Make a Twist© is intended to assist teachers in the identification and implementation of appropriate differentiation strategies for gifted students. This can be done within the context of curricula activities and assessment tasks. The following strategies are complex and challenging, therefore appropriate and engaging for gifted and high ability primary and middle school students. Based on June Maker's curriculum differentiation model, developed specifically for gifted students, Make a Twist© provides outlines for differentiating curriculum using higher order thinking skills and problem solving. Modifications can be made to three curriculum-related elements in order to meet the specific learning needs of individual gifted students or groups of learners. According to Maker's Model, gifted students require differentiation in one or a combination of the following areas:  Content  Process  Product In order for successful learning to occur, gifted students also require an appropriate learning environment to be created. Educators are encouraged to place particular emphasis on the student-centered classroom where learner independence, acceptance, and open-mindedness is celebrated. Make a Twist© supports teachers to provide flexible environments for their students' learning, allowing for high mobility and the development of higher-order thinking skills, complex thoughts and abstract ideas. With the aid of Make a Twist©, the teacher acts as a facilitator to help the student select differentiation strategies and in doing so, encourages independent learning. Parental involvement is encouraged to build understanding and meet individual learning needs through specific forms of curriculum differentiation. When used in conjunction with a portfolio of the work produced, Make a Twist© provides a record of curriculum differentiation, where student talent is enhanced and recognised throughout the student's time in formal education. A balanced, well-articulated programme should include a variety of qualitatively different modifications to provide opportunities to challenge the gifted student. All of the differentiation strategies in this resource book have been identified as appropriate, comprehensive, adaptable, and practical for gifted students. It is suggested that specific strategies in each differentiation area, in conjunction with an independent learning programme, should be created to provide an overall education that meets the individual gifted student's learning needs.

During recent years there has been an increasing consciousness on the part of school administrators, educational philosophers, and others active in educational service that something must be done to conserve the wealth of human resources found among the pupils of our schools. With the present serious problems of postwar reconstruction to solve, the need is even more compelling than ever. At the door of a democratic society lies the responsibility for the nurture or for the neglect of the latent abilities that can be made to mean so much for economic welfare and personal happiness. Children possessing outstanding abilities should be given in their own elementary and secondary years every opportunity for maximum development of the powers through which later they may stand ready to make contributions of distinction to the democracy in which they live. The material presented in this publication is the outgrowth of a conference which met in Washington at the call of the U.S. Commissioner of Education to consider the problems of gifted children. Teachers, supervisors, administrators, clinicians, and guidance specialists were present. They came from the general elementary field, the secondary field, the university; from regular classes for unselected groups and from special classes for gifted children. They deliberated on matters relating to criteria of "giftedness" and "talent," means of identifying them, and methods of dealing with them. They brought to the conference reports of what they were doing in their local communities and what they hoped to do. They did not agree on all points discussed, for there were purposely invited to the conference persons representing different points of view. But differences were fully acknowledged and the common elements in their thinking eagerly sought. Following a foreword, the bulletin is divided into two parts. Part I, Principles and Practices, presents: (1) Basic Objectives; (2) Some Viewpoints on Identification and Treatment; (3) Some Types of Organization for Curriculum Adjustment; and (4) Provision for Special Abilities and Interests. Part II, Some Units of Experience, concludes the bulletin with: (1) Experiences in Understanding Citizenship; (2) Experiences in Intercultural Education; (3) Experiences in Science; (4) Enrichment through Literature, Speech, and Creative English; and (5) Service Projects. (Contains 1 footnote.) [Best copy available has been provided.].

Designed to help teachers meet the diverse needs of young children, this book offers differentiated strategies for promoting intellectual discovery and creative thinking across key disciplines.