Curriculum Differentiation for the Gifted

Differentiation for gifted students means providing learning options that meet the students' special needs for acceleration of content and greater depth, breadth, and complexity of instruction. Some teachers think it's too difficult and time consuming to individualize daily lesson plans to accommodate these special students, but that's and inaccurate perception. It's actually easy to engage gifted children because they are open to so many different approaches and are excited about opportunities to accelerate or expand their learning in certain interest areas.
When a teacher provides ways for the gifted child to excel through small group investigation, independent study, or other option, he gains a valuable ally -the child. These students are so self-motivated that if they work together with their teacher to set goals and the teacher then gives them a gentle nudge in the right direction, the children take on much of the responsibility for their own learning. Naturally, the teacher supervises the students' activities, but teaching gifted children doesn't need to be an exercise in micro-management. When gifted children are fully engrossed, teachers find that they actually have more time to give to other students who need attention.

From the book: "Helping Gifted Children SOAR" by Carol A. Strip, Ph.D with Gretchen Hirsch