Parallel Session Proceedings »
5.1.4 Teachers Who Make A Difference: What Gifted Students Say
The Gifted Children’s Bill of Rights asserts the right to learn something new every day. Teacher quality is acknowledged as a critical factor in student learning and achievement; teachers need to provide effective learning experiences, and students need to perceive that they are receiving challenging educational opportunities. Student’s perceptions of teacher effectiveness can contribute to our understanding of how educators can meet gifted students’ needs. This study explores gifted students’ perspectives about teacher efficacy by examining Talent Search participants’ comments about the educators who have had a profound impact on them. More specifically, this qualitative study seeks to understand what characteristics and behaviors make a "good teacher" in gifted students' views. Study participants were recognized as the highest-scoring students on the Belin-Blank Exceptional Student Talent Search above-level testing for students in grades 4 – 12. Each student invited to an annual recognition ceremony was given the opportunity to honor an educator who has had a profound impact on the student, and students are invited to leave comments regarding their selected teacher and why that teacher has been so effective. Using qualitative analysis, we explored students’ comments to identify themes among the responses. Following open coding, we engaged in second-level coding using a priori codes from the Tripod Project (the 7 C's of Teacher Effectiveness) adopted by some school districts to solicit general education student perspectives about their teachers. Through careful analysis of the coding, we identified themes important to gifted learners—themes that were sometimes distinct from those identified as essential in general education classrooms. This research contributes to our understanding of what characteristics and behaviors are perceived by gifted learners as significant in their learning and in their lives. Teachers of the gifted can be more successful with this population by understanding the students’ sophisticated awareness of what effective teachers can do: “His emphasis on non-traditional teaching methods…as well as his ability to genuinely connect with students, made him a highly effective teacher.”