Connecting for High Potential

Connecting for High Potential

NAGC receives similar questions from teachers and parents; however, rarely is there an opportunity to explore how the "other side" might face the issue. Interestingly, both groups benefit from the same information even though they look at it from different perspectives and have different roles to play in helping gifted children reach their potential. Our ongoing goal is for teachers and parents to develop a broader understanding of their students' potential (and one another) which will enable them to build stimulating learning environments that tap into a child's high potential.

These resources for parents, teachers, and community members are designed to provide practical advice for working together to support gifted children's continued growth in educational settings. The answers to the questions listed below have appeared in NAGC's quarterly newsletter, Compass Points, as a "tear and share" resource, but you can also download pdf copies by using the links below.

Bored, Apathetic, Lost Interest in School? Behavior Problems? Don’t Despair. Try Applying Cooperative Action Research! 

• Action Research Step-by-Step: A tool for educators to change their worlds reprinted from Gifted Child Today, Vol 30, Issue 2 and written by Catherine M. Brighton and Tonya R. Moon. (Reprinted with permission of Prufrock Press www.prufrock.com).
• The Mislabeled Child: Looking beyond behavior to find the true sources––and solutions––for children’s learning challenges by Brock L. Eide and  Fernette Eide (Hyperion, 2006).
• Parent Column: The Challenges of Boredom, by Robin Schader. Parenting for High Potential. (March 2006).
• From One Parent to Another: Elementary Lessons for Mom by Amy Price. Parenting for High Potential (December 2008)
• Soothing Overexcitabilities With Food by Penelope Heinigk. Parenting for High Potential (June 2008).
• What Works on the NAGC website: http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=566
• Brain Rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school by John Medina (Pear Press, 2008)
• Organizational Skills on the NAGC “ABCs of Gifted” at: http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=968

A friend is a friend is a friend, indeed (Spring 2010)

• 'Play Partner' or 'Sure Shelter:' What Gifted Children Look For In Friendship, reprinted from the SENG newsletter (www.seng.org) and written by Miraca Gross
• Big Ships, Small Ships, Friendships, & Competition by Petra D.T. Gyles, Bruce M. Shore, and Barry H. Schneider, Teaching for High Potential, Spring 2009
• Focus on Friends, Parent & Community Newsletter, February 2010
• Bullying Among the Gifted: The subjective experience by Jean Sunde Peterson and Karen E. Ray, Gifted Child Quarterly, 2006; 50; 252
• Role Models in Books and Movies (Bibliotherapy) from NAGC.org
• Myth: Gifted Students are Happy, Popular, and Well Adjusted in School from NAGC.org

Homework: Making it Worthwhile (Fall 2009)

• Making the Homework Connection, reprinted from the Duke Univeristy Talent Identification Program (TIP) Gifted Newsletter 
• Teach Your Child to Think and Make Parenting Fun Again, Parenting for High Potential, March 2001
• Helping Your Students With Homework: A Guide for Teachers, by Nancy Paulu, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education

Does Being Gifted Mean Gifted All The Time? (Summer 2009)

• Communicating Effectively With Your Gifted Child's School, Parenting for High Potential, Sept. 2002
• Twice-Exceptional Learners: What They Need in Order to Thrive by Beverly A. Trail, Ed.D., reprinted from 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter
• Looking for Gifts in All the Wrong Places, Parenting for High Potential, Dec. 2005 
• Parenting High Achievers: Swimming Upstream Against the Cultural Current, Parenting for High Potential, Dec. 1998

Rights? Gifted Students? The Law? What Should I Know? (Spring 2009) 

• A Family’s Struggle to Achieve Justice in Education: Fighting for FAPE By J. Mark Bade Reprinted from: 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter 

What should we know about gifted children and stress (Winter 2009) 

• Parenting for High Potential Article -- December 2000, "High achievers – Actively engaged, but secretly stressed”  
• Gifted Child Quarterly article -- Winter 2009, “Protective factors as barriers to depression in gifted and nongifted adolescents"
• Teaching for High Potential  article -- Winter 2009 “The Role of Teachers when Gifted Students Experience Negative Life Events” 

How can I find appropriate, challenging resources for a child who is reading far above grade-level?    (Winter 2008) 

   Resources found in live links inside

PHP Preview  - Spring 2008 article: Self-Regulated Learning  

We know this child is gifted. Now that the question of identification has been answered, what is my role? What are some practical ways I can support & encourage learning? 

But she (or he) doesn't seem gifted to me...Signs of giftedness can be unrecognized or misunderstood

Giftedness? What does the label mean. . .? 

Are there ways to help a gifted child who procrastinates, has anxieties, and/or never seems to think things are good enough?

What do we need to know about children who have already mastered pre-school or kindergarten skills prior to entering the classroom?  (Winter 2006)

Suggested Resources

• Explore the Nurturing Early Abilities page on the NAGC website
  
  
• "Nurturing Giftedness in Young Children" by Wendy Roedell
  
  
• "Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom" by Joan Smutny
  
  
• "'Pushy Parents' . . . Bad Rap or Necessary Role?" by Arlene DeVries

We don't have a gifted program, so what can I do? (Spring 2005)

Suggested Resources

• The NAGC Pre-K--Grade 12 Gifted Program Standards
  
  
• "Communicating Effectively With Your Child's School " by Joan Franklin Smutny
  
  
• "Advocating for Talented Youth: Lessons Learned from the national Study of Local and State Advocacy in Gifted Education" by Ann Robinson and Sidney M. Moon
  
  
• "What I've Learned About Cultivating Parent Involvement " by Max Fischer
  

School's opening. How do we start off on the right foot? (Fall 2005)

Suggested Resources

• Welcoming Strategies for Students and Their Families
  
  
• The Appleseed Project
  
  
• "Making Connections Between Home and School" by Roberta Furger
  
  
• "Building a Successful Parent Center in an Urban School" (ERIC Digest)
  
  
• "Nine Truths About Working With Gifted Students" by Lea Ybarra