3.4.4 They’re Gifted ALL the Time: Teaching Non-Academic Subjects to Gifted Children

Many characteristics accompany gifted students’ intellectual asynchrony, including intensity, advanced reasoning, and an innate sense of justice — but these can also include rigidity, risk-averseness, and low frustration tolerance. While much attention has been paid to the ways these traits manifest in classrooms, nearly all has focused on nurturing students’ academic development. However, those same characteristics are part of their giftedness all the time, in every school setting, including those considered “non-academic” and present in nearly every school: i.e., art, physical education, and music. How are these characteristics both a burden and a benefit in these non-academic environments? How can teachers of those subjects use an understanding of these characteristics to instruct, engage, and challenge their students?

In Art, for example, gifted students’ advanced abstract reasoning skills and vocabulary are ideal entry points for sophisticated critical thinking. Alongside their divergent thinking and imagination, rich experiences with art can free students from tacit assumptions that being “good at art” simply means realistic drawing, though they cannot be entirely “cured” of risk-averse behavior. In Physical Education, giftedness is expressed quite differently. Students can be reluctant to engage if they fear doing badly, and their sense of justice and fairness can make competition of any kind a fraught endeavor. In Music, these same characteristics can both help and hinder: the performance aspect can be stymied while the intellectual piece progresses by leaps and bounds. Students’ advanced abstract reasoning and analytical thinking mean high engagement and growth in musical theory and expression, but gifted children’s preference for working alone can frustrate growth in ensemble work.

In all of these “non-academic” subjects, characteristics that can make gifted children superstars in academic subjects can both elevate and complicate instruction. Despite being a school for the gifted with programming which is “all gifted, all day,” even we were surprised by the degree to which these characteristics influence student learning, engagement, and behavior in extra-academic pursuits. This somewhat counterintuitive realization has caused a sea change in some of our teachers; for example, our Physical Education Instructors have radically revised their pedagogy to reimagine the ways students can learn, fail, and try again in an environment focused on developing their bodies rather than their brains. Our Art, Physical Education, and Music instructors will share these insights so teachers and/or administrators can raise the level of discourse — and creativity! — in non-academic courses.

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