Ashley Runyon

Teaching Philosophy
March 3, 2016

Thomas Jefferson once said, there is nothing more unequal as the

equal treatment of unequals. Every child in the classroom is uniquethey
have a unique ability to learn, comprehend, and process materials and learn
at different rates. Gifted education was created to help reach the needs of
talented and high achieving students in the classroom and challenge them to
reach their fullest potential. In order to achieve these goals in the classroom,
students need to be exposed as well as introduced to project-based learning,
differentiated instruction through the use of small groups, as well as provided
with hands-on, concrete, and visual material that contains higher order
thinking questions that pushes the students above and beyond their
intellect. In my classroom, it is important that my students will achieve
independence and self-directed learning in the classroom that incorporates
real-world applications and creates an authentic experience.
Giftedness is a complex term that has been defined in multiple ways to
multiple people. To me, giftedness means an innate ability and/or potential
for remarkably high levels of accomplishment and outstanding talents when
compared to peers in a particular area/skill (i.e. arts, academics), and need
to continue their education while being taught through all learning styles.
Both Joseph Renzulli and Calvin Taylor align with my philosophy. Joseph
Renzulli believes in three factors that aid in the development of gifted
behaviorabove average ability, creativity, and task commitment. Just like
my philosophy, Renzulli believes that gifted students are above the norm in
their area of interest, whether it is creative like arts or academic like math.
Taylors idea of intelligence is similar to mine in the sense that not all gifted
students possess the same talents. Taylor believes that by identifying and
teaching with multiple intelligences, students will be more motivated. Gifted
students need to be consistently challenged and stimulated in order to hold
their attention. Gifted students need to be taught using all different learning
styles when teaching certain subject matter for a more rounded, gifted
learner. I believe that it is an injustice to the gifted students to neglect the
opportunity for them to grow by not differentiating the instruction and
meeting them at their level. Gifted students need just as much attention and
structure in the classroom as the students who are not. Therefore, I believe
that it is not only the students right, but it is also just to teach all children
based on their individual ability.
Gifted students will have their needs met in the classroom through
many different strategies. For example, students will continuously be
provided with challenging questions to promote higher order thinking. These

students will also use a project in the classroom and take it a step further.
Students will become self-directed learners and initiate projects that interest
them, as well as go deeper into projects that the teacher chooses. In the
Curriculum and Strategies class, I learned many different types of lessons
that challenge students, such as Graduated Difficulty that allows students to
assess and challenge themselves at their own level and pace, Creative
Problem Solving that enables students to use resources, make inferences,
and apply creative solutions to help solve real world issues, a Mystery Lesson
that provides students with two different opinions that they must analyze
with facts and research to come up for a conclusion, and many more. Along
with these types of lessons that will be used throughout different units,
students will be using strategies such as chunking material, research using
technology, and creating skits to deepen their knowledge and go a step
further. Students will be challenged to think in ways that do not come easy to
them to strengthen all of their intelligences and abilities. Also, I will
continuously assess each student on his or her ability by guiding instruction
towards their talent (i.e. art, creativity, math, etc) through individual and
small group instruction. As learned in the Characteristics of the Gifted
course, even within the classification as gifted there are many different
populations and groups of students.
A teacher plays a crucial role in teaching the gifted. Teachers must
continuously facilitate learning as opposed to directing learning of the
students. The teacher must continuously assess each student to make sure
he or she is appropriately challenged daily, while guiding, not coercing
students in order to develop life skills that students will apply in the
classroom, world, and their future career. A teacher must respect
individuality and personal integrity, as well as creativity and imagination in
all students. This will allow for a warm, safe, and democratic classroom
where all students are a part of a community.
My ultimate goal as a teacher of the gifted is to make sure I reach and
teach my students to their full potential. I will work every day to
appropriately challenge all students in the classroom by teaching them the
strategies to apply in the classroom and in the real world independently. I am
going to challenge myself through challenging my students and my goal is to
do this effectively daily. Ronald E. Osborn said, unless you try to do
something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. I
will work to integrate this thinking in myself and my students.