Page 90 - Kukanja Gabrijelčič, Mojca, and Maruška Seničar Željeznov, eds. 2018. Teaching Gifted and Talented Children in A New Educational Era. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 90
et C. De Boer, Marie-Christine J. L. Opdenakker, and Alexander E. M. G. Minnaert
Table 5 Mean scores of individual teachers’ teaching strategies
Teacher Global teaching Autonomy- Differential teaching
strategies
supportive strategies strategies
A . . .
B . . .
C . . .
D . . .
E . . .
F . . .
Notes Scores refer to a four-point scale (0-3).
motivation and task engagement. Therefore, we discussed with each teacher
several fragments of required teacher behaviour to challenge and motivate
gifted students, and to meet students’ basic needs.
Every lesson observed included a short introduction, with an explanation
of how the teacher had planned the lesson. Several teachers wrote the plan-
ning on the blackboard and discussed this with their students. The intro-
duction was followed by instruction on the subject or an assignment for the
students. Students then went to work, individually or in groups. The teacher
walked around and offered support to the students working on their assign-
ments. The lesson ended with some task-relevant feedback on students’ task-
related behaviour and performance, or instruction for homework as a mind-
ful preparation of the upcoming lesson.
During the lessons observed we noticed that all six teachers showed per-
sonal involvement with their students, organized their lesson in a structured
way, and supported the students when they completed their tasks. Further
on, we noticed that the teachers – though they experienced that they had en-
hanced their students’ engagement in an assignment – were not convinced
about the influence of their own behaviour on the motivation of their stu-
dents in terms of task engagement and learning in school. They underlined
the importance to challenge gifted students, and to differentiate at gifted
students’ cognitive level and time to learn, but argued that the amount of
students in one class, an imposed curriculum, and pressure toward speci-
fied learning results, suppress their possibilities for differentiation. Besides,
we noticed that each of the six teachers was not knowledgeable about mo-
tivational theories, such as SDT, in relation to creating a more optimal learn-
ing environment to challenge and motivate their gifted students. We discuss
some examples of the individual interviews with the teachers, and their de-
cision making.
88
Table 5 Mean scores of individual teachers’ teaching strategies
Teacher Global teaching Autonomy- Differential teaching
strategies
supportive strategies strategies
A . . .
B . . .
C . . .
D . . .
E . . .
F . . .
Notes Scores refer to a four-point scale (0-3).
motivation and task engagement. Therefore, we discussed with each teacher
several fragments of required teacher behaviour to challenge and motivate
gifted students, and to meet students’ basic needs.
Every lesson observed included a short introduction, with an explanation
of how the teacher had planned the lesson. Several teachers wrote the plan-
ning on the blackboard and discussed this with their students. The intro-
duction was followed by instruction on the subject or an assignment for the
students. Students then went to work, individually or in groups. The teacher
walked around and offered support to the students working on their assign-
ments. The lesson ended with some task-relevant feedback on students’ task-
related behaviour and performance, or instruction for homework as a mind-
ful preparation of the upcoming lesson.
During the lessons observed we noticed that all six teachers showed per-
sonal involvement with their students, organized their lesson in a structured
way, and supported the students when they completed their tasks. Further
on, we noticed that the teachers – though they experienced that they had en-
hanced their students’ engagement in an assignment – were not convinced
about the influence of their own behaviour on the motivation of their stu-
dents in terms of task engagement and learning in school. They underlined
the importance to challenge gifted students, and to differentiate at gifted
students’ cognitive level and time to learn, but argued that the amount of
students in one class, an imposed curriculum, and pressure toward speci-
fied learning results, suppress their possibilities for differentiation. Besides,
we noticed that each of the six teachers was not knowledgeable about mo-
tivational theories, such as SDT, in relation to creating a more optimal learn-
ing environment to challenge and motivate their gifted students. We discuss
some examples of the individual interviews with the teachers, and their de-
cision making.
88
