It's photo blog time! Here are some images from the past year to offer glimpses into my world with gifted learners...

In this photo, Hilda is showing me that she figured out how to change the keyboard on the laptop to type in Swedish. This was necessary so she could use the correct (language-specific) characters in her final product (a presentation about the Swedish language to a World Languages class. She also has been communicating with her grandmother in Swedish).

I work with my 2nd-4th grade students on an old cafeteria table in the lobby of the gymnasium. The noise from the P.E. classes is unavoidable, and while my students have adjusted to it, some days (depending on the P.E. activity), it's harder to ignore. One day, a student said, "You know what I wish I had, Ms. Fish? Those things my dad wears when he mows the lawn." Ah...! Great idea! So I went to Wal-Mart and, in both the gun section and the lawn section, I found reasonably-priced ear mufflers. I put them in a tub and told the kids they could use them whenever they needed to cut down on the P.E. noise, to help themselves focus better, or anytime when auditory input felt overwhelming. (I'm finding the kids who aren't verbal processors also use them to reduce the auditory input of the kids who talk to understand what they're doing.) Here's my favorite case of "bed head" sporting some auditory input blockers:

In the few moments before class ended one day, I noticed one of my high school students write something on the whiteboard. After class, I found this haiku:
Haikus are easy
But sometimes they have odd words
Refrigerator

My youngest student gave a presentation to his class about the Chinese New Year and how to write a few things in Chinese. Here he is at the SMARTboard having just finished showing them the number 9:

...and here you can see that each of his classmates practiced writing 1 to 10 in Chinese on their mini whiteboards:

Working with this little guy has been a lot of fun. He bounds out of the room when I come to get him and his enthusiasm is easily contagious. My main goal with him this year has been helping him learn to stick with a problem that he doesn't instantly know the answer to. I'm happy to report that at this point in the year he can persist unassisted on a tough Rush Hour problem for 15 solid minutes. He's young; this window will continue to grow. But it's been a reminder for me of how important it is for us as the adults to know when and how to sit back and let kids learn how to struggle through something without always needing us to step in and show the way. Even tiny moments are opportunities for them to start learning how to find their own way through a problem. And for gifted kids - who are used to getting things quickly and easily - it can be tempting for us the adults to step in when we see them suddenly struggling. It's hard sometimes to sit back and watch, to be hands-off, to feel their frustration. But here he is justifiably celebrating the 15 minutes he persisted to solve this problem:

Grey and Liv were intrigued by an unusual bug on our classroom window:

One student's Creativity Day product... That's a brain in his head, not hair on top...

A few months back, Julie came in to show me a poem she had written. Last week, guitar in hand, she popped in during lunch and said she'd put the poem to music. Oh, it was incredible! Brought tears to my eyes as I listened, as a matter of fact...

During a few minutes of unexpected free time recently, my 8th graders pulled the foamy pattern blocks off the shelf to play with. Soon Belle said, "Hey, Ms. Fish! I think this mistakenly-shaped piece should be our classroom mascot. Look! It's just like us; it doesn't quite fit in."

I'm so grateful to be able to provide these kids their own slice of the Island of Misfit Toys, a place and a space in the day when they do fit in.

(all photos by Tamara Fisher)

Posted by Tamara Fisher at 1:43 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Last week, on a bit of a lark, I wrote something on the whiteboard in each of my "classrooms," then waited to see if the kids would notice and what, if anything, they would contribute. Below are the results. (Multiple kids added to each list, so there's an occasional repeat within a list.)

"10 Ways GT Has Helped Me," from my 2nd and 3rd graders:
1. To get a challenge
2. To have a challenge and not have everything be easy
3. To play logic games and learn new things
4. Perseverance
5. Logic thinking
6. To not get stuff done right away
7. That not everything in life is going to be easy
8. To be challenged
9. So everything isn't so easy
10. It helped me learn new things like Latin and Greek base words

"10 Ways GT Has Helped Me," from my 3rd and 4th graders:
1. Challenge my mind. It makes my thinking not scattered.
2. Inspired me to do things. Ex. = Take on challenges.
3. GT helps me to use my brain and strategy because we play chess and you have to think.
4. If I could be anywhere in the world, it would be here in GT because in [my regular] class I feel like we are learning 1st grade activities and we are doing unnecessary things to drag on activities in class
5. GT helps me to learn math, logic, creativity, and how to handle frustration better, which I never knew before. In class I hear the same things over and over again, but not here in GT.
6. It makes thinking fun!
7. GT has helped me by challenging me and not having to listen to things over and over or things I already know.
8. I know how to play chess better.
9. GT makes me feel better. It helps me cool off when I'm mad. It helps me stay calm when I'm upset.
10. There are complicated problems that help me!

"10 Ways GT Has Helped Me," from my 6th, 7th, and 8th graders:
1. GT has given me the confidence to pursue my goals in life.
2. GT has given me the opportunities and discipline to do the things I have always wanted to do.
3. GT has given me a place where I feel like I'm not different. Here I feel accepted and able to be as smart as I want.
4. GT is a class where we can relate to one another, better than in most classes.
5. GT has taught me that persistence is one of life's necessities.
6. GT has shown me that it's OK and acceptable to have different views or ideas that go against what is commonly accepted.
7. GT has taught me to think of my goals as flexible.
8. GT has given me a lot of challenges I needed because I was never really challenged before.
9. GT has challenged me, given me confidence, and is an awesome place where I can be me.
10. GT has helped me with life's challenges such as dealing with friendships.

"10 Ways GT Has Helped Me," from my high school students:
1. Discovery - Learning about myself and others
2. Self-reliance, depending on myself
3. Able to be creative (with little insult)
4. It has helped me figure out what I want to do with my life.
5. A safe place to pursue my ideas
6. Assist me with my life after high school
7. Si, mucho gusto! [with arrows pointing to many others on the list]
8. Freedom
9. The ability to communicate with people who think alike-ish to us.
10. To relax at the end of the day. [Number 10 cracked me up a bit because, to me, my high school class is the least "relaxing" of all of my classes! This year, anyway...]

What strikes me the most reading through these lists is the number of items that aren't specific "lessons" I do with the kids. Much of it I do weave in with this and that every day and every year, but not quite as specifically as their lists might lend you to believe. Perhaps they are paying much closer attention to what I say than I had even hoped! Nonetheless, it's a little refreshing to get their feedback from time to time and to "see" the results of what I do with them from their perspective(s).

Give it try yourself this week. Jot on the board "Ten Ways Science Has Helped Me," or "Ten Ways P.E. Has Helped Me," or "Ten Ways Calculus Has Helped Me," etc., and see what your students have to say!

Posted by Tamara Fisher at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

As leaders and decision makers in our schools, it is often the administrator whose beliefs, decisions, vision, and guidance help determine the status of services and opportunities for the gifted and advanced learners in their schools. Yet their training to be administrators, just like that for teachers, is often lacking in any real discussion, information, and application of the needs of these students.

If you are an administrator who is looking for quality, research-based, quick-access resources about gifted learners, a collection of just that is now available. If you are a parent, teacher, or gifted specialist who wants to provide an administrator you know with such resources, this will be a great place to begin your search.

A few years ago, the National Association for Gifted Children established an Adminstrator Task Force whose purpose was to create - by administrators, for administrators - a toolbox of easy-access, administrator-oriented resources about gifted students and gifted education. (You might recall I attended a session at the national conference back in November featuring a preview of the toolbox.) After many months of collaboration, the Administrator Toolbox is ready.

The Toolbox is organized into four sections: Rationale for Gifted Education, Critical Elements of Gifted Education, Accountability for Student Learning, and Connecting Gifted Education to Other School Practices (e.g. RTI). Each section includes 5 to 7-minute videos, fact sheets, printer-friendly PDFs, and research-based information presented in an administrator's "language."

Here is one great example of a video with an administrator audience in mind:

And at this link you can access an excellent example of a one-page fact sheet (in this case, about accountability).

In addition to the helpful resources in the Administrator Toolbox, you can find a wealth of additional items on the Administrator Homepage, such as "10 Things All Administrators Should Know About Gifted Children," a glossary of Gifted Education terms, and The Truth About Common Gifted Education Myths.

Administrators are really busy people. (Did I emphasize that enough? Make that REALLY busy, overwhelmed, and responsible for more than the rest of realize...!) Breaking through it all to reach them with succinct, quality insights and information about gifted learners is a tall challenge. Doing so in their own "language" is even more so (because for the rest of us, our point of view is from a different angle). That's part of what I think is so remarkable about the items in the Administrator Toolbox. Because they were created by administrators with an administrator audience in mind, they are specifically designed to reach a busy principal or superintendent with the information most relevant for them.

Together with other strategies, these quick-access tools can help administrators gain further understanding of and resources for the most advanced learners in their schools. Find a piece to share today!

Posted by Tamara Fisher at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I have a challenge to issue to you. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to apply to present about gifted learners for a non-gifted-education-focused conference or group. Yes - the librarians, the principals, the science teachers, the homeschoolers, the psychologists, the Lions Club and Rotary Club, the Soroptomists and church ladies... All are potential audiences ripe for opened eyes soaking up new knowledge about a group of kids they hadn't considered before.

I used to never attend our state educators' conference because (among other reasons) as a Gifted Education Specialist, there was very little there for me. At the same time, though, I loved our state gifted conference because it was there that I could cross paths with so many others who spoke the same language I did. But then I got into presenting... and while I love presenting at gifted education conferences (again: same language), it soon occurred to me that the people who most needed to learn about gifted students were the ones who weren't coming to the gifted education conferences. "Preaching to the choir" is a heck of a lot of fun, but you don't often find potential new converts there. I decided I needed to go to them. So (almost) every year since, I have presented at our state educators' conference, and while the crowd is sometimes small in the gifted ed room, it's still a group that is taking the first steps to becoming more aware of the gifted learners in their classrooms. Local organizations have proven to be a viable audience for the message, too. The Indian Education Committee, the county Republican Women's Caucus, the Rotary Club, and others have all heartened me with their newly enlightened curiosity and passion for the needs of gifted learners.

So, with this continued effort in mind, I recently applied to present about gifted Native American learners at the annual conference of the Native American Student Advocacy Institute (NASAI) of the College Board. (Their conference rotates around the country and will be in Montana this year.)

Who will you choose? I'm truly serious. There are thousands of you out there with great knowledge and insight about gifted learners. And hopefully you have already shared your knowledge and ideas at a gifted education conference. But this year let's all break out of that box and reach out to the grand and obscure groups who need to hear what we have to say. This will help to broaden awareness and knowledge of gifted and advanced learners... which in turn will help to increase the number of people and places that are better equipped to reach and understand gifted kids.

If you don't have an idea of your own, please steal one of mine:

"Perspectives on Parenting the Advanced Reader" (librarians, PTA, language arts teachers, etc.)
"Five Easy Things Administrators Can Do for the Gifted Learners in Their Schools" (principals and other administrators)
"Opening the Door for Independent Science Investigations" (STEM, science teachers)
"Differentiation Strategies for Math Students Who Already Know X" (STEM, math teachers)
"I'm Teaching the Letters, But (S)He's Already Reading Chapter Books!" (early childhood, primary general education teachers)
"At the Root of the Problem: Could It Be Giftedness?" (school counselors, administrators, psychologists, general classroom teachers)
"Acceleration: Not Just for NASCAR" (administrators, school counselors)
"RTI for Gifted? Are You Sure?" (special education, administrators)
"Your Tax Dollars at Work: Stretching the Least-Stretched Student" (local groups)

(Do you have a topic/audience idea that you don't mind others using? Post it in the comments section.)

Will you join me in the Outreach Corps? Yes, you can do it. Whether it's a national conference for a national organization or a local group with five members, we can all find someone to reach out to, someone who just might be curious enough to let us talk a bit. Think about what your areas of expertise in gifted education are. Then, how can you connect that to another group's purpose? Google them and find out what the process is for applying to present at their conference. Or, particularly in the case of more local groups, pick up the phone and offer your availability. It might be a bit like fishing... you may have to keep trying until you get a bite. But give it a whirl. If one-fourth, or even one-tenth, of you do this, that'll be a sizable Gifted Education Outreach Corps. Together, we can reach thousands (dare I hope for many thousands?) of new people with a message that brings them insight, awareness, strategies, and understanding regarding gifted learners.

This blog post will not self-destruct in five seconds. So get to it! Then come back and let me know how it went. I'm setting a goal for you: Within a year, I'd love to hear from 100 of you about your outreach efforts. Thank you for joining me on this vital mission!

Posted by Tamara Fisher at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Are you looking for an easily-accessible and free or reasonably priced way to gather research-based information about gifted learners? These webinars in the coming weeks, many of them presented by widely-recognized experts in the field, are a fabulous option. Additionally, if you can't watch one "live," in most cases registration allows you to access it after-the-fact at a later time.

January 30, 7:00 PM Eastern - Unlocking Emergent Talent: Supporting High Achievement of Low-Income, High-Ability Students This FREE webinar, presented by National Association for Gifted Children President Paula Olszewski-Kubilius and Carol Horn of Fairfax County Schools (VA) will discuss findings in NAGC's recent report of the same title about gifted learners in low-income environments. Among the topics covered will be ways to support high-ability, low-income children, psychosocial issues unique to these learners, and effective models and practices for developing their talent and nurturing their academic success.

February 5, 7:00 PM Pacific - Assisting Gifted Students in Developing Self-Regulation Available through the University of California at Irvine Extension Office, this FREE webinar presented by Richard Cash (private consultant) will focus on assisting young gifted children to develop self-regulation strategies (of emotion and behavior) which will in turn help them reach their full potential.

February 6, 7:00 PM Eastern - Bloom's Taxonomy as Easy as Pie: Infusing Critical Thinking Within the Common Core Presented by Susan Dulong Langley of Framingham Schools (MA), this NAGC webinar will assist teachers in analyzing essential elements of Common Core standards and thereby developing tiers of instruction to meet the varying learning needs in their classrooms.

February 12, 7:30 PM Eastern - Addressing the Unique Challenges of Culturally Diverse Gifted Learners Presented by Joy Lawson Davis (University of Louisiana, Lafayette), this webinar, brought to you by SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) will focus on issues faced by underrepresented gifted children and solutions teachers can employ to address the needs of exceptional learners from minority populations.

February 12, 7:00 PM Pacific - Meeting the Needs of the Gifted Learner in the Common Core Classroom Via UC-Irvine, this FREE webinar presented by Rhonda Cameron (Orange County Dept. of Ed., CA) will show teachers ways to fully differentiate the Common Core so as to better meet the learning needs of gifted learners (and all learners).

February 13, 7:00 PM Eastern - Adapting the Writing Common Core for Gifted Learners This NAGC webinar, presented by Claire Hughes of the College of Coastal Georgia and Debra Troxclair of Lamar University (TX), covers information for teachers about how the Common Core English Language Arts standards can be adapted and differentiated for advanced learners in the area of writing. Both presenters are among the authors of NAGC's new book, "Using the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts With Gifted and Advanced Learners."

February 19, 7:00 PM Pacific - Making GATE Work Without Funding This FREE UC-Irvine webinar presented by Gina Danley (Santa Maria-Bonita Schools, CA) will provide insights and ideas for how schools and districts can maintain and offer gifted programming in times of lean or disappearing budgets.

February 20, 7:00 PM Eastern - Un"Common" Creativity: Infusing Creative Thinking Across The Common Core Susan Dulong Langley returns for this NAGC webinar full of ideas and strategies for infusing creative thinking skills together with the Common Core.

February 21, 7:30 PM Eastern - Grappling with Giftedness: A Lifelong Challenge A SENG webinar, Ellen Fiedler (Northeastern Illinois University) will share insights about possible unresolved affective issues related to their giftedness that may still be impacting gifted adults. Characteristics of gifted adults and their impact on "giftedness across the lifespan" will also be covered.

February 26, 7:00 PM Pacific - Tech Tools to Differentiate and Engage Gifted Learners This final FREE UC-Irvine webinar, presented by Sean Williams (University of La Verne), highlights various Web 2.0 tools that teachers can use to engage and differentiate their gifted and advanced learners.

[A credit option is also available for the UC-Irvine webinars. Contact Lisa Kadowaki in the UC-Irvine Extension Office for more information. Her email is at the bottom of the 5th Annual GATE Webinar Series Flyer.pdf.]

February 26, 7:30 PM Eastern - Understanding Intensity: Practical Applications for Parents, Teachers, and Counselors This SENGinar, presented by Michele Kane (Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago), is designed to provide insights about the heightened sensitivities and intensities of gifted youth and how the adults in their lives can help them understand and develop their social and emotional aspects.

February 27, 7:00 PM Eastern - Implementing the Common Core State Standards with Various Program Models in Gifted Education Another of NAGC's spring webinars, join up on this night to learn from Alicia Cotabish (University of Central Arkansas) and Bronwyn MacFarlane (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) about the relationships between gifted program models and the Common Core State Standards. Also included will be examples of how to implement the CCSS in mathematics for gifted learners.

March 13, 7:00 PM Eastern - Creativity and Complexity in Math and Science Presented by Cheryll Adams (Ball State University, IN), this NAGC webinar will offer characteristics of students who are gifted in mathematics and science, along with modifications "to provide more creativity, complexity, depth, and abstractness for students gifted in mathematics and science."

March 26, 7:30 PM Eastern - Still Gifted After All These Years--Lifespan Intensity and Gifted Adults This final spring SENGinar, presented by Patricia Gatto Walden (Institute of Educational Advancement), will cover innate social and emotional traits of giftedness, misunderstandings that parents and teachers often have regarding them, and ways parents and teachers can nurture gifted children's health and well-being.

[Many SENGinars offer APA credit for psychologists. Visit this page for more information.]

[SENG is also offering free webinars to 30 U.S. schools this spring. Visit this page for information on how to apply.]

March 27, 7:00 PM Eastern - Educating Primary Gifted Students: Analyzing Nonfiction Books with a Focus on Higher-Level Skill Development This NAGC webinar, presented by Kimberley Chandler (College of William & Mary, VA), examines the use of non-fiction text with primary grade learners and provides strategies for how to assist young learners in analyzing, inferring, and summarizing the information in non-fiction. Extensions for research projects, writing activities, and questioning strategies will also be highlighted.

[Site licenses are available for all NAGC WOW webinars. Visit this page for more information.]

Happy learning, everyone! :o)

Posted by Tamara Fisher at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Welcome to the best job on Earth! Whatever route you took to land here, I'm glad you've landed. Some of us aimed to be here. Others were re-routed. Still others have turned a detour into a permanent location. I predict that you will soon discover this to be a delightfully thought-provoking, fascinating, engaging, enlightening, and fulfilling job. I love it dearly. But it does come with many challenges unique to the job. The difficult parts of this job are ones that others won't see and/or won't understand. My aim here is to offer some insights from my many years as a Gifted Education Specialist. Perhaps lessons from my experiences can save you a bit of the heartache! :o)

...in no particular order:

1) Connect with others who do what you do. Being a Gifted Education Specialist is an often lonely, misunderstood undertaking. We are frequently the only one in our school, district, town, or (as in my case) county who do what we do. You will need a support network of others who "get it" and speak the same language, and you may have to look farther than locally to find it. Join your local, state, and national gifted education associations. Attend gifted education conferences where you can meet people who will become a part of your network. Utilize social networking. On the days when you have a question or need to vent or want to share a success, it will be immeasurably helpful to have even a small handful of people to call upon.

2) Start small. Then celebrate your successes, no matter how small. The job of a Gifted Specialist is incredibly complex, with facets that others (yes, even others in Education) don't realize and don't understand. If you start off expecting yourself to be able to "do it all" right away, you will drown. Determine a few goals and focus on those. Evaluate, revise, celebrate, and then decide on the next goal. Step by step the mountain is climbed, but you still have to take it one step at a time.

3) Be flexible when it comes to the location where you work with your students. In my 17 years, I have worked with my students in the teacher's lounge, at a table in the hallway, on a fold-up plastic table in the Music room, on an old (*old*) cafeteria table in the lobby of the gym, in a classroom shared with Title I aides, in other teachers' classrooms, in the Library, in the back of the Library during other classes' Library times, in the computer lab, and in my own classroom (at our middle school) which is also used by three other teachers during the day when I'm at other buildings. I've learned that it's kind of like that Sunday School lesson - the one about "the church" not being the building but rather the people in it, together. Your "classroom" is you and your students - and the locations where you gather may change and will certainly have advantages and disadvantages, but it is your time together with these kids that is most important.

4) Get really good at Plan B... for yourself, and for the kids. A couple times a year, I go to a classroom - either to pick up my students or with a lesson for the whole class prepared - and the room is dark and empty. Whether a field trip or an assembly or some other opportunity, the teacher has forgotten to tell me (or just overlooked) that it conflicted with my time with her students. Roll with it. Like you, they are busy people and if you get bent out of joint every time this happens, you'll be sour a lot and they'll be sour about you being so sour. The silver lining is you were just granted a surprise half hour or so of time to work on something else. Also, when it comes to those well-laid lessons plans, there will be days that you realize what you need is at your other school building, or another teacher borrowed it and left a note that you just now discovered, or the copy machine is broken down. You may only have one minute to decide what Plan B is, but there sure better be a Plan B. These kids have high expectations of you and they're on their way, ready to be challenged and engaged. Quick, what's it going to be?!

5) Be okay with not being popular. You won't be everyone's favorite person, and some will dislike or be cynical about you simply because of your job title and without ever taking a chance to get to know you. People will assume all sorts of things about you simply because of what your job is (some perhaps true, others perhaps not). Some will cringe or roll their eyes (literally or internally) when you speak up at meetings: "There she goes again, asking 'what about the advanced kids'..." For some, you will be a thorn in their sides because what you are advocating for means they will have to change a three decade pattern. When you ask how the newly adopted textbook will be adapted/supplemented/replaced for gifted learners who've already mastered much of what it contains, others will think you are just plain annoying for always asking those questions when there are so many other kids to worry about. Yes, being an advocate for your students will often mean others won't be keen on you. So be it. *shrug* Now you know who your (& your students') allies are - and are not. Now you can commiserate with your students when they talk about how the other kids don't understand why something is so important to them or how the other kids get annoyed when they ask questions in class. Now you know who needs to be the object of further efforts on your part to educate them about the needs of gifted learners. Now you can model for your students how to be okay with doing the right thing even when it means you're not popular for doing it.

6) Balance. A good working relationship with your colleagues (i.e. the regular classroom teachers) will often involve you walking a tightrope, balancing the needs of your gifted students with the patience, talents, willingness, open-mindedness, stubbornness, and needs of their teachers. Maintaining a great working relationship with your fellow teachers is really important because it increases opportunities for them to understand where you're coming from and means they are more likely to implement your suggestions for the gifted and advanced learners in their classrooms. But advocating for these kids while not stepping on a fellow teacher's toes is a delicate balance of trust, timing, temerity, humility, and bridge-building. Burning bridges, though occasionally tempting, doesn't do the kids any good and is definitely best avoided. Take advantage of opportunities to get to know your colleagues. Join a committee. Go to the staff Christmas party. Bring treats for the teacher's lounge. Stop to chat in the hallway. It all works toward building and nurturing those relationships.

7) Allow yourself to shine. Let your students know about your current and past honors, awards, successes, accomplishments, etc. Obviously I don't mean brag about them, but I do mean they are good things to drop from time to time into conversations with your students or to use as examples. Sometimes gifted kids feel like freaks of nature because they realize how much they stand out or stick out compared to others. Sometimes they hide their abilities or successes so they won't feel like such a freak. But if they can see you humbly, casually, honestly, and comfortably acknowledge your own shining moments, it provides them an example of how they can do the same. And it inspires them to be all they can be.

8) Cloak yourself in humility. These are REALLY smart kids. They will best you at every turn. You must be comfortable with high intelligence, not knowing the answers to some (many!) of their questions, conversations about chaos theory and Shakespeare and computer programming languages, and being stumped or beaten. If you have insecurities about your own intelligence and abilities, this is not the job for you. They will amaze and outshine you daily - and you must be able to be comfortable with that. I have been beaten at chess by a Kindergartener. One of my 7th grade students scored better on the SAT than I did as a junior in high school (and I did pretty darn well on it). My students often have conversations about topics I don't understand (the difference between PHP and JavaScript, for example). And that's okay. My particular job is not necessarily to know more than them. My job, primarily, is to open doors for them. "Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master." (Leonardo da Vinci)

9) Embrace your inner geek. Whether it's always been a big part of you or whether you hid it away in high school, now would be a great time to polish up your nerdiness. Bring out that old Star Trek costume. Dust off your reading glasses. Start using big words again. These kids need to know the ways in which you are one of them - because smart, nerdy role models who are comfortable in their own skin are hard to come by for these youngsters (particularly the ones whose demographics or locations mean they are much less likely to cross paths with such individuals). You may be their best or only chance to see what an intelligent, dorky life "looks" like and how to be comfortable embracing it. So embrace it!

10) Be ready to commit to committees. If you're not at the table, you're on the menu. Even if others in your school or district understand the needs of gifted and advanced learners, that doesn't mean they are as prepared and as willing and as mindful to be a voice for these kids as you are. For you, these kids are your first thought and first priority. For someone else, they may be third or tenth on the list. Don't trust that someone else will have the needs of these kids in mind. They might, they might not. The only way to be sure that the needs of the gifted and advanced learners are considered is for you to be at the table and to be a part of the conversation as often as you are able. This year, my district is reviewing (and in many cases revising) all of our district policies. ALL of them. That means I volunteered for the committee and I'm there at every meeting with an eye for how each policy may impact my students and their teachers' opportunities to meet their needs. It's quite a time commitment, but it has already paid off for my students.

11) Nurture and support your students' parents. Just as being a Gifted Specialist is a lonely road, so is parenting these off-the-charts kiddos. You may be the only person outside the family who understands the challenges of raising an intense, quirky, highly sensitive, unendingly curious, exhausting - and yet inspiring - child. Helping the parents, whether it's to better understand their kids or with parenting strategies or with a commiserating ear, indirectly helps the kids.

12) Nurture and support positive working relationships with your administrators and school board members. They are often the final deciders, and whether or not they have some understanding of the needs of gifted learners (and therefore how those needs are impacted by their decisions) may depend on whether or not you've made or taken advantage of opportunities to educate them about those needs. Be positive. Be proactive. Be persistent. Be subtle when necessary and blunt when necessary. But above all, put in the effort - with small and big steps over time - to communicate to them who gifted learners are and what they need in school. Never assume they already understand - because, frankly, they often don't. At least not initially. It will be up to you to help them develop understanding.

13) Sometimes "Doing Right by Your Students" and "Being a Good Employee" will be in conflict. (*sigh* Okay, more times than I care to admit.) I know it doesn't make sense. It's perfectly illogical that doing right by your students might mean having to be an incorrigible employee - or that being a model employee might mean having to sacrifice the needs of your students. It shouldn't be that way. But it sometimes is. I can't profess to have any answers for you on this, either. These are incredibly difficult situations fraught with complexity and emotion. Sometimes I choose one way, sometimes I choose the other (circumstance dependent). Sometimes it turns out I chose wisely, and sometimes not. Either way, it always eats me up inside and I've had to re-build some bridges and apologize - and yet, try again. Being the rope in a tug-of-war (in this and, as you may have noticed here, so many other ways) brings with it a lot of stress. So, while I'm at it, having good stress-coping-strategies (or developing them if you don't already have them) is imperative. The level of stress that comes with this job is much higher than others will notice or understand. (Don't let that scare you away! It's still the best job ever!)

14) Know your stuff. You must become the local expert on these kids. There's a lot of misinformation out there regarding what is and is not best for advanced learners. It will frequently fall to you to clear up the confusion or to set someone straight (politely, of course) or to make the distinction between research-based best practice and long-held mythology. Read as much as you can in the field... books, journals, research articles, blogs, debates, etc. Join local, state, and national gifted education associations. Attend as many gifted education conferences as your district is able to send you to. Take graduate coursework in gifted education. Even though there may always be some who will doubt you or don't believe you, someone locally still needs to be highly knowledgeable about gifted kids. Soak up as much as you can as often as you can because you will be the one they come to.

15) And finally, be proactive. Gifted students are (among) the most misunderstood, overlooked, inadequately taught learners in our classrooms... because others think they are okay on their own or where they are. But okay isn't good enough. ("One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar!" Helen Keller) The needs of gifted students stem from their strengths, and helping others to understand this counterintuitive reality is now part of your aim. It's a never-ending process of two steps forward, one step back. You will have to be comfortable and confident in what you do - and yet never let your guard down. You will need to be an advocate, a warrior, a confidant, a subversive, a leader, a researcher, an expert, an ally, a burr in someone's saddle, a little voice in the back of everyone's minds, a steady presence, a humble inspiration, an invaluable resource, and one who can bounce back time and time again. Yes, it's exhausting. But it's mostly exhilarating. Come... thrive with me!

Now, take a deep breath and go back and read #2 again. :o)

(What advice would you like to pass on for new gifted education specialists?)

Posted by Tamara Fisher at 3:01 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Hey there.

Yup - you...

Let's me and you talk for a minute, just the two of us.

You may not believe this - because perhaps you've felt alone and misunderstood your whole life - but there are a lot of us out here who get kids like you. There just aren't enough of us.

And maybe when something happens somewhere that hits the news and social networks big time, you find yourself relating - to the person that did it. There could be similarities in your interests. There could be similarities in your home lives. There could be a similar desire to do what they did, for whatever reason or for no apparent reason at all. Maybe you, too, have been bullied or abused, or are a loner, or have some odd quirks that nearly everyone around you just doesn't get and - even worse - you think they think something is "wrong" with you because of that. And - the elephant in the room - it's often someone quite bright, as you are, too (whether you know and believe that about yourself or not. But someone does because they sent you to read this, didn't they...)

Being quirky and "odd" is a blessing, and - before you snort your energy drink out your nose - let's talk about why. You sure as heck may not be seeing the blessing because it's much easier to get mixed up in the soup of adolescence, turmoil, being bullied or being the bully, feeling isolated, raging at the world, drugs, identity confusion, helplessness, hopelessness, your avatar world, mental illness, home problems, school problems, friend problems or no-friend problems, health problems, being misunderstood, ............, or whatever else it is that's in your personal soup. Your unique combination of mess is taking over your life and you don't know what to do and you're angry and frustrated and you feel like you're screaming and no one is hearing you or seeing you.

Yup. It sucks.

It a whole-lotta sucks.

And it's hard to see beyond all that when you're in the midst of it. But there is a "beyond all that" in life - and I've personally witnessed hundreds of quirky bright kids like you swim out of their soup and shine. They all had different ingredients from the recipe above, but whatever their combination, they made it. Some have started their own businesses, some have started their own bands. Some are managers at Google and Microsoft, some are managers at a local small business, and some are officers in the military. Some are in graduate school and some are teaching school. Some have invented things or created new products that I'm excited to see the world discover and react to. Some are writing code for iPhone's Siri and others are cracking code for the FBI. Some landed themselves in jail for a time and are now shift-by-shift working their way back into stability. Some are happily married and some have little kiddos that they're raising with a wiser outlook. Some are still stuck in their soup, but they're reaching out for a tossed life preserver ... or at least no longer fighting its offering. And I know, I hope, I believe, they're going to make it. Which means you can, too.

Yes, those are all real people I know. Real kids and real now-grown kids, all who are or were bright, odd, misunderstood youngsters. (Some are now bright, odd, much-less-often-misunderstood adults.)

Maybe you sometimes feel like lashing out at others. Maybe you feel like taking it out on yourself. Maybe you want others to hurt as much as you do.

Perhaps you've noticed that people feel a lot of anger and anguish when someone goes and does something - and maybe you're feeling that anger and anguish all the time and want others, for whatever reason, to walk in your shoes. But before you go and ____, instead reach down and find that piece of humanity inside of you, a paused moment from when you were a pure little kid. I know you know it's there. Take the lid off and poke around a bit until you find where you hid it. Now carefully drop that piece of you into your pocket for a sec and let's not forget it's there.

Before you lash out, reach out.

And if it doesn't work the first time, try reaching out again. And again. And again, if necessary.

One thing, though: You might have to use very specific language. Sometimes even the most perceptive of us don't pick up on others' messages. So, if need be, be very clear about the help you need. Perhaps you haven't done that so far because you're scared about freaking people out and you're worried they're going to over-react and think you're one of those crazed killers and lock you up, and the last thing you want is more people being weirded out by you than already are, but really truly someone or many someones will be grateful and proud that you have the courage, insight, balls, temerity, humbleness, and foresight to squeak up and reach out.

Yes. I said it. Squeak up. And keep squeaking. Get the grease.

Being quirky is a blessing because it's often the dorks who invent cool gadgets and make amazing discoveries and solve perplexing problems and make the impossible possible and inspire others to aim high, too. It's often the weirdo or the nerd or the one with "other issues" who creates and advocates and postulates. And you have an opportunity to be a part of all that. Our world needs you to be a part of all that. Desperately. Maybe before you've looked around and seen the tumult and violence and decay and anger, and maybe you've lived it. But now you get to look around and see the possibilities, the ways your curiosity and creativity can have a positive impact on someone, anyone, or many ones.

Sure, I have some Pollyanna in me (do kids nowadays know who that is?), but can you admit that you wish someone in your life did, too? Or that you did, too? Well, you've stuck with me this far. I'll wager that means you have a piece of Pollyanna in you, as well.

Now, take a deep breath. Come on now, I mean it... take a deep breath. [thank you :)] Now take another. And another.

Here's what's next.

Somewhere in your life you crossed paths with someone who got you even a tiny bit. Maybe it was a teacher from ten years ago. Or a friend from your grade school playground. Maybe it's your current flame or mom or dad or a sibling or a neighbor or that teacher who laughed at your joke in the hallway but you don't know his name. A school counselor, a principal, an older cousin, or grandma and grandpa... Yes, you've thought of it. That's the one. That's the person to reach out to. It could be a simple text or email ("Hey, can we talk?" or "I think I might need some help"), but really a phone call or face-to-face is even better. I know that's a lot more uncomfortable, but I think they'll be more likely to "hear" you that way. Remember, they don't all live in your hand-held digital world, so at least for this first most important step, you may need to "speak their language."

And if you didn't think of that person, then you'll be responsibly choosing a person - maybe you know them, maybe they're a stranger - in a helping profession. Those would be the teachers, doctors, counselors, nurses, public safety officers, hotline call-answerers, crisis shelter workers, religious leaders, etc. etc. They'll listen, and 99 times out of 100 they'll know how to help you find the next step.

And when they do, take it.

Followed by the next one, and the next one, and the one after that. Keep going, and at some point you'll look back and realize a big ol' weight lifted out of your life somewhere along the way.

And when you make it out of the soup and you've worked for and found your own positive way to shine, allow yourself a little celebration. Or daily little celebrations. It can be grand or humble. Even a smile at yourself in the mirror is pretty powerful.

Lastly (it's never really lastly, but I have discovered I have a space limit here), turn around. Somewhere behind you is a young person like you now once were, someone who needs to hear that it gets better; that they have value; that you were there once, too; that you understand like few others do. Show them there's life and hope beyond the soup. You are now uniquely suited to help and inspire them.

In the meantime, these resources might help:

SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted)
NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness - they have great support groups)
Davidson Institute
Gifted Haven (an online forum for young people just like you)
Yunasa (more than just a summer camp...)
Institute for Educational Advancement
NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children)
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK
CEC (Council for Exceptional Children)
'Mellow Out' They Say. If I Only Could. Intensities and Sensitivities of the Young and Bright by Michael Piechowski
The Smart Teens' Guide to Living With Intensity by Lisa Rivero
Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children and Adults by James Webb, Edward Amend, Nadia Webb, Jean Goerss, Paul Beljan, and Richard Olenchak.
Read a biography of someone like you who made it. Not someone who succumbed, but someone who overcame.

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." (Carl Bard)

"It is the wounded oyster that mends its shell with pearl." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

"The world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming it." (Helen Keller)

"Go to where silence is and say something." (Amy Goodman)

I imagine others out there will post their own suggestions of other resources, too.

Okay, that's all for now. (I knew you would listen because I could see that little pure piece of you that you found and put in your pocket. Let it out now and take it on the journey with you...)

Posted by Tamara Fisher at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Watching Temple Grandin give a presentation is a great way to begin the day!

During the keynote time slot this morning, we were all faced with the difficult decision of choosing between Renzulli, Gardner, and Sternberg... or Temple Grandin. I heard from many people today that they, too, struggled with these two appealing choices. I opted to see Temple since I knew I'd never hear the end of it from my students if I showed up at school next week having had the chance to see her but opting for something else. I know my students would've loved to have been in the room with me today to see her in action!

For part of her talk, Temple expressed her belief that we need teams of people working together because we need the various perspectives that people with different views and talents bring to the table. She also emphasized that verbal language isn't the only way of thinking. Some people think in pictures, others think in patterns, others think with an auditory strength. Some think associatively, some think linearly. Some think bottom up, some think top down, some think specific to general, others think general to specific. People don't want to accept that there's different ways of thinking, she said. We need to get people of different types of thinking working together.

She encouraged us to build up children's strengths and passions into a possible career - and pointed out that, particularly for children with disabilities, it will be their strengths that create a positive future for them.

Some of my favorite gems from Temple this morning:

"Wouldn't it be stupid for a dyslexic kid to flunk out of school because you wouldn't [fill in the blank with an accommodation] so he could read it better?"

"What's really the problem?" [Is it within the child, or is it a flaw in the curriculum or the teacher's presentation of the curriculum?]

"I think I'm doing pretty good for a student they thought was mentally retarded." Indeed, Temple, indeed!

A member of the audience asked Temple, "What did you play as a child?" Her answer? She would make birds and kites and planes and attach them to her trike and try to fly them behind her as she pedaled away.

Temple's animation, sense of humor, stream of consciousness, and expressiveness contributed to why she was so engaging to watch. Here are a few photos to demonstrate. (I promise she smiled, too, but I never could catch it with my camera.)

The next session I attended was "What Administrators Taught Us About Making the Case for Gifted Education: A Report from the NAGC Administrator Task Force" with Ann Robinson, Ginny Burney, Jacquelin Medina, Debbie Blow, and Buck Greene.

The Task Force was a charge created by former NAGC President Ann Robinson to assist NAGC in engaging school leaders about awareness and meeting gifted learners' needs, to provide direct feedback from administrators to NAGC on publications and messaging, and to improve NAGC's services available to administrators. The Task Force consisted of superintendents and principals, gifted specialists and coordinators, and researchers. One key question they examined was, essentially, "What are the criteria for a resource that a veryvery busy administrator would access and utilize?"

The presenters were some of the members of the Task Force. A key point to their message was that we need to learn how to be our own best PR consultants. Administrators are already busy and they may not be required or accountable to provide services. But, they are responsible for promoting quality learning and instruction, college and career readiness. Think about what they're saying and find a point to connect with. Have your "elevator speech" ready for when opportunity knocks. Administrators are looking to hear about what affects them and the students in their schools. They want to know how gifted ed can help everybody (such as through extended learning opportunities).

Be helpful to them and begin a dialogue. Put it in a framework of best practice. They don't have time to become the experts. Provide them what they need to know. You be the expert for them to rely on. (It's about dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, and building relationships.) Since administrators have (generally speaking) not come to us for information or help, we need to go about advocacy a different way. How are we communicating to administrators? Are we embedded in what goes out to them? No. We need to go where they are.

To most effectively communicate with busy administrators, be concise, be focused, be compatible with other school initiatives,
be accessible online, be credible, be equitable, be accountable for student growth.

It all reminds me of one of my favorite quotations: "The fool persuades me with his reasons; the wise man persuades me with my own." ~ Aristotle ~

In a few weeks, NAGC's Administrator Tool Kit will be available at the NAGC site containing this (and much more!) information.

Note to self: Show up extra early to sessions so I don't end up sitting on the floor again!

Over lunch, I popped into the Exhibit Hall and found this little gem, a book called "Beautiful Oops!" at the Once Upon a Mind booth. This creatively-presented little book offers fun insights for our young perfectionists. The good folks at Once Upon a Mind, by the way, offer librarian-type services (doing the legwork of seeking tailored resources) to teachers and parents.

Next, I wanted to learn about "Sensory Sensitivities: The Yoke of Being Gifted" with presenter Angela Housand. She talked about sensory processing sensitivities of the gifted and how they respond to stimuli with greater central nervous system responsiveness, involuntary motion, and emotional reactions. And research shows there is a connection between anxiety and sensory sensitivity. We know the gifted have a qualitatively different experience of the world, and one piece of evidence is they score statistically significantly higher on scales of sensitivity.

What can we do to support those that have heightened anxiety?
* Avoid comparisons between students/siblings
* Support autonomy through individualized learning opportunities, encourage them to pursue their own interests, highlight uniqueness without comparison
* Provide choice and opportunity
* Give them opportunities to fail and focus on the arising learning opportunity
* Breathe: explicitly teach and practice breathing techniques. (FYI - Breathing through the mouth sends signals to the brain that something is wrong with the body, which increases anxiety, so teach them to breathe in through the nose.)
* Mindfulness - the practice of being present

When you have the tools on hand, you can manage it. When you have a calm mind, you actually increase performance and well-being.

What to do for heightened sensitivities:
* Habituate (For example, let the child pushed over by the gym buzzer push the button that controls it to begin the process of getting accustomed to the surprising loud noise by first being in control of it. This was Temple's idea this morning that she connected back to.)
* Minimize offensive external stimuli
* Avoid perfume and fragrant lotion
* Use rugs and fabric wall art to reduce noise
* Adjust furniture to minimize exposure to sharp edges. Sharp edges activate the amygdala, which is the part of the brain that registers threat.
* Minimize visual overload
* Paint rooms a blue hue (this lowers blood pressure by 9%, apparently!)
* Provide a cohesive color palate
* Utilize variations in lighting
* Use natural materials
* Provide privacy spaces and opportunities for privacy - retreat, reflection, relaxation. This enables those with sensory overload to be able to escape to a separate place when over-stimulated.
* Technology in their hands - gives them some control
* Minimize how much hangs from the ceiling. Ceiling height is ranked among the top 3 architectural details that influence psychological well-being.

(I know there are definitely spaces and places, rooms and buildings that I feel more at ease. This is one reason my house is oddly-shaped. I feel more "myself" in rooms with an angle.)

I have ear protection (the "muffs" that people wear when mowing the lawn or shooting at the range) available for my students to put on when they feel overwhelmed by the auditory stimuli in our or a neighboring space. (At one school, I work with my students in the lobby of the gym, so the noise from P.E. classes is unavoidable.) It's a tool for their "toolbox" of coping strategies that I've provided and they take advantage of when they need to. I also teach them they can pull off a strip of toilet paper and hang it over the sensor on the automatic flusher device, then pull of the paper to flush when they are ready for the toilet to flush. (We discovered that one of my students, back when he was in Kindergarten, wasn't going to the bathroom the entire school day. Turns out he was terrified by and overwhelmed by the loudness and unpredictability of the automatic flushers.)

Suggested resources:
The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine Aron
'Mellow Out' They Say. If I Only Could. Intensities and Sensitivities of the Young and Bright by Michael Piechowski
Living with Intensity by Susan Daniels and Michael Piechowski
The Smart Teens' Guide to Living with Intensity by Lisa Rivero
Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted

One thing I loved about this presentation was the in-depth analysis of something those of us in the trenches have been noticing for a long time, as well as the vein of seeing the sensitivities in context and recognizing that while they may bring challenges, they also come with benefits.

This year's Legacy Series interview, hosted by the Conceptual Foundations Network with support and collaboration of the Curriculum Studies Network, was with Dr. Sandra Kaplan of California. Her work has influenced teachers around the country, helping them implement high-level thinking and questioning for their teachers. Here are a selection of highlights from the interview:

* She spoke of the teachers she had who inspired her and modeled great curriculum. She talked about her accidental path to education (had intended to become a pediatrician).
* She said teacher education needs thinkers not doers, those who can see children for who they are and help them understand who they are.
* Grouping isn't the real issue, it's matching needs. What kind of assessment can we do through performance? Gifted children are as much a heterogeneous group as any other group of children.
* If you want to make a difference, you need to think about your own contribution and be your own person, not re-create what's out there (advice to young Sandra from Harry Passow). Other influences on her have been Abraham Tannenbaum, Joe Renzulli, Dorothy Sisk, Jim Gallagher, Jean Delp, May Sago, Ruth Martinson. (I don't know if I spelled those last three correctly - or even if I heard the names correctly. Feel free to give corrections in the comments section if you know who she was referring to.)
* When asked, "What motivates you and challenges you about the field?" she said, "The more classrooms I sit in the more agitated and motivated I become."
* "If you really believe in gifted ed and the children we're serving, there can never be one single curriculum." Curricular structures are like people. Just as you can never have just one friend, you need more than one curriculum.
* Talent vs. serendipity? While we have control over all sorts of things, we need to make sure we give them (kids and teachers!) opportunities for serendipitous experiences.
* Academic prejudice ("it's too hard for them") - This is just as detrimental as any other type of prejudice.
* "We need to talk about teacher readiness in the same way we talk about student readiness."
* "I would like to see more of kids talking to teachers as consumers." We shouldn't deny the voices of children in our efforts to come to understand what they need as learners.

I capped the evening off at Speed Geeking, an event hosted by the Computers and Technology Network. The following people each gave a four minute presentation about as many digital tools as they wanted to squeeze in. Some new resources I learned about are listed below.

Class Dojo Easy way to keep track of data on your class
AirServer Connect multiple devices to the projected screen
TED-Ed The "Schoolhouse Rock" of the present and future
American Association of School Librarians - Best Websites for Teaching and Learning
LearnItIn5 How-to videos about technology for the classroom - all 5 minutes or less
inform7 Interactive software that lets students write interactive fiction
ViewPure Show YouTube videos without the unpredictable thumbnails along the side
Socrative Class engagement software

(*all photo credits: Tamara Fisher*)

Posted by Tamara Fisher at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

NAGC Executive Director Nancy Green and NAGC President Paula Olszewski-Kubilius kicked the day off this morning with an opening general session about "Gifted Leading the Way: National Priorities and Opportunities for Action." Nancy presented three NAGC policy goals:

* The need to hold schools and states accountable for reaching and meeting the needs of the gifted and advanced students in their classrooms. We need to combat schools' complacency about the real needs of gifted learners. These kids won't just "be fine on their own," as those of us in the field know all too well.

* Remove barriers to access to talent development and gifted education services. Whether or not a student receives services to meet their unique learning needs shouldn't depend upon their zip code.

* Ensure all school leaders and classroom teachers are able to recognize indicators of high achievement and are able to meet the learning needs of high-ability students. Pre-service preparation and career-concurrent professional development need to include information and strategies so teachers can reach these kids.

(My own little aside here: I think the first sentence of the third bullet above should also somewhere include the phrase "high potential," too.)

Paula referenced the recent report released by NAGC about "Unlocking Emergent Talent: Supporting High Achievement of Low-Income, High-Ability Students."

Among the findings reported were the following:
* The U.S. produces fewer students scoring at the highest levels of achievement in reading, math, and science on the PISA compared to countries such as New Zealand, Canada, China, Singapore, Finland, and Japan.
* Less than 8% of U.S. students score at excellent levels in reading, math, or science on the NAEP tests.
* Of students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, only about 1% of them score at the advanced level on the 8th grade NAEP exam. For students who qualify for free lunch, the percentage is even lower.

A PDF of the full report is available for download at this link.

Ideas presented for better reaching high-ability low-income students were great. "Identifying transferable or replicable program models that are economically feasible." "Providing training to teachers in low-income and rural schools." "Resolving conflicts between achievement and affiliation." "Provide enrichment to all students starting in preschool." "Make the cultivation of high-potential learners starting as early as Kindergarten a priority." "Include excellence gaps in discussions of achievement gaps."

My morning Gifted Education Applications session was "Gifted Education: A Sherpa for Guiding Everyone to New Heights" with Sally Krisel of Hall County Schools in Gainesville, Georgia. After meeting her at the Hormel Symposium in Minnesota this summer, I've been hoping to learn more about her work as coordinator of "Charter Schools and Programs of Choice" for Hall County Schools.

She began by making some inspiring and thought-provoking powerful statements. "We will never have the schools we want for children by focusing on adequacy." "Parents and students are ready for something new and innovative." "For too long we've offered kids and their parents two choices: Take it or leave it." "Schools should compete for 'intelletes' like we do for athletes."

Sally talked about the power of gifted education to promote excellence for an entire school district. She pointed out that India and China have more honor students than we have total students. We as a nation cannot afford to only seek the highest levels of excellence for a narrow band at the top. We as a nation have a fundamental decision to make: Do we continue to hammer away at a focus on adequacy and remediation, or are we going to focus on a culture of excellence, high expectations, potential, and creativity.

Basically, good enough is not good enough! It never was, but we have behaved as if it was for far too long.

"Rigor for all" is not just a sound-bite. Sally's challenge was to lead the incorporation of this concept for all students in Hall County. The challenge has manifested in more than 20 of the district's 32 schools being transformed in the last few years to charter, academy, and "niche" or magnet learning environments.

Among the results: Twenty-seven high school courses are offered to middle school students. The district has met its goal of 75% of students leaving middle school with at least 1 high school credit. The district sought a waiver from the state to allow part-time enrollment at the middle school level so that homeschooled children could partake of a portion of a school day at a charter or choice school. (Most of these part-time students have since become full-time students because they loved so much what they found.)

I hope to interview Sally and do a more in-depth post in the near future about how the Hall County Charters and Choice Programs have impacted learning for not only gifted students, but all children. It really was an eye-opening and inspiring look at what choice and challenge can do for our nation's youth.

My afternoon session was "Early Entrance Programs for Young Gifted Children: Preparing Four Year-Olds for Kindergarten" presented by Melinda Ness and Kimberly Chandler. The presenters did a great job outlining what the research says about early entrance to Kindergarten (adults who understand and support it are key to the child's success, for example), arguments that people use against early entrance (all the other kids will be driving sooner, for example), and arguments in favor of early entrance (kids who qualify for this option typically do have the social and emotional maturity enabling them to be ready to start Kindergarten "early" - though in reality it is "right on time" for them).

Melinda spoke of the process her district (Littleton Public Schools, CO) uses when assessing whether a child is ready for early entrance to Kindergarten. 1) When Kindergarten screening is advertised, it is also mentioned that applications for early entrance will also be taken at the same time. 2) Contacts are established between the parents and the District GT Coordinator. 3) The parents gather for and pass onto the District Coordinator any and all forms of data available on their child that might lend insight into whether the child is ready for Kindergarten. This often also includes a letter from a preschool teacher, a formal parent observation inventory, examples of the child's abilities in language and mathematics, and any other available anecdotal and/or statistical data. This portfolio is then examined by the District Coordinator and a team consisting of primary grade teachers, GT Specialists, administrators, and appropriate others. 4) The student is interviewed at the time of the portfolio review. 5) The District Coordinator refers the student for individual testing by the school psychologist. With all of this information and data, a decision is made. I found myself intrigued by the comprehensive effort to gather all possible information on the child (rather than a single piece of data). In this district, they are making great effort to not only let parents know early entrance is an option, but also to make a highly-informed decision about each child.

The presenters gave examples of possible observation-based and statistical instruments to use in this process:
Kingore Observation Inventory for Parents
Preschool & Kindergarten Behavioral Scales (PBKS-2)
Individual School Reading Inventories
Individual School Math Placement tests
Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students-R (SRBCSS-R)
Young Children's Academic Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (Y-CAIMI)
Wechsler Intelligence Test (WPPSI)
Differential Abilities Scale (DAS)
Ravens Matrices (sorry... could not find a good link!)
Test of Early Mathematics Ability (TEMA)
Test of Early Reading Ability (TERA)

Throughout, the process and particularly the outcome are flexible to the needs and readiness of the child. Once a child is approved for early entrance, the school and District Coordinator continue to monitor and support the child by allowing a period of adjustment, helping the child develop self-efficacy, supporting all stakeholders (child, child's parents, child's teacher), and assuring access to appropriate resources. And always, keep in mind that the child might be in need of additional and subsequent forms of acceleration as well.

It's about flexibility, flexibility, flexibility.

Additional resources:
* The "Nation Deceived" report from a few years back provides additional and illuminative research data on early entrance and other forms of acceleration.
* Acceleration for Gifted Learners, K-5 by Joan Smutny, Sally Walker, and Elizabeth Meckstroth
* The Academic Acceleration of the Gifted Children by Thomas Southern, Eric Jones, and William Southern
* Gifted Child Quarterly 2007: 51, 330 "The Socioaffective Impact of Acceleration and Ability Grouping: Recommendations for Best Practice" by Maureen Neihart

The Opening Keynote with Chester Finn of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute was preceded by some great student entertainment, including a beautiful choir and these boys from Break EFX who dazzled the audience:

Chester Finn was selected as the recipient of this year's 2012 NAGC President's Award. He acknowledged up front in his address that while not an educator, while not trained in the characteristics and needs of gifted learners, he has - through his work over decades in education policy - taken up a keen interest in policy influences on "high-potential, academically-inclined" learners - and the direct and indirect impact that has on our nation's security and success. Much of Fordham's research (Do High Flyers Maintain Their Altitude?, High-Achieving Students in the Era of NCLB, etc.), sad to say, shows big problems for our nation's gifted and advanced learners. In terms of equity, this is "a human capital catastrophe for the U.S."

Finn focused his presentation into an organized list answering the question, "Why are we messing this up?"
1) Nervousness about elitism, fed by underrepresentation of certain populations.
2) A mindset, particularly in this time of budget cuts and a focus on low-achieving students, that those with high ability will do fine on their own.
3) A widespread belief that broader equity concerns are confined to issues of income, race, disability - and getting everybody up to some modest floor level is the goal. (His implication was that the broader world of education and our society don't see the gifted as a "minority" population with valid needs.)
4) We in education send mixed messages as to whether giftedness constitutes a special need.
5) In the real world, everybody knows highly selective colleges get more applicants than they can accept, more kids are enrolled in AP and IB, so what could be the problem?
6) Our immigration policies have made it possible to import the skills we don't find within (hence a weakened need to develop our own talent).
7) The field of gifted ed has been hazy regarding who and what they're focused on. Lack of a clear definition and specific numbers leave outsiders confounded about the field, its mission, its beneficiaries (the kids). Little agreement doesn't help our arguments in policy circles.
8) This field suffers from a paucity of research about what works and how that provides gains under certain circumstances to certain populations. The burden of proof about the value of what we advocate for is needed. (I think it's out there... maybe we're just poor at getting the message out?)
9) "Maybe because of the elitism issue, and perhaps due to a shortage of resources," the gifted ed world has been a little meek in lobbying and advocacy, political engagement, etc., let alone recruiting candidates who are sympathetic in low, medium and high places. He said one would be hard pressed to name a current member of Congress who is a vigorous advocate gifted learners. (Actually, there is at least one easy example, Sen. Grassley of Iowa.)
10) Bad Ideas - such as the idea that everything should be open to everyone regardless of prior attainment, multiple intelligences, too much focus on differentiation. He posited that this is bad for gifted ed (i.e. the kids) because it waters down our message.

He then offered a few reasons for modest optimism:
1) Gifted ed could turn the equity argument to its advantage. In his book Exam Schools, one finding was that those schools were not populated predominately by mainstream, middle and upper income white kids. These exam schools, rather are refuges for families of little means whose children have high potential.
2) Widening awareness in the country about just how poorly our advanced students are doing compared to those in other lands. This worry and awareness is beginning to creep into opinion columns and the business media.
3) Emergence of new forms of educational delivery that will widen the options available for high ability students, such as technology, online courses (many of which are free), emergence of STEM focused schools, afterschool enrichment options, alternative schools, etc. Students and their parents are no longer confined to the status quo as an option. Gifted learners have more selection of ways to have their needs met.
4) Some schools are getting more sophisticated about meeting needs of these learners.
5) An examination of these kids and their needs in widely read media, such as the recent New York Times Magazine article about parenting prodigies and the Scientific American issue, Think Like a Genius. "Is this a sign of widening acceptance?" he wondered.

Finn continued, saying that high potential is valuable, but it's not the whole story. Good habits, motivation, creativity, and hard work count tremendously as well. He gave an example of - and praised - an exam school highlighted in his book that selected its student based on factors beyond a test score. (I found this bit of praise a little ironic given his comments in #7 above.)

"Why keep the supply of these schools limited given the high demand?" "How much human potential is our society failing to realize?" "How much are we squandering?"

He gave everyone a lot to think about :o)

Finally, at the Awards Ceremony, NAGC President Paula Olszewski-Kubilius called for the development of a task force to generate a national education policy platform regarding gifted and advanced learners - so as to be better able to partner with others who have similar goals and interests.

Here is a selection of some of the award winners:

Posted by Tamara Fisher at 1:08 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

I'm excited to be in Denver for the annual National Association for Gifted Children convention. It kicked off today with a full day of longer, in-depth sessions all focused on "Supporting Gifted and High-Potential Learners in a Common Core State Standards Environment." The morning session was an overview, together with strategies for upgrading and differentiating for gifted students within the CCSS (presented by Susan Johnsen and Joyce Van Tassel-Baska), and the following were some of my "in the moment" thoughts:

* While a lot of us have heard about the CCSS being more challenging and open-ended than the status quo, that doesn't mean they are actually challenging enough for gifted and advanced learners who will still be beyond the grade-level standard in many areas. As a matter of fact, I worked on reading our Montana CCSS English Language Arts document on the plane ride down yesterday and was disturbed to find statements such as, "Apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills" and "Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding." (*groan*)

* The Common Core is not the be-all, end-all. While it may provide a good foundation, it doesn't cover everything for all kids - and areas that we know to be important to cover for gifted learners (affective needs, for example) are still necessary even if the CCSS doesn't have many obvious windows for them.

* Questions posed by the presenters: "How do we make curriculum more challenging, more creative, more complex, more in-depth, and accelerated for gifted learners?" "How do we ensure that gifted learners are at the starting line of their instructional level in the classroom?" "What do we do to ensure that gifted students are using their time to progress beyond the grade-level skills they've already mastered?" It would seem the questions and challenges for us - the parents and professionals in the field of gifted education - likely won't be changing radically. (I'm not sure whether that's good or bad... Both, probably...)

* Pre-assess, streamline, compact, engage, elevate, accelerate, challenge, differentiate. It's clear that all those strategies we've been trying to infuse into classrooms for the benefit of gifted, advanced, and other students are still vitally necessary.

* Strategies for adapting CCSS for gifted learners: 1) Accelerate and streamline, 2) Differentiate and remodel, and 3) Integrate ELA and Math standards. All of the specific examples provided were excellent examples of great things teachers can do & provide for gifted and advanced learners. Perhaps we need to look at the CCSS as a great opportunity to tag these ideas, strategies, and instructional models into our school or district's implementation of Common Core. We have to be (or remain) a part of the conversation.

* Ideas from the presenters: What can we do? Hold workshops for remodeling curriculum. Design scope and sequence for gifted learners in Math and ELA. Organize professional development on awareness and implementation issues.

* Ideas from the presenters: What can principals do? Support teachers in working to differentiate the CC for gifted students by providing planning time, resources, and commitment to the work. Organize vertical teams to make efficient use of resources and build a scope and sequence. Demonstrate your commitment by ensuring that grouping and flexible teaching are standards in your building.

* Ask yourself: What specific changes can I make in my school or district to promote the CC for gifted students? How can these changes be accomplished? What are barriers and ways to overcome them that I see?

* Resources available from NAGC:
Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Programming Standards
FAQ's about CCSS and Gifted Learners
book: Using the CCSS for Mathematics with Gifted and Advanced Learners
book: Using the CCSS for English Language Arts with Gifted and Advanced Learners

For the next Common Core focused session, I opted for the one aimed at the Math CCSS. Presenters were Linda Sheffield and Susan Johnsen. This slide shows a few pieces of how some of the CCSS match up well with some of the instructional strategies that NAGC's Programming Standards call for:

Ideas gleaned from Math CCSS session:

* Districts need an expanded menu of challenging options for those students who've completed the third (or higher) level math course before (or in some cases long before) their senior year.

* In addition to (or in some cases rather than) acceleration in mathematics for students who excel in that area, also consider what is appropriate pacing for a given student or group of students. A faster pace - or sometimes a slower one to allow for more in-depth examination - may actually be what's needed.

* Rather than just enrichment opportunities, consider how what is being taught connects to other content areas, other principles and concepts, other skills and standards - and have the students explore these connections.

Lunch was a focused opportunity to connect with colleagues from around the country, commiserate about (and celebrate, too!) our shared experiences as GT coordinators, and learn from one another about new resources and strategies.

In the afternoon, I attended a CCSS session focused on English Language Arts. Presenters were Claire Hughes, Debbie Troxclair, and Joyce Van Tassel-Baska. We were given examples of how a given standard could apply with one activity for 'typical' students and with another activity (differentiated, more complex, more in-depth) for gifted and advanced learners. We then brainstormed in groups our own ideas for how to do this for a particular standard and shared them with the whole group. NAGC's plan is to have multiple such examples available on the NAGC website so teachers can access them to get ideas of ways they can increase depth and complexity for the gifted and advanced learners in their classrooms. I think that's a great idea. It was inspiring and eye-opening to hear everyone's ideas - practical, implementable, and definitely appropriately challenging opportunities for the students who are ready for them. It was also an illustration for us of how vertical teaming can demonstrate for our colleagues how any given standard can have its depth and complexity expanded up through the grade levels.

One example is the idea my table partner and I came up with for extending the teaching of capitalization for gifted and advanced students who demonstrate (in pre-assessment) that they have mastered the grade-level or essential goal for that standard. These students could explore historical perspectives of capitalization. How and why have the rules for capitalization changed over time? Why are some words in the Constitution capitalized? How have advances in technology influenced use of and rules about capitalization? What cultural influences impact a society's use (or lack of use) of capitalization in both formal and informal settings? And on and on...

One key point in this session was that pre-assessment is not about giving the gifted learners something different just because they're gifted. Pre-assessment is about finding and determining which students (many of whom will happen to be gifted, but not necessarily all) have some level of mastery of the standard and are ready for an in-depth and complex extension.

I am once again this year serving as a mentor for a Javits-Frasier Scholar. The Javits-Frasier scholarships go to about a dozen individuals who work in Title I schools and have never attended an NAGC convention before. The JF Scholar I was matched with is on the Board of Boulder Valley Gifted & Talented, and she invited me to an event they hosted tonight, a "Tribute to the Wisdom of Annemarie Roeper," who sadly passed away in May at age 93. BVGT took advantage of the opportunity of having so many "luminaries" from the world of gifted education nearby and asked a couple handfuls of them who knew Annemarie well to come and talk about her work and her impact on their lives and the lives of so many others. Together with her Jewish parents and husband, Annemarie escaped Nazi Germany on the last train to leave Austria before the Germans invaded. They found their way to Michigan where Annemarie and her husband George started the Roeper School for gifted students in 1941, now the longest continuously running school for gifted learners in America. Her many books, articles, and poems are reflective journeys into the inner world of the gifted individual. It was such a treat tonight to meet the BVGT Board and the presenters whose insightful words exemplified and honored Annemarie's life and work. Mostly, it reminded me (and although I hold this philosophy daily, it never hurts to have an outside reminder) of the essence of why I do what I do. It's about the kids, and helping them come to understand and accept who they are, what their giftedness is and means, how being gifted impacts their lives (and how to manage that), and appreciating and truly seeing each young (and not-so-young) person whose life path crosses mine.

Enjoy these photos from today:

Posted by Tamara Fisher at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend