Is It a Cheetah?

By Stephanie S. Tolan © 1996 Stephanie S. Tolan It's a tough time to raise, teach or be a highly gifted child. As the term "gifted" and the unusual intellectual capacity to which that term refers become more and more politically incorrect, the educational establishment changes terminology and focus. Giftedness, a global, integrative mental capacity, may be dismissed, replaced by fragmented "talents" which seem less threatening and theoretically easier for schools to deal with. The child who does well in school, gets good grades, wins awards, and "performs" beyond the norms for his or her age, is considered talented. A cheetah metaphor can help us see the problem with achievement-oriented thinking. But cheetahs are not always running. It's not difficult to identify a cheetah when it isn't running, provided we know its other characteristics. Its chief food is the antelope, itself a prodigious runner. While body design in nature is utilitarian, it also creates a powerful internal drive.

High Achiever, Gifted Learner, CreativeThinker Identification of gifted students is clouded when concerned adults misinterpret high achievement as giftedness. High-achieving students are noticed for their on-time, neat, well-developed, and correct learning products. Adults comment on these students' consistent high grades and note how well they acclimate to class procedures and discussions. Some adults assume these students are gifted because their school-appropriate behaviors and products surface above the typical responses of grade-level students. Educators with expertise in gifted education are frustrated trying to help other educators and parents understand that while high achievers are valuable participants whose high-level modeling is welcomed in classes, they learn differently from gifted learners. In situations in which they are respected and encouraged, gifted students' thinking is more complex with abstract inferences and more diverse perceptions than is typical of high achievers. Szabos, J. (1989).

What Are the Characteristics of Effective Teachers of the Gifted? Knowing the characteristics of the best teachers of gifted students would be helpful for a variety of reasons. Understanding these characteristics could help in the training of teachers, in hiring of teachers of the gifted, and in helping parents assess who might best serve their children. Although it would be helpful to understand the characteristics of the best teachers of gifted students, there does not appear to be a general consensus of what those characteristics are. There have, however, been a number of studies that attempt to synthesize this information. Based on questionnaire data and needing more thorough research, effective teachers of the gifted have the following characteristics: Student responses suggest effective teachers of the gifted need to be patient, have a sense of humor, move quickly through material, treat each student as an individual, avoid being a "sage on the stage" all the time, and consistently give "accurate" feedback.