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The Bartlesville, OK school district is considering self-contained classrooms for Gifted and Talented students. Personally, I’m torn on the issue- on one hand I think it’s good that gifted students are getting the attention they need and deserve. On the other hand, it has the potential to create sort of a “school within a school” where the gifted children are treated differently. Not that gifted children aren’t seen as “different” already by their peers, but actually separating them altogether would likely add to their alienation.
Now, I don’t have any inexperience in a self-contained classroom setting, so I’d love to hear from anyone who has. My experience has been with pull-out instruction- I’d leave the regular classroom to meet with other gifted children and the facilitator. I attended a small district, so it’s likely that the school just didn’t have the budget for self-contained classrooms. But I’m not sure if I would have wanted to be completely separate, but still walk the same halls as the other students.
I didn’t mind getting out of class during elementary school. But in Jr. High and High School, I was much more self-conscious about the situation. My classmates would say things like, “Why are you getting out of class? Look don’t look gifted.” and stuff like that. Being in a separate classroom may have eliminated those comments, but I still would rather have been in the regular classroom.
So what do you think about self-contained classrooms for gifted students? Take our poll below and let us know what you think?
I presently teach a self-contained gifted classroom. If properly selected ( testing, specific gifted testing, open ended writing test, teacher recommendation to refer students with that self motivation rather than solely parent motivated) then this is an excellent way of reaching the needs of truly gifted children who would be held back in the regular education classroom.