It can be very tricky for a teacher to determine gifted children in the classroom. However, the tricks could be easily solved if the teacher is well versed with understanding about child psychology since gifted children tend to exhibit distinct intellectual, social and emotional traits that can be seen even in a classroom setting.
Inexperienced teachers may be mistaken to identify those students who are behave, those who get high grades in examinations or those who are meek and kind and follow the rules and regulations well as the possible gifted ones. The truth is, gifted children are very much different from this image.
Gifted children exhibit different types of emotions but it doesn't mean that they have schizophrenia. It is because of they are live at different ages at one time when it comes due to their asynchronous development such that they may think and talk like adults but their emotions are still fragile and their social experience is still insufficient.
MENTALITY AND EMOTIONS OF A HIGHLY GIFTED CHILD
Children are known to have short attention span that is why schools often provide short class hours per subject when it comes to preschools or even in early grade schools. Gifted children, however has longer attention span. They tend to be curious in everything that they sometimes tend to ask topics beyond the subject matter. They tend to engage themselves too much in their quest for knowledge.
You may see a child who is just very observant with what's happening around him. Being observant makes them learn more about the world they live in. For them, learning is not just what their school could impart to them but it's more of having first hand experience of life's experiences.
They have really good memory. They easily memorize poems and rhymes. They easily remember every word that is uttered by their teacher so teachers should really watch out what they speak about.
They have excellent reasoning ability. They easily conceptualize and synthesize things. They easily learn how to connect things like for example the pros and cons of doing this or doing that or why this or that happened.
These children also have vivid and strange imaginations that children of their age don't have. They play well with their fantasies and some even have imaginary friends for they feel to be more comfortable with them than their real friends.
They are consistent on what they think and they tend to be perfectionists. Take for example in an art class, they would put more detail in their artworks. They are very creative in their own way.
They tend to be very emotional and sensitive about things. They want things to be according to the rules that they believe in. They tend to empathize with the people they live with.
SOCIAL TRAITS OF A HIGHLY GIFTED CHILD
Gifted children usually like it better to socialize with older children and adults. They have this "adult-like" mentality that they believe they could get along better with persons past their age.
Their behavior is greatly influenced by what their parents told them. They tend to involve themselves in social and philosophical issues that children their age don't even care about.
They have good sense of humor. The easily adapt stories from others and they could easily share these to their friends and to other people around them.
In the classroom, they won't just sit there during class breaks. They would be very energetic and you would see them roaming around socializing with their classmates. They would be longing to squeeze new information from each conversation, each observation and each experience that they have.
OTHER DETERMINING FACTORS IN A GIFTED CHILD
These children have broad vocabulary and good comprehension. They tend to speak words that even children their age would have difficulty to comprehend. They may be able to read at an earlier age so they tend to be wide readers. The moment they are in school, they would have read already their lessons so they would tend to involve themselves in reading articles and books beyond what their lessons are.
As part of their love of learning, they give more time in intellectual activities. They love to ask questions about anything that would just pop out of their minds.
Teachers should, therefore, take a keen look at the possibility having a gifted trait to each student. It is important to determine who are gifted since they need a special attention for them to be able to have their gifts nurtured.
There is a tendency that parents won't notice the giftedness of their child so the teachers, as second parents, need to help them. After all, the gifts of these children would only turn to achievements if they are properly nurtured and properly developed with the help of the persons around them as well as with the help of their environment.
References:
http://giftedkids.about.com/o d/gifted101/a/giftedt raits.htm
http://www.googobits.com/articles/p2-1372-g uidance -of-the-gifted-recognizing-testing-and-encouraging-t he-gifted-child.html