GATE STUDENTS

 Rafe Esquith [2003]

When you work as hard as so many teachers do, having a brilliant child in class makes you feel good. Teachers, me included, often suffer the delusion that much of a child’s success is because of the teacher. That would be nice if it were true, but it isn’t. A teacher can help guide a brilliant child, and certainly expose him to new ideas and experiences, but you cannot teach intelligence. Bright children make teachers feel that they’re doing a fine job in the classroom, and it’s understandable why we cherish that feeling, because so often we feel as if we’re failing. But we have to remind ourselves that we must always try to do what’s in the best interest of the student, and if that means sending him to another classroom where he has better opportunities to fly high, let him go.

My experience working with youngsters has taught me many things. It’s common to have gifted students do fifty multiplication problems while other students do twenty-five, but piling on busywork is not the way to help gifted children develop their abilities. The key is to keep giving the gifted ones twenty-five problems—the twenty-five right ones; these children need to be challenged and worked hard, but wasting their time is no answer. If other children in class need extra practice with a math skill, why make children who have mastered the skill wait? We don’t want to leave children behind, but we don’t want to slow down those ready to move ahead.

To complicate things further, GATE students are often used to tutor their peers who need help. There is merit to this, as it helps bright youngsters develop compassion for others. However, teachers must be careful in finding a balance here: it’s nice for Johnny to take some time to help someone in need, but Johnny has needs, too. That’s why it’s best for Johnny to have the same hour of math but with more difficult problems, the same time for reading but with more difficult literature, and the same time for language arts but with more advanced vocabulary to study. GATE children form their own branch of special education, and just as children with learning disabilities need individualized lesson plans, GATE children need them, too.

Exposure is crucial. Gifted students need opportunities in every subject to give them the chance to develop a love of some activity in which they can then thrive. It is becoming common these days [2003] to visit classrooms in which art, music, science, history, geography, and physical education are barely taught, because the teachers are under pressure to prepare and assess their students in reading and arithmetic. At the Jungle, the school district has ordered its teachers to spend a minimum of three and a half hours per day teaching these two subjects. The entire school day is only seven hours long, and with recess and lunch taking one and a quarter hours, that leaves teachers only two and a quarter hours to teach all the other subjects we’re supposed to cover.

More often than not, these subjects have disappeared in elementary schools. Students, regular as well as GATE, will never discover they have a passion for mapmaking, painting, singing, biology, writing, or retracing the steps of Chief Crazy Horse. How can these children develop such interests if they don’t know these things exist? I’ve solved the problem by lengthening my school day to cover each of these forgotten subjects. It’s not rocket science. A child will more likely find something she likes to eat if there are more items on the menu. Of these subjects, I’ve found music and drama to be crucial in reaching gifted students. The arts bridge the gap when kids of vastly different abilities are in the same room. With drama, a good teacher can find the right role providing the proper challenge for each individual. Recently, my fifth-graders performed an unabridged production of King Lear. A brilliant young girl played Goneril. It was challenging but possible for her to learn the part. Another child with less advanced language skills played a smaller role, but the experience of learning lines and being in the production was equally rewarding for her. In this way, each child can face a challenge and be part of a happy and successful fellowship of learning.

If offered music, children of different abilities can be singers, dancers, and musicians. There is something for everyone. Visitors are surprised to see that children in my class receive little homework. Because of our extended day, I don’t pile it on when they go home. They work less than one hour per night. When youngsters can perform Shakespeare and solve algebra problems, it’s easy to forget they’re still children. Good teachers make sure the kids have time to play baseball, listen to their favorite pop star, and just look at the clouds and relax. In addition, passionate students often create homework for themselves. Students who have become fascinated with history will go home and research things that interest them. Students with a love of music practice their instruments constantly. Good readers always have homework. An exciting day of class leads to children pursuing things at home for all the right reasons.

Rafe Esquith, There Are No Shortcuts (152-155).
[2003] Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.