Tag Archives: Education

New program for parents of gifted kids in Rocky View, CA

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The Rocky View Action for Gifted Children Foundation was formed by a group of interested and motivated parents to support the needs of highly capable students in the Rocky View School District in southern Alberta, Canada.

RVAGC advocates for gifted children and will provide supplementary educational materials that schools cannot afford, but which are necessary for these students to meet their distinctive intellectual needs. The Foundation will also support teachers and administrators as they pursue professional development training to better serve highly capable children.

RVAGC is interested in providing additional enrichment opportunities for gifted children in the district, while providing networking, support and information to parents.

RVAGC will work with the school district on behalf of the highly capable children to expand their gifted education offerings from K-12 in the regular classroom, while advocating for eventual congregated settings. We will continue to work with the District to help find the best solutions for all its children.

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The Case for Working With Your Hands – NYT article

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Carpenter at work on Douglas Dam, Tennessee (T...
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One of the best articles on the connection between education and work:

The Case for Working With Your Hands

There are many gems, among them:

“It is a rare person, male or female, who is naturally inclined to sit still for 17 years in school, and then indefinitely at work.”

“A gifted young person who chooses to become a mechanic rather than to accumulate academic credentials is viewed as eccentric, if not self-destructive.”

“For anyone who feels ill suited by disposition to spend his days sitting in an office, the question of what a good job looks like is now wide open.”

“An economy that is more entrepreneurial, less managerial, would be less subject to the kind of distortions that occur when corporate managers’ compensation is tied to the short-term profit of distant shareholders. ”

“A good job requires a field of action where you can put your best capacities to work and see an effect in the world. Academic credentials do not guarantee this.”

The article is full of them.  Read and enjoy.

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Gifted Children Get Mixed Messages

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Mixed Messages
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Our society thinks it is wonderful to reward athletes, musicians, actors, and artists.  Entire industiries spend billions of dollars on these fields.  But what about the intellectually gifted?  They get mixed messages.

It’s good to be smart . . . as long as you’re not too smart.  Too smart makes you a nerd, an egghead, and a teacher-pleaser.  It can even make you a target for suspicion, resentment, and open hostility.  

It’s good to get high grades . . as long as you don’t talk about them.  That’s bragging, and besides, you might injure someone else’s self-esteem.  

It’s good to score high on tests . . as long as you keep this fact to yourself, or within your small circle of similarly brainy friends. When Gifted Kids Don’t Have All the Answers, Jim Delisle, Ph.D., & Judy Galbraith, M.A. (2002).

It seems the only time it is “cool” to look smart is when you are applying for college.  So many services help students score higher on tests and write superior essays to get admitted to desireable colleges.  Everyone seems to brag when they get into a prestigious school, but what about the rest of the time?  Is being smart only desireable when it can get you what you want?

It’s the mixed messages and skewed perceptions of giftedness that make the label more of a burden than a blessing.  It’s the insensitive, uninformed comments from teachers, peers, and/or parents that make gifted kids want to downplay, deny, or hide their giftedness. When Gifted Kids Don’t Have All the Answers, Jim Delisle, Ph.D., & Judy Galbraith, M.A. (2002).

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Should Gifted Children be Educated Differently?

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Some educators believe that “bright children don’t need any special help; after all, they already have so many things going for them.  The reality is that gifted children’s educational needs arise directly from their strengths; it is precisely because these children are rapid and advanced learners that they need specialized learning opportunities.  They are exceptional children, and they need exceptional services in the same way that children with learning difficulties are exceptional children and need special services and attention.  A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children, James T. Webb, et.al. (2007).

It is most often up to the parent to educate themselves and advocate for the best educational alternatives for their gifted children.  Each school has different options, from differentiated classrooms, acceleration, grade-skipping, cluster grouping, enrichment in the classroom and in resource rooms, and self-contained full-time gifted programs.  Some states allow children to go to school part-time and to homeschool part-time.  Some families choose to homeschool full-time.

The research that goes into deciding how to educate your gifted child can be overwhelming.  And, you may need to evaluate your choice on an ongoing basis to determine whether your current plan is still working.  

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Creativity in Gifted Education Starts with You

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It is important to see that YOU are already your own coach and you can enhance your own personal creativity each day.

The positive experience of the educator can be modeled by YOU as you provide for your students  a mentor and coach to inspire creativity in gifted children’s lives.

Creativity is a decision, a commitment and it requires continued attention, study and practice. But, I guarantee that the results will be invaluable in your own life and in the lives of your students.

After all the study and practice, our goal is balance.

Robert Sternberg has a great statement to that effect:

• Successful individuals are those who have creative skills, to produce a vision for how they intend to make the world a better place for everyone; analytical intellectual skills, to assess their vision and those of others; practical intellectual skills, to carry out their vision and persuade people of its value; and wisdom, to ensure that their vision is not a selfish one.  

In the midst of personal, economic and global turmoil, we are all feeling more limitation and constraints, more challenges, stresses and pressures.

But, we do not have to contract our energies and give up, we can make the DECISION to forge our way into a life of greater creativity and create a culture of mastery, creativity and adventure in our world of influence.

We all have the spark inside that guides us to greater things.

And, together, I am confident, we will rise to the challenge of greater creativity.

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