13 Things the Teacher of the Gifted Class Wishes You Knew

1. That one kid in the gifted class who doesn’t seem as smart as your kid (who isn’t in the gifted class) probably isn’t.

Nothing is more frustrating for me than to see those kids who just missed the cut-off withering and unmotivated in class. Every test has a cut-off and “cusp” kids are inevitable—it’s the nature of the beast. We know the difference between a 97 and a 98 is insignificant (or whatever the cut off is for the test your district uses), but if we lower the cut-off, even just a little, it creates a whole new group of cusp kids; it can't be avoided. And yes, we know tests are skewed and unreliable for determining giftedness, but an objective measure is often necessary. I prefer less biased measures like the RAVEN Matrices, but no test is perfect.

2. Your kid isn’t as smart as you think.

Most of the time, when a parents profess their child’s giftedness to me, the child is about as middle-of-the-road as you can get. Yes, I’m sure little Johnny or Susie has shown flashes of genius and you just can’t believe how smart he/she is, but our basis of comparison is vastly more expansive than yours. Truly gifted kids show it almost all the time and in a variety of ways. It doesn’t come in flashes. In 2013, Education Secretary Arne Duncan took heat when he said suburban moms didn’t like the idea of Common Core because they’d find out their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought. Insensitive, maybe, but also spot on. We’re with your kids all day. If it’s true, you don’t have to tell us.

3. If your child “just doesn’t test well” they’re doomed.

I can’t count the number of times parents have told me their child really should be in my class but he or she “just doesn’t test well.” Though I’m sympathetic to anxious testers, we have to have an objective measure to determine who is gifted and who isn’t. Just think about the implications of waiving qualification in other areas for poor test takers. Would you want open heart surgery from a doctor who didn’t pass the medical boards but was given a medical license anyway because he “just doesn’t test well”? Contractors, lawyers, pharmacists, and even truck drivers have to pass a test and we don’t question the wisdom or necessity of it. That’s life.

4. When the principal tells you they don’t have a gifted program, but it's okay because they differentiate in their regular classes, they're really saying, we’ve got nothing for your child.

Differentiation in a regular classroom is rarely enough to truly challenge gifted students. Differentiation—having different assignments or expectations for each student based on their own level—is difficult and time consuming to prepare. Even veteran teachers with an extensive tool belt of activities can’t differentiate every lesson. Preparing enough lessons for a six hour day, every day, is a monumental task and to have all of them be engaging is impossible. Now add to the mix the legally required accommodations for students with learning disabilities or other issues like ADHD or autism spectrum disorders. They’re not done yet! Teachers are expected to consider those with visual impairments, behavioral issue, and more. Now they’re supposed to modify every lesson for your gifted students too? It just doesn’t happen. If your child is gifted, he or she is lucky to get one lesson a day that is well thought out and planned with gifted students in mind . . . and there’s still another five hours and twenty minutes to fill.

5. Giftedness does not equal success.

I’ve seen gifted kids drop out of high school, I’ve seen them get addicted to drugs and I’ve seen them go to jail. If your child isn’t accepted into the gifted program, it doesn’t foretell a life of misery or mediocrity. Sometimes kids get so used to everything coming easily to them that they can’t take it when they have to work for anything. When school does get tough, typically in high school, gifted kids often shut down either because they think they aren’t as smart as they’ve been told or because they just aren’t used to working for it. When they are used to everything coming to them easily, they don’t develop the tools to deal with it when it’s hard. Hard work almost always usurps intelligence.

6. Success does not equal giftedness.

The idea of grit has been bandied about and debated, but I’m a believer. I’d rather have three hard working, conscientious kids who aren’t “gifted” to one profoundly gifted child with a poor attitude and terrible work habits. Teachers like students who are teachable. We like kids who want to learn. Your condescending child who is taught that she is brilliant and superior to all the other mere mortals in his class, is just plain annoying—to me and the other students. Though she may actually be brilliant, I’d rather spend my time with the diligent, earnest, sweet kids even if they take more work to teach. Nothing is going to stop these kids and they usually end up being highly successful. My anecdotal experience holds this to be true; grit matters more than intelligence.

Another interesting thing to note, every year I have a handful of students who just can't seem to grasp complex ideas, yet they were able to score well on our state standardized test to qualify for my class.

7. Most elementary and middle schools are teaching your gifted child to be lazy.

Remember what I said about differentiation? Well, anything presented to your gifted children which doesn’t truly challenge them means they finish in a few minutes and go back to reading their books. School is easy and they finish their homework in the time it takes the other kids to write their names on their papers and stick it in their backpacks. Not only does this do nothing in the way of preparing them for advanced classes in high school, it actually hurts them. They don’t know how to study, how to struggle, deal with frustration, or how to budget their time. They often think of intelligence as a fixed thing that can’t be changed because they’ve never had to work at it. If your child is whipping through their assignments and homework like it’s nothing—it probably is.

8. Not all AP or IB classes are created equal.

Teenagers like the path of least resistance so they often take an AP class with a particular teacher because it’s an easy A when they should be looking at the teacher’s pass rate. It’s illogical to think a student could get an A in an AP class and then not pass the test, but it happens all the time. Another thing to keep in mind is that a 3 may be passing on an AP test, but not many colleges accept a score of 3 for credit toward a college course. When you ask the principal or counselor about pass-rates, ask for a score breakdown. A 100% pass rate with all 3s doesn’t mean much. I’d much rather have a teacher with a 75% pass rate with 4s and 5s.

9. Your high school student, who is bitterly complaining about how much homework he or she has . . . is probably lying.

Unless your student is playing three sports, taking all AP or IB courses, working a part time job, and volunteering on the side, he’s just not managing his time well and waited until the last minute to get that paper written and that project done. Teenagers procrastinate, it’s just a weakness of their still developing brain and they aren’t helping by having their phones at the ready. When they’re in their room doing homework for five hours every night, four of those hours were probably allotted to a cocktail of Snapchat, YouTube, and texting.

10. Everyone is not gifted in some way.

I once heard a teacher tell a class full of kids that “everyone is gifted in some way.” I cringed. By it’s very definition not everyone can be gifted. The whole point of “giftedness” is that not everyone has it. This is the everyone-gets-a-trophy philosophy that lauds just showing up. What’s wrong with working hard to become really good at something instead of it coming to you naturally? You can still become extremely successful and never be considered gifted. It’s just the law of averages that  most people are . . . well . . . average.

11. School is supposed to keep getting harder.

My husband teaches high school honors and IB classes and every year around report card time the phone calls start. When he rolls his eyes I know what was said on the other end of the line, “But he used to get A’s in middle school!” or “She got all A’s as a freshman.” School is supposed to get harder each year. And, when your little Johnny is taking an AP or IB class in hopes of earning college credit, it needs to be taught at a college level—that’s the whole point. If Johnny can’t handle the work, he should stay in high school level courses or get off his phone and study more. This also means that your child may be working harder than he or she has before and they are still earning a B. I'm mystified by parents who are angry that their child got a B in an AP or IB class. A high school aged kid taking a college level course and earning a B is okay, it doesn’t mean your child is a failure.

12. You’re focusing on the wrong goal.

This one goes along with number 11. Is your goal that your child learns or gets an A? When the workload increases and gets more difficult in their junior and senior years of high school, getting straight A’s is tough! It isn’t about just being smart anymore. Your child has to have a strong work ethic too.  And is your goal that your child gets into college or graduates from college? Do your homework, look at the college graduation rates. If your kid isn’t motivated on his or her own to get the work done to do well in high school, what makes you think they’ll be able to do it on their own at college? Be realistic. My goal has always been for my kids to be challenged at the highest level they can handle even if it means getting a B or a C instead of an A. Learning should be the goal, not the A they get at the end. Not everyone should get a trophy.

13. Even with straight A’s, your kid is not getting in to Stanford.

Okay, there are about 2,000 students per year who will prove that statement wrong, but for the other approximately 3,298,000 high school seniors in the United States each year, it is true, and that doesn’t take into account the number of international students who are applying for those same spots. There are more gifted students in China than there are students in the U.S. and they would love to go to California! This goes for Ivy League schools too; they are smaller than you realize. In 2017, Harvard’s freshman class was about 1,600 students, Yale was 1,400 and Princeton 1,300. There are about 37,000 high schools in the U.S. which means a minimum of 37,000 valedictorians each year. All the Ivies and Stanford combined accepted 15,931 freshmen in 2017 (ivycoach.com, Stanford) That means most valedictorians aren’t getting in either. Did you know legacy students and athletes take up about 40% of the spots? I always tell kids to go for it because you never know if you’ll touch a chord with some admission officer, but don’t count on it. The odds aren’t in your favor even when your record is perfect.