I get a lot of questions about how to differentiate instruction for gifted students in the regular classroom; it's part of my job to coach teachers in this area. When I read Krissy Venosdale's blog post Finding the Right Fit this morning, I started thinking about one of the most common questions I get: You want me to give gifted students a choice in what they learn? Does that mean I have to let them do whatever they want?

In a word - no.

Let's use Krissy's shoe analogy to illustrate this. (If you haven't read her blog post, you should...Go ahead. I'll wait.) Do you have to have every possible style of shoe in every possible colour and size, just in case? No, you don't. If you want all the students to wear running shoes, then only make running shoes available. Just make sure that the running shoes are available in many different colours and styles and all possible sizes. And when a child asks, "Can I wear one purple one and one red one?" your answer should be yes. But if the student asks, "Can I wear construction boots?" it's ok to say no. (Better yet, tell them that they can alter their running shoes so they LOOK like construction boots.) And if a child with a size 8 foot wants to wear a size 5 shoe, it's ok to make them put on the size 8 shoe to show them how much more comfortable it will be.

Here's the instructional equivalent: Your class is studying ancient Eqypt. Traditionally, you have asked students to research an Egyptian god or goddess, create a bristol board layout with text and pictures, and present it orally to the class. There is no room for choice here. You're also doomed to spend a couple class periods listening to dry presentations about Ra. Instead, ask the students to research one aspect of life in ancient Eqypt and make a presentation to the class about it. Suddenly, the task is very open-ended. One student could talk about the gods that were worshiped, but the little girl with a passion for shopping might talk about the clothing worn at the time. Some students might choose to get out the bristol board and do a standard presentation - but now, they don't have to.

And then a child comes to you and says, "I don't like Egypt. I want to talk about ancient Rome."

Great! Take what you've already learned about Egypt, and do a presentation to the class showing the similarities and differences between ancient Rome and ancient Egypt.

And another child comes to you and says, "I hate social studies. I want to do math instead."

Great! Ask that child to research the mathematical system used in Egypt. Or to research the building of the pyramids and do a presentation about the math behind them: How much did those stones weigh? How far did they travel to get there? How big are the pyramids compared to structures in our town?

And then the student comes back and says, "I want to make a computer game instead of doing a presentation."

Great! Find out from the student is going to show what they know about life in Ancient Egypt in their game. Assuming they have a plan that does, indeed, show this information and they have the know how to create the game (perhaps using Scratch!) ask them to introduce their game to the other students in the class and explain how the game will help them to learn about life in Ancient Egypt.

Another student might want to recite a poem they have written, or create a story about life in Egypt using hieroglyphs and then read the story to the class. Another might want to build a model of an Ancient Egyptian community and then explain how the model shows various aspects of life to the class.

And of course, you have that one student who is scared to death of presenting in front of the class. So ask that student to invite three or four close friends into the class at break and have them present to just that small group.

Notice that in none of these examples have you altered the intention of the original assignment (unless it was really important to you that they know every detail about one particular Eqyptian god, in which case the element of choice be only in the presentation of information). All of the students are still doing a presentation that shows an aspect of life in Ancient Egypt. You also haven't had to create sixteen different rubrics to evaluate their learning. The result? One assignment that is so open ended that any student at any level can show their learning using their individual talents and interests.