Teaching Gifted

Teaching Gifted Pupils:

Jenny Piggott

What is the classroom culture that you foster to support able learners? - The aim of this short article is to encourage you to consider your own, your subject team's and your school's attitude to, and approach to, enrichment, extension and acceleration.

Use the questions below to help you discuss how you can most effectively support the needs of learners with mathematical potential in your classroom and in your school. The questions are here to stimulate your thoughts and discussions and act as support for a professional development session - Click here

Policy Documents

It is important that the department has a policy document so that there is a consistent and clearly laid out approach adopted by all members of staff. Some possible ways forward are:

Enrichment activities
Acceleration
Addressing the different learning needs of pupils and use a less structured approach
Developing more effective use of questioning skills
Use a more problem solving approach
Schemes of work need to have activities referenced
Gifted pupils to work on an additional project during some Maths lessons
Enroll Gifted pupils into an organisation such as the Government funded
National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth

Reviewing your provision for Gifted Pupils

Click here to access an amended DfES document to allow you to Review your Provision for Gifted Pupils within Mathematics.

Guidance on teaching able mathematicians

The Key Stage 3 National Strategy supports secondary teachers in building on the improving standards in primary schools. Teachers have raised expectations for all pupils. This guidance is intended to help teachers provide for pupils who are more able at mathematics than most of their peers - Click here for DfES Guidance

Identifying able pupils in mathematics

Able pupils are likely to absorb new ideas quickly, apply their skills confidently and may tackle problems using creative and original approaches.

The policies below have been largely constructed by combining various Dfes guidance documents and could easily form the basis of a departmental policy document on the Gifted in Mathematics.

Policy Version 1
Policy Version 2
Policy Version 3 - Mark Dawes (AST Comberton Village College)

Turning the situation around

Year 8 objective

Use straight edge and compasses to construct the mid-point and perpendicular bisector of a line segment (pages 220–223).

Main activity

Construct triangles from given data. Construct the perpendicular bisector of each side; what do you notice?

Extension activity

You are given three points and told they are the mid-points of the sides of a triangle. Construct the triangle.

Click here to access the Dfes Handout which is designed to stimulate discussion within a Departmental Meeting.

Exemplar Work

Comberton Village College

David Blaine in a box - Presentation

St Alban's High School

Projectile Launchers	Video of models made by pupils	Year 9 Set 1 2007-8
Chaos Theory and Fractals	Presentation	Tim Raine & Kiara Vincent
Chinese Postman's Problem	Presentation	Helen Jones & Lizzie Anthony
Multi-Dimensional Space	Presentation Speakers Notes	Danielle Whiting
Flat Earth Society	Presentation Speakers Notes	Jenny Badcock