US
We're the Davis Family. Our three boys were all designated "gifted" by their school district and my husband and I both taught extensively in gifted programs. I taught an elementary level pull-out classes for gifted and high achieving students for eleven years; my husband teaches at the high school level—IB English and Theory of Knowledge (an IB class) and has taught AP classes in the past. He's also the IB (International Baccalaureate) coordinator at his school, an intensive program for advanced students, so we're surrounded by "gifted" kids every day at home and at school.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Prodigy, genius, gifted, those born with exceptional abilities applies to a very few. Though there are music prodigies, math geniuses, and gifted dancers, as teachers, we'll stick to the academic field—reading, writing, and arithmetic. No, the gifted basketball player and artistic prodigy shouldn't be ignored, but we have to be realistic about what we can expect for free from anemic public school systems. Though schools tend to use the term "gifted," we're dubious of that title. We've discovered most kids with that label (including our own) may not truly be gifted so much as inundated. Their parents have had the foresight, fortitude, privilege and/or financial ability to inundate them with stimuli, to pack their little brains full of museums, math camp, and music lessons. All those experiences provide children with connections to what they're learning in the classroom. Whether it's repeating something they've already learned or just giving them a faint idea about a concept, these outside experiences are like cement, helping to make concrete connections enabling knowledge to stick in their minds. This is also why so many students from impoverished backgrounds or who have learned English as a second language are so woefully underrepresented in gifted programs.
We're the Davis Family. Our three boys were all designated "gifted" by their school district and my husband and I both taught extensively in gifted programs. I taught an elementary level pull-out classes for gifted and high achieving students for eleven years; my husband teaches at the high school level—IB English and Theory of Knowledge (an IB class) and has taught AP classes in the past. He's also the IB (International Baccalaureate) coordinator at his school, an intensive program for advanced students, so we're surrounded by "gifted" kids every day at home and at school.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Prodigy, genius, gifted, those born with exceptional abilities applies to a very few. Though there are music prodigies, math geniuses, and gifted dancers, as teachers, we'll stick to the academic field—reading, writing, and arithmetic. No, the gifted basketball player and artistic prodigy shouldn't be ignored, but we have to be realistic about what we can expect for free from anemic public school systems. Though schools tend to use the term "gifted," we're dubious of that title. We've discovered most kids with that label (including our own) may not truly be gifted so much as inundated. Their parents have had the foresight, fortitude, privilege and/or financial ability to inundate them with stimuli, to pack their little brains full of museums, math camp, and music lessons. All those experiences provide children with connections to what they're learning in the classroom. Whether it's repeating something they've already learned or just giving them a faint idea about a concept, these outside experiences are like cement, helping to make concrete connections enabling knowledge to stick in their minds. This is also why so many students from impoverished backgrounds or who have learned English as a second language are so woefully underrepresented in gifted programs.