Six Ways to Meet Gifted and Bright Kids’ Needs in a Regular Class…Without Giving Yourself Much Extra Work

I am creating a short video on how elementary school teachers can, without undue work, better meet gifted' and bright kids' needs in a regular class. 

I'll be using doodle-whiteboarding to increase the viewers' engagement and retention, as  Ken Robinson did in his TED talk on reinventing education.

I'd welcome your feedback on this draft of the text:
Six Ways to Meet Gifted and Bright Kids’ Needs in a Regular Class…Without Giving Yourself Much Extra Work.

You have a wide range of students in your class. It’s hard to meet all their needs. And you may feel you need to focus on low-achieving kids, maybe because your heart especially feels for them and/or because you’re feeling external pressures such as No Child Left Behind and now Common Core.
You have one or more very bright students in your class but if someone’s gotta be shortchanged, maybe it’s those gifted kids. After all, consciously or unconsciously, you think they’ll do fine anyway.
I can understand, but maybe your bright and gifted kids are worth a second look. In fact, many gifted kids turn out to be brilliant failures. Maybe you know one. And after all, all children are entitled to an appropriate-level education, to not be bored too much of the time. And those kids are the most likely to grow up to cure our diseases, be our corporate, non-profit, and government leaders—be our teachers and administrators!
And it is possible for you to better meet their needs without giving yourself too much work. Consider trying one or more of these tips:
Tip #1  Cluster-group. When kids are listening to a lesson or are in a group activities where their class or groupmates are of a wide range of achievement and ability, yes, bright kids may solidify their learning and may--or may not--end up feeling more charitable about helping the less fortunate, but too often bright kids are stultified, bored, and deprived of their right to grow. Less bright kids may feel that no matter how hard they try, they’ll never do as well and may just give up and let the bright kids carry the load. So, as you deem appropriate, for parts of the day, divide the class into groups by ability: how quickly they learn, reason, and sophisticatedly they communicate. Sure it can help kids if you take the time to create separate lessons and activities for each group but that’s time-consuming. The good news is that even if it’s the same lesson or activity, it’s exciting to watch bright kids build off each other rather than be stultified and that’s not only good for them but ultimately for society. So, tip #1:  For parts of the school day, consider dividing the class by ability.
Tip #2. Allow bright and gifted students to propose doing a more challenging assignment or activity of their own choosing rather than the regular one. Or you propose one. For example, if you’re about to teach a spelling lesson, you might invite bright kids to write a story using the spelling words. If the class is about to work on a worksheet a child feels is too easy, s/he can propose that s/he be allowed to use some educational software on her iPad, Chromebook, etc. If you’ve assigned making a diorama on the Civil War for homework, any students who wished to, could opt to write a scene and perhaps act it out for the class on the dilemma President Lincoln faced in deciding how to respond to secession. So, Tip #2:  Allow or give bright and gifted kids an alternate assignment.
Tip #3. For content that some students in your class knows but could use solidifying, make them your roving assistant teachers, helping the other students with their seatwork on that content. For example, if you’ve just taught a lesson on subtraction with regrouping, ask for volunteers to take a 1-question quiz that demonstrates they know it.  Or perhaps you already know they know it without having to quiz them. Anyone you deem to sufficiently know the content or concept can volunteer to be your roving assistant teacher for the seatwork on that topic. When other students raise their hand asking for help, an “assistant teacher” can go over to the student and try to help. Of course, that must only be done occasionally. Bright and gifted kids deserve to be learning material that’s challenging for them, not just helping slower. So Tip #3: When kids know a concept before you teach it, occasionally make them your roving teaching assistant.
Tip #4. Have students actually teach a lesson to a group of classmates or even the entire class. If you like that idea, you might, when the rest of the class is doing independent work, teach your would-be “teachers” a lesson on how to teach a lesson, for example a model such as 1: Tell the class why the lesson is important. 2. Model what you want them to learn, for example, the scientific method. 3. Walk them through an example, such as designing an experiment to test whether Coca-Cola really does eat through car paint. 4. Have them do an example independently. 5. Ask for questions. 6. Summarize. So, Tip 4: Have kids teach lessons to part of or even the entire class. 
Tip #5. As appropriate, allow students to join a higher grade’s class for a given subject(s).
Tip #6. Consider having a child skip one or more grades. Research indicates that can be wise as long as the child is capable and motivated, the receiving teacher enthusiastic, and the child paired with a popular child in the new class  to teach him or her the ropes and help the child make friends.  So, Tip #6: Consider having a gifted child skip one or more grades. 
So, to summarize, the six  tips are:1. For parts of the day, consider dividing your class into groups by ability.2. Allow children to propose an alternative assignment or you offer an alternative.3. For content they know but could use solidifying, make them your roving assistant, helping students with seatwork on that topic.4. Have students teach lessons to part of the class or even the whole class.5. Allow students to join a higher-grade class for one or more subjects.6. Consider having them skip a grade.
You may want to try none, one, even all those six ideas. But we often promise ourselves to do something but forget. So do you want to write down the idea or ideas you want to try? Whatever you try, do treat it as experimental. If it doesn’t work, scrap it or perhaps tweak it. 
In closing, I’d like to ask you a favor: It would be a real service to your fellow teachers if, below, in the comments area, you write how well these ideas or their derivatives are working for you. Or feel free to suggest some other idea for how to better meet bright and gifted kids’ needs without giving yourself undue extra work.
In any event, thank you for all you do. A great teacher can make all the difference.