Ready, Willing, and Able: Teaching English to Gifted, Talented, and Exceptionally Conscientious Adolescents by Dagny D. Bloland

Differentiation is a goal for teachers who believe in meeting every child's needs through responsive teaching. Gifted, talented, and exceptionally conscientious adolescents (GTECs) have needs very different from those of other students - as well as from one another. In Ready, Willing, and Able Dagny Bloland describes how to mix proven strategies for differentiation with innovative instruction to help GTECs make the most of their learning, whether your classroom is officially labeled gifted, advanced placement, or honors or sprinkled with extra-capable kids.

Teachers and administrators often fall back on the belief that especially capable students can essentially teach themselves, that they don't need careful scaffolding and planning as much as other students do. Ready Willing, and Able explodes that myth and replaces it with practical ideas about how to challenge academically talented teens.

Bloland helps you identify the types of students who enroll in honors, gifted, and accelerated classes, tells you what their needs typically include, and suggests ways to best use their diversity of skills and abilities for teaching and learning. Combining the basic tenets of gifted education with student-centered and learning-centered approaches to secondary English, she demonstrates how to create challenging curriculum in reading, literature, writing, language, and discussion, while also providing guidelines for assessment, and, yes, grading.

With innovative instruction, a solid grounding in smart, progressive educational practice, and years of experience, Dagny Bloland shows you that teaching high-capacity, high-willingness students requires a careful consideration of your teaching and an equally careful consideration of their needs. Because when it comes to GTEC students, you've got to be as Ready, Willing, and Able as they are to discover the educational heights they can reach.