ALGERIA CONFERENCE 1 Towards a National Strategy for Empowering the Gifted & Talented in ...

42 Pages·2016·0.45 MB·English

ALGERIA CONFERENCE 1

Towards a National Strategy for Empowering the Gifted & Talented in Lebanon:
The Role of Ministry of Education and Educational Institutions
“Role of school, society, NGOs, and government”

Arab Council for the Gifted & Talented / Lebanon

Prof. Hoda Husseini Bibi et al:
Antoun, M., Abdallah M., Badran, N., El Homsi, R, Hassan, C, Nasser, B.

November 29, 2014

Algeria
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Abstract

The paper identifies a proper educational program for the gifted & talented students that applies to
the needs of the Lebanese society. The paper opens with the identification of the gifted and talented
and then moves to discuss the proper criteria and methods to identify the latter. Therefore,
professional and specialized support is urgently needed from governmental, nongovernmental
organizations, schools, and the society. The Lebanese educational system and institutions must
ensure the existence of the necessary conditions to achieve the goals of schooling while nurturing
the talents and abilities of those who are gifted.
In addition, the paper sets criteria and a functional schema for identifying the gifted and talented
students, and highly recommends that the Lebanese Ministry of Education and the educational
institutions implement focused programs that provide suitable challenges for these students to
develop their capabilities under direct and professional supervision of experts in the field that
would assure an apposite intervention of teachers who will have received an apt training and
pertinent instructions.
The paper also sheds light on the important role of trained teachers to work with the gifted and
talented students. It is inevitably required of them to be highly trained in accommodating and
modifying the designed program models and the enrichment programs to meet their students’
various needs and aspirations and foster their knacks.
Moreover, the Paper depicts whether certain program models are currently applied in Lebanese
educational institutions or not. Finally, it suggests functional recommendations to be considered
for implementation for the best of the gifted.
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What is being gifted or talented?
Gifted or talented individuals are those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude; an
exceptional ability to reason and learn; or competence; documented performance or achievement
in top 10% or rarer in one or more domains. Domains include any structured area of activity with
its own symbol system; mathematics, music, language and/or set of sensory motor skills; painting,
dance, sports.
Such individuals are considered the national wealth and the elevating power of civilized progress
for building a better future. An early identification of gifted students is very essential. This can be
achieved through setting clear-cut plans and curriculum.
Moreover, it is significant to identify gifted students and to discover student’s talents, abilities, and
needs prior school entry which gives all children the chances to be cared for up to their abilities
and potentialities; or in other words, to attain “ Educational Individualization” .
Educational individualization is the method or educational manner based on the individual’s needs
that allows him/her to learn and progress, for what is considered a big load for some students is
rather insufficient for some others. Maddux (1903) assured the importance of this theory while
criticizing the different point of views which focus on identifying the gifted students neglecting
the others. To Maddux we must not teach the same objectives using the same method and for the
same period for all students. Each child must have the opportunity to learn according to his/her
abilities and for the period he/she needs.
Since the modern tendency is based on fundamental principles mentioned in Renzulli’s book
“Identification of Students for Gifted and Talented Program” that need the official sustenance and
support. We, in Lebanon, are going to go through the implementation of important procedures to
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identify the gifted children. Similar to most of the students with learning difficulties who are
visiting assessment centers to identify their abilities and restrictions to set a plan based on these,
we are working hard to develop schemes with the official sector to adopt the concept of
“Educational Individualization”. This provides social justice and equivalent opportunities
according to a prior discovery of student’s needs and abilities through a psycho- educational
assessment prior school entry and a plan for each child that takes his needs and strengths into
consideration. This recommends a skilled team of professionals, teachers, and psychological
specialists. The principle is to relate student’s assessments with the objective itself; planning and
achieving learning based on students’ potency and needs. We must not neglect that all children are
in need of different learning subjects as languages, math, social studies and sciences, etc., but
keeping in mind that the pace, breadth, and style must be varied . Therefore the purpose of such
an assessment is to give guidance regarding the previously mentioned criteria. However the
important question is not whether the child is gifted or not, but rather is what kinds of instructional
and curricular adaptations should be arranged for the gifted child.
The development of an ability or talent is a lifelong process. It can be evident in young children as
exceptional performance on tests and/or other measures of ability or as a rapid rate of learning,
compared to other students of the same age, or in actual achievement in a domain.
As individuals mature through childhood to adolescence, however, achievement and high levels
of motivation in the domain become the primary characteristics of their giftedness. Various factors
can either enhance or inhibit the development and expression of abilities.
A person's giftedness should not be confused with the means by which giftedness is observed or
assessed. A high mark on an examination, or a high IQ score is not giftedness; it may be a signal
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that a gift exists. Some of these indices of giftedness are more sensitive than others to differences
in the person's environment.
Program Design and Implementation
A program is a purposeful set of activities that expend resources to implement processes
procedures and/or activities that operate in some context to accomplish some outcomes or achieve
some goals.
Program Planning: Mission-Goals-Identification-Objectives- Programming- Evaluation
Mission and Goals
The program should set clear-cut goals to set as an objective to be attained. As a start, a good
program’s duty is to provide an atmosphere for stimulating behavior among students who have
been identified as requiring instruction that is qualitatively different from that of the regular
curriculum. Moreover, it is supposed to provide opportunities for students to participate in guided
investigative experiences, alone and in small groups, using diverse human, material, and technical
resources. It is also required to provide opportunities for students to produce and evaluate products
in areas of personal interests. Furthermore, it must implement the principles of divergent and
convergent thinking, and it must serve as a resource to regular classroom teachers in the
development of enrichment activities in both cognitive and affective areas.
Identification
Comprehensive Identification Procedure
The comprehensive identification procedure follows seven key phases which are: teacher’s
nomination; peers’ nomination; parents’ nomination; self-nomination; gifted child interview;
identification through the group intelligence testing; and in the frame of such method of
identification shall be used the Raven Test; identification through Torrance Test of Creative
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Thinking; determination of the academic achievement level through the academic skills standards;
and the application of available monitoring lists in addition to the study of the cumulative grades
record for students under identification.
For more information, we can use individual intelligence tests, in order to study the relationship
between IQ obtained by an individual in the Group Intelligence Testing (such as Raven’s
Progressive Matrices Test) and between IQ obtained by that individual in the individual
intelligence tests (such as Wechsler’s test and The Stanford-Binet’s Test). It is to be noted in this
regard the importance of features standards application, as the scale which has been developed
with Renzulli’s contribution. Such scale is known as SRBCSS.
The teacher’s nomination of a child as being talented/gifted child is considered among the most
popular methods of talented identification, although it is less stable and honest than the well-known
intelligence tests. However, we can overcome the problems associated with honesty by developing
monitoring checklists and questionnaires that can be prepared according to solid and accurate
scientific foundations, then train teachers on how these questionnaires can be used when selecting
the candidate students to be considered as talented/gifted child.
In fact, these monitoring checklists came as a result of the concerted efforts based on well-
established deep literature and experience in this field. We recall in this regard, one of the most
prominent lists, known as Essex Checklist. To prepare this checklist, a group of teachers in Essex
Primary Schools in Britain extracted items that they developed in their lists through in-depth and
analytical experience and reading for the available literature. Such items are randomly listed rather
of being classified according to their relative importance.
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Model No. 1
The Essex Checklist
1- Possesses extensive general knowledge.
2- Has quick mastery and recall of information.
3- Has exceptional curiosity.
4- Shows good insight into cause; effect relationship.
5- Ask many provocative searching questions.
6- Easily grasps underlying principles and needs the minimum of explanation.
7- Quickly makes generalizations.
8- Often seeks unusual, rather than conventional relationships.
9- Listens to only part of an explanation.
10- Jumps stages in learning.
11- Leaps from the concrete to the abstract.
12- Is a keen and alert observer.
13- Sees greater significance in story or film etc.
14- When interested becomes absorbed for periods.
15- Is persistent in seeking task completion.
16- Is more than unusually interested in adult problems such as religion, politics etc.
17- Displays intellectual playfulness: fantasizes, imagines, manipulates ideas.
18- Is concerned to adapt and improve institutions, objects, systems.
19- Has a keen sense of humor: sees humor in the unusual.
20- Appreciates verbal puns, cartoons, jokes etc.
21- Criticizes constructively.
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22- Is unwilling to accept authoritarian pronouncement without critical examination.
23- Mental speed faster than physical capabilities.
24- Prefers to talk rather than write.
25- Day dreams
26- Reluctant to practice skills already mastered.
27- Reads rapidly and retains what is read.
28- Has advanced understanding and use of language.
29- Shows sensitivity.
30- Shows empathy towards others.
31- Sees the problem quickly and takes the initiative.
Model No. 2
Quick Monitoring Checklist to Identify Talented/Gifted Child
Try to write the names of the first three children you think they have the below traits, as this child:
1. Learns quickly;
2. Has the originality, and the ability of imagination and creativity;
3. Has in-depth information;
4. Is persistent, resourceful, independent in his thinking;
5. Enjoys prudence and common sense;
6. Is a lover of research and investigation (curious and adheres to a schedule or arrangement)
7. Has acceptable information about unfamiliar aspects or areas;
8. Has a sense of art;
9. Fluent, and has a high linguistic inventory;
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10. Has a musical trend and musical interests;
11. Initiator and is independent in work;
12. Logical and has a strong argument;
13. Flexible and open-minded;
14. Multi-talented and has many interests;
15. Shows an ability to intuition and insight;
16. Passionate and has a high level of sensitivity;
17. Has good humor.
If the identification is carried out by a foreigner party (not a school member), and the teacher’s
nomination has been adopted as a method for talented detection, it is important to launch an in-
depth dialogue with the teacher before applying the Model No. 2 in order to get some information
about the talented students’ teacher.
In the following Model No. 3 a list of questions that can be the subject of dialogue between the
investigator/researcher and the teacher.
Model 3
Dialogue with the Teacher
- How do you define giftedness?
- In what area do you think the child is gifted?
- What triggered your attention to that child? Who is the first person to consider the child as
talented/gifted?
- How the giftedness is manifested in that child?
- What the child wants as a class member?
- What the child wants in his personal capacity?
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- Is this person suffering from any problems?
- Do the rest of students see this gifted child?
- What are the special interests of this student?
- How do you organize your class?
- What curriculum is followed by this student?
- What educational subject matters do you think are useful for teaching gifted students?
- Are you following any special method with the gifted student?
- Are there any reading or information you heard that impressed your idea about gifted
students?
- What do desire the gifted child’s parents?
- Would you like to have a gifted child?
- How do you distribute your time in the class among the various students?
- How do you rate the academic level in relative terms among your class students?
- How seats are distributed among classroom students?
- Is there consistency between the students in terms of abilities?
- The gifted child’s parents have been informed about their child’s giftedness?
- Do you or anyone else suggested to grant him a scholarship or to refer him to a gifted
children’s school?
- What is the theme of your major, and how many years of experience do you have in the
field of education?
- What educational qualifications (degrees) do you have?
Peers’ nomination method is considered the second step in the multi-standard gifted children’s
identification process. This method presents an acceptable degree of honesty and efficiency; since