Thursday, February 17, 2011
Edutopia: Should Students be Labeled as Gifted?
Labels are useful and harmful. I hear students yelling down the hall "You're in the retard room" to a student who has a learning disability in math computation. Or you may hear other labels like "Queer, stupid, special ed" being directed at particular students. In education, using labels can be a helpful tool for instructing students with learning disabilities, behavioral problems, etc. Even students who excel, need to have specialized programs that challenge them. However, labels can be negative and I feel they are unnecessary. As an educator, my job is to know the strengths of my students and provide them with the strategies to help them become successful. We may find that one student needs more than another, but by using assessments (both formal and informal) we can measure the best way to help students. Being a special education teacher, labels are tools we use to categorize student needs, but I think if we eliminate labels and focus on strengths and weaknesses, this would be a more powerful approach.
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Labels tend to guarantee differentiated instruction. Many teachers teach the same things to all students, but when they are labeled, they are forced to make necessary modifications. Until we can be sure all teachers are modifying instruction for all types of learners, we need these labels to ensure the student is able to succeed at their level. My son is considered gifted, however there is not a gifted program at his school. Therefore, he is not "labeled". He has been a behavior problem the first three years of his schooling (he is in third grade). Luckily this year he has a teacher that is willing to go beyond what is expected of her and provide extra materials and more challenging work for him. He is a different kid this year!
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