NEW! Readability, comprehensiveness, and humor enhance the excellence of this best-selling text , long recognized as the most popular introductory text in the field. Readers will acquire a thorough knowledge of the field , will be intrinsically motivated to read the material, and will enjoy the amusing writing style of the sixth edition. NEW! Thoroughly updated descriptions of acceleration, enrichment, and grouping options such as the Templeton Report on acceleration and the Parallel Curriculum Model are highlighted in the text to help teachers in both their understanding of what is available for gifted students and planning a program that includes sensible options. This broad overview of classroom approaches meets the pedagogical needs of gifted students and will have foundational research to gain support from school administration for initiating sound programs . Found in Chapters 5, 6, & 7. NEW! Discussion of underachievement, cultural and economic disadvantage, female underachievement, learning and emotional disabilities (dual exceptionalities), over-diagnosis and misdiagnosis of disorders is located in Chapters 12 through 15. Pre-service teachers will be sensitized to the psychological and cultural issues that cause some children's gifted performance to become invisible in their schools , and learn practical strategies for engaging these children in achievement and understand them better . Case studies of underachieving giftedness give readers a deeper insight into these pertinent issues as well.
NEW! Teacher's Guidebook for instructors available for adopters of the sixth edition text. The instructor's guide will feature a wealth of information to use with students, including discussion questions, project suggestions, and sample tests. Readers will be exposed to leaders in the field and core themes in every chapter . Unique Introductory Quotations are provided by some of gifted education's top minds and point to the main themes of each chapter, and the End of Chapter Summary ties the thoughts and content together nicely. Ready-to-use and modifiable sample forms for identification of giftedness are found in Chapter 3 . The forms will help clarify and simplify the highly critical identification process for pre-service teachers, with examples of forms used in schools , and a broad overview of a variety of test instruments along with the strengths and weaknesses of using these types of forms with gifted students. Creativity and teaching thinking skills-two concepts central to gifted education-are found in Chapters 8, 9, and 10 . These concepts will help pre-service teachers understand creative students, creative processes, and how to foster high-levels of creative thinking.
Immediate strategies and lesson plans that can be adapted to the classroom at all grade levels are an added bonus. Considerations of parenting, social-emotional needs and counseling are introduced, alerting readers to the affective needs of gifted students. Counseling strategies as well as parenting needs are covered so that pre-service teachers may learn how to reach out and communicate with the families of gifted children they will teach. These concepts are presented in Chapters 11, 16 and 17.