I agree with Dr Detkef. Classroom teachers can never officially declare that a student is a gifted one unless official results from psychometricians or psychologists based standardized intrument
results. However, classroom teachers or even parents can observe some manifestations of being gifted and if such occurs they subjected to official pyschological inventory.
Yes Dear to identify and classify the students the teacher will adopt some tools/instruments and can consult with other staff and also an interaction with the class.
Speaking as a parent, rather than an expert, I venture to offer this: A teacher cannot, and should not, presume to judge a child's giftedness, or lack of it. Each child will present differently, and many gifted children will have secondary challenges that will mask their abilities and potential. Not all will show the high levels of performance and engagement that typify the stereotypical gifted child. This is even more true if the child has burnt out, or tuned out of school due to its inadequacy for the child's needs.
All children are different, and each child should be recognised for their individual strengths and weaknesses. In my opinion, a teacher should dedicate a bit of extra time to get to know each student, talking one-on-one with them, observing their levels of engagement, looking at characteristics of their work (not just quality for grades, but looking for unusual patterns or signs of deficits/expertise), watching their peer interactions, and seeking evidence of specific interests. Although this may take a bit of extra time to begin with, it will inform teachers of where the child is at, and how they might best help that child succeed. If, as a part of these observations, a teacher notices anything atypical as compared with the child's peer group, the child can be reccomended for professional assessment. This won't catch every gifted (or otherwise differently abled) child, but it would maximize the potential to catch challenges before they become problematic within the classroom.
Teacher checklists are an increasingly better alternative to IQ tests. Well known is the HOPE scale:
Gentry, M., Pereira, N., Peters, S. J., McIntosh, J. S., & Fugate, C. M. (2015). HOPE teacher rating scale administration manual. Prufrock Press.
But there are also other checklists that are quite useful, for example:
Peters, S. J. & Pereira, N. (2017). A replication of the internal validity structure of three major teaching rating scales. Journal of Advanced Academics, 28, 101-119. doi:10.1177/1932202X17701940
In this study, the teacher checklist proved to be a better predictor of school performance than IQ (which in this study correlated with school performance at the usual level):
Ziegler, A., Debatin, T., & Stoeger, H. (2019). Learning resources and talent development from a systemic point of view. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1445, 39—51. doi:10.1111/nyas.14018
The question was, How can a teacher discover and identify a gifted and talented students in the first few days or weeks of interaction with the class?
My answer is,
Although there is no easy formula for identifying a gifted students, but we can note some of characteristics that appear to differentiate the gifted students from their classmates. Some of these characteristics I can summarize it in the following:-
1- Early use of advanced vocabulary or he can use new and a good sentences and early ability to read and to understand nuances in the language. Also, gifted students often amazes parents and teachers by learning new information quickly and remembering the details over long periods of time.
2- Students may be involved in many self-initiated projects at the same time. The ability to think abstractly, Some of those students can move from concrete to symbolic representation very comfortably and at an earlier age than most students.
3- The important thing is the critical thinking skills. The students are able to perform evaluations based on established criteria and often notices discrepancies between what people say and what they do.
4- Also, some students who is gifted often shows independence, self-reliance and responsibility in completing tasks.
5- Creativity and inventiveness, They can be able to view situations from varying perspectives, develop and explore alternative approaches and generate novel products.
6- Frequently a gifted students are alert and eager, delving into interests beyond the usual limitations of students his own age that may led them to take leadership roles in some situations.
The question was, How can a teacher discover and identify a gifted and talented students in the first few days or weeks of interaction with the class?
My answer is,
Although there is no easy formula for identifying a gifted students, but we can note some of characteristics that appear to differentiate the gifted students from their classmates. Some of these characteristics I can summarize it in the following:-
1- Early use of advanced vocabulary or he can use new and a good sentences and early ability to read and to understand nuances in the language. Also, gifted students often amazes parents and teachers by learning new information quickly and remembering the details over long periods of time.
2- Students may be involved in many self-initiated projects at the same time. The ability to think abstractly, Some of those students can move from concrete to symbolic representation very comfortably and at an earlier age than most students.
3- The important thing is the critical thinking skills. The students are able to perform evaluations based on established criteria and often notices discrepancies between what people say and what they do.
4- Also, some students who is gifted often shows independence, self-reliance and responsibility in completing tasks.
5- Creativity and inventiveness, They can be able to view situations from varying perspectives, develop and explore alternative approaches and generate novel products.
6- Frequently a gifted students are alert and eager, delving into interests beyond the usual limitations of students his own age that may led them to take leadership roles in some situations.