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##  Creative Strategies for Teaching Language Arts to Gifted                        Students (K-8). ERIC Digest E612.                                            

Teaching strategies that stimulate higher level and imaginative                 thinking are important curriculum extensions for gifted students who            have already mastered much of the written and oral language skills              required at their grade level. This digest presents strategies and              activities that, while appropriate for all students, encourage                  gifted students especially to work at their own pace and level of               complexity and extend their talents in a variety of                             ways. EXPLORING POETIC LANGUAGE: FREE VERSEPoetry presents an             opportunity for gifted students to explore (1) the quality of                   words, (2) the power of metaphoric language, and (3) the complexity             and subtlety of meaning. When writing free verse without the                    constrictions of a rhyme scheme, students can focus on imagery and              point of view, and experiment with different writing                            styles. 
Creating a group poem. 
Creating a free verse poem with              all the students before they work on their own can demonstrate the              different ways to write free verse. Start by presenting a poster or             picture on any topic, such as nature. Encourage the students to                 think about the atmosphere of the picture-the color, the feeling                they get, and what certain images mean to them. Ask questions                   like: 
* If you were to think of the people (or animals) in this               picture as colors, what colors would they be? 
* If you were to                think of them as music or sound, what would you hear? 
* If they               had texture, temperature (such as cold, smooth, warm, liquid, etc.)             what might they be? 
As the students contribute words, phrases, or             parts of sentences, write them on a blackboard so that students can             build on one another's contributions to create a poem. Once the                 students have shared their ideas, read the whole poem with respect              and appreciation and talk about the images conveyed. 
Creating                 individual poems. 
Using creative catalysts, students can enter new            worlds and create images of their imaginary experience and analytic             thought. Teachers can provide a wide range of creative                          catalysts (e.g., posters, pictures, paintings, films, musical                   recordings, books, games, puzzles, etc.) and guide students in                  deciding which catalyst they want to use. Try to stimulate original             thinking through focused questions and directions: 
* Notice this              photo of Jane Goodall. 
* What is she staring at? 
* What exists              outside the lines of the painting? 
* What does her expression tell            you? 
* What do you imagine has just happened before this picture              was taken? 
Freed from the need to make words rhyme, many gifted               writers produce verse with extraordinarily sensitive and vivid                  imagery: 
A mournful sky 
Shivering 
Casting waves of unhappiness            through her veins 
Thoughtful limbs 
Reach upward to plant a kiss             on a frowning thought 
comforting 
A seed 
Soon to change the                color of Mother Sky to a rich healthy sapphire blue 
that will burn            away her black cape of troubles 
Melt them down to tiny                        drops 
Letting them fall away to cool the Earth 
Then thank her               fellow trees 
And invite them up her stairway for tea, as an honor             for their kindness 
Kendall, grade 5 EXPLORING THE ELEMENTS OF               FICTIONDivergent thinking. 
Exploring the elements of fiction              can be exciting if students are asked to improvise and think                    divergently about the stories. All students can benefit from the                critical thinking that this strategy demands, and the teacher can               adapt it to more difficult content, depending on the ability and                grade level of the students. Begin with fundamental questions: If               you could change this, what would you change it to? How? Why? Then              break down the different elements of a composition and discuss how              specific changes would change the whole effect. 
Using fractured               fairy tales to explore fiction. 
Fractured fairy tales are designed            to be humorous by changing a familiar story in an unexpected way,               such as altering the plot, a character, or setting. One student                 might decide to make Little Red Riding Hood a tough, strong girl,               completely unafraid of the wolf and able to save her grandmother.               Another student may select a fictional superhero and create a                   humorous flaw that causes problems when he/she has to save the day.             When the teacher presents a fractured fairy tale, asking a series of            questions helps the children think through the changes and what they            mean. Examples include: 
* What characters in this story differ                from the original and how? 
* Which events occur in the new one                that don't in the original? 
* How do the changes in characters and            plot in the second one change the meaning and/or the way you feel               about the characters? 
* How does this change the overall                      effect? 
* What do you think the writer is trying to say in this               new version? 
When students are asked to change the nature of even             a few characters in a fairytale, they will discover that the                    smallest change can affect plot. If their changes remove the                    conflict and suspense from the story, the teacher can take them back            to the original story. What moment in the story held the most                   tension for them? What kept them riveted to the story? Re-examining             their own ideas, gifted students can then identify the areas where              the conflict and suspense have gone and can brainstorm ways to                  create new conflicts. This process can apply to the simplest stories            as well as to the most advanced novels and plays. For gifted                    students, the possibilities are limitless and the problems presented            by the process endlessly fascinating. The key is to discuss the                 relationships across story elements and to examine what is gained or            lost with each change. A STUDY OF PERSPECTIVE: BIOGRAPHICAL AND               HISTORICAL FICTIONBiographies and histories provide rich                    material for gifted students to re-imagine actual events from new,              even unusual points of view. Gifted students rarely accept anything             on face value and enjoy debating points in politics and history                 based on their own alternate readings of the events. Writing                    biographical and historical fiction enables them to capitalize on               this talent and use it to explore different perspectives both                   critically and creatively. 
Researching the facts. 
Begin by                  exposing the students to the life experiences of prominent men and              women through books, magazines, and short films, and through                    pictures, drawings, or images of their work. Ask them what                      influences in these individuals' young lives affected their                     development, how they overcame the obstacles or challenges that                 stood in their way, and what their most significant contributions               were. When they write this information down in paragraph form or as             a series of notes and also jot down any questions they have about               the person's life, many gifted students find themselves continually             going back to do more research as the story develops in more detail.            This is one of the great values of biographical (and historical)                fiction: It inspires deeper research and a more critical analysis of            issues that appear in their story. 
Creating a point of                        view. 
Choose a person (or animal or object) in a prominent                    person's life and describe an event from this perspective. It could             be the person's brother, sister, friend, dog, or even his/her                   favorite pen. As students begin to tell their stories, they discover            how individual points of view create a different focus and                      perspective than the more "objective" biographies that synthesize               information from multiple sources. 
Historical fiction works in a              similar way. For example, the class may study the Civil War period.             After the students acquire a detailed understanding of the issues               and conflicts between the north and south and events that finally               drove the two sides to war, ask them to create a character from this            period. The students create a personal history for their imaginary              character and write a story or anecdote that could have occurred in             the life of this person in this place in this time. 
Gifted                    students who use biography and history as a source for creating                 fiction begin to see history-and non-fiction generally-in a                     different light. Within a news report or a historical event are many            individual lives, each with a slightly different perspective.                   Perhaps in no other form do critical and creative thinking work so              closely. Gifted writers who love history discover a limitless source            of material-the stories of many civilizations around the world-that             can become the world of their characters, the cause of conflicts,               the most suspenseful moments of their own stories. These activities             lead to a reflective understanding of how the stories of history are            told and how bias can impact the representation of                              events. CONCLUSIONLanguage arts instruction for gifted must               provide students with the techniques and sources that fully engage              their analytical minds and imaginative talents. Gifted readers and              writers can expand their experience of literature when they respond             to it through their own original work-creative writing, designing,              composing and dramatizing. Higher-level thinking skills of analysis,            interpretation, and evaluation are inherent to the creative                     processes described in this digest. When used as a curriculum                   extension, the strategies are especially for gifted students, and               may also be used to teach critical thinking skills to all                       children. RESOURCESInternet resources cited in this document              were current at the time of publication. Please note that Web                   addresses are subject to change. 
Smutny, J. F. (Ed.) (1998). The              Young Gifted Child: Potential and Promise, An Anthology. Cresskill,             NJ: Hampton Press. 
Smutny, J. F., Walker, S. Y., and Meckstroth,              E. A. (1997). Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular                     Classroom: Identifying, Nuturing, and Challenging Ages 4-9.                     Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing Inc. 
Web sites for                    fractured fairy                                                                 tales: 
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmll/blue/tale/fairy.html                  
http://www.ed.uri.edu/unitweb/lgoudailler/project.htm                         
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/fft.html 
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ERIC                   Digests are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced and               disseminated, but please acknowledge your source. This digest was               prepared with funding from the Office of Educational Research and               Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education (ED) under Contract            No. ED-99-CO-0026. The opinions expressed in this publication do not            necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI or ED.                 **Title:** Creative Strategies for Teaching Language Arts to Gifted                        Students (K-8). ERIC Digest E612.                                            **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Target Audience:** Practitioners, Teachers                                                      **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, Council for            Exceptional Children, 1110 North Glebe Rd., Arlington, VA                       22201-5709. Tel: 800-328-0272 (Toll Free); Fax: 703-620-2521;                   e-mail: [email protected]. For full text: http://www.ericec.org.           **Descriptors:** Biographies, Classroom Techniques,  Creative Activities,  Creative              Development, Creative Teaching, Creative Thinking,  Creative                    Writing,  Creativity, Elementary Secondary Education, Fiction,                   Gifted, History,  Language Arts, Poetry                                     **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests                                                                 
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