THE POWER OF PARENT ADVOCACY

Research and practice in child development and family involvement has generally indicated that parents know their children best (Epstein, 2001). Parents are the child’s first teacher, and the one set of individuals who stand the best chance of honestly engaging with educators to help nurture their children’s intellectual, academic, creative abilities.

Research on parenting gifted children is the same (Jolly & Matthews, 2012; Webb, Gore, Amend & DeVries, 2007). What we know is that parents and families can identify traits of giftedness early and can clearly describe when a their gifted child first spoke in full sentences, the kind of quirky humor they express, how they surprised them by reading on their own for the first time,  and ALL of the other indications that their child is uniquely different.

The parent is the one who experienced a child crying when a tree was cut down in the woods, a parent was the one who first saw their child’s reaction to homelessness, and a parent is the one who helped their gifted child deal with the inconsistent messages heard in the adult world. Extended family members are also important to gifted children (Davis, 2010).  Grandparents, aunts, older siblings, all share a role in listening to and nurturing gifted children. In some communities, the extended family is a very important part of their tradition and cultural legacy.

You understand..parents and other family members see, interact with, and experience the exceptional nature of gifted children early and on an intimate level every day. Parents then send their children to school only to have some schools disregard any notion that their child is highly intelligent, or has any potential beyond that of the ‘norm’.  Some families become frustrated with schools, some withdraw their children to home school (thus, the increasing number of Black parents who are homeschooling nationwide), and others may send their children to private schools. Many families, however, don’t have these choices OR believe firmly that the public system has a duty to provide the best for ALL children.

For families of color, African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Biracial- these disappointments and frustrations are accentuated because many schools are less likely to recognize and identify the gifts and talents their children demonstrate because of long-held biases and expectations that these children are not as intelligent as others (Castellano & Frazier, 2007; Davis, 2010; Ford, 2011).

I have had the good fortune of meeting many parents across the country throughout my career. Most recently, through workshops and a national study, (resulting in interviews and narratives from parents) many families have shared their stories of having to literally and figuratively ‘fight’ for their child to access gifted identification and advanced learner classrooms (Davis, Fears & Bianco, in progress).

Here are a few excerpts from their stories:

v  There’s the Latino family from the far Southwest with five, that’s right, five identified gifted children. The mother of this family has spent a great deal of her time advocating for her children (and for others) to ensure that they would be identified. School personnel, she reports, didn’t believe in her children as she did. In one case, a son was misdiagnosed as having a behavior problem. Later, when placed in a new school (that mom advocated for) with trained teachers who understood giftedness- this same child is now flourishing!

v  A rural area African American mother of three girls in a mid-Atlantic state had challenges in both the former and a new district getting her oldest daughter (who by all accounts was quite exceptional) identified as gifted. After moving to a new district, the mother provided evidence of exceptional school performance and test scores from the previous district (where the girl was eventually identified as gifted)- and the new school district personnel were still slow to respond. This mother was a strong advocate and continuously asked questions to ensure that decisions about her daughter’s placement would be made swiftly and fairly. She simply wanted to make her daughter’s transition to a new school, classmates, and new environment as smooth as possible. Any parent wants that for their child.

v  Out west,  there is a Native American mother whose twice exceptional son attended a regular school where educators focused more on his weaknesses and refused to recognize the gifts that her son demonstrated. As with other 2E (twice exceptional) students, this young man, was challenged in a school setting where teachers felt bound by law to serve him for his disability, but felt no such obligation to nurture his strengths. The teachers’ lack of understanding of the Native American culture also posed a challenge in identification of her sons’ gifts. The ‘cultural mismatch’ between students and teachers has been recognized in research literature as a systemic form of discrimination that leads to low performance (Davis, 2010).

In all of these cases, it was the POWERFUL ADVOCACY of parents that made the difference for these gifted students from culturally diverse families. Parents, you know your children best! Be make sure that educators understand your child’s intellectual abilities, social-emotional, and academic needs. Take advantage of expert resources (some are noted below) to support your belief in your child’s unique and exceptional abilities!!  

Improved family advocacy nationwide can make a strong impact on addressing under-representation of students of color in gifted education programs.

 

References

Castellano, J.A. & Frazier, A.D. (2010). Special Populations in Gifted Education: Understanding our Most Able Students from Diverse Backgrounds. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press

Davis, J.L., Fears, N.S., & Bianco, M.M. (in progress). Multicultural Families Raising Gifted Children: A National Perspective.

Davis, J.L. (2010). Bright, Talented & Black: A guide for Families of African American Gifted Learners. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press

Epstein, J.L. (2001). School, Family & Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Ford, D.Y. (2011). Multicultural Gifted Education, 2^nd Ed. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press

Jolly, J.L. & Matthews, M.S. (2012). A critique of the literature on parenting gifted learners. Journal for Education of the Gifted, 35(3), 258-290.

Webb, J.T., Gore, J.L., Amend, E.R., & DeVries, A.R. (2007). A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press.

For more Gifted PARENT/FAMILY ADVOCACY resources, go to:

www.hoagiesgifted.org/ – Resources, links, articles, programming for gifted learners. Largest online link re: gifted education, in general  

http://nagc.org/php.aspx Parenting for High Potential , A Publication of the National Association for Gifted Children.

http://www.sengifted.org/ Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted- National organization providing membership, scholarship, parent training, articles, resources, expert advice.

Upcoming SENGinars: http://www.sengifted.org/programs/senginars

Check the listing for the SENGinar on Feb, 2013- Title: ‘Addressing the Unique Challenges of Culturally Diverse learners: Issues & Solutions’. Go to the website for more information.

http://scottbarrykaufmann.com : Articles, studies of interest re: intelligence, assessment, and gifted education, in general.

Also, check your state organization's website, and other parent support groups.

A CALL TO ACTION TO: Show UP! Stand UP! and Speak UP! to ERADICATE UNDER-REPRESENTATION IN GIFTED EDUCATION PROGRAMS NATIONWIDE!!

African American, Hispanic, Native American, first generation immigrant, and other culturally diverse children and youth are under-represented in gifted education and advanced learner programs nationwide!! These young people are highly intelligent, creative, resilient, hard-working, and possess all of the traits required to enable them to be identified and served in publicly-funded programs in schools that are labeled gifted education and advanced learner classes. Almost every state has mandated that gifted children be identified and provided an appropriate education that meets their intellectual, leadership, arts, and academic potential. While it is recognized that funding for gifted education programs is suffering in school districts everywhere, we also realize that there are places where services are being provided and that gifted education, advanced learner, academic competition programs do not represent the demographics of the district and the schools in their communities at large.

Like 3,000 other educators and advocates for gifted children, I attended the 59^th Annual Convention of the National Association for Gifted Children in Denver, Colorado last month. The convention was exciting! More diverse educators there than I’ve seen in my decade or more of attending NAGC conventions.  More attention to the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students is definitely needed. But the lack of attention to diverse students at NAGC is a reflection of what is happening nationwide. The NAGC represents a small closely knit group of scholars, educators and advocates who spend a great deal of their time focusing on gifted learners, how they can be identified and how schools should attend to their unique and complex needs. One of our goals at the national level over the next few years is to grow a new group of scholars, practitioners, members, and leaders in the organization to address the needs of a growingly diverse student population across the U.S.!

The support of more educators and policymakers (even if gifted education is not your ‘priority’ or the first task on your list of ‘to dos’), is needed to ensure that more children and youth with intellectual and creative potential are challenged and provided access to appropriate educational opportunities. This is a plea to you to ‘join us’ in this effort. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. The students benefit most initially, but in the long-term, we all benefit!

The brilliant minds of these young people are going to waste. They are floundering in our classrooms, some very bored and underachieving. Some of these students are simply overlooked because of the color of their skin and stereotypical notions that educators have about their potential for high level achievement in academics, arts, and leadership.

Action is needed immediately to correct this monumental problem!! While these students represent  as many as  40-50% of the school-aged population, in some parts of the nation they represent less than 10% of those students identified and served in gifted education and advanced learner programs. In some districts, African American, Hispanic, first generation immigrant, and other children of color may represent even higher numbers of students in school yet are relegated to remedial programs, special education classroom, general education classes where they are NOT intellectually and creatively challenged. This limitation keeps these brilliant youth from being adequately prepared to meet the academic rigor of advanced coursework in high school and thus, they are ill-prepared for college and careers for which they have natural gifts and talents!!

Families and community members, this challenge is yours as well. We need you to become stronger advocates for our children and insist that schools fairly and equitably provide highly skilled, culturally sensitive teachers for ALL children & youth and that they target their identification and services to those children and youth who have not been served in the past and who should be provided specialized coursework, access to academic competitions, mentors, internships and engagement w/ professionals across all disciplines to better prepare them for the future!!

Join me and my colleagues in fighting for this cause and ERADICATING UNDER-REPRESENTATION IN GIFTED EDUCATION AND THE SCOURGE OF UNDER-PERFORMANCE of culturally diverse students across this nation. If you have ideas to share, please write in the comment box or email me so that I can share them in an upcoming blogpost.

The children & youth are counting on us to SHOW UP!! STAND UP!! AND SPEAK UP!! They DESERVE ACCESS TO EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION, TO HAVE THEIR GIFTS RECOGNIZED, AND THEIR FUTURES MADE BRIGHTER!!

We’re all in this TOGETHER!!

Please comment below or email me @ profjoy1022@gmail.com

REFLECTIONS ON 'A WRITER'S LIFE'

Throughout our nation's history, racially and ethnically diverse people have shared their gifts through writing prose, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, that captured their thoughts and often, the experiences of their people. For this post, I wanted to take our discussion deeper into the actual life of a contemporary African American writer. I came across this young man a month or so ago, checked out his blog and thought he'd be a great one to talk about 'his life as a writer'. His children's chapter books are catching on like wildfire across the country and his career is just picking up speed. I anticipate that we will hear more from him in years to come. Marquin is what many may call a 'late bloomer'...early or late- I believe that his story is of interest as we continue to encourage and nurture the gifts of all young people around the world.

‘As I think about my writing life, sometimes I feel like I stepped back, looked at my talents, and chose to be a writer in order to share my gift with the world’

– marquin parks, 2012

A Writer’s Life by Marquin Parks

An early morning following a sleepless night

All from loving to write

Watching and reflecting on life’s moments of darkness and light

All from loving to write

Setbacks and triumphs on an unpredictable plight

All from loving to write

Hermit life, road trips, and cross country flights

All from loving to write

Sacrifice, lazy days, carefree, and trying with all my might

All from loving to write

Building relationships, providing experiences that motivate, while sharing insight

All from loving to write

Wrinkles Wallace, Shark Knuckle Omelets, and a massive food fight

All from loving to write

The lows of rejection and losing, to red carpet and tuxedo heights

All from loving to write

Self-doubt and seeing readers smile with delight

All from loving to write

I can see with my eyes closed. I hear voices. I hear words. I hear phrases that make people laugh, learn, argue and get frustrated. I hear full conversations. They take place in hallways as small groups of people walk past in blobs or lines. They talk in grocery stores as kids look like zombies when it is close to midnight. I hear them in classrooms, in the form of teacher voices, echoing instructions off bulletin boards. I listen to them on the radio, through podcasts, and television shows. Artists write about them and speak them over instrumentals. I admit, I’m nosey at times, so I overhear them in restaurants and coffee shops when people are whispering and have the volume turned up a little too loud on their phones. Obviously, some of these conversations are going on in the world in which I live. However, the majority of the conversations I use for my writing occur inside my head. That’s where I can see with my eyes closed. And, it is my job to see these events. It is my job to remember conversations, add to them, and write portions of them down to share with people. I’m a writer, and I love my job.

Two of the most important factors in my writing are my ability to notice and to negotiate. My ability to notice little things like movements, sayings, patterns, and nuances of people helps me to recreate those types of events in my mind with the characters I’m bringing to life. I have to notice what people are doing in the real world in order to help with the personalities and customs of my characters. My ability to negotiate is what brings the story from my mind, to the computer, and later, to the rest of the world. I must know if the audience will believe in and become attached to my characters. Part of the negotiation process involves listening to my characters and comparing their actions to events that I’ve noticed in the real world. And, I have to present real-world obstacles to my characters in order to determine how they would handle these situations. It is through that negotiation that I find the voice of each character and the events that will shape the book.

Writing, for me, is the easy part. Finding sacred writing time and focusing on writing in one book was always difficult for me. Up until 2011, I would usually write when I was frustrated or happy. While participating in the Eastern Michigan Writing Project, I learned how to set aside time (usually late at night) to write. In addition, at the EMWP, I began to understand that working on multiple books at the same time allowed me to use my writing moods more effectively because I could use the realness of my emotions to help convey those portions of the book from an authentic perspective.

As I think about my writing life, sometimes I feel like I stepped back, looked at my talents, and chose to be a writer in order to share my gift with the world. At other times, I feel like the words, characters, and stories chose me because they felt I could get to know them and share them with the world. While I am not sure which of the two is more accurate, I have fully accepted the fact that I’m a writer, and I love my job.

-Marquin Parks Author/Teacher

Marquin Parks (MA) is an educator in Farmington, Michigan.  After his participation in the Eastern Michigan Writing Project, he became a Teacher Consultant of the National Writing Project.  Marquin has provided articles, consultation and public speaking services to classrooms ranging from elementary schools and major universities to independent non-traditional learning environments.  His first children's chapter book, Wrinkles Wallace: Knights of Night School, finished in the top four in the 2009 Michigan Elementary Middle School Principals Association's Authors contest and has recently been published.  You can find the latest information on his writing at WrinklesWallace.blogspot.com  Marquin lives with his wife, son, and dog in Southeastern Michigan. 

Interested in sharing your story here on this blogspot? Please contact me at profjoy1022@gmail.com 

Title I + Gifted Education=Partnership for Equity

Increasingly, gifted education scholars, school district administrators, and advocates are beginning to ‘cross the aisle’ to seek out collaborative programming with organizations and agencies that will help to improve services to high potential students nationwide. The goal for many of these more recent collaboratives is to address the continuing ‘under-representation of children of color’ (primarily African American and Hispanic American) in gifted and advanced learner programs.

One of these potential school-based collaborative partners is Title I. Due to the increasing number of school children living in poverty conditions nationwide, every state has the potential to receive a share of Title I funding.  Poverty is a major impediment to school achievement in America today. The purpose of Title I funding is to bridge the ‘gap’ in resources between low income students and non low income students, thus- improving chances for school success. Annually over $14 billion is provided to school districts whose students are at risk of failure and living in poverty. Lack of understanding of culture and race and continuing discrimination in schools also remains a ‘major divide’ in schools relative to effective teaching and learning of culturally diverse high ability learners. (A future post will address the importance of RACE & CULTURE in serving Gifted children & youth).

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the purpose of Title I funding, “is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach, at minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments.” Access to gifted and advanced learner instructional programs will enable students at Title I schools to perform these minimum standards and go beyond proficiency standards preparing them more readily for advanced coursework at the secondary level, and improve their chances of success in college and beyond. Instruction in gifted classrooms focuses more (than in the regular classroom) on higher level thinking skills, concept-based learning, problem-based learning, scientific thinking, literary analysis. Gifted programs are specificially designed to nurture curiosity, creativity, and ‘thirst for learning’ that high ability/gifted students bring to the classroom.  

This past May (2012), a group of experts, including scholars, program developers, and advocates of low income and culturally diverse gifted learners met together for two day Summit in DC at the invitation of the National Association of Gifted Children to discuss and develop solutions to the issue of national under-representation and lack of service to low income learners with high potential. A link to the recently released summit report is below. This problem has plagued our schools and the field of gifted education for far too long. Conversations continue as to the best solutions. Partnering with existing programs is one solution that should be considered.

Title I serves students are ‘at-risk’ for low educational performance for reasons beyond their control. They come from low socio-economic families; may live in single parent homes; some live in large, often multigenerational families; they may be first generation immigrants from economically disadvantaged homes; or be English Language Learners. These factors have little or nothing to do with a students’ capability for high intellectual performance. Numerous research studies have provided strong evidence of the potential for students from all backgrounds to demonstrate high cognitive abilities, leadership capacity, creative ability, and extraordinary compassion and sensitivity for others (see Olszewski-Kubilius & Clarenbach and VanTassel-Baska & Stambaugh  below)

As a local district coordinator of gifted services a few years ago, I forged a partnership w/ the Title I department in order to address the issue of under-representation. The first challenge was to provide evidence of the presence of high potential students in Title I schools. In short order, I was able to review district wide test score data and located a number of students with subtest scores and comprehensive ability scores on nationally standardized tests were well within the range considered for placement in gifted programs (90-99^th %ile).  Over time,  we were able to successfully forge a partnership with Title I, increase access to enrichment programming to Title I students, provide professional development  for Title I schools, and formally identify an increased number of Title I students as gifted, providing access to existing services and special schools.

Many districts are using this Title I/Gifted Education Partnership model to DIRECTLY ADDRESS UNDER-REPRESENTATION IN THEIR SCHOOLS, some are targeting specific populations who are under-represented in certain programs. More girls for Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math programming, more Black males in gifted programs overall, more Hispanic/ELLs in AP courses, etc. The strategy chosen will vary based on needs of the district. This model is one solution to the problem of under-representation, there are more to be considered.

Want to demonstrate that your district is seriously concerned about addressing under-representation in gifted education?

~Form a partnership with the Title I department, and develop targeted services for Title I schools, break the old ‘deficit perspective’ of students in poverty, and you are very likely to not only increase the numbers of African American, Hispanic, first generation immigrant children, and low income learners identified as gifted you are also likely to help the district  improve overall student performance for many years to come.

For more details on Title 1, see:

U.S. Department of Education. Title 1: Improving the Academic Achievement of the disadvantaged. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg1.html

Other Resources, Related News Stories:

Clark County, NV’s new Title I/Gifted initiative http://www.lvrj.com/news/district-seeks-to-close-ethnic-disparity-in-gifted-program-175899941.html

Montgomery County Schools, MD. Allocates part-time position for G/T teacher in Title I schools

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/enriched/about/roles.aspx#gt1

Taylor, K. (2008) Poverty’s multiple dimensions. Journal of Educational Controversy http://www.wce.wwu.edu/Resources/CEP/eJournal/v004n001/a002.shtml

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Summit Reports:

Olszewski-Kubilius, P. & Clarenbach, J. (2012). Unlocking  Emergent Talent: Supporting High Achievement of Low Income, High Ability Learners. Publication of the National Association for Gifted Children.    http://www.nagc.org/uploadedFiles/Conventions_and_Seminars/National_Research_Summit/Unlocking%20Emergent%20Talent%20FULL%20No-Tint.pdf

VanTassel-Baska, J. & Stambaugh, T. (Eds) (2007) Overlooked Gems: A National Perspective on Low Income Promising Learners. A Joint Publication of the National  Association for Gifted Children and The Center for Gifted Education, College of William & Mary

http://www.nagc.org/uploadedFiles/Publications/Overlooked%20Gems%20(password%20protected%20-%20gifted).pdf  

UNIVERSAL 'TRAITS' OF GIFTEDNESS

Educators, families, and other stakeholders continue to grapple with the question: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE GIFTED?'   Broad based research for a century  has' provided extensive evidence of how students with high ability/gifted traits ‘look’, how they ‘behave’, and how they ‘respond to the world’ around them.

Characteristics like:

Ø being an early reader,

Ø having intense emotions,

Ø expressing high cognitive response to problem solving,

Ø having exceptional knowledge of a particular discipline, content area

Ø having an exceptional ‘number sense’,

Ø expressing a high level of empathy,

Ø demonstrating perfectionistic tendencies –

are seen/observed in gifted learners across cultural groups. In conversations with families, teachers and the students themselves, these traits are quite common.  If then, this is the case, why are we still unable to  identify giftedness across culturally diverse groups in a fair and equitable manner for the purpose of providing access to publicly funded programs? The reasons are numerous, a few are listed here:

Reason #1- In some cases, program opportunities are slim to none with budget cutting at a high in some states, districts, ALL gifted learners are being shortchanged and forced to sit in classrooms where basic, standardized learning is the norm! These students are suffering, being smothered and their gifts WASTED!!

Reason #2- In other cases, school leaders have not yet taken this problem of UNDER-REPRESENTATION OF CULTURALLY DIVERSE GROUPS IN GIFTED PROGRAMS seriously OR they  haven’t been forced to develop  stronger programming based on evidence-based practices that are readily available with the support of expert trainers and their own specially trained teachers!

Reason #3- In other situations, leadership has initiated the challenge, yet educators with biased opinions about what ‘giftedness’ LOOKS LIKE are still the ‘gatekeepers’ and therefore, teacher referrals of African American, Hispanic, Immigrant, BiRacial, Low income students for gifted programs remain low.

At this juncture, there is no real excuse!! So, students from multi-cultural backgrounds and low income environments languish away in classrooms everywhere.

Sometimes gifted learners are considered to be ‘a troublemaker’,  OR the one ‘who is given to flights of fantasy’ (that’s what was said about Nelson Mandela by his uncle and J.K.Rowling by one of her teachers, respectively)

Some special programs are in place in districts, at universities, and at the regional level across the nation that others can learn from IF PROGRAM MODELS ARE DESIRED AND FUNDING IS MADE AVAILABLE (three such programs are listed at the end of the page). Using ‘there are no gifted kids in this school’ as an excuse because the school serves a high percentage of students from poverty OR a high percentage of children of color is NO EXCUSE! (A teacher in a Title I school actually said that to me some years ago when I was there to conduct professional development about Gifted children from poverty).

 At the end of the day…ALL children with high potential demonstrate their gifts the same way and over their liftetime whether they become an award winning scientist, nobel peace prize winner, a college professor, research scholar, classroom teacher, engineer, social activist, ecologist, anthropologist, musician, artist OR just one of your neighbors, or colleagues on your job, you ‘recognize’ them and sometimes wonder- if they were  identified as gifted as a child and had access to an appropriate education when they were young.

Universal traits of giftedness are found in the literature from many different sources. Below is an excerpt from a ‘Universal Traits’ chart that I developed for use during professional development sessions with teachers (the actual chart contains additional descriptors). It shares traits and the ways (negative & positive) that they may be demonstrated.  Any gifted learner, regardless of background may demonstrate one or more of these traits/characteristics.

Universal trait	Positive/acceptable way trait may be expressed in the home, community & school (Negative/Aberrant manifestation)
Verbally precocious	Talks early, using full sentences sooner than others, enjoys using ‘big’ words; reads early; tells long stories; is an avid reader; demonstrates superior oral expression skills; may imitate the preacher or other speakers; likes poetry; writes lyrics for songs; very descriptive. Learns second language easily.(TALKS TOO MUCH; WANTS OTHERS TO HEAR THEM, BUT IS NOT A GOOD LISTENER; DESCRIBED AS ‘SMART MOUTH’)
Reasons well	Goes beyond the surface to probe deeper and discover new information; figures things out more quickly than age peers; engages in conversation with adults, older children easily; sounds like ‘he’s been here before’; makes connections between seemingly unlike objects, ideas, places, things (QUESTIONS AUTHORITY; TROUBLEMAKER)
Artistically & creatively inclined	Expresses rhythm, learns patterns quickly; sings in tune and rhythmically at an early age; enjoys creating patterns out of color, shapes; tells elaborate stories through drawing; is dramatic (SPENDS TOO MUCH TIME DOODLING; GIVEN TO ‘FLIGHTS OF FANTASY’)
Rapidly learns new  information	Needs only 2-3 repetitions to learn new material; puts thoughts, ideas, words, answers together quickly; may get frustrated with constant repetition of information in school or in conversations at home; advanced memory for details. (BORES EASILY; MAY BEGIN ACTING OUT IN CLASS WHEN WORK IS TOO EASY; MAY BOTHER OTHER STUDENTS)
Unusually sensitive to the needs of others	Idealistic, sense of justice formed and expressed early, may be responsible for caring for younger siblings, will express concern for others being treated unfairly (MAY BE OUTSPOKEN RE: FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE ISSUES; DOES NOT RESPOND WELL TO ‘DO WHAT I SAY, NOT WHAT I DO’)

*UNIVERSAL TRAITS CHART ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, JOY LAWSON DAVIS, ED.D.

With this chart in hand, I challenge you to go into a Title I school; a low income community; to your place of worship;  to a reservation; to the country/rural area; to the ‘hood’; to the barrio; and deliberately search for child or teenager  in each of those environments who ‘looks’ and ‘behaves’ like this.  Once you find them (and I’m confident that you will) –

I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO YOUR PART TO ADVOCATE FOR THE RIGHT INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING THAT WILL ALLOW THEM TO GROW, ENJOY THE CHALLENGE OF LEARNING, AND TRULY BECOME THE PERSON THEY WERE BORN TO BE!!!

*****************************************************************************

For more information about three service models for diverse populations of gifted learners, go to:

University of Massachusetts, Boston TAG Latino Program

http://www.umb.edu/tag/about

Project EXCITE, Center for Talent Development, Northwestern University Chicago, Illinois  http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/excite/

The Timbuktu Academy, Southern University & A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana   http://www.phys.subr.edu/timbuktu.htm

Raising a Gifted African American Male:One mother’s story

"As the mother of a gifted young man I am humbled to share my story. My African American son entered a rural area public school at upper elementary level after having attended a private, independent school during his earlier years. Even then, we knew that he was different, he had boundless energy, was excited about learning anything new, able to write cursive during preschool and was an early reader. His preschool teachers encouraged us to allow him to be ‘skipped’ but we decided against it. After enrolling in the public school, he became comfortable, entered a spelling bee and easily won first place for the entire 4^th grade.

The day after the spelling bee, he brought home an envelope marked ‘TAG’ from the Talented & Gifted department. While we applauded the administration’s swift recognition of his potential, the challenges were just beginning. After identification, he was clustered with predominately White and Asian classmates who scoffed at the idea that he could be gifted. My family and church prayed with and for him as he remained ambitious and jovial. Extended family encouraged him by sharing their stories of trial and triumphs from integrating school during segregation to discriminating experiences in the workplace. As a village we were molding my youngster to overcome.

There are times when he has struggled with ‘fitting in’. It began with disruptive classroom behavior in electives where he had some friends, to acting out on the school bus to prove he was a “bad boy”.  At home, he shared his feelings of being ostracized by other black students for being in classes with mostly Whites and Asians. He also explained the contempt of the gifted program classmates  (those very students) when they openly discussed his being a part of their “clique“. Clearly there was an internal conflict. He wanted to fit in with those who were teasing him about “acting white” and at the same time, he felt being in the gifted classes was where he belonged. He tried to demonstrate that he was just one of ‘the boys’ by being disrespectful to teachers. On the other hand, he was adamant to stand his academic ground in core classes with the other ethnicities as his entitlement to rigorous opportunity.

Now a teen, my son is magnetic, witty, compassionate, candid and thoughtful.  He enjoys courses at regional Math and Science Center and summer experiences studying Lego Robotics and engineering. He excels at Spanish (I’d like to think because of our formative lessons in his nursery), but his best grades are in his favorite subject of math. I should mention his sense of humor is mildly eccentric as it seems he’s always saying the unexpected and unimaginable. With all of his academic success, playing Football is truly his first love and extreme passion. He is a linebacker and running back on his high school team. He also participates in community service activities and has become extremely influential among his peers- standing out as a leader with conviction and integrity.

My son is now re-defining himself somewhat from student to teacher. Watching this metamorphosis is exhilarating and honorable. It warms the heart of a Mom to see her child blossom...." 

 

 

This mother’s candid account of her son’s development to date is very telling..his gifts were recognized early and he was ‘placed’ in a program of services. But, being placed in the program did not prevent the psychosocial challenges of ‘fitting in’ with other students and overcoming the quandary of being black and gifted in a mainstream setting.  His saving grace was his family who ‘shored him up’ with stories of their own struggles and victories over time. For so many children & youth, families can make the difference.

*This story is an excerpt from one that will appear in an upcoming book of family narratives: Multi-Cultural Families Bringing Up Gifted Children: a National Perspective

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USING THIS STORY IN ANY FORM IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED WITHOUT WRITTTEN PERMISSION OF DR. JOY LAWSON DAVIS

PART II- TAKING OUR PLACE AT THE TABLE

Last week, I recommended that to ‘TAKE OUR PLACE AT THE TABLE’ we need to be well-informed about issues and resources that will enable us to engage in conversations that will affect the course of education for high ability diverse children now and in the future. To assist with that process, this week’s post will provide some of those resources. Some of these are programs, books, links that many of you are already familiar with. Some will be new to you.

I ask that you take a look at the resources and share this page. The list is intentionally brief. Please take a moment to go to at least one site or check out one resource that is new to you and then, SHARE it with someone else. Remember, if we are to improve our advocacy and address the educational and social needs of a broader group of high ability/gifted learners, we must be in the mindset of SHARING. Make no assumptions. Because you may know something or have access does not mean that others do.

How do we improve services for more students? We make information more ACCESSIBLE to a wider audience. When, as a field, gifted education and advanced learner programs begins sharing more across different populations, engaging in more collaborations services for high ability learners will improve incrementally.

PLEASE SHARE THIS PAGE WITH OTHERS AND IF YOU HAVE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MORE PROGRAMS, BOOKS, WEBSITES, PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO PASS THEM ON TO ME.  You may share your recommendations in the COMMENT box below, on the new WEAREGIFTED2 facebook page, or via email to me at profjoy1022@gmail.com

~SELECTED RESOURCES and WEBSITES~

The New Common Core State Standards and the Gifted

http://parentingforhighpotential.com/2012/02/12/666/

Identifying & Serving Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Gifted Position Paper

http://www.nagc.org/uploadedFiles/PDF/Position_Statement_PDFs/Identifying%20and%20Serving%20Culturally%20and%20Linguistically%20Diverse%20Gifted%20Students.pdf

IMPORTANT NEW BOOKS:

Banks J.A. & Banks, C.M. (2012) Multicultural Education: Issues & Perspectives (8^th Ed). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons

Coleman, M.R. & Johnsen, S.K. (Eds) (2012). Implementing RtI with Gifted Students: Service Models, Trends & Issues. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press (available Nov 1)

Kennedy, Banks, & Grandin (2011). Bright, but not Broken: Gifted Kids, ADHD, and Autism.  Jossey & Bass

10  Facebook Pages you Must See!!

 (Search on Facebook for each page, review, & join or ‘like’ to keep up to date w/ their materials)

Black Kids Read

Each One, Teach One

Gifted Development Center

Gifted in Michigan

Gifted Homeschoolers

Great Potential Press

Hbcu Kidz

International Gifted Education

The Black Academy

The School for Gifted Potentials

Supporting Gifted Learners

WeAreGifted2 {just launched Sept 30th! - please 'like'}

OTHER WEBSITES

Gifted in Wisconsin

http://giftedinwisconsin.com

Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted www.sengifted.org

Teaching for High Potential (THP) https://www.facebook.com/teachingforhighpotential

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

The study and new book project re: Culturally Diverse Families Raising Gifted Children is going very well!! Many thanks to parents and educators who have contributed over the past few months. We have interviewed a number of families and collected narratives from others. To date we have 30+ interviews and narratives from a wide variety of families from across the nation raising gifted children (African American, Hispanic, Bi-Racial, Low SES, Immigrant, Rural, Native American). If you or someone you know is interested in sharing a story, please contact me immediately at profjoy1022@gmail.com for more details. We’re very excited and do appreciate your support!