Advocacy

“Self-directed differentiation enables the gifted learner to continue differentiating for and by themselves in all learning situations.”

Educational literature is replete with the concept and the need to teach students to “learn to learn.” Over the years, educational literature also has defined and redefined the meaning of “learning-to-learn.” The association of learning-to-learn with gifted students often is perceived as central to academic achievement and social emotional development. There are sufficient contemporary factors that align “learning-to-learn” with the procedure to differentiate for the gifted. Time, academic diversity, discipline-related standards, and teacher knowledge represent factors that consistently demand redefining the when, what, and how to differentiate for the gifted.

The necessity to consider shifting the emphasis from teacher- to student-directed differentiation should be considered for many reasons. Among these reasons are those that have prohibited rather than facilitated gifted students opportunities for the recognition and responses that underscore differentiation. Facilitating gifted students understanding of their role in the process of differentiation is fundamental and shifts their role as a designer to a recipient of a differentiated experience. Learning-to-learn strategies are essential to this change.

Initiating self-directed differentiation does not exonerate the teacher from the responsibility to teach gifted students the elements that constitute learning-to-learn, the relationship of learning to learn to the individual’s responsibility for one’s potential and abilities, the opportunity to encounter and experience challenge, and the realization of the dimensions of one’s interests.

There are many learning-to-learn strategies, and each has its particular value as an independent process as well as its value as a member of a group of strategies. Each of the learning-to-learn skills must be presented, practiced, and reinforced before it can be expected to be applied in a self-directed differentiated manner. Gifted students’ self-direction is dependent on comprehending the what, why, how, and when these strategies can and should be implemented.

Following are the learning-to-learn strategies that need to be taught and practiced prior to gifted students’ applying them into a lesson or unit of study to self-direct differentiation.

Learning-to-Learn Strategies

Practice

Teaching the value and how to selectively determine what part of the whole is needed and can be considered as a legitimate self-directed practice. The art to discriminate what section or facet is needed to be practiced maximizes the value of practice and minimizes its negative effects.

Transfer

Teaching the meaning of transfer as the need to apply what is learned in one setting to other settings is primary to becoming a scholar. Too often, artificial boundaries are set that encase and maintain a particular feature of learning to only the application where it was originally taught and learned.

Prioritize

Teaching the importance of allocating the impact of different facets of a learning experience for different purposes and contexts within and across disciplines validates the concept of “knowing.”

Restate

Teaching how to extrapolate what is essential and subsequent how to communicate what has been learned. The ability to “personalize” what has been learned provides students with the opportunity to retain what has been learned longer and to apply what has been assimilated more significantly.

Connect and Associate

Teaching the multiple means to make connections to build and elaborate knowledge or skills that have been learned. The art of making connections is aligned to the art of elaborating ideas and skills and correspondence to the potential outcome of exercising creativity and developing a personal academic identify.

Process of Self-Directed Differentiation

The purpose of self-directed differentiation is to ensure that differentiation and the challenge it affords the gifted is operationalized. The goal of self-directed differentiation is inherent in the original definition of differentiation—to accommodate the needs of the gifted students. Self-directed differentiation enables the gifted learner to continue differentiating for and by themselves in all learning situations. Isn’t this the ultimate end of an education for the gifted?