Jones

Field Report- Gifted and Talented

Kirstyn N. Jones

Tarrant County College

2301 EDUC

Ms. Woods

April 22nd
Jones

Classroom Layout

I observed at Schluter Elementary; located in Northwest Independent School District. I observed

a teacher named Ms. Dawson. Her room was decorated with purple and zebra print. There was a purple

zebra print around her whiteboards and bulletin boards. She had a purple LED on the perimeter of her

ceiling throughout the room. The lighting was soft: she used her lamps and the light from the window.

The student’s seats were arranged in rows. There were about 8 desks in each row, and there were 3

rows of desks. Each desk was facing the primary whiteboard and the teacher’s desk. The computers

were in the back of the room on a charging station. They were labeled with each student’s number. The

bulletin boards were full of educational material such as their sight words. She also had a bulletin board

that contained the “Bark of the Week”. This is where each week a student sends in a picture of their

dog, and they get to display it on the bulletin board. Next to this bulletin board, there was a bookshelf

that contained their classroom library. Overall, it was a very calm and welcoming environment.

Gifted and Talented Program

In the Northwest district, the gifted and talented students are pulled out of their general

education classrooms and moved based on their subject. For example, there was a young lady who was

a GT student in mathematics. She is in fourth grade, and during her fourth-grade mathematics time, she

was pulled from this room, and taken to a fifth-grade mathematics classroom. This is how Northwest

does it for all grade levels. I asked Ms. Dawson what if the GT student is in fifth grade, and she said the

protocol is still the same except the student will use the app “Zoom” to be included in a sixth-grade

math class.

Lessons and Activity

The lesson that I observed was about long division. Ms. Dawson had a worksheet for the

students to complete with long division problems. This worksheet had 15 questions on it. When I first

arrived to observe the lesson had already begun, the students did one problem with their teacher and
Jones

then were asked to finish the worksheet independently. This was the only lesson or activity that they

completed within my allotted time there. After they finished the worksheet, they were asked to pick a

library book and read it independently.

Instructional Strategies

The grouping strategies I observed that seemed to be beneficial were that the GT students that

were visiting were all sitting together in a row. As stated in the paragraph prior I was able to observe the

lesson as a whole group, then independently. I did notice that the teacher implemented a rule “ask

three before me”. She encouraged the students to problem-solve among themselves before asking her.

In my opinion, there was some use of Bloom’s Taxonomy. She seemed to be using a lot of action verbs

to inform her learning intentions, and she did have questions that seemed to prompt deeper thinking.

The lessons were not lengthier or more complex because they were not learning with their peers, they

were sent to the grade above them. In a way, they could be considered more complex because they are

learning at a higher level, but they were also doing the same work as the student who would be

considered a gen-ed student. The assignment was not different from the general education student

sitting a row behind them.

Comparing and Contrasting GT to General Education

When observing in Northwest Independent School District the students are simply put into a

general education classroom only at a higher grade level. Because of this, it is hard for me to point out

clear differences between the general education setting and a GT setting because they are simply

combined. The GT student is just expected to complete higher-level work. I think they would be

considered more alike than different simply because the teacher was teaching a class that was primarily

general education and three of the students were GT. They learned all of the same material, completed

the same worksheet, etc. I heard from Ms. Dawson that not every district does it this way. For example,

she said before moving to Northwest ISD she taught in another elementary school where the GT
Jones

students would be pulled for a couple of hours and go to a room only for gifted and talented students.

She said they had their lesson plans and their own set of expectations. I believe this would be more

beneficial for the GT students because, in a smaller group setting, they would be more encouraged to

use Bloom’s Taxonomy higher level thinking, rather than get a general education lesson or activity that is

simply a higher grade level. When talking with Ms. Dawson she said that because they were GT they are

encouraged to think outside of the box, but the way that it is structured in their district she feels that

there isn’t much opportunity to extend these students’ thinking.

Challenges with Teaching GT

From speaking with Ms. Dawson, she mentioned the challenge with teaching GT seemed to be

the way that the GT program was structured in her district. She felt that there are a lot of missed

opportunities for these students because they are simply moved to a higher grade level rather than put

in their own GT classroom with their peers and taught that way. She said it was very challenging to

expand their thinking while also teaching her homeroom class. In my opinion, she made it clear she was

not a fan of the way the program was being run and felt as if she did not have the proper recourses or

help to make her GT students work to the fullest.

Jones