Unwrapping the Gifted

Report from NAGC - Day 3

2009-11-11T03:37:34Z

Greetings, once again! :o) I'm home now and here is the report for Day 3. With all the learning and all the fun that I squeezed into these very long days, I hit my limit that night and couldn't maintain my energy to stay awake and write. It's therefore a tad belated, but here is (my) Day 3 in a nutshell:

1) Saturday began quite early for me with the Affiliate Breakfast. The Affiliates are all of the state gifted associations and each year NAGC has a breakfast get-together for the affiliate leaders. As President of Montana AGATE, that meant me this year.

No people appear in this picture because I somehow managed to show up 20 minutes early (6:40 a.m.)! It's always interesting to meet people in leadership positions in their own states and to "compare notes" and share ideas.

2) Next came Howard Gardner's keynote, a reflection on his ideas (particularly that of multiple intelligences). He talked about the importance of individualizing as much as possible for students and reaching them via multiple avenues.

3) Just prior to each keynote, local kids provided entertainment as everyone walked into the giant room. Well, just before Gardner's keynote, a girl from the Missouri Scholars Academy blew everyone away with her poetry slam. Her delivery was well-polished, the content of her poem was highly relevant, and her message was crafted with remarkable creativity. The wowed audience of nearly 3,000 teachers and parents gave her an instant cheering standing ovation the moment she finished. It was phenomenal and I saw people with tears in their eyes, too. They told us she was on YouTube, so I found the clip and here it is for you to see (although this version shows a classroom performance that isn't quite as polished as she was on Saturday - but it's still great). Click the image to view the video -

The text of her poem is posted at the Missouri Scholars Academy website. Way to go, Taylor!

4) NAGC President Ann Robinson was interviewed on a St. Louis morning TV show and we saw the clip before the keynote, too. I'm really impressed with how thoroughly St. Louis reached out to NAGC during our time in town. We were welcomed in a variety of ways by many friendly people :o)

5) Saturday, NAGC conducted its first Virtual Convention, which was a series of that day's sessions being dually offered online, live, so that participants who couldn't make it to St. Louis could still participate to some degree. What a timely idea! If any of you participated in the virtual convention, I'd be interested in hearing about your experience. (The Virtual Convention was graciously sponsored by Prufrock Press.) Here you can see the computers that were set up to broadcast each presenter's voice and PowerPoint slides live over the internet:

6) After the keynote, I attended a session about building work ethic and resilience in our students and why they don't have much of either any more. Our "microwave, disposable society" is full of quick answers, quick fixes, and quick eliminations of what we don't want. Plus, a lot is given to or done for kids nowadays that they used to have to earn or work for themselves. The presenter suggested building the following traits in kids in order to foster their development of resiliency and work ethic:
* social competence
* communication skills
* autonomy
* sense of purpose and future

7) Next, I listened to a few researchers talk about their study of friendships and gifted kids, including the role (if any) of competition in those friendships. They found evidence that indicates gifted kids' friendships are perhaps more specialized (they have certain friends for certain reasons, rather than all-purpose friends). Their research also indicated that gifted kids' friendships were more likely to include "competition for fun" rather than competition to "beat" the other person.

8) "Procrastination: Pathways to Productivity" was a fascinating presentation by Joanne Foster. I remember hearing Maureen Neihart once say that perfectionism was a bit like cholesterol - there's a good kind and a bad kind. And that was essentially a good piece of what Joanne was saying about procrastination, too - that there's a good kind and a bad kind. (She didn't put it that way, but it struck me as an element of her message.) She talked about reasons people (especially gifted kids) procrastinate:
* they don't know how to ask for help when they're stuck (because they so often don't need to ask for help - and then when they do need to they don't know how to or are afraid to look "stupid")
* they're overwhelmed by too much to do or by the bigness of the task
* they see it as an unpleasant or uninteresting task
* they are more energized or inspired by a looming deadline
* they are afraid they won't be able to do it perfectly or to the level they so easily do other things.
And she also talked about ways to help gifted kids overcome their unhealthy procrastination - by helping them learn how to do the following:
* focus attention on what matters
* develop persistence
* learn relaxation techniques to help manage stress
* develop and nurture a mastery orientation (rather than a "always the best" orientation)
* analyze and harness what their own approaches to productivity are
Why do you procrastinate? What motivates you?

9) Sshhh... Don't tell anyone, but I skipped a session on Saturday so I could dash off to go up the arch!

That last photo is the arch's full shadow as seen from the top. I can't take credit for noticing it. A boy looking out the window next to me tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Hey, lady, look! You can see the whole shadow!" I complimented him on making such a great observation :o)

10) The late afternoon session on Saturday was a conversation between Dean Keith Simonton and Howard Gardner about creative lives and their different opinions on the nature and nurture of creativity. I was struck by Simonton's engaging nature and easy laugh and it was fun to watch the two of them "rib" each other good-naturedly about their respective ideas. (This session was graciously sponsored by the Scholastic Testing Service.)

11) I enjoyed dinner on Day 3 with three of my classmates from our Masters program at UConn. We talked for a few hours, sharing ideas about what we're doing with our students and discussing what we had learned so far at the conference. One of them is a state department coordinator of professional development for teachers in Illinois and she recently developed a new 45-hour PD course for Illinois teachers that will give them a very comprehensive basis in information about and strategies for gifted students. In addition to awesome content, I was blown away by the format of it. It is a radical transformation of PD and I've never seen anything like it before. Combining new technologies and multiple adaptable features, it adjusts to the participants, records their thoughts and lessons, and incorporates both computer-based and face-to-face interactions for each activity. It's AMAZING and I regret that my description can't do it justice. I have the kind of job where I get blown away quite often, but this had my jaw hanging on the floor. It might even still be lying on the floor by her computer. Watching her demonstrate the program for us, I felt like I was witnessing the birth of something BIG. Illinois teachers, you are in for quite an experience!

And that was all just ONE DAY! I think I need some rest, especially after returning to two 12-hour work days (parent/teacher conferences Monday and Tuesday until 8:00 each night) on the heels of the convention. But, as Helen Hayes once said, "If you rest, you rust."

Check back for a report on Day 4! Remember to answer the question under #8 above about procrastination if you're interested...

Report from NAGC - Day 2

2009-11-07T04:35:19Z

Has it really been just two full days that I've been here?! It already feels like a week! (That's a good thing - it's just intense!) I'm typing at a table in a restaurant with some friends from other states because they peer pressured me into staying out later with them rather than going back to my room to write. I so love re-connecting with everyone here and meeting great new faces, too.

My day in a nutshell:

1) I learned some great tips about approaching legislators about gifted education issues from a former gifted specialist who is now a member of the Missouri legislature. Here's a sampling:
* Condense your information into about three simple and compelling talking points.
* If they can't read it in 90 seconds, it won't be read. (one sheet of paper with points bolded)
* Build relationships - find something you have in common to initially connect with them on.
* They need to like you and see you as influential.
* Connect with the decision makers and those who represent you.
* Focus on services for gifted children, not programs (because the purpose of programs is often misunderstood)
(Thank you, Sarah Lampe!)

2) Spent some time shopping in the Exhibit Hall...

3) Marveled at origami created with paper plates...

4) Learned about executive functioning processes in the brain...

5) Learned about American Mensa via lunch conversation...

6) Gathered ideas for a student of mine who is building a Rube Goldberg contraption. (One of the presentations focused on strategies for teaching thinking skills, simple machines, and engineering & physics principles to kids via the building of Rube Goldberg contraptions.)

7) Pondered what gifted kids really mean when they say something is "fun" ...

8) Attended a couple different receptions (face-to-face social and professional networking!)

9) Discussed the state of gifted education in Montana with a handful of other Montana GT specialists (there are only a handful of us anywhere...)

10) Talked with a doctoral student about her dissertation and shared ideas...

11) Had a photo op with four of my classmates from UConn -- the first time all five of us have been together at the same time since 2003.

12) And in the last session I attended this afternoon, I watched a really fired up presenter, Susan Rakow, give a feed-it-to-them-straight presentation about all those things in gifted education we all know deep down but rarely are gutsy enough to actually say (especially to people outside of gifted education). Her top 10 list of "things you can't say in gifted education" included "anti-intellectualism is the norm in the U.S." and "all children are NOT gifted." I found myself jotting down lots of gems she was saying, such as "giftedness is real and we need to stop apologizing for it" and "the glorification of stupidity." She talked about this "placation polka" we dance in order to soothe people's feelings or not step on any toes. And she said, "well sure, we retard them [gifted kids] for five years" in response to the common misperception that "the other kids will catch up."

Although my style is not quite so feed-it-to-them-straight, I think she's right that we have elephants in the room and don't confront or acknowledge important realities in our field. What do you see as the "things we can't say in gifted education"?

Report from NAGC - Day 1

2009-11-06T04:43:52Z

My first full day of the NAGC convention has concluded and I already have enough ideas to take home to keep me hopping for a while! (Yet there are still three days to go!) I'm hoping to squeeze in enough time to share some of what I'm learning with you during the week while I'm here.

The view from my hotel window is gorgeous :o)

And the city of St. Louis has done a great job of welcoming us here. The restaurant I ate at tonight was a fair number of blocks from the Convention Center and even there (all over, really!) we found one of the little "Welcome NAGC" signs:

And about every other street light has a little welcome sign on it too:

Today (Thursday) were the Board Institutes, which are in-depth sessions presented by NAGC Board members. This morning, I attended the session by Julia Link Roberts on product assessment and this afternoon I attended the session about NAGC's new Mile Marker Series (which I plan to write about in more depth in a future post).

This morning's session began with an important and thought-provoking question: "If during the first five or six years of school, a child earns good grades and high praise without having to make much effort, what are all the things he doesn't learn that most children learn during those years?"

(Take a moment to ponder that for a bit...)

In our ensuing conversation, we shared multiple possibilities, such as:
* the child might not be learning persistence
* the child might not be developing a work ethic
* the child might not be encountering struggles that foster resilience
* the child might not be learning healthy strategies for dealing with frustration (which I've talked about here a bit before)
* the child might not be learning how to maintain a sense of curiosity
* the child might not be developing an accurate sense of his/her true abilities/potential
* the child might not experience a sense of satisfaction when actually achieving
* the child might lose pride in his/her work
* the child might not be developing time management skills or study skills
* the child might not be learning how to break an academic sweat (and therefore doesn't grow or improve in the ways we do when we "break a sweat")
* (click here and scroll to page 17 for a great article by Tracy Inman on this topic)

Now, granted, kids can learn these life skills via multiple avenues -- it doesn't just have to be in school that they learn them. However, school is certainly a BIG part of kids' lives and can have a significant impact on their opportunities to learn (or not learn) these important life skills. We hurt kids in the short term and in the long term if we cheat them out of opportunities to learn these life skills. Providing appropriate academic challenge for each learner is one ideal way to help kids develop and nurture these skills.

What is your answer to the question? What do you think our gifted kids don't learn if/when we allow them to skate through school?

Survey Results

2009-11-02T00:25:18Z

Awhile back, I posted a link to a little survey that many of you completed for me. The purpose of today's post is to update you on the results (as previously promised due to the problem I had getting the survey system to link the results for all of you). I've taken screen shots of the results page in my Advanced Survey account and cropped them into individual JPEG images, which you can view below. Thank you to those who took the survey!

I am intrigued that the percentage of parents reading this blog is so high. Granted, since I limited the responses to that question to just one answer per person, the results don't reflect the number of people who fill more than one role, and that likely is many of you. Still, I'm glad to know that there are so many parents out there reading because it helps me know that I perhaps need to gear things to the parents a little more often!

Interestingly, the results to the above question have changed over time. Initially, when the survey was first posted, the responses to Question #2 were running about 75% "Yes" for subscribing to this blog via RSS or a similar feed -- probably because as subscribers they knew right away that a new post was up, whereas the non-subscribers gradually found it over time.

Even though I did allow multiple selections for the answers to Question #3, most people who responded only chose one or two answers each, hence the low percentages of interested folks for each topic. I'm fairly surprised that there isn't broader interest for more topics. (Of course, for me they're all interesting, but I'm also a bit of a geek for this stuff!)

I was disappointed to not hit all 50 states, although there are a couple states not represented that I do know I have readers in because I know people there offline who tell me they read this blog (Alaska, Idaho, and North Dakota, for example). And to the handful of you who claim to be living at Antarctica, I'd be really curious to know why you're there! (assuming you weren't just giving a silly response)

Wow, most of you are regular readers. I appreciate knowing I have a consistent audience and I hope I can (continue to?) do my best at offering you interesting, thought-provoking, fairly regular reading. And welcome to the many newbies!

If any of you didn't take the survey and would like to add your two cents to it, just follow these easy steps:

1. Go to Advanced Survey
2. Type my survey # into the little "Take a Survey" box on the right side of the page. Survey # is 69305.
3. Click "Go" and answer the five easy questions. (*Thank you!!!*)

Have a great week! I'm excited to be heading to St. Louis for the national convention and I hope to see some of you at NAGC this week! :o)

Getting to Square Two

2009-10-21T11:24:56Z

Last week I presented at our annual state teacher's convention, twice on identifying gifted Native American students and twice on "Getting Started: A Gifted Program for Your School." With about 900 schools statewide, spread over 147,046 square miles and 56 counties, we have just over 40 FTE in Gifted Education positions in Montana. That's not even a whole person per county, let alone enough to cover all 900 schools.

So, needless to say, I'm often confronted with "square one" questions when I present in my state. And even though I should know by now what to expect, I still can't help but marvel at the "starting from scratch" situations people are in here.

Two gentlemen from a small town on an Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana came to one of my presentations and wanted to know where the closest place in Montana was to them that they could go to observe a gifted program in action, to get ideas and to see how it works. Although I was aware of a couple places closer to them that are also just getting started, the only "close" place I truly knew of that has (and has had for quite some time) a gifted program is a 262 mile drive for them - one way.

Easily half of the people attending my presentations last week were Special Education or Title I teachers from Class B or C (i.e. rather small, usually K-8) schools who had been "given gifted" for a class period by their administrators. Most of the other half were English teachers, Computers teachers, Librarians, etc., who had also been "given gifted" for a class period or two. All of them were at a bit of a loss as to where to even begin.

Yes, our state does have a very thorough Program Planning Guide available, in addition to other resources. Yes, Gifted Education is technically nothing new in Montana, with the founding of AGATE thirty years ago and a mandate in our state accreditation standards that schools identify and provide appropriate services for gifted students. Yes, we have come a very long way in the past three decades, thanks to a serious cadre of folks who came before those of us currently in the trenches. But geography, size, lack of funds, and misperceptions continue to plaque so many of our schools.

So in moments like this I find myself torn between the past and the present, between how far we've come and how far we've yet to go, between excitement for the schools that are getting the ball rolling and ache for the gifted students in those schools that continue to think an AP class at the high school level is all the "appropriate services" these students will ever need. Part of me wants to mentor each and every one of these amazing, motivated, uncertain, curious teachers as they develop services for their schools' gifted students - and part of me knows I can't just dive in and do it all when my own job(s) await(s) me at home (not to mention the garage I'm building out back in every possible spare moment of time). And then I think of how much more exciting and how much more daunting these same struggles must have been for those who were in my shoes in Montana thirty years ago... I am so grateful to them and I marvel at what they accomplished with essentially no road map. Thank you, Pioneers.

Before she left, one of the ladies who came to my first presentation last week said, "I have hope now that I can do this - and that it might actually be fun, too. Before, I was overwhelmed by all of the unknown and uncertainty. I was worried and nervous and intimidated. But now that I have some idea of how to begin and where to go to access resources, I think I might even be looking forward to this new, open-ended aspect of my job!"

Welcome aboard to all of you newbies out there! :o)

Subject Acceleration

2009-09-30T11:51:15Z

"I think subject acceleration helps a lot. It challenges us and gives us what we need. I'd rather be challenged to where I'm learning - even if it means I don't always get straight A's. I think moving me up in Math was a really smart decision on the school's part."

"It's a way to be myself and get ahead and actually do what I want to instead of staying behind and reviewing. I actually get stressed out if I'm NOT accelerated. This way I get to learn. I'm more stressed when it's too easy because it's the same review over and over."

The above quotations are from two of my middle school students whom we have subject accelerated in math. Despite the overwhelming evidence of acceleration's positive effects for kids who are ready for it, many schools still shy away from providing these kids with what they need educationally. Why? Some worry that the kids really can't handle it, some worry that it will create social problems for them ("look what became of Ted Kaczynski, after all!"), some worry that removing those students from the class will remove the "sparks" that get discussions going, some think the advanced kids have to be in the regular classroom to provide a model for struggling students, some think giving them extra work (in addition to the regular work) in the regular classroom will fill their need for challenge, some don't think any kids should ever be "singled out" (except, of course, the kids on the Varsity team), and some worry about life event issues, like all the other kids getting to drive sooner than the accelerated child. (Ah, yes, in the grand scheme of school priorities, getting to drive at the same time as everyone else at school is so much more important than learning at school...)

Subject acceleration is the process of providing students advanced content in a given subject. This is typically accomplished by moving the student ahead a grade in that subject (sending a 2nd grader to a 3rd grade class for math, for example) or by providing advanced groups within the grade level that significantly accelerate the pace and content.

Subject acceleration is one of many forms of acceleration. Others include:
1. Early Admission to Kindergarten (i.e. starting K at age 4 instead of age 5)
2. Early Admission to First Grade
3. Whole-Grade Acceleration (a.k.a. "Grade-Skipping")
4. Continuous Progress (being allowed to "move on" when material is mastered, even if the rest of the class isn't ready to move on)
5. Self-Paced Instruction (independent study, independent projects, self-taught subjects)
6. Combined Classes (for example, a 2/3 combo class)
7. Curriculum Compacting
9. Telescoping Curriculum (condensing content into a shorter time-frame ... i.e. learning two semesters of material in one semester, or learning three years of material in two years, etc.)
10. Mentoring (learning from an "expert")
11. Extracurricular Programs
12. Correspondence Courses
13. Early Graduation
14. Concurrent/Dual Enrollment (i.e. being dually enrolled in middle school and high school or in high school and college)
15. AP (Advanced Placement) or IB (International Baccalaureate) classes
16. Credit by Examination (i.e. taking a test to prove mastery... Colleges more typically offer this, where someone can "test out" of a class)
17. Acceleration in College
18. Early Entrance into Middle School, High School, or College

We have been providing subject acceleration in our schools here for a number of years, some of it through advanced-level groups within a grade level and some of it through above-grade placement in a subject. Most of our cases of above-grade placement have been in math.

So how does it work? Well, these details can give you an idea of one way subject acceleration can work. Feel free to share your own ideas and strategies in the comments section.

First, it's important to note that acceleration is not necessarily right for all gifted kids, or even for the same gifted kid in multiple subjects. It is a case-by-case determination. That said, though, acceleration (in its various forms) has been shown by oodles of research to offer a multitude of benefits for kids who are ready for it. The links at the bottom of this post will take you to further information on the topic.

I began the long road of bringing subject acceleration to my district about a decade ago, with one student who was an exceptional math student and whom I knew otherwise would only be getting grade-level content in math. I honestly don't remember how I did it, but I somehow convinced the principal and teachers involved that this student needed to go down the hall to a 6th grade math class when the 5th grade was doing math. They agreed to the arrangement, although made me promise that it could be "undone" if the student floundered or was teased. No worries - He thrived, and even outshone every 6th grader in the class. The initial surprise from some of the teachers caused me to shake my head in wonderment a time or two, but it wasn't long before the teachers involved became believers that not only were there some kids out there who could do this, but that we should be doing more of it. (!) Each year since, we have fine-tuned the process, and each year since, we have increased the number of kids being subject-accelerated. This year, for example, we have determined that 15 of our 5th graders were ready for 6th grade math. They LOVE it. More specifically, they love being challenged at a level they're ready for.

How do we decide which ones are ready? I seek recommendations from the 4th grade teachers (in particular from the teacher for our advanced 4th grade class) and I check every single 5th grader's score on the math portion of our state tests that they took in 4th grade and 3rd grade. Kids with the highest test scores and/or the highest teacher recommendations are selected for further screening (in most cases, they have both high scores and a teacher recommendation, although there is the occasional kid who only has one or the other). We give the kids a beginning-of-6th-grade assessment from our curriculum which targets the main skills the 6th grade teachers expect the incoming 6th graders to more or less have a good handle on. Any of the tested 5th graders who do well on the test (80% correct is a good target, although we always discuss each case and factor in work habits, desire for challenge, previous track record in math classes, etc.) is then placed into 6th grade math (which takes place at the same time as 5th grade math). So they leave their 5th grade classroom during math and walk down the hall to the 6th grade classroom for math.

We saved space for these kids in a 6th grade math class so that we could have a reasonable number of seats available for the number of 5th graders we were estimating would qualify. So some planning ahead in the schedule can be really helpful. But keep in mind, we started this here a decade ago with just one student. If what your school needs is a "test case" to "prove" to everyone that it can be done and the child CAN handle it well, then start with a test case. You can grow the process and the number of kids benefiting from it as you are able. (Yes, I agree, "but more kids need it now." In my case, I had to concede to myself that "starting somewhere" was better than "fighting the issue everywhere." And once we had "started somewhere," it didn't take long before I was no longer fighting the issue everywhere.)

Our middle school has grades 5-8, so yes, in 6th grade they walk down the hall for 7th grade math, in 7th grade they are scheduled into an 8th grade class (and by that point some of them are ready for the advanced 8th grade class), and as 8th graders they walk up the hill to our high school (it's essentially "next door") for either Algebra I or Geometry. And when they are full-time high school students, they continue to be placed according to their needs, which can mean an online AP Calculus course or other correspondence course or dual enrollment in a college course by the time they are seniors.

One of the most exciting outcomes of the process for me has been the enthusiasm by which (most) of the teachers view the process and the benefits for the students. They became so convinced of the need for subject acceleration for students who were ready for it that they developed their own procedures for subject accelerating kids in grades above 5th. If two weeks into the year, a 7th grader is blowing their socks off in their 7th grade math class, they assess the student and place her into an 8th grade class. When a new student comes and is assessed for placement, they put the child into whatever class he or she needs, basing their placement on what they're ready for as a learner, not on when they were born. I still coordinate the 5th to 6th grade acceleration process, but beyond that point, the process has evolved to take care of itself. Those who were once hesitant skeptics of subject acceleration are now enthusiastic supporters.

Mostly, today, I want to leave you with the words of the kids and teachers who have been a part of this process. The student quotations below come from a sampling of my 6th-11th graders, most of whom were subject accelerated from 5th to 6th grade math and a couple others were accelerated in a later grade level. I simply asked them for their thoughts on being accelerated - good, bad, or ugly. They took it from there:

"It was really helpful. It helped me improve my grades because I was no longer drifting off in an easy class."

"It's just great! It helps a ton. If I hadn't had any acceleration, I'd be at the bottom of my class because I wouldn't have learned anything otherwise."

"I look around to other schools and they don't seem to do any acceleration, so I feel lucky to have it here. It helps me know that I'm getting what I need in my education."

"You get to learn harder things. It's fun to learn new things. It has taught me a lot that I hadn't learned before, which is kinda the whole point!"

"The first jump was a little big, going from advanced 4th grade math right into 6th grade math, but once I adjusted I was okay. It felt like the first time I'd ever been challenged. Now I love it."

"It's been fun being challenged instead of just always being right the first time. It's helped me learn more instead of just sit and be bored."

"If you catch on to it (the material), I think you should be able to move on. Being accelerated, I've learned more material than I otherwise would have, and it makes me want to keep moving on."

"It's good because you get to learn and move on instead of do what you've done before. There are enough kids doing it that it doesn't have any social impact, either."

"It's hard at first, but in the end it's worth it because you don't feel like you're held back. You can go above and beyond."

7th grader in advanced 8th grade class: "I like it because it gives me a challenge. It makes me work harder to get good grades."

"It's helped me because I can do the work and I like to be challenged!"

"It's not really that hard. It takes work, but it's worth it."

"It's better to be challenged. I feel like I'm learning more. I'm doing better in school because I'm learning more and being challenged instead of being bored."

Teacher who has taught accelerated students: "Students express to me the relief of not being bored and under-challenged. They love to have their brains stimulated."

Teacher who has taught accelerated students: "The notion of keeping grades separate is a myth. I have 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in my '7th grade' math class. It's an intellectual class, not a social class. The 6th graders more than hold their own and the 8th graders tend to get it in gear when they see the 6th graders doing the work."

Teacher who has taught accelerated students: "It would be a shame to hold them back! Let them go on! They're usually even at the top of the class in the upper grade. They just want to learn and we need to let them."

Parent of a subject-accelerated student: "If they're ready for it, it allows them to take more in high school and not have to double up on classes in order to move on. My child is happier when she's learning and not repeating or reviewing information she previously mastered."

Homeroom 5th grade teacher who has had a few students subject-accelerated into 6th grade math: "Even if you try to accelerate in class, it's not the same. Try as you might, you just can't do for them what the subject grade acceleration can."

Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration

A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students (a summary of many decades worth of research on acceleration)

The Iowa Acceleration Scales (the most widely used method for determining acceleration placements)

Advice for parents whose kids might need acceleration

Synthesis of research on acceleration options by Dr. Karen Rogers (1999)

A statement on acceleration by Dr. David Elkind, president emeritus of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and author of The Hurried Child

More acceleration links from Hoagies' Gifted Education Page

Gateway to Gifted

2009-09-16T01:43:33Z

St. Louis, here we come!

This year's national conference (i.e. NAGC) will take place in St. Louis, Missouri, November 4-8, 2009. In addition to the 260+ regular conference breakout sessions (on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), there will once again be Wednesday Academies, Thursday Action Labs, and Thursday Board Institutes, plus some great general sessions and mini-keynotes. One general session in particular that I'm curious to hear is a presentation by Josh Waitzkin, author of "The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance." Josh is an eight-time national chess champion and is also the person (then boy) whom "Searching for Bobby Fischer" was based on. I am intrigued to hear about his life story from his own voice and to ponder his theories on reaching "optimal performance."

I won't be able to be there on Wednesday, but if I was, I'd be curious to attend "Taking Middle School Gifted Students to Higher Ground" or "Tools and Strategies for Promoting Literacy and New Literacies for Young Gifted Students."

And I'm still debating what to sign up for on Thursday. "The Advocacy Journey: Finding Success for the Gifted Student" would certainly apply, as advocacy is a big piece of what I do as a Gifted Education Specialist (and also as President of our state organization, Montana AGATE). "Making Sense of Underachievement: A Counselor’s Perspective" catches my attention because it's an important topic and I know someone who attended the same session by the same presenter (Jean Sunde Peterson) at Edufest this summer and raved about it. Having great options to pick from is at least a good problem to have! ;o)

For all the parents out there, consider attending the convention's Parent Day on Saturday, November 7th. It looks to be a nearly 12-hour day chock full of opportunities to interact with other parents of gifted kids, learn about oodles of topics of interest to parents, and hear from keynoter Howard Gardner. You can even register for Parent Day for a special parent rate!

Want to get organized and plan your conference session selections before you hop on the plane? Use the awesome "itinerary planner" to build your own conference schedule. (FYI - If you are already an NAGC member but haven't logged into their system before, your username for logging into the Learning Center - where you can access the itinerary planner - is your email address and your password is your NAGC membership number. If you are not already an NAGC member, you can create a login account for free.) I love using the itinerary planner because I know that once my plane lands I will have very little time to read through the BOOK that is the conference schedule to figure out which sessions I want to attend. (Just as an interesting idea to toss out to y'all, I always bring the book/schedule back to show my students so they can see where I was and can read about some of the "classes" I took. They're usually rather impressed by all the topics and that 3,000 teachers get together each fall to learn about better ways to reach them as advanced learners.)

And bring some pocket change! The Exhibit Hall is so magnetic and will draw you in!

Friday night will be an evening of Network Events, each one sponsored by one of NAGC's fourteen Networks (essentially, they are special-interest sub-groups, like "Creativity" and "Research & Evaluation" and "Early Childhood"). Apparently the Creativity Network's Event, "Creativity Night," is a lot of fun. And I got quite a chuckle out of the Computers & Technology Network's title for their Event this year: "Speed Geeking," an interactive “speed date” of 5-minute presentations about educational uses of some of the best free technology resources.

I'm excited to be heading to St. Louis once again. The only other time I've been there was back in college when a friend and I went there for the National Collegiate Honors Council conference. It was October of 1993, the year of the floods, and I still recall how squishy the ground under the arch was, soaked with water even weeks after the Mississippi's unusually-wide summer flood line had receded. I may take advantage of the opportunity to go up the arch again. What an architectural marvel! The cars looked like ants from way up there... And St. Louis being the town where the Lewis & Clark expedition began lends the city some additional fascination for me. (Signs of Lewis & Clark are just about everywhere here in Montana!)

What do you appreciate most about attending the national convention? I love being able to interact with so many other people who do what I do. I love having access to so many great learning opportunities (i.e. all the sessions). I love the energy, the hundred new ideas I come back with (although my crazy "to do" list usually only allows implementation of about three!), the chance to see old friends, the continuous debate of ideas and exchange of theories. But I think most of all, I love coming home and seeing my students and letting them know that thousands and thousands of people are "on the job" of helping to improve understanding of gifted kids and methods for reaching them as learners. They feel less alone in being gifted when I let them know that I'm less alone in being a Gifted Specialist.

Okay, I'm off to officially register for the NAGC convention now... Consider doing the same! It's always interesting and worthwhile. You can register online or via snail mail. Oh, and if you register by Sept. 18th, your registration fee is $25 cheaper...

RTI for Gifted? Are You Sure?!?!?

2009-08-25T01:17:52Z

I remember many years ago a discussion that broiled in a grade-level staff meeting regarding a 7th grade student at our middle school whom all the teachers were concerned about. As a consistently struggling student, she had been referred for possible Special Education services a few times over the years but never qualified for the services because her overall IQ wasn't quite low enough and she had no IQ-achievement discrepancy. Yet it was clear to her 7th grade teachers, as it had been clear to previous grade teachers, that she needed some sort of assistance. But the hands of the Special Education teachers were tied because the student didn't qualify for their services yet again. The 7th grade teachers were passionate that something needed to be done to give this student the assistance she obviously (to them) needed, and the special education teachers were frustrated that they were restricted by rules, regulations, laws, policies, etc. from being able to reach out to this student and offer her their expertise.

I don't remember what solution, if any, the teachers came up with to help her, but I do vividly recall the passion and intensity of the discussion. In part, I remember it because I recall thinking at the time that I was grateful gifted education (in Montana, at least) wasn't so restrictive. If the teachers and gifted specialist determine a kid needs gifted education services, we aren't limited by magic numbers from providing that student the services.

Yet there are places where "magic numbers" are required for a student to receive gifted education services, and I'm certain discussions similarly passionate to the one above have occurred regarding students who don't have the magic numbers to qualify for gifted education services and yet the teachers (and parents) all know the student needs the services.

When I first learned about RTI, or Response to Intervention, I thought, "Ah, so we weren't the only school with students who needed the expertise of special education services but didn't technically qualify for those services." RTI has been created as a way to make sure the kid gets the assistance/services he needs whether or not he technically qualifies for special education or as having a learning disability.

RTI is a tiered service delivery model, which means different levels of service (instruction, assistance) are provided and students receive their instruction and any assistance at whatever tier (or level) they need that information. So (pardon my simplistic diagrams created in Word, transferred to Fireworks, saved as JPEGs, & somehow uploaded for your viewing pleasure), the green tier (Tier 1) in the diagram below is the Core, i.e. the level at which instruction delivery will be appropriate for most students.

The yellow tier (Tier 2) represents the targeted or strategic interventions that some students will receive when assessments show they aren't quite learning the material after the Core lesson or layer of instruction. Tier 2 is where students receive some additional practice on a skill or additional instruction on a concept in order to help them grasp that skill or concept. The red tier (Tier 3) represents the intensive instruction that a handful of students may need when assessments show that Tier 1 instruction and Tier 2 instruction have not allowed the child desired results (i.e. learning or mastery).

[Interestingly, this tiered visual no longer appears on any of the RTI information sites - or if it does, it's modified. My graphics capabilities are limited, so I couldn't create anything much beyond this for you. I've place these images here simply for all the visual learners out there, not as a be-all end-all representation of an RTI model.]

RTI is instruction in tiers, not students in tiers, so the same given child could receive instruction in Tier 1 for learning the alphabet (for example), Tier 2 for learning the sounds of each letter, and Tier 3 for learning specific consonant blends (such as "cl" and "bl").

I ask you: Whose learning needs aren't represented in this model?

Yep, the gifted student. At face value, the essential RTI model assumes the Core (or Tier 1) will meet the needs of all students who aren't struggling with that skill or concept. Is the core, whole-class, grade-level instruction and curriculum appropriate for the gifted learners you know? Perhaps in some subjects for some advanced learners, but for all of them? Of course not. They have often already mastered the material (or can do so very quickly). Think about this:

> Just as there are some students who are a little bit behind in any given area/subject and who will need some extra assistance (i.e. Tier 2), there are about the same number of students who are a little bit ahead and will need some extra challenge and/or acceleration.

> Just as there are a few students who are significantly behind in any given area/subject and will need some significant assistance (i.e. Tier 3), there are about the same number of students who are significantly ahead and will need significant extra challenge and/or acceleration.

Spend enough time reading information about RTI and you will sooner or later come across a statement that says something to the effect of RTI being a way to make sure that every student, whether struggling or gifted or somewhere inbetween, gets what he or she needs as a learner.

Here, here!

But my concern is that nearly every piece of information about RTI talks about it in relation to the struggling learner. And that is how most schools seem to be interpreting its purpose. Yes, that was its original intended purpose, but you can also find information referring to RTI as a model for effective schoolwide reform, as "Every Ed" rather than "Special Ed," as having the ability to transform how we educate all students. I agree with those last three possibilities (and am excited by them), but they won't happen if the nearly-sole focus of RTI implementation is for only the struggling learner.

To me, it was simply instinctive to recognize that the tiers of instruction could be flipped to represent how we as schools can and should also provide tiered services for our advanced learners. And in the state of Montana we are in the beginning stages of trying to utilize RTI in both directions. Knowing this, I contacted my district's person-in-charge-of-RTI last year and offered to talk to our RTI committee about RTI for gifted and the response I got was, "Well, I don't think that's necessary. This is really more of a special education thing and doesn't have anything to do with gifted."

My fear is that any district adopting RTI with that line of thinking will (continue to?) ignore the tiered needs of its advanced/gifted learners while at the same time easily recognizing the tiered needs of their struggling learners.

So, not that I have the power to do this, but in order to help schools know that it can and does work both ways, I propose the RTI tiers - at least in implementation! - should look more like this:

[And really, if you turn it on its side, what does it remind you of?

MmmHmm - a bell curve.]

Here in Montana, we recently hired a GT Specialist at the state level (our Office of Public Instruction). [This means we finally actually have someone at the state level in a GT position!] And her job in part includes helping Montana districts implement RTI in the advanced/gifted direction, too. OPI asked me to be on the interview team and this meant missing a day of school this past spring to go to Helena and meet the candidates. When I explained to my students why I was going to be gone, I told them about RTI and drew the 3-tier model up on the board. Each time, no matter what the grade level of students I was talking to, their immediate response after hearing the explanation was, "But what about us? Where are we in all that?" It was so obvious to them, too, that there were missing tiers.

Is your district (or your child's school) implementing RTI (or their own version of it)? Here are some possible questions you could pose to find out if/how tiers of instruction will also apply to advanced/gifted learners:

* Those are great strategies for how we can reach the kids who struggle grasping a skill or concept. What strategies are we going to use to reach (i.e. stretch) the kids who already have a handle on the skill or concept?

* As we will already be assessing all students frequently [a key piece of RTI], how can we use that data to better reach/teach our advanced learners, too?

* We're putting into place a great continuum of services for our struggling learners. How about we examine also putting into place a continuum of services for our advanced learners?

* So these are our strategies for reaching our learners who are a bit behind. What are our strategies for reaching our learners who are a bit ahead?

As fuel for your questions, I recommend reading some RTI information sites and pulling quotes from RTI documents about "educating ALL students." For example, the following quotations come from the Montana RTI Trainers Training Manual (perhaps it is the same manual used in all states, I don't know...). (In each case, the emphasis is mine.)

"Response to Instruction (RTI) is the practice of providing high-quality instruction to all students based on individual need."

"…creates a continuum of instructional supports."

"Students who score at the higher level of Tier 1 should be receiving instruction that will continue to keep them challenged."

"Student learning is evaluated based on how quickly that student acquires instructed material (learning rate). The effect of this shift [in philosophy and process] is that it enables educators to focus on how much and what types of instruction students need, which increases accountability for student learning." (Which begs another question you could pose: * Shouldn't we as educators also be accountable for the learning of our advanced students?)

"Essentially, RTI is the practice of: (a) providing high-quality instruction/intervention matched to all students’ needs and (b) using assessment to determine learning rate and level of performance to (c) make important educational decisions to guide instruction."

If RTI is being promoted as a means to improve learning and instruction for **ALL** students, then let’s make sure that actually happens.

Want to learn more about RTI? Want to find out more about RTI's implications for gifted education? Try these links:

RTI Action Network

National Center on Response to Intervention

Colorado Department of Education RTI page (Colorado is including gifted in their RTI implementation)

Thinking Points - RTI and Gifted Education (also from Colorado Department of Education)

Council for Exceptional Children - RTI Information and Articles

National Association of State Directors of Special Education - Response to Intervention Project

Pieces of Learning - Progress Monitoring Forms for Gifted Learners (I have not used these and therefore don't have an opinion on them one way or the other, but found them while hunting for RTI + gifted info and figured someone out there might want to check them out.)

Gifted Child Today, Vol.32 No.3, Summer 2009 Special Issue: Response to Intervention I do subscribe to "Gifted Child Today," but it is delivered to my school address, so this new RTI/Gifted issue that I'm very much looking forward to seeing is somewhere in a pile of district summer mail that hasn't yet been delivered to my box (we haven't started school yet here - although do soon). So I have just written this entire post and now discover/realize that my timing is either really good (many of you out there will be interested in this topic due to GCT's latest issue) or really bad (because as soon as I finally am able to see the issue, I will probably discover information and resources I could've linked y'all to here in this post). Either way, I guess I can update if/as necessary.

What have been your experiences with RTI's implications for gifted students in your schools? How are your schools utilizing the RTI model/process to reach ALL students? Do you see RTI as a potential benefit for gifted education and gifted students, or as a concern, or both?

A final thought from Susan Winebrenner (2001): "Learning is forward progress from point of entry."

P.S. If you haven't yet taken my quick survey, please do so! Thanks :o)

WoW! Webinars on Wednesdays

2009-08-19T02:20:29Z

From now through the end of 2009, NAGC (the National Association for Gifted Children) will be offering free webinars on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month (plus a monthly "Parent Night.") It looks like they have a wide range of topics lined up (everything from perfectionism to advocacy to program evaluation and much more), along with some great presenters. I have never attended a webinar before, but I just signed up for my first one! Should be a good learning experience in more ways than one. Here are the titles and dates for the webinars announced thus far:

August 26, 7:00 p.m. EST - Classroom Indicators of Giftedness with Mary Slade, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia. (I met Mary at Edufest a couple years ago. She's a riot!)

September 9, 12:00 p.m. EST - Differentiation Overview with Jennifer Beasley, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

September 16, 7:00 p.m. EST - Parent Night - Back to School. Back to Gifted. with Robin Schader, NAGC Parent Resource Advisor.

September 23, 7:00 p.m. EST - Things Administrators Should Know about Gifted Education with Joyce VanTassel-Baska, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. (Joyce presented a keynote at Edufest this year, and I loved her down-to-earth sense of humor!) I'm hoping I can get at least one administrator from my district to sign up for this one. I think gifted education has good (and in some cases great) support here in my district, but there's always room for learning more :o)

October 14, 12:00 p.m. EST - Pre-Assessment: What are the Tools? (no presenter is listed yet for this one)

October 28, 7:00 p.m. EST - Examining the Myths and Truths of Gifted Education (no presenter is listed yet for this one, either)

Registration for each webinar opens two weeks before the event and closes when all the "seats" are filled. (They don't appear to be announcing just how many "seats" are available, but it is apparently limited so as to allow for "active participation.")

Want more info? Check out Webinars on Wednesdays.

Love Webinars? The SENG organization (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) also offers webinars on gifted topics. (There is a $40 fee for participation in SENG webinars, but that's a rather good deal for having a gifted education expert right there in your computer, live, for 90 minutes! Plus the fee includes unlimited access to a recording of the session.)

The next SENG webinar is tomorrow (Wednesday, August 19) at 7:30 p.m. EST - Social and Emotional Intelligence: The Path to a Gifted Child's Success and Well-Being with Steven Pfeiffer, Florida State University. (I won't be attending that one because I will be digging a giant hole in my backyard tomorrow - I'm building a garage and at this very moment a Caterpillar is sitting out there waiting to move a few hundred yards of dirt for me :o)

Another upcoming SENG webinar will take place Sunday, September 20, at 4:00 p.m. EST - Grandparents and Gifted Children with James T. Webb, Great Potential Press.

Happy Learning! :o)

P.S. If you haven't yet answered the five easy questions of my survey, please do so! Thanks :o)

Who Are You? (via Edufest - Days 4, 5, and 6)

2009-08-11T18:10:46Z

Well, the Edufest conference finished up swimmingly (and I did manage to get a smidge of "swimming" in via a float down the Boise River one day - squeezed in-between presenting and dinner). Here are a few highlights of what I learned the last three days of Edufest that might be of interest/use for any of you:

iTunes University - Did you know that universities are now recording professors' lectures and making them available for anyone to learn from? Want to learn about computer programming from an MIT professor? Want to listen in on a class at Oxford? You can do it via iTunes University!

Online Stopwatch - Want to give your students a visual reminder of how much time is left? Online Stopwatch counts up or down and the displayed numbers are large enough to be easily seen from a computer in the room (better yet, project it onto a big screen or wall if you are so equipped).

SchoolTube - Do your students want to post their video projects on YouTube but your district blocks the site or you're worried about the too-open-for-school-ness that is YouTube? Try SchoolTube, the school-friendly version of video posting.

Have a kid who wants to learn about programming and making/designing computer games? Scratch is a great place to get started. Created by the "Lifelong Kindergarten" group [isn't that a great name‽] at the MIT Media Lab, Scratch is a free download and once it's downloaded, the computer doesn't have to be online for the program to work.

Do your students email their homework to you? Inbox getting clogged up? Try Drop.io where you can create a free online drop box (up to 100MB) that your students can drop their digital homework into and you can retrieve it from. Keep even more organized by creating a separate box for each class period. (Also great for sharing large files with people other than your students, too, of course.)

Concerned that your students don't know the best ways to search on the internet? Google has little posters with search strategies that you can print out and hang in your classroom.

Looking for a pseudo-website to help teach your students that not everything on the web is valid and reliable? Show them this page about the (supposed) Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and see if they bite.

Want to learn about more items like these? Poke around at this website created by the presenter for the technology strand where I learned these ideas (the presenter was Brian Housand). At Brian's Edufest page, click on any Day or click on "60 in 60" for additional ideas.

In addition to all of the above snazzy links that I'm excited to share with my students, I also spent a great deal of time learning about strategies for helping the teachers in my district implement differentiation in their instruction. This fall, as a matter of fact, I'll be running a year-long study group for any interested teachers from my district and the focus will be helping them learn various DI strategies and supporting them throughout the year as they begin the process of implementing them. (But more on that later! I should do a whole post about the study group and what I'm doing with them this fall when I have it up and running.)

And last but not least, I learned about survey creation software. Actually, Brian taught us about the Forms option at Google Docs, which creates surveys and then people can access your survey via the internet and you can collect the results/data in your Google account. It occurred to me that, hey, that would be a great way to gain some information/ideas from my blog readers! But the Forms option at Google Docs didn't have a feature I wanted (being able to post real-time results publicly so that all of you can see the results, too). So I hunted around on the internet, checked out 45 different online survey creation sites, and chose one (Advanced Survey) to use to create a little survey for y'all to fill out. (If you don't mind... :o) It's anonymous and I'm not tracking or gathering any traceable info via this survey. It's just that I've been curious... I know there are a lot of people out there who read, but I don't know much about my audience (except those who post comments). Are you mostly teachers? Mostly parents of gifted kids? Mostly people in the GT field? Do any administrators come here to read about Gifted Education issues? Who are you, quietly lurking out there???

Please take a moment and answer the five easy questions in my survey. I will post a link in the Comments section here so that you can come back and see the real-time results of the survey if you'd like.

Here's what you do:
1. Go to Advanced Survey
2. Type my survey # into the little "Take a Survey" box on the right side of the page. Survey # is 69305.
3. Click "Go" and answer the five easy questions. (*Thank you!!!*)
4. If you want to see the real-time results, check below in the comments section for the link to view them. (The Advanced Survey system should also let you view them right away after completing the survey.)

I didn't set an end-date on the survey, so anyone finding this post a year from now could still (in theory - if everything works as it should) be able to fill out the survey and/or see the results.

Have a great week, everyone!
Tamara :o)

Edufest - Days 1, 2, and 3

2009-07-29T04:01:54Z

Greetings, all! This week finds me at one of my favorite places, Edufest in Boise, Idaho. It's a Gifted Education conference that takes place the last week of July each year. It's intense, in-depth, inspiring, interesting, jam-packed, fun, eye-opening, and energizing. (Edufest is patterned after Confratute, which takes place in Storrs, Connecticut, each summer, so those of you who live in the East could consider it an option if Idaho is a bit of a stretch for you.)

Essentially, the conference schedule is structured such that instead of attending each session for an hour(-ish) and then moving on to something else (and therefore never being able to delve much deeper into a topic in a conference setting), you instead attend strands, which last all week and are pretty much mini-classes on a given topic. Each day for three 1-1/2 hour time slots, you attend a presentation by the same presenter on the same topic, so you have the opportunity to learn in much greater depth. (Of course, this also contributes to the conference's intensity, but everyone seems to thrive on that!) If you scroll down at the Edufest link, you can click to access a list and description of this year's strands. For example, one of the strands I'm attending this year is about "leading and implementing differentiated instruction." Aimed at GT specialists, principals, curriculum directors, etc., we are learning in this strand various strategies for teaching the teachers in our districts about DI, plus strategies for helping our districts/systems implement it. My next strand is actually one I'm teaching (together with my co-author, Karen Isaacson) on "parent/teacher collaboration." We are discussing with the participants various strategies for building positive communication and relationships between the parents and teachers of gifted kids. For the other strand I'm attending, I am learning about "unleashing the power of technology for the gifted - making creative and critical thinking connections." I'm excited to share with my students all of the great new technology resources I've learned about! For example, my little musicians will love learning about Audacity, a free cross-platform sound editor.

In addition to the strands, there are also five keynotes and three "special topics" (i.e. one-time-only) sessions.

I was curious what everyone else was getting out of their experience here this week, so I went around to some tables at dinner and surveyed a variety of the attendees. (I told all of them the purpose for my question and that their responses would be anonymous). The question I posed was, "What is something that you have learned here at Edufest this week that you think everyone else 'out there' needs to know?" These responses come from conference attendees who are parents of gifted children, regular classroom teachers, gifted specialists, counselors, administrators, and experts in the field (presenters here) who are nationally (and some internationally) known for their work in Gifted Education. For some of those who answered my question, this is the first Gifted Education conference they have ever attended and for many of those first-timers, this is also their first exposure to learning about gifted students. Others whom I interviewed are 'old-timers' well-versed in knowledge, strategies, and research regarding gifted students. (And, of course, every portion of the spectrum in-between.)

"I have learned how to go back to my district and be an advocate while being low-key. We have a lot of kids who aren't identified because they aren't the 'perfect' gifted kid, and I've learned strategies to advocate for them without being pushy."

"I have come to the realization that we need to identify kids based on need of services. Label the services, not the child."

"I don't think we in Gifted Education are reaching enough parents. I'm learning it is just as important to educate the parents of gifted kids [about giftedness] as it is to educate the kids. We have to work with the whole family to be effective for the child."

"We never learn enough. Gifted Education is a pursuit of the heart, a family. We get re-charged here. There's something inspirational every day and it gives you reason to keep fighting the fight."

(regarding the twice exceptional) "People still continue to want to 'fix' someone. It's hard to go through the paradigm shift of switching to focusing on strengths and what the kids CAN do. We're still married to the method. If we're going to change things [for 2e kids], we need to focus on the big ideas and not get bogged down in old methods. But adherence to old methods is strong."

"I've learned about acceleration. Those myths are myths! [i.e. 'It will stunt them socially' etc.] Stop making it all about you the teacher. It's all about what's best for the student!"

"Community amongst like-minded souls will provide emotional support to teachers as they continue to work on behalf of bright kids."

"I've learned the importance of giving them the chance to just be creative and come up with their own path in their process/project. You'll often be surprised what they come up with. We don't need to give them every little detail or requirement!"

"This week, I have learned the importance of asking questions and giving them time to formulate answers. Don't be afraid of the silence while the kids work their answers out. If we're going to develop inquiry skills, we need to let them complete the whole process."

"I've been struck that giftedness exists everywhere. I've been intrigued to be in another part of the country this week and hear about the same issues that I hear about everywhere else. There's also a lot of passion and caring here, and it's neat to see that teachers everywhere care about their students. Coming here is like being on the Island of Misfit Toys (from the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer classic). You come here and fit in, even if you don't fit in where you come from. HERE I feel normal. I'm realizing there are a lot of people out there who are just like me."

"The most important thing I learned is that there is an instrument out there [the Iowa Acceleration Scale] that is designed to help us determine which kids need to be accelerated."

"The pedagogy and the things we learn in Gifted Education may benefit all kids and may therefore allow us to prevent doing harm to students who do not fit our vision of the ideal student."

"People have a lot of questions about identification - GT coordinators, principals, teachers, everyone. It's their big concern and I'm thinking there needs to be more training on that topic. Identification is a broad and complex issue."

"I learned about EtherPad!"
(work together in real time on the same document)

"I've learned this week that there are a frightening number of underidentified and unidentified gifted children, particularly children of color. That's unacceptable! I hope with more seminars like this we can change that."

"It's helpful to talk to other educators to affirm things that you know and to explore ideas that might have validity. There's benefit in a sounding board to help you formulate your ideas."

"I think the way we teach needs to be re-evaluated in total. What's good for the gifted and talented (in terms of teaching strategies) is often good for all kids, just like what's good for kids in special education (again - teaching strategies) is often good for all kids."

"I'm realizing the profound importance of a continuum of professional development in Gifted Education at all levels, from those new to Gifted Education to those who are advanced in their knowledge of giftedness."

"I've learned to be open-minded about differentiation because there are kids who really ARE in a different place."

What methods do you utilize for learning about giftedness, gifted students, and Gifted Education? Books? Websites? Conferences? Research journals? Webinars? Magazines? Asking your school's gifted specialist? -- Are you not even sure where to begin?

And I pose the same original question to you: What have you learned recently (about giftedness, gifted students, Gifted Education) that you think everyone else "out there" needs to know?

National Parenting Gifted Children Week - Raising a Gifted Child

2009-07-22T13:52:35Z

Timed in conjunction with the annual SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) conference, this week (July 19-25, 2009) is National Parenting Gifted Children Week, an awareness event sponsored by SENG and NAGC (the National Association for Gifted Children).

Parenting a gifted child is not the cakewalk others seem to assume it is. Just because your child is smart and (typically) does well in school, it seems others believe that therefore you've got it made as a parent. What trouble could there possibly be with such a worry-free kid?

The parents of my gifted students often approach me a little hesitantly for the first time when bringing up a parenting issue, question, or concern. They will usually qualify their inquiry with some sort of "Well, but..." statement: "Maybe I have nothing to worry about, but..." or "I know there are other kids who are probably in much greater need than my child, but..." or "Perhaps I should just be happy she does so well, but..."

See, that "Well, but..." in their inquiries is a tiny window into the deep concerns they feel they must hide from other parents, their child's teacher, their closest friends, and sometimes even their spouse. From the outside everything looks so great, and certainly there must be other children out there with far greater problems than mismatched academic content, super-sensitivity, undiagnosed learning disabilities, teasing from age-peers, ulcers developed from worrying about the world's problems, questions a parent isn't sure how to answer (from a 7-year-old: "If Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny.... ...then does that mean Jesus, too?"), insomnia ("She won't go to sleep until midnight!"), friendship problems ("He just doesn't relate to kids his own age, so how is he ever going to find a friend?"), and so on and so on. The reality is that because of issues like these (and many others), parenting a gifted child -while still a joyous blessing, as with parenting any child- can also be chock full of qualms, uncertainties, and worries that few (outside of other parents of gifted kids) seem to "get."

When I respond to their "Well, but..." inquiries by telling the parents of my students that I'm well aware parenting a gifted child is not the cakewalk others seem to think it is, they consistently respond with visible relief... their shoulders relax, tears well up in their eyes, and in many cases those tears brim over and flow. They don't want to be seen as "pushy" and yet they KNOW their child's needs aren't being met or that their child has a problem that could become much bigger if left unchecked. I'm typically the only person they dare bring these "Well, but's" to because it's clear they fear bringing it up to anyone else. And many of them wait to get to know me for a few years before posing any such inquiries.

With this being National Parenting Gifted Children Week, I wanted to take this opportunity to send a grand kudos out to all you parents who take on the endless energy, intensity, questions, sensitivity, and possibility of your gifted children. You're not alone on this complicated, rewarding adventure! Additionally, I wanted to give you a head's up about a new book that is a great gateway to information which you might find helpful...

It is quickly becoming my new handbook of outstanding resources. Raising a Gifted Child: A Parenting Success Handbook is filled with page after page of almost every conceivable resource available to gifted children and their parents. Published by Prufrock Press, the author is Carol Fertig, who writes the Gifted Child Information Blog. There are three things in particular that I really appreciate about this book.

First, from cover to cover it provides a comprehensive overview of Gifted Education, all written from a point of view that aims to connect with parents. I think any parent of a gifted child who is looking for a thorough-yet-not-overwhelming introduction to the world of giftedness and gifted education could find it here. It's deeper and broader than "in a nutshell," but it's also not so deep and not so broad that it doesn't fit in the large nutshell that is its 233 pages. I think any parent of a newly-identified student would appreciate the broad survey and concise summary that provides a friendly introduction to the joys and challenges of parenting a gifted child. And I think any parent of a child who has been identified for awhile would appreciate the "next step" advice that is offered for most scenarios a parent of a gifted child can be confronted with.

Second (and admittedly because I share Carol's views), I love the realistic and down-to-earth points of view expressed throughout the book. Without beating around the bush and yet somehow with graceful subtlety, the author expresses some important messages for parents (and teachers) of gifted children. For example, she talks about having realistic expectations, about keeping in mind that there's more than one way to educate a child (with no one way being the "right" choice), advice on parental responsibilities when it comes to gifted children, and being willing to overlook some of the messiness and uncertainty of creativity - so as to allow one's highly creative child to actually explore and develop their creativity. (i.e. sometimes making a mess is important!)

Third, I have kept this book handy since reading it because of its endless supply of excellent suggested resources. I think I had a hundred ideas while reading it of something I could do with my students or a resource I could now recommend to a particular student or parent. Some of the suggested resources I had already been aware of (I do work in the field, after all), but a surprising number of them were new to me and have been/will be highly useful for my students and their parents. There truly is something for everyone among the hundreds of suggested resources (books, websites, competitions, advice for finding a mentor, online classes of all stripes, magazines, national organizations, educational options, and so much more). Raising a Gifted Child is a timely treasure trove!

Other great parenting resources which will gateway you to even more:

NAGC's parenting page

Hoagies' Gifted Education parenting page

Having been down this road, what are YOUR thoughts on parenting your gifted child(ren)?

Twice Exceptional - An Interview

2009-07-08T13:10:51Z

In Gifted Education, twice exceptional (also “2e”) is the term used for those individuals who have dual (or even multiple) exceptionalities. They are both gifted “and” – such as gifted and learning disabled, gifted and bipolar, gifted and physically disabled, gifted and ADHD, etc. This dichotomy of polar exceptionalities can be incredibly frustrating for the individual (and their families and teachers), somewhat akin to being the rope in a tug-of-war – being pulled in one direction by their gifts and talents and the intense desire to pursue them, while also being pulled in another direction by some sort of physical, intellectual, psychological, or emotional challenge that can complicate (or even get in the way of) their ability to develop and fulfill their giftedness.

I have a dear friend who is twice exceptional. We were both members of our university’s Honors Program and have known each other for about 15 years or so. Back then I saw her as a brilliant person with a sunshine personality. The fact that she had physical limitations was apparent, but I simply accepted that as a part of her and then looked beyond it to her great talents and fun qualities. But in the last decade(-ish) as I have learned about twice exceptionalities, I’ve come to realize that her physical disability has just as much influence on her life and who she is as her amazing intellectual gifts do. She is currently working on a PhD in Disability Studies (DS). With my perspective of twice exceptional coming from a gifted education angle, and hers coming from both personal experience and a disability studies perspective, we have had some interesting conversations over the years about the twice exceptional.

Given that she has such a unique perspective, I asked her if she’d be willing to be interviewed on the topic of twice exceptional and share with all of you some of her experience of what it’s like, along with some of her insights from the disability studies angle. She is choosing to remain anonymous, but I can tell you that she grew up in a small Montana town, was a part of her school’s gifted program, took all of the less-than-a-handful of AP classes that her high school offered, and pursued many out-of-school intellectual opportunities as well because she had such a craving for intellectual stimulation (reading, private Spanish lessons, reading some more, memorizing poems, reading, going on an exchange to Italy, and still more reading).

So, for your ponderment, here are some thoughts from someone who has been there. Everything in italics is her own words. As you read her responses, consider how her overarching messages also apply to gifted individuals whose 2e dual exceptionality is something other than a physical disability.

Describe your twice exceptionalities, the “Gifted and…”

Anon: After spending a year in Italy as a high school exchange student, I graduated co-valedictorian of my class and went on to finish my B.S. in Sociology at a Montana university on a full academic scholarship. I’ve done graduate work in ESL (English as a Second Language), Composition, and Literature; I’m hoping to finish my PhD in Literature and Disability Studies in the next five years.

I always seemed more interested in learning than the majority of my classmates, especially before attending college. School wasn’t much of a challenge for me. I excelled in languages and have lived in Japan as an ESL teacher. The one factor that always seemed to be in my way was exhaustion.

I usually don’t discuss my medical history with normates (people without disability), since the average person seldom has their medical privacy breached by strangers--while people with disabilities, especially those with visible physical disabilities, have their privacy breached on a regular basis. However, imagine you’ve already shared with me some aspect of your medical past, in which case I would comfortably share that I have a mild form of cerebral palsy. This causes muscle tension, fatigue, low tolerance for exercise, and a range of more difficult physical issues. To the average observer, it seems I just walk with an uneven gait; however, the physical challenges I face are much more involved.

As a child/teenager, what were the challenges you faced as a student who was twice exceptional?

Anon: I always wanted to do so much more than I physically could do. The main struggle, I think, was trying to “pass,” trying to act like I was a normate and could accomplish everything I saw my peers doing. Instead of using my limited energy for some task which suited my gifts, I would tire myself just keeping up with normates—finishing the same P.E. exercises in grade school, etc. Mediocre performances like this only wasted my mental capacity since I usually finished too tired to think. It was a combination of stubbornness and the implicit sense of shame I gleaned from others’ constant stares and toxic pity. Since I had no other lens through which to view myself until I really started reading works by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson and other Disability Studies scholars, this incessant urge to “pass” really didn’t recede until my late twenties.

As a gifted student, I was often bored. I think that’s why I went to Italy at the age of 16—it was a challenge, and I needed a challenge. Also, growing up in a small Montana town was very isolating for me because I was the only visibly physically challenged student and one of the few who cared about learning. I had nobody to talk to; I used to talk with adults because at least they could provide stimulating conversation. In college, I met kindred spirits in the Honors Program, but I didn’t meet other intellectuals with disabilities until later graduate work. Having a community of like minds and bodies has been such a relief, and I wish that had been accessible to me during those tough growing up years.

(Tamara): In our follow-up conversation, she talked about how being around other twice exceptional individuals felt like home to her. Being a part of our university’s Honors Program was wonderfully stimulating and it provided her with what she felt was finally an intellectual peer group, but it wasn’t the only “right fit” she needed. The always-available stimulating conversations were a breath of fresh air to her mind, but the intensity of all those gifted individuals was physically exhausting for her. It was later, finding and being around other twice exceptional people, that created that “ahh, home” feeling for her. And she had to wait until her mid-twenties to find that. Our gifted youngsters often have enough struggle just finding intellectual peers. Double that struggle for a twice exceptional kid. If there is a twice exceptional child in your life, what can you do to help him or her find not only intellectual peers, but most importantly twice exceptional peers?

As an adult, what are the challenges you face as a person who is twice exceptional?

Anon: I still can’t quite find the balance between rest and work. If I overshoot the mark and take on too much, I can be ill for several weeks. However, if I become too concerned with resting, I cut myself off from opportunities I might really enjoy. My energy is a rare and valuable resource, and I still haven’t learned how to spend it correctly. Many folks have this same struggle, but the consequences I face if I get it wrong are more severe and longer lasting than normates might experience.

Medical and academic hoop jumping also drains energy I could use for more productive tasks. In order to access the services and accommodations that would level the playing field for me, the forms, signatures, waiting periods, fees, and other paperwork often form a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. There is no established path through a PhD that recognizes the physically different body, no alternate track or timeline. One must be individually created, which can take herculean effort. The ADA opens the door for me to pursue careers similar to my gifted classmates, but that doorway is often stuffed shut with paperwork.

What benefits or blessings have come in your life due to being a twice exceptional person?

Anon: The capable often have such a hard time accepting that the body changes. Entropy is working on all of us and eventually our capacities will diminish. Rather than feeling depressed or worthless in the face of physical changes, I accept them as a normal part of life. I’m also better prepared for injury, such as a broken leg, since I make sure my environment is as accessible as possible. I’m surprised that so few homes are built with minimal accessibility even today (wide doorframes, one ramped entrance, main floor bathrooms that accommodate wheelchair users, and at least one main floor sleeping area). These elements are something I notice and plan for. Then, when injury happens to myself or my family, we’re already prepared.

I also love the fact that others open up to me about the struggles and difficulties in their lives, even if they aren’t people with disabilities. Perhaps others realize that I have experience with struggles and will not reject or ignore them for their perceived weaknesses. I’m honored by how many personal details relative strangers are willing to confidentially share with me. All people are imperfect, all people need others—these facts are perhaps much easier for me to accept.

You are working on a PhD in Disability Studies. Tell a little bit about that and what drew you to that field.

Anon: I’ve always been searching for an alternate paradigm to the normate worldview that people with disabilities are “not,” less, “dis,” or lacking – we have not yet developed a semantics for describing ourselves that does not somehow agree that we are less. However, since I first picked up Rosemarie Garland-Thomson’s Extraordinary Bodies, I’ve been hooked on the books and journal articles of DS scholars. From the historical work of Paul Longmore to more autobiographical works by Georgina Kleege and Nancy Mairs, and finally some theoretical introduction by Simi Linton (Claiming Disability is a great introductory text for someone just getting to know DS) and more involved theoretical works by Lennard Davis, these books redefine the way I see myself in the world. My goal is to add to the conversation with writing of my own.

What emphasis, if any, do you see on strengths in the Disability Studies field?

Anon: Reading DS texts leaves me feeling empowered; I no longer feel as if I am at the mercy of others to define me, rather myself and members of my community are coming together to define ourselves. We are writing books, taking interviews, staging protests, working to pass laws, teaching classes, and working toward changing the cultural perception that we are less than normates. In fact, the idea of normal is a fantasy oppressive to people with and without disabilities (sometimes termed the “temporarily able bodied”). Though the Deaf community does not largely identify as disabled, I was encouraged to see Gallaudet students protesting first for a Deaf President, and more recently for a Deaf President who better represented their desire to protect the culturally Deaf history and future of Gallaudet. I’m proud to identify as a person with disability, and this is a complete change from the view of myself I had in childhood. I confront ableism head on now, instead of taking on that “cloak of ugliness” Toni Morrison speaks of in The Bluest Eye. Morrison used this image to portray how racism is first offered and then received like a cloak. The image also works for prejudiced and stereotypical attitudes toward people with disabilities. I don’t put that cloak on anymore, and I hope to work toward helping others refuse it as well.

(Tamara): When it comes to twice exceptionalities, gifted education tends to take the focus of a strengths model, i.e. focusing on the person’s talents and assisting in development of their gifts. What unfortunately happens so often in schools for our twice exceptional students is a deficit model of focusing on assisting the disability (whatever type it might be) almost to the exclusion or neglect of the gift. (Or, the twice exceptional are only recognized as one or the other – either the giftedness or the disability gets missed and goes uncovered.) Imagine if my friend had been forced to go to P.E. for three hours each day for intensive work in her area of disability. She would’ve had nothing left in her to pursue her talents in her advanced classes. I’m certainly not saying don’t provide assistance and therapy for the disability (that should happen), but the message of gifted education is that 2e students are gifted, too. A child who is learning disabled in one area and gifted in another will need services for both exceptionalities. Each of us – gifted education, special education, parents, regular classroom teachers – can help the child tackle a different piece of his or her puzzle.

What advice or insights can you provide to people who aren’t twice exceptional that might help them understand what it’s like to be a person who is?

Anon: If you don’t have close friends with disabilities with whom you can discuss their experiences as equals (meaning you are open about your experiences as well), try finding some. We’re everywhere.

Think about events planned for gifted students. Are they accessible to folks with disabilities?

What about semantics? Does that 80’s term “lame” creep into your vocabulary? Do you overuse words like blind and deaf in exclusively negative ways? We know better than to use “woman” or “Norwegian” in only negative ways, but somehow it seems natural with terms related to disability.

(Tamara): And I would add – How much collaboration do we have in our schools between gifted education and special education? Are we open to the reality that an individual child can be both gifted and ______? How well do we allow and encourage a 2e student to pursue and develop his or her gifts? What can we do to level the playing field for 2e students so that they can pursue their talents with the same level of access as their 1e gifted peers?

What advice do you have for twice exceptional children and their parents and teachers?

Anon: Find twice exceptional peers; look high and low until you find them. The comfort of friendships with those who understand our experiences in body and mind cannot be replaced.

Read DS books. Younger folks can start with autobiographies, but keep reading through the histories, literary studies, and theoretical texts. Find one book you like, then start reading the books that author cites. Even if you can’t travel to others like you, if they exist on your bookshelf, then they are with you, in a way.

Read if you are twice exceptional, and read if you teach or parent someone who is. Try not to emphasize the supercrip overcomer biographies, also read books by those who are challenging the social order, the idea that being a normate is somehow inherently superior.

Make individual efforts to increase accessibility in your home, your school, and your community. Accessible architecture (T: and lesson plans!) works alongside changed attitudes to create an atmosphere where people of all abilities feel welcome. When I see a ramped church dias, feel someone’s business card printed in Braille, or visit a private restroom ready for wheelchair users I feel welcome—though I may not need each of these accommodations at the moment.

Educate yourself to get the vocabulary you’ll need to express yourself and advocate for what you need. Then when you’re ready to speak up and ask for something to fit you better, you’ll be better prepared to do so.

Additional Links of Interest

Twice Exceptional links at Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page

AEGUS, the Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students

"The Spoon Theory" by Christine Miserandino (a great analogy)

My Thirteenth Winter by Samantha Abeel

Uniquely Gifted

To Be Gifted and Learning Disabled by Susan Baum and Steve Owen

Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities

Twice Exceptional Newsletter

GTLD Network

Strange Advice for Bright Kids

2009-06-19T19:09:16Z

Hey, kids :o) My name is Tamara and for my job I work with super smart kids like you all day long in every grade level (yup, from Kindergarten all the way through high school). It’s loads of fun and I get to learn a lot, too, right along with my students. They’re interesting people – just like you, I imagine – and they keep me on my toes because – probably like you as well – they’re intense, deeply curious, highly sensitive, sometimes perfectionistic, definitely creative, and often out-of-step learners.

As you may have discovered, being gifted isn’t always the cakewalk that a lot of teachers, peers, and parents sometimes think it is. Do you find that sometimes you’re confused by all the awesome choices you have for what you want to be when you grow up? Does it sometimes feel like you’re a grown-up trapped inside a kid’s body? Is it irritating when someone makes fun of you because you read the dictionary for fun or because you want to work harder and learn even more in school? Well, as I tell my students, it’s okay to be who you are because our world needs people like you. Our world needs people of all sorts. Even though others sometimes don’t “get” you, that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. There’s nothing “wrong” with you. You’re just gifted, and because the majority of people aren’t gifted that means a lot of them won’t understand you at times. (But really – do you understand them all the time? It goes both ways, too.) Being who you are is a precious thing to be – and you’re the only one in the whole world who can do it.

I have a handful of gems of advice that I give my students and I thought I’d offer them out here today for you. Maybe a couple of these tidbits can be of some help for you. I’m calling it “strange” advice because I like to look at things from unusual angles and this advice comes from perspectives others may not consider.

1) Ask for help. Yup. That means raise your hand in class to ask the teacher for help, or go to Mom & Dad and seek their advice on something. Being super smart, you’re probably the kind of kid who doesn’t have to ask for help too often, especially when it comes to learning. It might all come fairly easily for you and (especially if your classes in school aren’t accelerated or challenging) you may find that you can pretty much always figure stuff out on your own or “get it” without any need for assistance. (Side note: If that’s always the case for you, that’s a big problem. See #5 below for more advice on how to change that.) But do you think everything in school and in Life will always be so easy that you’ll never need to ask for help? Nope. I promise you it gets harder – and there are things you can do today to help prepare yourself for handling it well when the day comes you’ll need big (or little) help. Put yourself into a (healthy) situation where you’ll have to ask for help – and then ask! Think of it as good practice for the future. There’s nothing shameful about needing to ask for help. It might seem that way to you because you so rarely need it, but the reality is it’s a healthy strategy for dealing with frustration and problems. (Not asking is the unhealthy strategy…) Everybody needs help from time to time, even people you might least expect, like Mom or Dad or Einstein or Teacher. Ask them… You’ll find out they’ve all needed help at one point or another, too. [Well, technically, Einstein is dead, so you can’t ask him, but you could ask someone like him…]

2) Love hard work. This piece of advice goes along with #1 a bit. Think about it – If everything always comes easy to you, will you ever really learn how to work hard? Will you ever really develop your work ethic to its fullest? Think of all the people throughout history who have accomplished great things… Was it a piece of cake for them to do what they did? Not at all. Think of someone you know who is GREAT at what he or she does. Is it a cinch for that person to be so awesome at what they do? Nope. (Just ask them…!) To a person, they put in countless hours of hard work before they finally met with success or discovery. So if everything is coming easy for you and you believe because of that that everything will always comes easy for you, then you’re letting yourself be set up for a big disappointment somewhere down the line. But if you can learn and practice HARD WORK now when you’re a kid, you’ll find that you’ll be much better set up for accomplishing whatever it is you want to do as you get older. This means finding ways that you’ll have to work hard in school, work hard at chores, work hard at learning an instrument, work hard at cleaning your room, work hard at learning how to write a great paper. As you practice working hard (just like you’re going to practice asking for help, right?), you’ll find that you’ll be able to make even more progress and you’ll be happier and healthier in the process.

3) Know when to keep your mouth shut. Now, you’ve probably had a lot of people in your life encourage you to speak up, give your opinion, say what you believe, utilize your freedom of speech. And yes, I fully agree with all of that. Speak up, speak out, be heard, and love that in our country we can do so. But this particular piece of advice – about knowing when to keep your mouth shut – is for that little voice in the back of your head that someday (if it hasn’t already) will tell you that maybe you shouldn’t say what’s on the tip of your tongue, maybe the timing isn’t right, maybe that person doesn’t want or need to hear what you have to say, maybe saying it would do more harm than good, maybe somebody has entrusted you with information that the little voice knows you shouldn’t reveal, maybe there’s a nicer way to say it. Learn how to listen to that little voice. I know (because I spend all day with bright kids like you) that you love to share what you know – and hey, that’s super cool. You probably have great ideas and tidbits of information to share, so go for it. But I also know that your impulse to speak up can be very difficult to resist (especially when what you have to say is so darn interesting!). But someday, some moment, you will need to know how to resist that impulse and listen instead to that little voice in the back of your head saying, “Not now… Don’t say it…” Don’t let your speaking-up-voice be a bully to that little voice. Let your little voice be strong, too, - and learn how to hear and heed it when it speaks up.

4) Do what you love. Deciding what you want to be when you grow up can be a really difficult decision, especially for kids like you who have many things they’re great at. (That’s called “multipotentiality.”) Some “multipotentialed” people find ways to combine some of their talents to create new kinds of career paths. Some will pursue one talent for a few years and then switch and pursue another and switch again to a third passion a few years after that. Some will maintain a couple of talents as hobbies, things they still do on the side because they love them so much, even if they’re not making a living off of them. I also know a lot of incredibly brilliant and talented people who have felt pReSsUrEd to pursue a particular career path because everyone always said they were “so good” at whatever it was – or because Mom & Dad or Teacher insisted (though not always bluntly) that they become a ____ (fill in the blank here with anything). But really, even though they were “so good” at it, they weren’t very happy doing it because there was something else they had loved to do that they turned away from. It’s not Mom & Dad’s or Teacher’s career; it’s YOURS. And your greatest successes will come through the talents that you are most passionate about – because they’ll be the ones you’ll want to work harder at, spend time on, muck around with (experiment, explore), and generally devote much of your Life to. So if what you love is to be a farmer or teacher or doctor or astronaut or stay-at-home-mom (or dad) or clown or lawyer or research scientist or orchestra conductor or house painter, then go for it. The most important thing is, as Abraham Lincoln once said, “Whatever you are, be a good one.”

5) Look out for #1. Who do you suppose #1 is? Nope, it’s not the Lakers or the Penguins or the Red Sox (sorry Maria and Catherine). Number One is YOU. And YOU are the one who is stuck with you for the rest of your life. That means that even though Mom & Dad and Teacher are there now to look out for you, in the long run, you will be left with YOU to look out for you. So (once again) there are things you can do now as a kid to practice looking out for #1. There are three sub-categories to this piece of advice. First, Self-Advocate. That means speak up for what you need – in school and out of school. Did you know that you can approach your teacher and ask for harder work? Yup. You don’t have to just sit back and “take it” – you can speak up and let the teacher know that you’re ready for something more challenging. Think of it this way… For whose purpose do you sit in class every day? Whose education is it? It’s YOUR education. The teacher already has her education. You are there for YOUR education. So it’s okay to speak up if it’s not fitting you very well. If your shoes don’t fit, you speak up about that, right? Well, if your education isn’t fitting, start speaking up about that, too. I have a few specific steps that I teach my students to follow when they are going to self-advocate in school. (We call them “The 4 P’s.”) Be Polite. Remember to use your please's and thank you's when talking to your teacher and asking for something more challenging. Do it in Private. If you bring the topic up in front of the whole class, you’ll just make the teacher uncomfortable and all the other kids will try to stick their noses in your business. Provide Proof. The teacher is going to need some sort of proof that you’re ready to move on or do something that’s harder or more in-depth. Be willing to give her whatever reasonable proof she needs so that she can be convinced. Propose an Alternative. Offer the teacher some ideas for what you’ll do instead (such as how you’ll select your harder Spelling words and who will give you your Spelling test when the other kids are taking their test). Be open to the teacher’s ideas for alternatives, too.

Second under “Look Out for #1” is Learn How to Quit Something. Yes, I actually used the Q-word. No, I’m not saying it’s okay to quit whatever, whenever. What I am saying is that you’ll need to know and learn in Life when and how to quit something. See, bright, multi-talented kids like you tend to get involved in EVERYTHING. You play sports, you take piano lessons, you’re in Scouts and 4-H, you participate in your church youth group, you take every challenging class offered at your school, you’re in Dance and Robotics Club, you tutor kids after school, you’re on the Student Council, you go running just for the exercise, you have Game Night with your family, you always have a book on hand to read, you’re on the Debate team, you have chores, you rodeo and PowWow, you love Tae Kwon Do, you’re thinking about learning the violin, you have a few science experiments growing in your basement (sshhh… Mom doesn’t know…), and if you’re old enough you even have an after school job. Whew! Honey, you can’t do it all. At some point, something is going to need to go. You can’t keep adding to your plate without running yourself into the ground in the process. Being busy and involved in such a variety of things is energizing and fun and interesting – and OKAY. You thrive on it – I know! But we all have our limits and it’s also okay to acknowledge that you, too, - being a “mere” human – have limits. When you begin to feel like you’ve reached your limits, take a moment to look at all you’re doing, set some priorities, and cut one (or more) of your activities loose. You’ll be better able to focus on what’s remaining (including getting better at what’s remaining) and you won’t be running yourself as ragged anymore.

And third under “Look Out for #1” is Accept That You Can’t Save the Whole World. I know as gifted kids you are sensitive to all the need and horror and struggle and problems in our world – and I know you have a deep desire to help and fix and save. That’s a precious facet of kids like you and I want you to feel empowered to go out into the world, no matter how young you are, and make a difference. You CAN make a difference. But I also think it’s important that you know going into it that you’re not going to be able to save everyone and solve every problem. I know it’s difficult to acknowledge, but the need in the world is MUCH bigger than you are. If you try to save everyone, you’ll only end up doing yourself in in the process, and then you won’t be any help to anyone. Now, I want to be clear here. Notice I am NOT saying, “Be selfish,” and I am NOT saying, “Don’t try to solve the world’s problems.” What I AM talking about is an important (and healthy) balance. Because if you don’t take care of you first, you’ll be less able to help those you want to help. Pick the Difference(s) you know you can reasonably make and let that (or those) be your focus. If you get sidetracked by all the BIG problems and trying to fix them alone, you’ll just end up demoralized by the overwhelming-ness of it all. I’m not saying you (or anyone) can’t do GREAT things to help in the world. You can. We all can. I’m just saying that you humanly can’t do EVERYthing to help the world. And it’s simply healthy (healthy for you and healthy for those you want to help) to come to terms with that. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” You’re “only” human. And that’s a great thing to let yourself be.

So… Ask for help, love hard work, know when to keep your mouth shut, do what you love, and look out for #1. Hopefully some of this advice can help you learn how to manage the topsy-turvy’s :o) And maybe some of my readers will have some sTrAnGe advice to offer you, too.

Reflections on a Year Gone By (and Then Some)

2009-06-10T02:14:57Z

Well, today was our last day of school for the year, and I am experiencing the screeching halt that comes after the whirlwind which is the end of a school year. I tend to get caught off-guard by the ends of school years, perhaps because I so easily get immersed into the day-to-day joys and challenges of teaching, perhaps because I love what I do so much that I don’t count down, perhaps because I know I can’t possibly “get it all done” in the dwindling number of days remaining and therefore succumb to denial about the year’s impending conclusion.

[Just for fun, here’s a great end-of-the-year story… One year a bunch of kids at our middle school smuggled squirt guns in on the last day of school. It was a very hot day, which we typically don’t have here in early June (“Take today, for example,” she said with a shiver…!), and the kids were being kids, wanting to celebrate the last day with a splash, so to speak. But our keen-eyed teachers got wind of their plan and managed to confiscate every last squirt gun. Can’t have those kids getting all rambunctious in the halls with squirt guns, don’tchya know. But after the last school bus pulled out of the parking lot, and with Alice Cooper's “School’s Out” blaring over the intercom, the teachers headed to the sinks to fill up all the contraband and proceeded to engage in an all-out water fight in the halls! If the kids only knew…!]

I can’t help reflecting back on a year… Is another one really down? Did I do everything possible for my students? How well did I reach my goals for the year? What needs to be at the top of my list to tweak and improve next year? What contributed to this year’s successes? Boy it was cool to hear the Math teacher today say how much he’s enjoyed learning about ways to challenge his advanced students… Glancing out my window and seeing our retiring English teacher head out the back door this afternoon to his car, our parting gift for him held tight in his hands... Passing on the news to one of my little guys that he will be subject-accelerated into 7th grade Math next year… Pondering all of the piles surrounding my desk… Going through the check-out process at four different schools… Feeling a little uneasy about what Summer might bring for some of my students (sometimes they don’t come back, for example)… Discovering I’ll be getting new carpet over the summer when the carpet man comes in to measure my middle school classroom (and dreading the re-organization that will mean for me)… Cherishing the sweet notes the kids left in my yearbook… Offering some bootstrap wisdom to an always-achieving high school student who just got her first B+…

The end of this school year came with a unique experience for me. See, for my job (in case you haven’t picked up on this) I work with the gifted students in our District in all grade levels, K-12. That means I have the same students year after year after year after year after year (etc.). This was my 13th year here, so that means that my very first group of Kindergarteners graduated from high school this past Saturday. [Can I really be that old‽‽] I just saw eleven students through one complete loop of school. Wow… What a treasure that is… One of them, in writing a scholarship essay earlier this year about a teacher who had had an impact on her life, began it by writing, “I can’t even remember a time before Ms. Fisher.” It’s the ultimate form of looping, really, and I try not to get caught off guard by the power that has for my students… and for me. Seeing my wee littlest ones - three Valedictorians and two Salutatorians among them - all tasseled up on Saturday was almost an out-of-body experience. There was Elliott, who brought his own soapbox to stand on during his speech; Amethyst, who, I’m excited to say, is planning to become a teacher; SuEllen, a future dentist who has the next few years paid for with a Gates Millennium scholarship; and Shane, who, despite his semi-underachievement over the years, I just know is going to light the world on fire when he finally has a chance to immerse himself into his niche. It’s really fun to send them forth into the world, all full of optimism and energy. It’s gratifying to hear from them that they appreciate having been challenged and prepared for future challenges. It’s a little unnerving to contemplate the potential weight of that many years of impact on a kid’s life. If anything, it makes me feel even more responsible to look out for them, to do right by them, to create ever-increasing levels of tackle-able challenge for them.

Having a K-12 job has definitely created for me a long-term perspective of a gifted child’s education. I’ve witnessed, time and time again, the “evolution” of a gifted kid - from primary school to intermediate school to middle school to high school to college to career. Now, when one of my middle school boys can’t find the completed assignment he put into his homework folder just a half hour before, I know he’s going to outgrow his current flakiness and could even – like one of my former such students – one day be a Truman Scholar. Now, when one of my little ones is happy as a lark in school but makes a side comment about not being challenged, I know immediate early intervention means heading off otherwise-appearing resentment that would come about five years down the road. Now, when a new teacher or student teacher appears in one of our schools, I know that reaching out to that person as a resource means I am - today - helping that teacher learn about students she typically has previously learned nothing about and - tomorrow - helping all of the gifted students who will cross that teacher’s path in her career to be better challenged than they perhaps otherwise would have been. Knowledge is power that way.

I can’t separate this big-picture-perspective from how I see their school experience. It has grown on me, like the little sprout in my shamrock plant that just yesterday was a tiny bump in the dirt and today is two inches tall… Somehow, somewhere along the line, this perspective crept up on me and set up camp to stay. Most teachers know their grade-level of kids inside and out. But for me, it’s one continuous trajectory. I don’t see them as 2nd graders or 6th graders or high school kids, I see them on an un-ending journey (one which I have the honor and responsibility to help guide).

So… Today we scatter… to college, to summer camp, to Disneyland, to PowWow season, to grandma’s, to reading books in the sun and swimming in the lake, to summer jobs, to cutting hay and moving pipe, to Possibility. And come August, we will pick up right where we left off…