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One Thing We'd Like To Tell The Teachers Of Our Gifted Children...

collected by Carolyn K. webmistress, Hoagies' Gifted Education Page

If you could tell teachers one thing about working with gifted kids, what would it be? This question was posed by an ECSE graduate student at the beginning of a new school year, on the GT-Families mailing list. And the answer is...

I'm going to skirt the issue a little by saying that the one thing I would tell them is to read Winebrenner's "Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom." -- Andrea

I would tell the teacher to communicate to the parents what the teacher is doing to accelerate, accommodate, enrich, etc. Parents and teachers must learn to communicate about the student's interests, abilities, disabilities, needs, desires, etc. It's personification of the old adage of "two heads are better than one." -- Kathy

Being gifted doesn't mean the child will always get straight A's, and just because you think it is new material doesn't mean it is new to them. -- webraven

If my child shows that he understands something already, don't make him do 10 more worksheets on the same topic! Keep him challenged, especially in math and science. -- Meredith

Keep in mind that gifted kids don't learn the same way the others do - they make great leaps in understanding in a very short time - they don't need endless repetition and worksheets, and depth of discussion makes a lot of difference. -- CAO in Texas

Just because GT kids excel in certain topics doesn't mean that they have that ability in every subject, i.e. s/he is asynchronous and if the teacher doesn't understand that, please check the research to become more familiar with the term. -- Marjorie

Don't feel like YOU have to do it all yourself, seek out help! Do ask parents to help, they often can/will find give the one-on-one explanations you just can't squeeze into your busy day. They often can/will scrounge up the needed materials to allow the child to work at a higher level. Don't rule out other help like a mentor from a local college or business. Make arrangements for a child to go to a more appropriate classes in particularly strong subjects. -- Trindel

And this one sums it all up...

Watch the light in his eyes. Trust him. -- Francine