed. Merrill/Andy
Brunk: pp. 45, 115, 135, 217, 459, 531; Marc Balay, Wanda Balay, Carmella Brown, Barbara
Clark, Barbara Corrales, Toby Manzares, or Barry Ziff, pp. 1, 5, 29, 57, 67, 69, 73, 89, 93, 98,
109, 123, 124, 139, 163, 171, 175, 210, 251, 275, 307, 316, 331, 344, 382, 391, 427, 430, 437,
440, 503, 547, 575, 590, 596.
References for Chapter Opening Quotations: Chapter 1, A. Perone and D. Pulvino; Chapter 2,
Harold H. Anderson; Chapter 3, Bob Samples, 1987, p. 106; Chapter 4, Walter B. Barbe;
Chapter 5, Sidney Marland, 1972, p. 23; Chapter 6, Elizabeth Monroe Drews, 1976, pp.
27-28; Chapter 7, Alfred North Whitehead; Chapter 8, Carl Sagan, 1977; Chapter 9, J.
Krishnamurti, 1964; Chapter 10, Anonymous; Chapter 11, Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, I960 [© 1923], p. 62); Chapter 12, James Fadiman, 1976.
Copyright © 1988, 1983, 1979 by Merrill Publishing Company. All rights reserved. No part of
this book may be reproduced in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher. “Merrill Publishing Company” and “Merrill” are registered trademarks of
Merrill Publishing Company.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 87-062849
International Standard Book Number: 0-675-20832-7
Printed in the United States of America
23456789 92 91 90 89
PREFACE
As I offer this third edition to you who are interested in the optimal education of
gifted learners, I note how much things have changed since the last revision. My
thinking has changed, the field has changed, and even the children seem to have
changed. We are surrounded by more knowledge, more challenges to old ideas, and
more depth and breadth to our understandings. Many of the ideas and suggestions
in the last edition remain to be used as they are, for they are not yet commonly
available to children; some needed to be reorganized, some to be clarified, and
some to be expanded. Thoughts, ideas, and strategies from more scholars, more
educators, more students, and more parents needed inclusion. It has been a most
productive and exciting period for gifted education and for those interested in
gifted individuals. You will find much of that productivity and excitement in this
new edition. Hopefully, it has grown just as you have grown, and it will be of
greater use to you than before. The changes are presented with a belief in their
value to you and to the gifted students you serve whether in the home or at school.
The Contents will show you some of the new organization and the new areas
of focus. The first chapter is still concerned with discovering who the gifted are and
just what giftedness means. As the inquiry into the structure and meaning of
intelligence has been enhanced by new work, so has our discussion. With a better
understanding of the functioning of the brain has come exciting information
regarding the implications of this field of research for learning and teaching. At the
request of our students, a lesson outline for teaching an understanding of giftedness
has been included. Too often gifted learners do not really understand what we
mean by the term gifted, nor do they comprehend the implications and expecta¬
tions that level of development may have for their lives. Parents and other staff
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members as well as students will benefit from the implementation of this new unit
of study.
The emphasis on creativity as both an integral part of giftedness and an
integrative structure required a separate chapter. There is so much yet to be done to
assure students of opportunities for growth in this area that the discussion of the
concept of creativity is presented in Chapter 2, while strategies to be used in the
classroom are offered as part of the intuitive process in Chapter 8.
New information on becoming gifted and growing up gifted enhances
Chapters 3 and 4. To understand the characteristics of gifted learners makes
differentiation of the curriculum possible; to understand their social-emotional
development allows us to meet their needs and extend their visions in a balanced,
meaningful way.
There are many alternative program structures available that can be used to
build an appropriate continuum of services for gifted learners. Chapter 3 presents a
number of these options and outlines how each may be used. Of course only you,
the professional, will be able to decide how this information can fit into a program
to meet the needs of your students, your school, and your community. Writing a
plan for your district or school will be simplified by the use of the outline provided
in this chapter.
Procedures for finding gifted learners for your program and a chart of tests that
can be used to screen and identify these students can be found in Chapter 6. The
overview of an identification procedure being used successfully to identify cultural¬
ly diverse students will be especially useful for those who are seeking answers to
problems in this area. Screening, identifying, and assessing students are three
important steps to truly differentiated and individualized programs for gifted
learners.
Chapters 7 and 8 have been reorganized and expanded to support teachers
who want to provide their students with differentiated and individualized curricu¬
lum. Beginning in Chapter 7, an overview is presented of organizational patterns
and strategies for gifted programs that are developed from the characteristics and
needs of gifted learners. A variety of curriculum models that can be used in
developing differentiated curriculum is offered, with a special focus on the
Integrative Education Model as a way of structuring the use of the new brain/mind
data in the classroom.
Chapter 8 presents a classroom environment and strategies to aid in individua¬
lizing and implementing the differentiated curriculum developed in Chapter 7. In
addition to techniques for individualizing the program, teachers will find help in
developing a responsive learning environment, extending the learning into the
community and surrounding natural learning settings, and establishing an integra¬
tive learning approach. Strategies are presented for developing the content of
specific subject matter; cognitive, affective, physical/sensing, and intuitive process¬
es; and the products necessary for a differentiated, integrative curriculum.
Chapter 9 allows us to focus specifically on how the curriculum can be
developed and gifted needs can be met at the middle and secondary school levels.
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Preface
Adolescence is a special time, and we must understand how these transitions affect
gifted students if we are to be effective in helping them learn. Of special help will
be the outline of how to share the responsibility for learning with secondary
students.
Research continues to give us ideas for how many of the special concerns in
gifted education can be met. While questions still confront us in many areas, the
review in Chapter 10 of the work that has been done will at least give us some
understanding of the problems and a starting point as we explore each area further.
Teachers, administrators, counselors, and parents all provide important sup¬
port roles for gifted children. As a team they can assure effective, appropriate
learning experiences. Information and guides to further the work of these
important team members is provided in Chapter 11.
Finally, we look at the possibilities that show promise of significantly affecting
the future of our children and through them all of us. We continue to live in times
of great change, times of beckoning promise, times that challenge us to be the most
of who we can be, to take joy in the human possibilities. If anything, the ideas and
challenges are more amazing, more profound than ever before.
At the end of each chapter you will find questions that I have often been asked
by teachers and parents around the country and in other countries. The responses
are mine. While I believe they are informed responses and reflect much of the
thinking in the field, I do not represent them as the only responses that would be
appropriate. Others may believe differently; some may have more or less to say
about each question. I can only offer my response as the data and my experience
allow me to understand. It is my hope that they will provide clarification and a
better understanding of those areas that at least some people thought to question.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The acknowledgments for this edition of Growing Up Gifted must include
appreciation for all of the teachers and gifted students I continue to learn from
throughout these years. A very special thanks to Lynn Copley-Graves who was the
editor on the first edition and returns with her caring and competence to this third
edition, and to Vicki Knight, a joy as administrative editor. Also, thanks to Patricia C.
Westhafer, Mary Baldwin College; Maurice Miller, Indiana State University; John M.
McLoughlin, Bloomsburg University; Jim Van Tassel, Ball State University; and Julia
Roberts, Western Kentucky University, who reviewed the manuscript and provided
thoughtful suggestions for strengthening the third edition. But most of all I must
include my husband, Terry, who has been and continues to be there for me in so
many supportive and loving ways.
In this book it is my hope that all of you who care about gifted individuals will
find much that will aid you to discover the excitement and pleasure of being with
these special children as they share the process of growing up gifted.
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