ABSTRACT
The Literature Web was most useful as a visual aid to learning, providing a welcome alternative to auditoryonly approaches in the classroom, such as lecture or discussion. Why is inquiry an important umbrella for instructional interventions? Inquiry provides multiple benefits for gifted learners with special needs. Gifted learners with special needs require more open-ended opportunities for learning where the answers are not preordained. Scaffolds provide students with skills in problem finding and problem solving, as well as the underlying thinking skills that accompany such work, all in a supportive environment that boosts self-esteem. The Literature Web is a graphic organizer that deliberately engages students in a set of thinking processes that move from simple to complex, but it also involves different modes of thinking. A lesson that uses two art forms and applies the scaffold of the Literature Web can elevate thinking about both poetry and the visual arts to higher and more abstract levels.
