assignments for gifted students

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Gifted Lesson Plans: A List of Resources

Below are some of our community’s favorite educator books and websites on lesson plans listed in alphabetical order.*

• 20 Ideas for Teaching Gifted Kids in the Middle School & High School Receive some of the best ideas and lessons developed by master teachers in this book by Joel McIntosh. Both this and its sequel,  10 More Ideas for Teaching Gifted Kids in the Middle School & High School , feature ideas for starting mentorship programs, teaching history using scientific surveys, producing documentaries, and more. A Trip Around the World This book contains lesson plans, maps, facts, words and phrases, and activities are provided for 15 countries on six different continents helping students learn about countries and cultures around the world. Other curriculum areas are incorporated in the activities provided along with teaching notes, blackline maps, extension activities, a list of foreign words and phrases, and a bibliography of fiction and non-fiction books for each country to help to organize the study. Autonomous Learner Model Resource Book This book includes activities and strategies to support the development of autonomous learners. More than 40 activities are included, all geared to the emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development of students. Teachers may use these activities and strategies with the entire class, small groups, or with individuals who are ready to be independent, self-directed, lifelong learners. Challenging Units for Gifted Learners: Teaching the Way Gifted Students Think – Language Arts Challenging Units for Gifted Learners: Teaching the Way Gifted Students Think – Math These books are series designed to help teachers provide the stimulating curricula that will nurture this potential in school. Creating Effective Programs for Gifted Students With Learning Disabilities This book provides a road map for understanding assessment and programming for GTLD students in the era of Response to Intervention. The book helps educators understand the often frustrating experiences GTLD students face in the classroom and identify accommodations and adaptations that allow these bright students to demonstrate their gifts and compensate for their processing challenges. Through an examination of current research and case studies, the reader will be introduced to what must be considered when identifying and developing programming for this underserved population. Demystifying Differentiation in Middle School: Tools, Strategies and Activities to Use NOW A book designed for middle school teachers who are interested in curriculum differentiation. Offers detailed lessons in over 35 topics, such as language arts, math, science, and social studies, covering four different teaching strategies. Differentiated Activities and Assessments Using the Common Core Standards This book show educators how to use differentiated curriculum, differentiated instruction, and differentiated assessment with the Common Core State Standards. The book includes over 50 topics in language arts, math, social studies, science, and interdisciplinary topics. Differentiation That Really Works: Strategies From Real Teachers for Real Classrooms (Grades K-2) This book provides educators with time-saving teaching strategies and lesson ideas based on ease of implementation, ability to modify and inherent opportunities for differentiation. Through years of working with teachers the authors, Dr. Cheryll M. Adams and Dr. Rebecca L. Pierce, pass along four classroom components focused on including differentiated learning strategies, anchoring activities, classroom management, and differentiated assessment. The book also includes templates and sample lessons that can be used to develop customized materials, along with comments from teachers who have used the strategies. Five in a Row The three volumes of the Five in a Row curriculum provide 55 lesson plans covering social studies, language, art, applied math and science. Designed for a homeschool setting, these lessons would also be appropriate in a conventional school. Although the original Five in a Row was designed for children ages 4 to 8, families of profoundly gifted children will find these guides more appropriate for the preschool years. The accompanying Five in a Row website offers sample lessons, an online newsletter, and curriculum user discussion boards. I’m Not Just Gifted: Social-Emotional Curriculum for Guiding Gifted Children What traits and characteristics define successful people? Why do gifted children, in particular, need a strong affective curricula in order to maximize their potential? These questions and more are explored in this guide to helping gifted children in grades 4–7 as they navigate the complicated social and emotional aspects of their lives. Including lesson plans, worksheets, and connections to Common Core State Standards, this is a practical guide necessary for anyone serving and working with gifted children. Instructional Units for Gifted and Talented Learners The creative lessons covered in this book by master teachers cover all of the core academic areas for grades K-6. Lessons include standards-based objectives, interdisciplinary connections that can be explored and discussed and assessments strategies for each unit of instruction. Lessons From the Middle: High-End Learning for Middle School Students In addition to the 12 model lessons provided, this book from Sandra Kaplan and Michael Cannon, includes a step-by-step guide to developing lessons that emphasize depth and complexity. All of the materials focus on ways to align the middle school curriculum with established national standards and offer strategies to evaluate learner achievement. Order in the Court – A Mock Trial Simulation Order in the Court: A Mock Trial Simulation gives students the opportunity to conduct a trial based on a classic fairytale in order to develop their courtroom skills. After developing the necessary vocabulary, students participate in the trial of Ms. Petunia Pig v. Mr. B. B. Wolf. Students not only learn the concepts, but they also learn valuable teamwork and time management skills. Designed for students grades 6-8, the unit culminates in a full mock-trial enactment. Picturing Math This unique book uses picture books to teach elementary students math concepts. Author Colleen Kessler feels strongly that all students should be challenged to experience and learn new things every day. She covers problem solving, geometry, algebra, measurement and probability. Grades 2-4. Project-Based Learning for Gifted Students: A Handbook for the 21st-Century Classroom This book makes the case that project-based learning is ideal for the gifted classroom, focusing on student choice, teacher responsibility, and opportunities for differentiation. The book guides teachers to create a project-based learning environment in their own classroom, walking them step-by-step through topics and processes such as linking projects with standards, finding the right structure, and creating a practical classroom environment. Project-Based Learning for Gifted Students also provides helpful examples and lessons that all teachers can use to get started. Ready-to-Use Differentiation Strategies – Grades 6-8 Ready-to-Use Differentiation Strategies introduces various activities and strategies that can be implemented in any content area in grades 6–8. Each differentiation strategy encourages higher level thinking and intellectual risk taking while accommodating different learning styles. This book also provides templates that can be used to develop new lessons using each strategy. Designed for students grades 6-8, Ready-to-Use Differentiation Strategies provides an easy-to-use way to begin differentiating for all students in the classroom. Researching All Learners: Making Differentiation Work This book provides research-based strategies, instructional responses to the way students’ brains learn best, successful guidelines to effectively manage the learning environment, and a teaching palette of 40 strategies for differentiating instruction. Splash! Monitoring and Measurement Applications for Young Learners This book is a mathematics unit for high-ability learners in kindergarten and first grade focusing on concepts related to linear measurement, the creativity elements of fluency and flexibility, and the overarching, interdisciplinary concept of models. The unit consists of 13 lessons centered on the idea of designing a community pool. Students examine the question of why we measure, the importance of accuracy in measurement, and the various units and tools of measurement. STEM to STEAM Education for Gifted Students: Using Specific Communication Arts Lessons with Nanotechnology, Solar, Biomass, Robotics, & Other STEM Topics In this book, the authors present detailed lessons for integrating Eight STEM Education Areas with Communication Arts Lessons. These detailed lessons emphasize writing essays, descriptions and poems, and completing various exercises related to the following STEM Areas: Nanotechnology, Solar, Internet, Inventing, Music, Electric Vehicles, MOOCS, Biomass, and Robotics. The Appendices contain further information about the importance and promise of STEM Education. Super Smart Math – 180 Warm-Ups and Challenging Activities In Super Smart Math challenges, author Rebecca George helps students to think critcally while providing activities and problems that become increasingly difficult as the students progress through each section. Organized by mathematical topics for grades 5-8. The 10 Things All Future Mathematicians and Scientists Must Know (But Are Rarely Taught) Edward Zaccaro presents this book full of classroom lessons, readings and discussion starters. It reveals the things our future mathematicians and scientists must know in order to prevent tragedies such as the Challenger explosion and the failure of the Mars Orbiter. The NEW RtI: Response to Intelligence This book provides practical advise for instructors who are looking to successfully incorporate students of all skill levels into their classroom. The book advocates for gifted children while supporting the concept that all children on the learning continuum grow and continue to learn. Unicorns Are Real: A Right-Brained Approach to Learning This best-seller by Barbara Meister Vitale, provides sixty-five practical, easy-to-follow lessons to develop the much ignored right-brain tendencies of children. Her methods have been successfully demonstrated at workshops, in-service training sessions, and at several major educational conventions nationwide. Writing Instruction for Verbally Talented Youth: The Johns Hopkins Model The book by Ben Reynolds contains specific lesson plans, student assignments, and criteria and suggestions for evaluation of student work. The book contains the complete content of the first writing courses for verbally talented youth designed by the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University in the early 1980’s. This course was designed originally for 7th grade students who scored 430 or above on the verbal section of the SAT. Writing Success Through Poetry Grades 4-8 will gain insight from this book offering practical questions to facilitate Socratic-style discussions and explorations of literary concepts found within poems. Author, Susan Lipson, provides 25 original poems as prompts for students to use as inspiration for their own poetry and prose.

Engineering the Future offers lessons, activities, and classroom strategies to assist educators in teaching young people STEM oriented content.

* Some links on this page go to Bookshop.org and are affiliate links. While these books are available from many retailers, all links that go to Bookshop.org help support the Davidson Institute’s mission and continuing work to support profoundly gifted students and their families.

Feel free to share your go-to gifted education resources in the comments below!

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7 Ways to Differentiate Lessons for Gifted Students

Written by Victoria Hegwood

• Teaching Strategies

• What does “Gifted” mean?
• Why differentiate instruction for talented students?
• 8 Differentiation strategies for gifted students
• 1. Create tiered assignments
• 2. Shorten the explanations
• 3. Flexible apps
• 4. Offer open-ended and self directed assignments
• 5. Introduce project based learning
• 6. Compact curriculum
• 7. Pair gifted students up
• 8. Always keep learning
• Gifted education pitfalls to avoid
• Creating a learning environment for every student

All students are unique and special in their own way. Each learns in a different way and needs their education to be individualized. 

But differentiating lessons for gifted students can require even more thought and extra planning. 

Gifted learners tend to go through their learning activities rapidly and require modifications to their education for them to be fully engaged in the classroom. 

If you’re struggling to know exactly how to differentiate lessons for gifted students, this is just the article for you. We’ll highlight instructional strategies to use that will meet your student’s need for enrichment in the classroom, as well as pitfalls to avoid.

The National Association for Gifted Children defines gifted as “ students with gifts and talents performed or capable being performed at higher levels compared to others the same age, experience, and environment. ”

If your school has a gifted program, they likely also have their own definition and benchmarks that qualify a student as gifted. It is important to note that there is not a unified definition from all the states concerning what gifted means. 

Gifted students are seen across all racial, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. 

And there is no one behavior or skill set that defines a gifted learner. Some are gifted in athletics or leadership while others are gifted in the sciences or social skills.

Why is differentiated instruction needed for talented students?

Gifted students are often bored in a typical classroom. This can result in them just zoning out of the lesson or misbehaving. In situations where gifted students are left unchallenged for long periods of time, the students may never learn how to learn in a classroom. 

These students need unique opportunities to analyze, evaluate, create and reflect in challenging ways. Differentiating the lesson according to their strengths can help make this happen. 

Building differentiated lessons is about the philosophy and practice rather than a strict step-by-step process. You can tweak this practice to match your students’ readiness, interest, learning styles and academic needs.

In general, differentiating lessons is a helpful strategy for all student learning. Education scholar Carol Tomlinson emphasizes, “ Differentiation really means trying to make sure that teaching and learning work for the full range of students .”

However, this article will specifically focus on why it’s necessary for gifted students. When a student is contemplating skipping a grade but isn’t quite ready to make the leap or is only gifted in a particular subject, differentiated lessons are a great solution. 

8 Differentiation strategies for gifted learners

There are a lot of ways to use differentiation with a lesson. Different approaches will likely work better for a particular topic or student. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Tiered assignments allow learners to complete the same assignment at different levels of difficulty.

How you implement this strategy will vary based on your classroom. For example, you may design an assignment for the middle tier of students and then add additional challenges for gifted students. 

Another option is designing a more difficult assignment and then adding scaffolding, such as a graphic organizer or supplied reading material, to those at or below grade level. 

With this strategy, it is important to routinely assess your students to understand where they are at. This way you will always know who needs advanced content and who needs more help.

Did you know?

If you're teaching math to students in 1st-8th grade, you can use Prodigy's Assignment tool to easily set tiered exercises. With your free teacher account , simply select the skill you want to set as an Assignment and have your students play Prodigy Math .

And the best bit? You won't have to do any grading, it's all done automatically!

Gifted students typically understand a concept the first time it is explained, whereas their peers may need the content to be taught a few different ways.

Try giving a short pre-assessment or a pop quiz once you have taught the concept one time to see if the gifted students can move on to the next topic. 

Doing this will hopefully prevent boredom and, in turn, misbehavior from gifted students.

3. Use flexible apps

When bringing technology into your classroom and blending the learning experience , choose apps and games with flexibility. Look for options where gifted students can work on more complex concepts while other students work closer to grade level. 

There are plenty of apps, like Prodigy Math , that engage students and evaluate their skills to determine if they are learning math problems at the right level. Prodigy Math then uses adaptive algorithms to continue to challenge the student. 

Apps like this can also help strain teachers less when planning differentiating lessons since they don’t have to design the tiers themselves.

4. Offer open-ended and self-directed assignments

Open-ended tasks are great for differentiated lessons because they leave plenty of room for students’ skills and ideas to shine. They are especially good at stimulating higher-order thinking skills such as problem-solving. 

Self-directed assignments give gifted learners responsibility for their own development and let them decide how far they want to take their own learning. Assignments with open-ended questions encourage students to offer creative responses, work in small groups and build other ways to further explore. But make sure you deliver open-ended sessions with an end goal rather than leaving the students alone.

5. Introduce project-based learning

Project-based learning is effective since it mimics the real world. In a project-based assignment, learners conduct research, ask complex questions and improve management skills. Oftentimes, projects end with a presentation, which is great for practicing public speaking. 

Projects can be completed in small groups or by each student individually. This learning method is especially beneficial for gifted learners due to its depth, student choice, real-world learning and collaboration opportunities.

Project-based learning tends to go over the best when the assignments relate to a student’s interests.  For example, a high school student interested in social studies could be tasked with designing advocacy around an issue of their choice.

6. Try a compact curriculum

A compact curriculum is similar to shortening explanations, but it will actually throw out whole lessons that the gifted student already understands. Instead, the gifted student will be given lessons on content they’ve never been exposed to. 

Most often in this method, students will be given a pre-test that allows them to show mastery over various problems. Then, the curriculum is adjusted. 

It’s important to remember that curriculum development for gifted students is a dynamic process.

Another strategy is being more intentional in how you pair students up in collaborative projects. Putting gifted students together in cluster groups boosts their achievement since they are able to work at a faster pace. 

You may even find that in specific subjects, students that are gifted in that area can be paired up for their own differentiated lesson while you teach the rest of the class. These pairs can work on advanced content and learn from each other.

Teaching requires constant innovation and growth with a new classroom of kiddos each year. You will always be tweaking what you are doing based on new things that you learn. 

In the last two years, the pandemic has required flexibility and accelerated digital learning in ways we had never seen before. 

The challenges that came with this got teachers talking and opened up a dialogue about what learning strategies work. It created a community where more experienced teachers could impart their knowledge to others. 

Here's more strategies and ideas to help you differentiate learning

Looking to learn more about differentiation? Check out our list of 20 differentiated instruction strategies for more inspiration on how to level educational content in your classroom, with examples included!

As with any strategy, there are ways to do it well and ways to do it that are not so great. Try to avoid these three common mistakes when differentiating lessons for gifted students.

1. Using gifted students as teaching assistants

While gifted students may seem like a great help in the classroom, they should not be tasked with mentoring or tutoring other students. They need to be challenged in their own education and reteaching a concept that they already know doesn’t do that. 

A different way to go about this is having flexible grouping projects that let students work together for a short period of time. These projects allow gifted students to practice interacting with their peers and allow other students to learn from gifted students, but it’s temporary. 

This method allows gifted students to learn and avoids attaching a ‘teacher’ role to their interactions.

2. Working independently without oversight

A differentiated lesson for gifted learners should lead to more collaboration and content enrichment without the learner working constantly on their own. Assigning open-ended tasks without oversight or accountability can actually have the opposite effect of what you’re going for with gifted learners.

Ensure that lessons allow for student choice while still conforming to school district standards. And check in often with your gifted students.

3. Assuming mastery in all subject areas

Don’t assume that just because a learner is gifted in one area means that this means they are gifted in every area. For example, a student may be reading at a high school level but is not a strong writer. Or they may excel at math problems but struggle to understand graphs in science. 

Evaluate each subject area individually before assigning advanced lessons to gifted students.

Creating a learning environment for everyone

Differentiated lessons can be a great tool for gifted students in your classroom. But there are best practices to keep in mind when you’re constructing lessons. Differentiating lessons helps challenge gifted students and keep them engaged in your classroom.  

If starting the process of planning differentiated lessons feels overwhelming to you, using Prodigy can be a great first step.  

Whether you’re teaching in a math or English classroom, Prodigy is a fantastic free teaching resource that customizes each student’s experience with adaptive content.

Prodigy helps make it easier for you to differentiate instruction across your classroom, with no grading required! Teachers simply select what curriculum-aligned skills they'd like to test on their students or let Prodigy's adaptive algorithm assign content to help a student grow, including those in gifted or talented strands.

It's also free for teachers and schools! See how it works below:

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Enrichment Activities for Gifted Learners

• Back to School , Classroom Management , ELA , For Teachers , Reading Centers

If you have any gifted learners in your classroom, then you might be used to asking yourself, “How can I challenge this student?” You don’t want to throw more busy work at them. You want the work to be meaningful and deepen their learning and understanding. But, you aren’t quite sure how . The good news is that planning enrichment activities doesn’t have to consume your conference period or be a waste of time for students.

I want to share some enrichment activities that can help get you started. Just remember that like any lesson or activity, there may be some trial and error involved. If something flops, pick a new strategy and try again.

#1 Be the Expert

This enrichment activity can be as broad or narrow as you want it to be. Essentially, students will research a topic of their choice, and then write a paper about what they learned. If you are working specifically on research skills, leaving this open to a wide variety of topics can work, but you can easily create a more focused enrichment activity by giving students parameters.

For instance, if you’re studying the Constitution in social studies, a student can pick a topic that fits underneath that umbrella. This still allows them to pick their topic, but also deepen their knowledge of a specific skill or piece of content.

You can also have students present their topic or create a project board to go along with the paper and present it to the class. There are lots of possibilities! My Be the Expert resource makes assigning this enrichment activity simple. Just print the planning pages that students will need, and then set the expectations with the project requirements page. Then you’re all set!

#2 Be the Test Maker

Students are often test takers. But what if they also get a chance to be the test maker ? This idea always excites students because they get to play teacher! Having students make a test is actually a high-level enrichment activity. Students have to be able to understand a skill, find examples of that skill, and then create a question around it. Definitely easier said than done (as any teacher would agree).

The Be the Test Maker resource works with any fiction or nonfiction ELA passage. On the editable standards chart, copy and paste 1-4 standards that you know apply to the text. Then, have students use those standards and create questions using the text.

You may need to look over the test and make revisions with students, but then I highly recommend giving that test to the rest of the class (even if it’s just for fun). The test doesn’t need to be a grade. You can make it a group activity or even turn it into a Kahoot!

#3 Choice Board

Student choice boards make for simple enrichment activities that can be used time and time again. We know that gifted students are often the first to finish their assignments. Instead of giving them busy work, have them dig deeper into the content by filling the choice board with quick strategies. 

I have a free choice board template called I’m Done, Now What? that you can grab for free in my Free Resource Library ! It’s completely editable, so you can change the activities and categories to fit your student’s needs. You could even create unique boards for each student!

#4 Provide Research Opportunities

If you’re looking for enrichment activities in social studies and ELA specifically, the Influential Person Research Project can be a good fit. This project works well for units of study where influential people are involved. For example, studying the Civil Rights Movement in social studies or reading a nonfiction text about an activist, athlete, and more.

During their research, gift students will dig deeper into that person’s life and their influence. Inside the Influential Person Research Project resource, I included pages to help guide students’ research and organize the information.

If you want to take this a step further, you can host an in-person or digital “Wax Museum”. The students dress like their influential person and make a speech about their life! It’s really fun when you can get the whole class involved.

#5 Book Club

While everyone in your class can participate in a book club , gifted learners really benefit from this enrichment activity. I like to group the gifted learners together and let them take a bit more ownership over their book, how they run their book club meetings, and what they discuss.

While I let students have lots of control over their book clubs, I also provide them with critical thinking questions and opportunities to deepen their understanding. This might be through a hands-on project or discussion questions.

If you want more enrichment activity resources and ideas, check out PAGE and Davidson for lesson plans, ideas, and more. These websites are full of resources, and I used their ideas often when planning for my own students. I hope the ideas I shared here are beneficial and remember to try one thing at a time and see how it goes!

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50 Tips, Tricks and Ideas for Teaching Gifted Students

Use these ideas to engage the high-level thinkers in your classroom.

Gifted kids can be a joy to teach when you know how to identify what engages them. These 50 tips and tricks come from my own experience and from around the Web. They’re good to have in your bag of tricks whether you’re a newbie or an old hand at teaching these high-level thinkers.

1. Know Their Interests

Every year, I start by having my students complete an interest inventory . This helps me ensure that curriculum is personalized to their interests.

2. Try Book Talks

Share what you are reading with gifted students. Often, these students experience a reading lag where they can’t find a sweet spot because it is hard for high-ability students to understand what is both challenging and appropriate.

3. Keep Them Active

Gifted students often need to have the ability to move when learning … pacing, flapping and bouncing are parts of their thinking process.

4. Offer Flexible Seating

A window seat is my favorite place to read, so I keep that in mind when offering seating. Try to offer different seating options for students: beanbag chairs, carpet squares, pillows, director chairs … the list can go on and on.

SOURCE:  kindergartenisgrrreat.blogspot.com

5. Model Social Situations

Social situations can be challenging for some gifted students as their ability to understand social cues can be underdeveloped. Team up with other teachers to model the proper way to start conversations.

6. Share Current Events

Current events are important to incorporate into gifted programming. We want these students to be thinking about how they can use their talents to solve real-world problems.

7. Look for the Helpers

As important as current events are, it is also just as important to understand that gifted students internalize global happenings on a very personal level. Kids do not have the experience with the world to understand that despite there being a war or attack, there are still good things happening in the world. 

SOURCE:  Reddit ADVERTISEMENT

8. Allow for Groupings

Not all gifted students are meant to be the project manager. Allow students the opportunity to work alone or in a group. Even cross-grade groupings work well with gifted students.

9. Mind the Child Labor Laws

Gifted students who finish early should not automatically be the teacher’s helper. Gifted students can be some of the worst students to assist others because their brains often work very differently. Having a gifted child help a student who is struggling may do more harm than good.

10. Create a Makerspace

My grandmother always said, idle hands are the devil’s workshop … so keep some key things in the back for busy hands. LEGO bricks, cardboard and masking tape, and Snap Circuits are some of my favorites!

11. Introduce Minecraft Edu

Don’t be scared to incorporate students’ passions and interests. I once had a student who never wanted to practice spelling words until I told him he could practice them in Minecraft. Minecraft Edu has lots of great ways teachers can implement this engaging game in the classroom.

SOURCE:  http://education.minecraft.net/

12. Give Them End Dates

Provide gifted students with clear endpoints on projects and assignments. Gifted students can create unusually high expectations and never see an end in sight; a book reflection can easily become a 10-page paper, a PowerPoint can become an intensive course on the topic. Letting students know where to stop can be helpful.

13. Set Realistic Goals 

Use FutureMe.org and have students write a letter to their future selves. Once students have written the letter, you can set the date for it to be sent to their inbox. What a great way for students to set goals and create natural check-in points.

14. Teach Decision-Making

Gifted students can have a huge case of FOMO: fear of missing out. They understand that decisions have consequences, and sometimes they need to be given an inordinate amount of details about their options. Allow for the gifted student to fully understand the pros and cons of a decision.

15. Be Patient

Gifted students are processing a lot in their minds. Be patient and give them the time to reflect on what they need to come to a consensus they can live with.

16. Assign Expiration Dates

My gifted students walk into class with exploding folders and binders. They keep everything because there is a fear of being unprepared. Just like expiration dates for food, think about adding a footer to your handouts: “This handout expires on April 15.”

17. Model Organization Strategies

Or at least model how you organize life. Gifted students like options and seeing how they work in the “real world” is very helpful. I show students how I use notes to organize things , how Google Calendar is my lifeline, and what I do for physical notes. I have used planners in the past and show those examples as well.

We also review different apps that could be helpful. I urge students to find what works for them. No system is not an answer. We all need a system to help us be productive. When I taught younger students, we would all try different systems together as our end-of-the-day procedure.

18. Use Brain Breaks

Offer gifted students a hobby that can help calm their busy minds. Teach them how to Zentangle , breathe, meditate, make friendship bracelets, knit, color—anything that allows for them to focus carefully on details can help them quiet some of the extra noise.

SOURCE:  http://teachertothecore.blogspot.com

19. Explore Their Passions

Some gifted students don’t have a passion yet because they haven’t found it. Provide exposure to as much as possible. TED talks are one way to help students think about different topics. TED even has created teaching enhancements. I heart TED.

20. Read Tons of Biographies

Reading, watching or listening to the lives of others can help gifted students develop a plan of action and see what others did to accomplish goals.

21. Read Lots of Everything

It is true, so many gifted students have found a book that becomes so much a part of them, they can discuss it at length. Bibliotherapy is a great way for students to experience how to deal with issues and learn tactics and strategies.

22. Pre-Assess Them

For the love of anything that is holy, this should probably be no. 1. Research states that most gifted students do not learn new information until January. Don’t make a student who has already mastered a concept sit through the lesson again. 

23. Allow Them to Focus

Let gifted students pursue their interests. If they want to let everything be about dinosaurs, more power to them! We need paleontologists. As mentioned in Outliers , it takes over 10,000 hours to be an expert. To get that many hours on a time card, students have to be allowed to focus.

24. Make Connections

We need to allow students to hyper-focus but also then be the “guide on the side” that helps them make connections from one area to another. Perhaps we can get our dinosaur expert to use Scratch and make a “Dino Dig” math game?

25. Find Mentors

Gifted students need mentors within their interest areas. Mentors can teach students how to navigate through professions and can even be gatekeepers to additional opportunities.

26. Practice Like Professionals

Allow students to practice like the professionals. Use the same processes that professionals use. Looking to try fashion designing? Have students actually sew, measure, use patterns and do the alterations. Visit the American Museum of Natural History’s OLogy interactive site.

27. Locate Authentic Audiences

The work students create should have a real audience and be appreciated by those who authentically would benefit from its completion. Younger students are a great first authentic audience.

28. Put Them in Escape Rooms

If you haven’t heard of these yet, drop everything and head over to http://www.breakoutedu.com/digital/ . These are a great way to curate the knowledge you want your students to gain. 

29. Watch Webinars

You can find webinars on just about any topic that interests your students. If you sign up at Edtech , they will send weekly lists of upcoming professional webinars.

30. Submit Inventions

Inventions are a great way for students to take risks and try different things. I feel like students are more apt to take risks when they are creating something new. Student Inventions for a Better America challenges students to submit an invention that will make the world a better place … and there are winners every month.

31. Try Gamification 

I love  The Mind Research Institute , which challenges students in grades K–12 to design their own mathematical game.

32. Check Out Local Happenings

Do you live in the middle of nowhere? Me too! But I was surprised to learn there were still a TON of events happening on the weekends. If you are in the urban areas, you are rich in opportunities. Look to local libraries, museums or universities.

33. Send Them to Summer Camp

Some of my closest childhood friendships started at summer camp. These times allowed for encouragement and allowed kids to be nurtured in an environment where trying something new was the goal. Summer camp allowed me to be myself and try new things.

34. Solve Local Problems

“With great power comes great responsibility,” says one of our favorite superheroes, and he is correct—kindness counts. We need to do good with the gifts and talents we have been given. Give gifted students the opportunity to solve local problems and see the need for change in their own community. Allow a book to inspire this mission: Wonder , Kindness Club , or The Summer I Changed the World in 65 Days .

35. Develop Book Clubs

What do friends all have in common? Interests!! We are attracted to those who think similarly and those who challenge our beliefs. Book clubs make for a great space for likeminded students to come together to discuss a common theme … in this case a book, which serves as a great discussion starter.

36. Allow for Voice and Choice

How many of you hated a certain book in high school only to read it as an adult and see how wrong you were? The moment we lost choice (of what to read in this case), we also lost joy. Allowing gifted students to have choice in the classroom allows them to feel empowered and engaged. Choices do not need to be huge either, small choices are just as important.

37. Raise the Bar

No one wants to only be the big fish in a small pond. We want to be around people who will make us better and want to achieve more. Allow your gifted student to be challenged by participating in academic competitions such as National History Day. Your students will see what true competition is.

38. Brainstorm

This is one of the best ways to develop critical thinking. Show a picture of clouds … what do you see? This type of activity develops fluency, elabora tion, originality and abstract thinking, which are all integral parts of being a creative thinker. Try Google’s Quick, Draw!  It’s a great tool for getting students to think rapidly—it’s also a gem for indoor recess.

39. Model Curiosity

When the students ask a question you don’t know, look it up with them. As librarian media specialist Melissa Thom says, “the smartest people are the people who know how to find answers to their own questions.” Follow her on twitter at  @ msthombookitis .

40. Try Flocabulary

Flocabulary creates content-rich raps (yes, as in hip-hop) about just about ANYTHING. There are so many wonderful resources embedded within—contests, lyric labs, lyric notes, connections to primary sources, teacher plans, corresponding handouts, questioning and so much more! This will quickly become your favorite teaching resource. I promise!

41. Let Them Read Below-Level Books

Why do we expect every book gifted students read to be 1.5–2 grade levels above their reading level? I say, if a student is enjoying a book, read it! Yes, challenging books are needed to develop reading ability but don’t discount a book just because it is below a student’s level. Reading a book for a different purpose can increase the difficulty of a book without changing the text.

42. Connect Globally

Global Read Aloud  is a program where one book is used to connect the world. Pernille Ripp founded GRA in 2010 with the simple idea to read a book aloud to her stude nts and during that time try to make as many global connections as possible. This mission has grown exponentially and has reached over two million students. Collaborating with students in other states and countries will help a gifted student think empathetically.

43. Incorporate Mythology

If you know a gifted s tudent, then you know that mythology can be a huge interest—often spurred by the  Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Allow students to build a better understanding by incorporating mythology into different curricular units.

This is an authentic way for gifted students to share their reading in a way that we would as adults. Creating readers means treating them like readers—when I finish a book I do not take a comprehension quiz. I talk about it, share it with friends or write about it. Have your students react to reading like real readers. Kidblog is a great tool for creating safe student blogs.

45. Crowdsource

Two heads are better than one! Allow students to go places where they can collaborate. Google Docs is a great place to start, but also explore tools like FlipGrid , a tool that allows students to record and reply to one another.

46. Be a Safe Space

Provide a safe space for gifted students to take risks without being put down. Gifted students are often timid to answer something they are unsure about because of the social stigma attached to not answering correctly. Create a classroom culture where wrong answers become an opportunity to celebrate different thinking. Check out Nancy Anderson’s book, What’s Right About Wrong Answers? Learning Math From Mistakes .

47. Use QR Codes

QR codes add an interactive component to your classroom. Create a QR Code Museum or Gallery or even a QR scavenger hunt on one of your classroom bulletin boards.

48. Write Haikus

A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again. This is Basho Matsuo’s famous haiku. Use haiku as a way to challenge gifted students to summarize chapters, current events, biographies or vocabulary words. Haiku are student-friendly yet force them to be concise and purposeful with their word choice.

49. Change the World

Action is powerful for gifted students. Allowing students to find solutions to problems they see in their school, neighborhood or community will allow them to understand that they can make a difference. Internalizing that they can be the change in the world is transformational. Watch these TED Talks to show them what kids like them are doing to change the world.

50. Record Them

Allow gifted students to record their voices into an app or movie application. Teaching in front of peers is public speaking and that is its own beast. By allowing gifted students to show their work in a way that allows their confidence to be present is a win-win. Explain Everything is a collaborative and interactive whiteboard tool that makes this approach a piece of cake!

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Lesson Plans for Gifted Students

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Lesson plans for gifted students can be used in any classroom for high ability learners or in special gifted and talented programs. While there is debate over whether specialized gifted and talented programs are necessary or helpful, most educators agree challenging lesson plans like those created for gifted students can help kids open their minds in broader ways than traditional lesson plans.

Printable Lesson Plans for Gifted Elementary Students

Following the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) standards, these enrichment activities for gifted children are challenging, meaningful, and relevant in today's society. Click on the lesson plan you want to use then download and print copies. If you need help using the documents, consult the Adobe guide for assistance.

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Make a Positive Change in Your School Lesson Plan

Lower elementary students can work individually or in small groups to make a positive change in their school with this long-term project. Kids will learn to collect and analyze data, identify school community needs, and create a solution that leads to a positive change in their school. The entire project from research to implementation should be student-led.

Who's Missing From Your Library? Lesson Plan

Unique language arts lessons for gifted children include looking deeper into written materials. In this diversity lesson plan upper elementary students will explore their local library's holdings and analyze which population groups are not represented or under-represented in their literature options. Kids will be challenged to maintain a culturally diverse worldview and analyze children's books beyond the standard instruction.

Simple Gifted Lesson Plan Ideas

Lesson plans for gifted students don't have to be overly complex or time-consuming. Incorporate some simple activities that will challenge advanced students into your daily lesson plans or assign them as individual projects.

• Take a free IQ test for kids then evaluate the test. Was a good measurement tool? Why or why not?
• Develop critical thinking skills with activities like rebuilding a small machine or critical thinking questions for kids .
• Play kids' brain games like brain teasers then have students create their own.
• Use chapter books for gifted children as the basis for creative book reports or analysis.
• Participate in existential intelligence activities for kids that explore the student's connection to the universe.
• Create your own academic competition with printable quizzes and trivia like kids' movie trivia and printable quizzes for children .

Approaches to Teaching the Gifted and Talented

How a teacher deals with the gifted and talented in his/her classroom is going to depend on the programs available at his/her school and the resources available within the classroom setting. Instructional units and challenge activities for gifted students should go beyond grade level standards and expectations. Use these tips for teaching gifted children to help you craft original lessons.

Open-Ended Investigations

Research indicates that gifted students tend to do better and feel more challenged with open-ended investigations. A good open ended investigation doesn't have a correct answer but could have a variety of good answers based on the possibility of changing variables. This might include reading a book and then re-writing the ending, or building a bridge that can hold a certain amount of weight.

Across the Curriculum Gifted Lesson Plan

Another way in which gifted students tend to learn well is by integrating a variety of academic disciplines into one study or project. Most gifted students are able to synthesize information and then analyze it relatively well. A great example may be to look at a particular scientific invention idea and then explore how its effect rippled to include the arts, and sciences.

Wealth of Knowledge

Because gifted students are often capable of memorizing vast amounts of information, some educators posit that it's better to feed gifted and talented students a wealth of knowledge. An example might be having a student compete on a knowledge bowl or in an academic decathlon.

Complex Projects

Another way to approach the education of the gifted is to create lesson plans for gifted and talented students that allow them to study things in depth. Gifted students often are able to understand cause-and-effect relationships much better than their peers. They are able to consider a variety of variables and even look at the situation from different view points. A great example of an in-depth project is to look at a particular period of history and study all the people, places and events that define that period.

Teaching Gifted Students

The best approach to creating lesson plans for gifted students is to allow them to follow their interests and run with them. There are many resources you can use to either supplement your lesson plans or help you write effective ones. In doing your lesson planning for gifted students, it's important to be flexible and understand that they may take you in a direction you hadn't intended. That's often when the best learning occurs!

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• Differentiated Instruction Strategies for Gifted Students

This article covers everything you need to know about Differentiated Instruction Strategies for Gifted Students, including best practices and examples.

It enables teachers to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each student and to provide instruction that is tailored to the individual’s learning style and needs. Differentiated instruction is especially important for gifted students , as they often have unique learning needs that require specialized instruction. It is important to differentiate instruction for gifted students because they often possess a wide range of abilities, which require different levels of instructional support. For example, a gifted student may excel in math, but struggle with reading comprehension.

By differentiating instruction, teachers can ensure that all students receive an education that meets their individual needs. Differentiating instruction for gifted students involves providing instruction that is tailored to their unique abilities and needs. This can include increasing the level of complexity in assignments, providing additional opportunities for enrichment, and allowing students to work at their own pace. Additionally, teachers should create activities that challenge gifted students without overwhelming them, and provide opportunities for creative problem solving.

To effectively differentiate instruction for gifted students, teachers must first identify the needs of each student. This can be done by observing student behavior, assessing student work, and speaking with parents and other teachers. Once these needs have been identified, teachers can develop differentiated instruction plans that provide appropriate challenges and support for each student. When creating differentiated instruction plans, teachers should consider the student’s interests, strengths, and weaknesses.

For example, if a gifted student is highly advanced in math, the teacher could create an individualized plan that provides challenging math assignments while also providing additional support in weaker areas such as reading comprehension or writing skills. By providing individualized instruction plans for each student, teachers can ensure that all students are receiving the support they need to succeed. Differentiating instruction for gifted students also involves providing activities that challenge them without overwhelming them. This can be done by allowing students to work at their own pace and by providing enrichment activities that are tailored to their interests and abilities.

Differentiation Strategies for Gifted Students

Content differentiation, process differentiation, product differentiation, environment differentiation, curriculum-based differentiation, best practices for differentiated instruction for gifted students.

By understanding each student’s unique abilities and needs, teachers can create personalized learning experiences that will engage and challenge them. Teachers can assess each student’s current knowledge and areas of need in order to provide the most appropriate instruction for their individual needs. Providing flexible learning environments is also important for providing effective differentiated instruction for gifted students. Teachers can create a variety of learning experiences that will engage and challenge the students. This includes providing multiple pathways to demonstrate mastery of content, allowing choice in how they participate in activities, and offering a range of activities that vary in complexity.

Additionally, teachers can provide options for students to work independently or in small groups depending on their individual preferences. Allowing students to take ownership of their learning is another important component of differentiated instruction for gifted students. Teachers should give students the autonomy to explore their interests and take control of their own learning. This could include providing opportunities for student-led research projects, allowing students to choose the topics they would like to learn more about, and giving them time to explore their ideas through creative projects or activities. Finally, utilizing technology is an important part of providing effective differentiated instruction for gifted students. Technology can be used to provide engaging and meaningful learning experiences that meet the needs of each student.

Teachers can use technology to create personalized learning paths and interactive activities that will challenge and engage gifted students. Additionally, technology can be used to facilitate collaboration between students and allow them to share their ideas in a safe and engaging environment. By utilizing these best practices, teachers can provide effective differentiated instruction for gifted students. Through recognizing individual student needs, providing flexible learning environments, allowing students to take ownership of their learning, and utilizing technology, teachers can create personalized learning experiences that will engage and challenge gifted students. Examples of how these practices can be implemented in the classroom include providing multiple pathways to demonstrate mastery of content, allowing choice in how they participate in activities, offering a range of activities that vary in complexity, providing opportunities for student-led research projects, allowing students to choose the topics they would like to learn more about, and giving them time to explore their ideas through creative projects or activities. Differentiated instruction is an important strategy for ensuring that gifted students receive the appropriate level of academic challenge.

This article discussed a variety of strategies for differentiating instruction, such as tiered assignments, flexible grouping, and self-paced learning. It also explored best practices to ensure effective differentiated instruction, including providing clarity of expectations, providing choice within assignments, and allowing for individualized support. Finally, this article provided examples of how to implement differentiated instruction in the classroom. By applying these strategies and best practices, educators can create an optimal learning environment for gifted students. In conclusion, differentiated instruction is an effective way to provide gifted students with an appropriate level of challenge and support.

Educators should use the strategies discussed in this article to create an optimal learning environment for gifted students in their classrooms.

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Shahid Lakha

Shahid Lakha is a seasoned educational consultant with a rich history in the independent education sector and EdTech. With a solid background in Physics, Shahid has cultivated a career that spans tutoring, consulting, and entrepreneurship. As an Educational Consultant at Spires Online Tutoring since October 2016, he has been instrumental in fostering educational excellence in the online tutoring space. Shahid is also the founder and director of Specialist Science Tutors, a tutoring agency based in West London, where he has successfully managed various facets of the business, including marketing, web design, and client relationships. His dedication to education is further evidenced by his role as a self-employed tutor, where he has been teaching Maths, Physics, and Engineering to students up to university level since September 2011. Shahid holds a Master of Science in Photon Science from the University of Manchester and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Bath.

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Classroom Strategies: Teaching Gifted Students

In a nurturing learning environment, students and teachers build a place of mutual respect and appreciation. When everything is working, all students feel valued, and teachers are aware of how developmental needs affect learning. However, some students may develop their gifts or talents ahead of their age or experience. It is our responsibility as educators to engage and build up these gifts and talents.

Sometimes, categorizing and labeling students can make you shrink a little. After all, you know that all of your students are special in their own way. Giftedness is not fixed—all students have the ability and the potential to excel, and all students have special talents and strengths. The important thing is finding a way to nurture those talents and strengths in such a way that students can develop their potential to the fullest.

All students have the right to learn new things every day, but managing the range of academic levels within a classroom is a formidable task. Often, gifted or advanced learners may be underchallenged or understimulated. There can be a mismatch between how they preferer to learn and how they are taught. This can potentially lead to a host of behavior, confidence, and peer relationship struggles.

So, how can you support these learners as an educator? Let’s take a look at a few teaching strategies and best practices!

Treat Students as Individuals

As you are building your approach and learner profile, keep in mind that exceptional students are unique. They may be twice-exceptional , intellectually gifted children who also have learning disabilities. They may be gifted in one area and not in another. Extraordinary talent in math does not always transfer to an equal talent in writing, art, or science. This can be frustrating for the student. 

Supporting gifted students usually involves a mixture of acceleration and enrichment of the usual curriculum. A first step is creating an interest survey for the whole class. By reviewing the results, a classroom teacher can personalize lessons and target topics of interest.

Let Students Explore Their Passions

Help students immerse themselves in a subject that sparks their passion by providing a topic library or by checking books and magazines out of the library and creating a resource of appropriate videos. Classroom teachers can structure art projects and writing activities about the topic of interest. There is no reason not to teach reading through the focus of trains or to teach math with counting marine animals with students. If they are older, why not explore impact of the topic on history? There are always opportunities to connect.

Infuse Enrichment into Activities

Students may speed through material as they master it. If the suggested pace is two chapters a week but your students can complete two chapters a day because the topic engages them, let them get ahead. Add to the instruction by allowing them to create a presentation, a project, or even a script for a podcast. 

Provide the space for deeper exploration and understanding. Arrange enrichment activities that gifted students can carry out by themselves at their desks. Allow students to do special projects. However, avoid finding busywork, as students will recognize it for what it is.

Build in Time for Flexible Learning Groups

You can intentionally create small groups for flexible learning with consideration of students’ readiness levels, strengths, and/or interests. This thoughtful planning tool can be used to create a more dynamic learning environment. Keep in mind that the groups continually change based on assessment data related to students’ needs. 

When the data are studied, students may bubble up and display previously hidden talents. Include identified gifted students in group work. Although gifted learners are capable of working independently, these students need opportunities to work with and socialize with their peers.

Embrace Creative Questioning

Gifted learners are often curious about the world around them, and they may ask detailed questions to satisfy their thirst for knowledge. This curiosity goes beyond simple interest in a topic and can extend to aspects that are seemingly outside of the scope of a lesson. 

Be respectful of your students’ curiosity, and encourage the search for answers to impossible questions. Students may ask unexpected questions, so try to leave room for exploration when a quirky question comes your way by asking where this question came from and what it is connected to.

Look for evidence of learning by encouraging students to share their intuitive theories about a topic and by completing open-ended tasks in which they extend or apply what they have learned. Gifted children need less drill to master them on fundamental processes; be comfortable in leaving some gaps for students to bridge themselves.

Encourage Self-Directed Learning With Your Students

Self-directed learning is a skill that can be developed with all students. While some children are more self-motivated than others, self-directed learning is crucial to becoming a lifelong learner. Have regular conferences to help students plan their work, and provide support for difficulties and evaluation. Focus on meaningful and relevant content that enriches the topic at hand.

Interested in learning more about how you can support students with gifted abilities in your classroom? Check out our article, Classroom Strategies to Support Advanced Learners at All Grade Levels .

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Meeting the Need of Gifted Students in the Regular Classroom

What sets gifted children apart from other students in a classroom? It is primarily the ability to absorb abstract concepts, organize them more effectively, and apply them more appropriately. The following suggestions will help you develop a classroom environment that will challenge and nurture gifted learners.

Independent Projects: Create an Independent Project activity. You will find that many gifted and talented students tend to have a lot of extra time on their hands in your classroom because they finish their work rather quickly. Use this time to help them develop their creativity by allowing them to explore a special area of interest related to the topic being studied.

Academic Competition: Involve gifted and high achieving students in an academic competition. These highly motivating events can be held right at your school and have relatively inexpensive registration fees. They are computer driven and test students' knowledge in a variety of academic disciplines. Not only do they challenge students academically, they provide an opportunity to develop skills in leadership and group dynamics. Here are two organizations that can provide competitions and more information for all grades.

The Knowledge Master Open (Elementary, Middle School, and High School) Academic Hallmarks P.O. BOX 998, Durango, CO 81302 1-800-321-9218 or 970-247-8738 Thinking Cap Quiz Bowl (Elementary and Middle School) 4220 Park Hill Circle, Urbandale, IA 50322 515-278-5097

Vertical Enrichment: Plan "vertical enrichment" activities with gifted students. Design assignments or projects that go above and beyond what is covered in the regular classroom. Don't just give gifted students "more of the same." There are a number of educational products designed for gifted and talented students that can be easily adapted into regular classroom activities. Here is a list of vendors offering affordable materials that can be used to challenge students in a range of academic disciplines while developing their higher level thinking skills and problem-solving abilities.

Prufrock Press PO Box 8813, Waco, TX 76714-8813 1-800-998-2208 The Critical Thinking Co. PO Box 448, Pacific Grove, CA 93950-0448 1-800-458-4849 MindWare P.O. Box 43507 Omaha, NE 45307 1-800-999-0398

Find a Mentor: Don't turn your gifted student into a tutor or teacher's aide! Instead, find a mentor who is willing to work with him/her in an area of interest. Start with the parents of students at your school. Ask other teachers. Contact local organizations. The bottom line is that you want to help the gifted student reach his/her potential and tapping outside expertise is sometimes necessary. Gifted children need "tutors," too!

Try a New Approach: Change your approach when working with gifted and talented students. Instead of being "the expert," become "the facilitator." Rather than just "giving" them information, help them to discover it!

Use Bloom's Taxonomy: Let Bloom's Taxonomy become your guide in working with gifted students. This web site explains clearly and simply each level of Bloom's Taxonomy - a model of critical thinking that progresses from the most basic level to the most complex. Examples of appropriate questions are given as well as illustrations for use in the classroom and ways to use technology within each level on the taxonomy. Gifted students should be asked to utilize the upper three levels - analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Below are some examples of lesson planning "actions" that should be incorporated when planning activities for gifted students.

Multiple Intelligences: Incorporate Multiple Intelligences into your lessons! Developed by Harvard Professor of Education Howard Gardner, this Theory of Multiple Intelligences states that all people possess at least seven different kinds of intelligences - linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, body-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. These intelligences exist in varying degrees within each individual. Applying this theory to your classroom activities ensures that every student will be individually challenged in one or more specific area. The multiple intelligences website provides many practical ideas for using Multiple Intelligences across the curriculum. Explore the Multiple Intelligence posters (and comics). Print some to hang in your classroom.

Use Technology: TeachersFirst offers extensive resources and ideas for Nourishing Gifted Through Technology in Any Classroom . Find hand-picked tools and strategies for differentiating academic content, injecting and respecting creativity, helpful gifted students form personal connections in areas of interest and collaborations with other gifted students, and managing the logistics of gifted in your classroom.

Leveling Assignments: Try leveling class assignments and learning outcomes. In this way, you can explore the same material with all of your students, but require different outcomes depending on the students' individual abilities. This strategy can also be applied to testing. Again, refer to Bloom's Taxonomy and include higher level questions on exams for gifted students.

Working with Gifted & Talented Students • How to Spot a Gifted Student

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Differentiated Instruction

6 Ways to Deliver Differentiated Instruction for Gifted Students

What Does Gifted Mean?

Before we discuss how to differentiate instruction for gifted students, we should explore what gifted means. There isn’t a simple definition. In fact, the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)’s 2018–2019 State of the States in Gifted Education report shows that nearly every state has its own definition of gifted, and some states don’t even define the term.

The definition used by the state of New Jersey gives one such example, which states that a gifted and talented student is a “student who possesses or demonstrates a high level of ability in one or more content areas when compared to their chronological peers in the school district and who require modifications of their educational program if they are to achieve in accordance with their capabilities.”

It’s important to remember that students can be gifted in different ways—such as athletics, leadership, or social and emotional skills—and nobody is gifted in everything. “There are lots of different areas that people can be gifted in, but in school, we rely on the academic piece because that’s what we serve,” says Jennifer G. Beasley, EdD, director of teacher education at the University of Arkansas. “Since there is no common definition of gifted, we need to appropriately assess students to discover the strengths and areas we can support.”

It’s also important to remember that the strategies discussed in this blog can be used for “non-gifted” students as well.

Why Do Gifted Students Need Differentiation?

Just as a student who finds the classroom material overwhelming may zone out or misbehave, so too may a gifted student. Even worse, when students who are gifted are routinely unchallenged, they may never learn how to learn. Gifted students need opportunities to analyze, evaluate, create, and reflect. They should gain experience by asking and investigating complex questions and completing challenging tasks.

Although we are focusing on differentiated instruction for gifted students, it is important to note that the strategies discussed in this blog can apply to all populations of students. “Differentiation is meeting the needs of learners where they are at,” says Beasley. “It’s a philosophy—not a bag of tricks or a strategy. It’s about thinking about the pieces we can differentiate by readiness, by interest, by learning profile, and so on, for whatever type of learners are in your class.”

How to Differentiate for Gifted Students

Teachers can differentiate content, process, or product (see chart below), but they need to start by building the right kind of classroom community. “If a student—gifted or not—doesn’t feel safe and accepted by their teacher or classmates, it will be difficult for them to trust what you’re doing or take risks and learn and grow,” says Beasley.

Other key principles of differentiation include flexible grouping, a high-quality curriculum, and ongoing assessment. If one of these factors is missing, it will be more difficult to differentiate . Once these principles are in place, there are a variety of strategies teachers can use to differentiate instruction for gifted students.

6 Ways to Differentiate Instruction for Gifted Students

1. create tiered assignments.

Tiered assignments allow learners to complete the same assignment at different levels of difficulty. By varying the level of difficulty, you’re letting each student demonstrate understanding. Some teachers do this by designing an assignment for the middle tier and then adding in an additional challenge for students who are gifted. For example, you could ask gifted students to apply a skill in two ways instead of one. Other educators prefer to plan the lesson for the students who are gifted and then differentiate by providing support for the rest of the class. Differentiation expert Carol Ann Tomlinson believes that this method “challenges advanced learners more than trying to pump up a ‘middling’ idea—and serves other students better as well.”

Beasley has gotten this strategy down to a science. She’ll collect data, do a quick assessment, and plan two levels of an activity. “We typically think of planning for three levels of an activity, but it depends on what your assessment shows. There may not actually be any students that are above grade level on a particular skill.” She starts by planning the above-grade level task because that’s where she wants everyone to be, and then adds in scaffolding, such as a graphic organizer or supplied reading material, for the students who are at- or below-grade level.

Tiered assignments can be time-consuming, with lots of upfront work. Beasley suggests collaborating with colleagues. If you do it for one unit or chapter, might another teacher do it for a different unit or chapter?

2. Allow Gifted Students to Work at Their Own Pace

By giving a pre-assessment at the start of each unit, you can let students who already know the material handle the lessons differently. Perhaps there’s an independent project related to the topic that a gifted learner could work on, or maybe the student could skip some of the earlier assignments. How about letting the gifted students work on two assignments at once or giving them fewer directions?

3. Offer Open-Ended or Self-Directed Assignments & Activities

Open-ended tasks can have many valid approaches, and students can apply their unique skills and ideas. In addition, an activity that is open-ended can stimulate higher-order thinking. Let gifted learners be responsible for their own development by giving them a say in how far they take their own learning. Ask higher-level questions and encourage students to offer creative responses, work in pairs to question each other, and find ways to stimulate further exploration. You may even allow your students who are gifted to work on an independent study in an interest area whenever they have free time.

4. Compact the Curriculum

Whether it’s an entire unit or a lesson, if you can give students the opportunity to show they already understand the material, they can move on to something else. “Compacting” refers to tossing out the part of the lesson that students already know, which frees them up to work on something more challenging. In a math class, for example, you might choose the essential problems that demonstrate mastery. If students can correctly solve those problems, they can move on to an extension activity.

Beasley calls this the “Five Hardest First.” For any assignment, she’ll choose the five most difficult questions and let all students attempt to answer those first. “If the students understand these five, I know they have met that learning goal.”

5. Deliver Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning (PBL), which the Buck Institute for Education defines as a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects, lets students who are gifted flex their intellectual muscles. More than “just a project,” PBL encourages intellectual and emotional development by asking students to conduct deep research, ask complex questions, exhibit critical thinking and problem-solving, collaborate, and improve time-management skills. To solve problems or come up with physical solutions, students need to develop timelines and summon inner strength if their solutions don’t work. In some schools, students can display or present their projects, helping them develop public speaking skills. These types of projects give students increased independence and the ability to study material at their own pace. PBL is a great strategy for all types of learners, but it can be particularly compelling for gifted learners due to its depth and complexity, student choice, real-world skill development, and collaboration opportunities.

6. Pair Gifted Students Up

NAGC research shows that allowing students who are gifted to work together in small groups boosts their achievement because they challenge themselves. The Davidson Institute says that academic competition is important for gifted students to learn how to deal with success and defeat. In fact, the Institute lists academic competitions that are designed to entice students to work independently or in teams; this kind of work helps gifted students handle pressure and gain experience in real-life challenges. When you let gifted students work together, they can work on advanced content or assignments at their level. Because students can be talented in different ways, you can use this strategy to help them learn from each other and expand their horizons.

Communicating Your Goals

Whichever of these differentiation strategies for gifted students you use, by doing so, you’ll be helping to meet gifted learners’ needs. Communicate your goals and plans for differentiation to your students and their families and caregivers. “Be sure to introduce and define differentiation,” says Beasley. “Let students know that their classmates may be doing different things, and that just means we have different interests.” By getting buy-in upfront, you can help everyone understand your methods. It’s important for everyone to be in the know about the ways we educate.

Besides these strategies for differentiation for gifted learners, older gifted students may benefit from being challenged with college-level material. Request an online preview of any of our AP and elective courses across math, science, and social studies.

Giving students a head start on college-level coursework with the HMH Advanced Placement & Electives .

Get our free guide to differentiated instruction.

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