How Teachers Can Identify Talented Students Term Paper

How Teachers Can Identify Talented Students - Term Paper Example It is imperative for teachers to first understand what giftedness or talent is, in order to determine whether a student is talented or not.   According to  Goodhew (2009), a person is said to be talented if he or she is unique in one or more aspects when compared to other individuals within the same age bracket. Talented students have specific learning attributes that enable them to attain excellent performance in comparison to those around them. Such talented learners often require distinctive education services or programs, which supersede those conventionally provided by regular education programs.   Without such perks, talented students may fail to develop their identity and ability to contribute optimally to society. Teachers should note that talented children that have high-performance capacity usually demonstrate potential ability or overachievement in one or more of several areas.   These areas include particular academic aptitude, general intellectual capacity, produ ctive or creative thinking, leadership capacity, and proficiency in visual or performing arts. For effective talent identification, teachers must work closely with parents, so as to take note of information and observations made both at home and at school. With the preceding giftedness attributes in mind, teachers must commit themselves to play the crucial role of scouting for student talent. This implies that instructors must remain alert to potential talent signs in four principal areas including, intellectual/academic, technical/vocational, social/interpersonal and artistic matters. Chuska (2005) is emphatic that this process of identifying talent must be started at an early age and progress, as the student continues to grow and develop. Such continuity would serve to facilitate better development and delineation of the students’ interests and strengths. Therefore, instructors should know that talent identification is not a one-time occurrence that enables them to declare children talented solely at a particular time.