ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the use of content-based, high-end strategies and models for talent spotting, the research behind the tactics, and implementation examples from four of strategies and models within a fifth-grade classroom. Many educators associate giftedness in reading with high scores on standardized tests or reading levels that indicate above-grade-level ability. However, there is much more to identifying and developing talent in language arts. When properly trained to integrate high-end strategies and models into reading and writing curriculum, educators will be able to see students' thinking throughout the reading and writing processes. As explained by VanTassel-Baska, the Integrated Curriculum Model approach to curriculum development is comprised of three distinct, yet intermingled, dimensions: advanced content knowledge that frames disciplines of study, higher order thinking and processes, and learning experiences centered “around major issues, themes, and ideas that define both real-world applications and theoretical modeling within and across areas of study.
