Bailey, S. (1996) On the Internet: Children's literature. TalentEd, 52, 5-6.

Outlines some of the content of the 'Children's Literature Web Guide'.

 

Bailey, S. (Ed.) (1992) Scratching, Patching, Busily Matching Melbourne: Hawker Brownlow Education. (On order)

An anthology of poetry by Australian children, aged 6 to 17.

 

Baker, A. & Greene, E. (1977) Storytelling: Art and Technique. New York: R.R. Bowker. (808.93/B167s)

Covers 'purposes and values of storytelling', 'selection', 'preparation', 'presentation', 'storytelling in special settings or to children with special needs', 'program planning', 'administration: planning and publicity' and 'sources for the storyteller'.

 

Braybrooke, N. (Ed.) (1989) Seeds in the Wind: Early Signs of Genius. San Francisco: Mercury House. (820.8/B827s)

Contains examples of the early prose, poetry and drawing of various well known modern talents, including W.B. Yeats, Rudyard Kipling, Beatrix Potter, E.M. Forster, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Ezra Pound, Siegfried Sassoon, T.S. Eliot, Stevie Smith, George Orwell, Graham Greene, Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes and Thomas Keneally, produced between the ages of 6 and 16.

 

Brown, L.J. (1986) Developing thinking and problem-solving skills with children's books. Childhood Education, 63 (2), 102-107.

Outlines a number of strategies that allow children to experience problem-solving through books and stories - "1. Provide students with a problem-solving guide." "2. Model appropriate cognitive and problem-solving behaviors." "3. Brainstorm with your students." "4. Useful fictional characters for role-play and creative drama."

 

Burns, J.M., Collins, M.D. & Paulsell, J.C. (1991) A comparison of intellectually superior preschool accelerated readers and nonreaders: Four years later. Gifted Child Quarterly, 35 (3), 118-124.

"When retested at the age of eight and nine years, the Accelerated Readers scored significantly higher than the Nonreaders on subtests measuring word attack and dictation. However, no significant differences were found on subtests measuring word recognition or comprehension. A review of school-based data indicated that the majority of the subjects in the two groups had been provided the same type of basal reading instruction upon entry into elementary school despite significant differences in their reading capabilities at the age of four years." (p.118)

 

Cagney, M.A. & Sakiey, E.H. (1984) Enrichment activities for the gifted reader. Reading Improvement, 21 (3), 165-169.

"The reading enrichment activities described in this article follow the guidelines suggested by Renzulli in his Enrichment Triad Model." (p.165)

 

Clements, D. & Godinho, S. (1993) A book club for the classroom. Australasian Journal of Gifted Education, 2 (1), 4-9.

Describes a scheme devised by the authors and implemented successfully with two mixed ability Year 5 classes at Lauriston Girls' School in Victoria. "We believe the program challenged and excited the gifted children and their consequent energy and enthusiasm were inspirational to the wider group. The program allowed a variety of talents to emerge and provided a vehicle and an audience for them." (p.8) This report was judged the winner of the 1992 AAEGT Innovative Practices Award.

 

Cleveland, J. & Orlick R. (1990) How to set up a publishing company in your school. Classroom Computer Learning, 10 (4), 38-41.

"In this project, student authors were given the opportunity to submit their stories to a school-based publishing company just as real-world authors do. The manuscripts went through the same processes of revision, editing, layout, and design. And the resulting books were placed in the school library to be shared with the entire school community." (p. 38) The company was managed by students in grades 4 to 6.

 

Dean, G. (1998) Challenging the More Able Language User. London: NACE/Fulton. (371.95/D281c)

Includes chapters on 'Identifying more able language users', 'What the school can do', 'How to challenge and improve the reading of more able readers', 'How to challenge and improve the writing of more able writers' and 'More able language users learning from texts other than books'.

 

Dellinger, D.G. (1989) Alternatives to clip and stitch: Real research and writing in the classroom. English Journal, 78 (5), 31-38.

"....since I am concerned with the integration of inquiry, learning, and writing - in short, the whole process we call 'education' - I approach it with juniors and seniors through these three activities: collaborative research, Macrorie's I-Search, and the saturation report". (p. 36) These are discussed in some detail.

 

Dixon, F.A. (1993) Literature seminars for gifted and talented students. The Gifted Child Today, 16 (4), 15-19.

Three specific seminars are outlined to explain this approach, 'Dickens and the industrial revolution', 'Russian literature of the nineteenth century' and 'J.R.R. Tolkien'. "Each seminar was designed to encourage independent thinking and stimulate curiosity. Discussions routinely focus on the patterns that surface from one piece of literature to the next and which force students to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate material on a personal level as well as to question each others' ideas." (p.16)

 

Dunkle, M. (Ed.) (1987) The Story Makers. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. (809.89282/D919S)

A collection of interviews with 77 Australian and New Zealand authors and illustrators for young people, reflecting upon 'when I was growing up', 'me as a writer/illustrator' and ' advice to young writers/ illustrators'.

 

Erskine, G. (1995) Literature and the gifted child. Gifted, 90, 15-16, 21-22.

"I have been interested in this topic ever since a kindergarten child, Laura, on her second visit to the school library asked me where the novels were kept. Upon further investigation it became apparent that Laura was an exceptional student, who was reading before school entry." (p.15) Discusses identification, reading interests and useful resources

 

Everly, P. (1992) Teaching Teenagers and Living to Tell About It. Englewood: Teacher Ideas Press. (CR371.95/E93t)

Subtitled 'Gifted students and other creatures in the regular classroom', a former classroom teacher outlines her detailed model for providing for individual differences in a mixed ability classroom. "The planning, teaching, and management strategies and processes used in the Rewrite model can help restructure classrooms in practical ways to increase opportunities for teaching and learning." (p.xiii) Illustrates the Rewrite model with examples from English classes.

 

Fehrenbach, C.R. (1991) Gifted/average readers: Do they use the same reading strategies? Gifted Child Quarterly, 35 (3), 125-127.

"A random sampling, stratified by sex and grade level, was taken from a population of 300 eighth-, tenth-, and twelfth-grade students. Subjects included 30 females and 30 males. ... The strategies used significantly more by gifted than by average readers were rereading, inferring, analyzing structure, watching or predicting, evaluating, and relating to content area. The strategies used significantly more by average than by gifted readers were word pronouncing concern and summarizing inaccurately." (p.125)

 

Feiertag, J. & Chernoff, L. (1987) Inferential thinking and self-esteem: Through the Junior Great Books Program. Childhood Education, 63 (4), 252-254.

Junior Great Books is a program of interpretive reading and discussion for grades 2 to 12. "We ... discovered that the children not only developed better thinking skills and feelings of self-worth, but also a higher awareness of self and a genuine love of reading." (p.254)

 

Halsted, J.W. (1991) Guiding Gifted Readers. Melbourne: Hawker Brownlow Education. (371.95/H196g)

Relevant to gifted readers 'from preschool through high school', it includes chapters on 'The heart of the gifted child: Emotional development', 'The mind of the gifted child: Intellectual development', 'Reading patterns - what to expect', 'Emotional development through books: Bibliotherapy', 'Intellectual development through books: Reading guidance', 'Selecting books for gifted children', 'All the wealth: Children's literature', and an extensive 'Annotated bibliography'.

 

Heinze, C. (1987) Gaining insight through 'journaling'. Academic Therapy, 22 (5), 489-495.

"For my students, I see journaling in class as the start of an adventure - one which they may continue or not, but one which provides an opportunity to see self in a private sense. I do not read their journals daily, but I do make it my responsibility to read them periodically and to make written, non-judgmental, positive comments that will encourage them to continue expressing themselves honestly. Many of my students have journaled statements that I don't think they could speak aloud." (p.494)

 

Imison, K. (1983) Language activities for the gifted. P.E.N., 42, 1-6.

"This P.E.N. aims to help in planning a 'differentiated curriculum' of language activities for the gifted - so that such children will be properly extended, instead of learning to hide their ability or turn to disruptive behaviour as a relief from activities which fail to challenge them." (p.1)

 

Issacs, A.F. (1973) What to do when you discover a child is gifted and interested in language or one-hundred ways to tickle your fancy with language and linguistics. Gifted Child Quarterly, 17 (2) 144-149.

The title says it all.

 

Jackson, N.E. & Roller, C.M. (1993) Reading With Young Children. Storrs: National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. (CR372.4/J13r)

"This report provides research-based answers to questions parents and teachers ask about how reading and writing develop from, infancy to about age 6 years. The unusually rapid development of these skills in some young children is considered in a major section on precocious readers." (p.ix)

 

Jackson, N.E. (1988) Precocious reading ability: What does it mean? Gifted Child Quarterly, 32 (1), 200-204.

"On the average, precocious readers will continue to do well in school. However, the extent to which precocious reading is a sign that a child some day will demonstrate other kinds of remarkably advanced or creative accomplishments is not yet known. Furthermore, the predictive significance of precocious reading eventually may be found to depend on the circumstances in which a child has learned to read and the particular pattern of reading skills attained." (p.204)

 

Kelly, G. (1986) Born to write? TalentEd, 14, 7-13.

A writer reflects upon the writing process and what constitutes talent in writing: e.g., "a long, long memory", a "response to rhythm", "the ability to relate apparently discrete segments of experience" and "the ability to objectify."

 

Labuda, M. (Ed.) (1974) Creative Reading for Gifted Learners: A Design for Excellence. Newark: I.R.A. (371.95/L127C)

Covers 'Creative pupils and creative reading', 'Special considerations', 'Materials and resources', 'Suggestions for meeting unique needs' and 'A look ahead'.

 

Lukasevich, A. (1983) Three dozen useful information sources on reading for the gifted. The Reading Teacher, 36 (6), 542-548.

An annotated bibliography of materials that "provide ideas and activities for classroom teachers and supervisors who want to improve reading instruction for gifted students." (p.542)

 

Mackenzie, M. (Ed.) (1987) Young Words. London: Macmillan. (808.938/Y68)

A further collection of poetry and prose from the 1986 W.H. Smith Young Writers' Competition.

 

McLeish, S. (1984) Rambo the Champion. Melbourne: Hutchinson. (808.937/M163R).

This book was written and illustrated by a twelve year old girl from Melbourne for the pupils in Years 1 and 2 at her school.

 

Master, D.L. (1983) Writing and the gifted child. Gifted Child Quarterly,27 (4), 162-168.

Holds that gifted children "can and do write, but to improve the quality of their writing, informal, unstructured activities are not sufficient. Writing is a skill which can be improved by direct teaching, along with exposure to examples of fine literature." (p.168) Discusses developmental activities in the areas of vocabulary development, poetry writing, fiction writing, and research skills.

 

Nieuwenhuizen, A. (1991) No Kidding. Sydney: Pan Macmillan. [A820.903/N682n]

Comprises twelve interviews with 'top writers for young people', including Paul Jennings, Nadia Wheatley, Patricia Wrightson, Libby Gleeson, David Martin, Joan Phipson and John Marsden.

"Marsden, who has been a teacher for many years, believes young people 'are capable of extraordinarily sophisticated thinking and writing if they are given the right environment, though many schools and teachers don't recognize this.' Patricia Wrightson recalled a seven year-old enjoying A Little Fear." (p.xvii)

 

Nolan, C. (1981) Dam-Burst of Dreams. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. (808.91/N787D)

A collection of the writings, done between ages 11 and 14, of Christopher Nolan whose mental brilliance was hidden until age 11 because of his physical handicaps.

 

Petrie, J. (1984) Use media to motivate gifted students. Instructional Innovator, 29 (5), 19-20.

Briefly outlines an eight-step program where book reviewing led to video productions.

 

Polette, N.J. (2000) Gifted Books, Gifted Readers: Literature Activities to Excite Young Minds. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. (CR371.95/P765g)
This book suggests strategies and techniques 'to build excitement and anticipation for the reading experience. The literature guides, the areas of concentration, and the specific titles recommended were chosen to help children become sensitive to the personal and social as well as the technological problems of humanity; to realize that many problems require creative solutions and that creative thinkers may be the hope of humanity.' (p.5) In addition, 'suggestions are given for creative production, elaboration, rearrangement, and transformation of text. Both the pre- and post-reading activities are designed to help the child connect his or her own experiences with the experiences of literary characters.' (p.6)

 

Polette, N. (1987) Novel Thinking (Gr 6-12). O'Fallon: Book Lures. (CR370.157/P765h)

Includes sections on 'Reading and higher level thinking' (with numerous skill development activities), 'Literature units' (based on junior and young adult literature), 'Conflicts in values' and 'The supernatural'.

 

Polette, N. & Hamlin, M. (1980) Exploring Books with Gifted Children. Littleton: Libraries Unlimited. (371.956/P765E)

Includes strategies and techniques "to build excitement and anticipation for the reading experience" (p.5) and "attempts to help educators provide those conditions in which the child can act upon what he or she has read." (p.6) Contains many units and other useful ideas.

 

Rebbeck, B. (1993) "How many ages hence ..." The Gifted Child Today, 16 (4), 20-24.

A talented teacher describes her innovative approach to teaching English, over a semester, to her two ninth grade classes.

 

Reichart, A. (1992) A book review plus, and some children's responses. TalentEd, 38, 19-23.

Discusses some talented children's responses to 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. Good examples of Bloom's evaluation level thinking on pp.21-22.

 

Rollin, L.W. (1985) Exploring Earthsea: A sixth grade literature project. Children's Literature in Education, 16 (4), 195-202.

A teacher outlines her six one-hour sessions with a group of gifted sixth graders, concluding that "interest was generated in worthwhile literature, (and) that a real sharing took place and is continuing to happen." (p.202)

 

Rundle, P. (1995) Autonomous learning in the regular classroom. Australasian Journal of Gifted Education, 4 (1), 25-28. [See under Enrichment Models]

 

Shachter, J. (1980) Learning from authors in person and in mixed media. Gifted Child Quarterly, 24 (2), 69-71.

Discusses how contact with writers, either in person or via filmstrips, cassettes, etc., may inspire children to write themselves as well as read the authors' work.

 

Schlichter, C.L. (1992) Book bait IV: Using books to lure bright students. The Gifted Child Today, 15 (4), 31-34.

"Some books provide obvious invitations for creative writing: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, for instance. Is there a child alive who can resist creating explanations for those drawings? And what young reader won't spontaneously continue the pattern in Brown Bear, brown Bear, What Do You See? with original responses? But there are many books whose use in stimulating specific types of writing may not be so obvious. This review includes books which can be used to invite students to employ parody, satire, similes, hyperbole, and point of view in their writing." (p.31)

 

Swicord, B. (1984) Debating with gifted fifth and sixth graders - telling it like it was, is, and could be. Gifted Child Quarterly, 28 (3), 127-129.

"The purpose of this discussion is to share with the reader some of the things we have learned about debating with this age student and to persuade any who haven't tried it to consider it." (p.127)

 

Taylor, P.S. (1988) None of us is smarter than all of us: The reform in California's curriculum. English Journal, 77 (8), 14-19.

Includes an outline of a unit on 'The Search for Justice and Dignity' e.g. "Conduct a mock trial of our government's policy on internment during WWII." (p.18) Discusses how to encourage students' "ever deeper explorations of the meaning of texts." (p.14)

 

VanTassel-Baska, J., Johnson, D.T., Hughes, C.E. & Boyce, L.N. (1996) A study of language arts curriculum effectiveness with gifted learners. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 19 (4), 461-480.

"This study of language arts curriculum effectiveness presents data that lend support to the utilization of the Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM) with high-ability learners in various grouping contexts. Significant growth gains were demonstrated in literary analysis, persuasive writing, and linguistic competency for seven experimental classes using a unit of study modelled on ICM. Implications for heterogeneous classroom use include concerns for lack of differentiation of reading selections for students not classified as advanced readers and the degree of abstraction contained in specific performance tasks." (p.461).

 

Watson, P. & Wrinkle, J. (1991) Tactics to Tackle Gifted-Talented Thinking. Muleshoe: Watson/Wrinkle Publications. (371.953/W341t)

Includes ideas, lesson plans and unit outlines for extending the language arts/English area, mainly for secondary students. Suggestions for independent study are also made.

 

W.H. Smith Young Writers' Competition (1994) My Hand Is Elastic. London: Pan McMillan. (CR808.938/S664, 1993)

A collection of 73 stories and poems by talented children in the UK.

 

Witty, P.A. (Ed.) (1971) Reading for the Gifted and the Creative Student. Newark: I.R.A. (371.95/R287)

In particular see Chapter 3, 'Innovative reading programs for the gifted and creative', and chapters 4 and 5 on the role of parents and of teachers.

 

Yeatts, E.H. (1980) The professional artist: A teacher for the gifted. Gifted Child Quarterly, 24 (3), 133-137.

A case study of what is seen as a successful use of an artist (in this instance a writer and actress) as teacher of high school students.

 

Zaslow, D. (1983) What's in a Word? Carthage: Good Apple. (372.63/Z38w)

Consists of a set of activity sheets on word history - e.g. 'What's in a last name?', 'Words from Greek', 'Words from astronomy', 'Words from mythology', 'The story of Reverend Spooner', 'Naming our foods', 'A zoo of words' and 'The poetry of words'.

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