Die Map Die: Empowering Gifted and Talented Students Through Self-Mapped Curriculum

The purpose of this research was to consider a shift in the way educators in secondary public education consider mapping curriculum. Instead of making a homogeneous curriculum map for a group of wildly diverse learners, what if educators started from an assets-based thought process encouraging the power of diversity by offering students to map their own way through various curricula? This action research within my own classroom is based on a humanist framework focusing on the gifted and talented learner who is often under represented in the majority of secondary education pedagogy. I sought to determine if the gifted and talented learner felt empowered or more connected through the process of self mapping within a technology rich classroom. Two different groups of gifted and talented students were the focus of this two-tier research project that led to the identification of three main themes. These themes are 1.) We do not know who our gifted and talented students are, which makes it challenging to help them. Current identification strategies are insufficient. 2.) A self-mapped curriculum can increase stress levels within gifted and talented learners at a greater intensity than main stream students. 3.) Gifted and talented students are very appreciative of the rare opportunity to have an autonomous voice in their own learning.