Addressing the Needs of Gifted Students in the General Education Classroom

This professional development workshop helps teachers design lessons, programs, and activities that engage all learners while challenging gifted students. Participants explore characteristics that distinguish gifted learners and discuss how to meet their cognitive, emotional, and social needs within the general education setting. Even when gifted students attend pull-out programs part of the day, they are “gifted all of the time.” The session equips educators with research-based strategies and classroom techniques that can be implemented across all subject areas to ensure every learner is appropriately supported and challenged.

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• Insufficient differentiation within the general education classroom for gifted learners.
  
  
• Lack of understanding of gifted students’ distinct academic and social-emotional traits.
  
  
• The challenge of engaging all learners—especially gifted students—without widening classroom inequities.

1. Identification and Understanding of Gifted Traits
   Participants will learn to recognize the academic, behavioral, and emotional characteristics of gifted learners to better understand their needs and strengths.
   
   
2. Differentiation and Lesson Design
   Educators will gain strategies to compact, extend, and enrich curriculum content so gifted students remain challenged while ensuring that lessons remain inclusive for all learners.
   
   
3. Practical Classroom Implementation
   Teachers will develop actionable plans to apply differentiation techniques, flexible grouping, and higher-order questioning to promote deeper engagement and critical thinking among gifted students.