Why it is important to differentiate the curriculum for gifted Essay

Why it is important to differentiate the curriculum for gifted learners in schools - Essay Example (1993) identify the ten roles of the teacher as being, â€Å"director, facilitator, adviser, teacher, guide, critic, freedom giver, supporter, manager and examiner† (p.31-32). There are many other educational writers who suggest various other dimensions of teaching and the essential teaching skills within these dimensions. Kyriacou (1998) lists the essential teaching skills as â€Å"ethos, direct instruction, management of materials, guided practice, structured conversation, monitoring, management of order, planning and preparation and written evaluation† (p.6). These skills are imperative in the direction of gifted students in order to tailor the curriculum to their accelerated learning needs. This is why educators of the gifted value the benefits of ability grouping for advanced learners. The availability of some forms of homogeneous grouping for these learners has been strongly advocated by proponents of gifted education (Allan, 1991). Educators of the gifted are also concerned about a lack of emphasis on differentiated instruction for academic diversity in heterogeneous classrooms and reject a one-size-fits-all approach to educating students as varied as those who inhabit the average classroom. Thus, it is necessary to abandon these practices that homogenize instruction by permitting and in some cases, even encouraging a â€Å"one-size-fits-all† approach to instruction (Kaplan, 1979). Instead, it is necessary to emphasize appropriately differentiated instruction in heterogeneous classrooms In order to cater for giftedness, a curriculum must be developed which creates opportunities to optimize students’ potential (VanTassel-Baska, 1993). A goal in gifted education is to reach the ‘optimal match’ of curriculum with the needs of gifted students. (Hoekman, McCormick and Gross, 1999). Curriculum should be complex, fast-paced, rigorous and match the abilities and interests of gifted students (Gross, 1994,1997,2001, Sawyer, 1988, VanTassel-Baska, 88, 91, 92,