Perfectionism vs. the Pursuit of Excellence

There is a healthy alternative to perfectionism. It's called the Pursuit of Excellence. Here are three ways in which the two differ:

1. Perfectionism means thinking less of yourself because you earned a B+ instead of a A. The pursuit of Excellence means thinking more of yourself for trying something new.
2. Perfectionism means being hard on yourself because your aren't equally talented in all sports. The Pursuit of Excellence means choosing some things you know you'll be good at -and others you know will be good for you or just plain fun.
3. Perfectionism means beating yourself up because you lost the student council election. The Pursuit of Excellence means congratulating yourself because you were nominated, and deciding to run again next year -if that's what you want.

How can you become a Pursuer of Excellence? By:

• determining the sources of your perfectionism
• reassessing your feelings about failure and success
• standing your ground against people who pressure you to be perfect
• learning ways to be easier on yourself so you're free to take risks and try new things

What other ideas do you have for pursuing excellence?

When Gifted Kids don't have all the answers, by Jim Delisle & Judy Galbraith

Ten Tips for Talking to Teachers

Are you having a problem with a class or an assignment? Can you see room for improvement in how a subject is taught? Do you have a better idea for a special project or term paper? Don't just tell your friends. Talk to the teacher!
Many students don't know how to go about doing this. The following suggestions are meant to make it easier for everyone -students and teachers-.

1. Make an appointment to meet and talk. This shows the teacher that you are serious and you have some understanding of his or her busy schedule. Tell the teacher about how much time you will need, be flexible, and don't be late.
2. If you know about other student who feel the way you do, consider approaching the teacher together. There's strength in numbers. If a teacher hears the same thing from four or five people, he or she is more likely to do something about it.
3. Think through what you want to say before you go into your meeting with the teacher. Write down your questions or concerns. Make a list of the items you want to cover. You may even want to copy your list for the teacher so both of you can consult it during you meeting. (or consider giving it to the teacher ahead of time).
4. Choose your words carefully. Example: Instead of saying, "I hate doing reports; they're boring and a waste of time," try, "Is there some other way I could satisfy this requirement? Could I do a video instead?" Strike the word "boring" from your vocabulary. it's a word that's not helpful for teachers (and might even make them mad).
5. Don't expect the teacher to do all the work of propose all the answers. Be prepared to make suggestions, offer solutions, even recommend resources. The teacher will appreciate that you took the initiative.
6. Be diplomatic, tactful, and respectful. Teachers have feelings, too. And they're more likely to be responsive if you remember that the purpose of your meeting is conversation, not confrontation.
7. Focus on what you need, not on what you think the teacher is doing wrong. The more the teacher learns about you, the more he or she will be able to help. The more defensive the teacher feels, the less he or she will want to help.
8. Don't forget to listen. Strange but true, students need practice in this essential skill. The purpose of your meeting isn't just to hear yourself talk.
9. Bring your sense of humor. Not neccesarily the joke-telling sense of humor, but the one that lets your laugh at yourself and your own misunderstanding and mistakes.
10. If you meeting isn't successful, get help from another adult. "Successful" doesn't neccesarily mean that you emerged victorious. Even if the teacher denies your request, your meeting can still be judged successful. If you had a real conversation -if you communicated openly, listened carefully, and respected each other's point of view- then congratulate yourself on a great meeting. If the air crackled with tension, the meeting fell apart, and you felt disrespected (or acted disrespectful), then it's time to bring in another adult. Suggestions: a guidance counselor, the gifted program coordinator, or another teacher you know and trust who seems likely to support you and advocate for you. Once you've found help, approach your teacher and try again.

When Gifted Kids don't have all the answers, by Jim Delisle & Judy Galbraith

Eight Great Gripes of Gifted Kids

1.

No one explains what being gifted is all about - it's keep a big secret.

2.

School is too easy and too boring

3.

Parents, teachers, and friends expect us to be perfect all the time.

4.

Friends who really understand us are few and far between.

5.

Kids often tease us about being smart.

6.

We feel owerwhelmed by the number of things we can do in life.

7.

We feel different and alienated.

8.

We worry about world problems and feel helpless to do anything about them.

Do you know about other gripes?...

When Gifted Kids don't have all the answers, by Jim Delisle & Judy Galbraith

Ways to support Gifted Children with learning differences

IDENTIFICATION

• Include students with disabilities in the initial screening phase.
• Be willing to accept nonconventional indicator of intellectual talent.
• Look beyond test scores.
• When applying cutoffs, bear in mind the depression of scores that may occur due to the disability.
• DO NOT aggregate subtest scores into a composite score.
• Weight more heavily characteristics that enable the child to effectively compensate for the disability.
• Weight more heavily areas of performance unaffected by the disability.
• Allow the child to participate in gifted programs on a trial basis.

INSTRUCTION

• Be aware of the powerful role of language; reduce communication limitations and develop alternative modes for thinking and communicating.
• Emphasize high-level abstract thinking, creativity, and a problem-solving approach.
• Have great expectations: These children often become successful as adults in fields requiring advanced education.
• Provide for individual pacing in areas of giftedness and disability.
• Provide challenging activities at an advance level.
• Promote active inquiry, experimentation, and discussion.
• Promote self-direction.
• Offer options that enable students to use strengths and preferred ways of learning.
• Use intellectual strengths to develop coping strategies.
• Assist in strengthening the student's self-concept.

CLASSROOM DYNAMICS

• Discuss disabilities / capabilities and their implications with the class.
• Expect participation in all activities; strive for normal peer interactions.
• Facilitate acceptance; model and demand respect for all.
• Candidly answer peers' questions.
• Treat a child with a disability the same way a child without a disability is treated.
• Model celebration of individual differences.

When Gifted Kids don't have all the answers, by Jim Delisle & Judy Galbraith

Ways to Support Gifted Minority Students

• Communicate high expectations.
• Be sensitive to the experiences and beliefs of people from different cultural groups. Get to know all students and their cultures. Consider the challenges that students may face in school.
• Continuously and firmly encourage students to go to college. Discuss the neccesary coursework, test, and other preparations with students and parents.
• Create a multicultural learning environment and make sure the curriculum reflects a variety of cultures.
• Help students connect with role models and mentors. Organize peer support groups for students with similar interest and abilities.
• Reach out to parents and family members. Enlist their support in providing encouragements and high expectations.
• Provide students with a variety of learning options. Create or select activities that are engaging, active, and grounded in reality.
• Listen to students' concerns, fears, and beliefs about their experiences and their education.

When Gifted Kids don't have all the answers, by Jim Delisle & Judy Galbraith

Ways to Support Gifted Girls

• Identify them early. The best age for evaluating and identifying gifted girls is between 3.5 and 7. For some gifted girls, early school entrance is beneficial.
• Provide special programs that stimulate and challenge them.
• Encourage them to take higher level math and science courses.
• Use multiple measures of ability and achievement. Females still score lower on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the College Board Achievement Test, The Graduate Record Examination, and other examinations critical for college and graduate school admision. Most of these tests underpredict female performance and overpredict male performance.
• Encourage them to take credict for their successes and recognize their own talents.
• Provide material to compensate for the lack of inclusion of women's acomplishments in literature or textbooks.
• Foster friendships with gifted peers who share similar interests.
• Provide role models of women in traditional and nontraditional careers who have successfully integrated multiple aspect of their lives.
• Avoid sex-role stereotyping. Encourage awareness of biased depictions of girls and women in the media. (As recently as January 2000, the Barbie personal computer for girls came loaded with a little more than half of the educational software on the companion computer for boys).
• Encourage independence and risk-taking.
• Avoid having different expectations for girls than for boys.

When Gifted Kids don't have all the answers, by Jim Delisle & Judy Galbraith

Some general characteristics of Gifted Children

These are typical factors stressed by educational authorities as being indicative of giftedness. Obviously, no child is outstanding in all characteristics.

• Shows superior reasoning powers and marked ability to handle ideas; can generalize readily from specific facts and can see subtle relationships; has outstanding problem-solving ability.
• Shows persistent intellectual curiosity; ask searching questions; shows exceptional interest in the nature of humankind and the universe.
• Has a wide range of interest, often of an intellectual kind; develops one or more interest to considerable depth.
• Is markedly superior in quality and quantity or written and / or spoken vocabulary; is interested in the subtleties of words and their uses.
• Reads avidly and absorbs books well beyond his or her years.
• Learns quickly and easily and retains what is learned; recalls important details, concepts and principles; comprehends readily.
• Shows insight into arithmetical problems that require careful reasoning and grasps mathematical concepts readily.
• Shows creative ability or imaginative expression in such things as music, art, dance, drama; shows sensitivity and finesse in rhythm, movement, and bodily control.
• Sustains concentracion for lengthy periods and shows outstanding responsibility and independence in classroom work.
• Sets realistically high standards for self; is self-critical in evaluating and correcting his or her efforts.
• Shows initiative and originality in intellectual work; shows flexibility in thinking and considers problems from a number of viewpoints.
• Observes keenly and is responsive to new ideas.
• Shows social poise and an ability to communicate with adults in a muture way.
• Gets excitement and pleasure from intellectual challenge; shows an alert and subtle sense of humor.

Gifted children can also be extraordinarily sensitive. They often feel more than other kids their age. They tend to develop emphaty earlier that other children do. They have a social conscience and an intense awareness of the world's problems. They worry about the world, the environment, wars an conflicts, hunger and homelessness. Their emotions are intense and close to the surface.

Along with these many fine qualities can come various problems related to them.

When Gifted kids don't have all the answers, by Jim Delisle & Judy Galbraith

Promoting Gifted Education in your community

Despite the fact that there is a strong need to build awareness of the purposes for gifted programs and the special needs of the students these programs serve, developing solid advocacy efforts for gifted programs has been an overlooked area in the field. Public awareness could rescue gifted programs from budget cuts and benign neglect by gathering much needed support, and parents can play a vital role in communicating with the public the neccesity of maintaining appropriate educational experiences for gifted students.

* Why Gifted Programs need Community Support?.
The educational needs of the nation's gifted students continues to be a controversial topic. The general public holds many different attitudes and beliefs relating to gifted and talented students. Unfortunately, there are also a number of misconceptions about gifted students. For example:
- they need no special programming, that they will succeed anyway;
- their families are always supportive;
- they are not aware of their differentness unless they are identified as gifted;
- they enjoy being examples for other students;
- they prefer social isolation.
These common misconceptions are directly related to the lack of knowledge many have about the characteristics and educational needs of exceptional students. If we hope to build and maintain community support for gifted programs, we must increase the awareness in the community of the unique needs and qualities of gifted students as well as the benefits of gifted education programs so we can
- resolve the equity vs. excellence debate;
- dispel myths about gifted students;
- locate and maintain funding sources for gifted education;
- recruit teachers into the field of gifted education; and
- create policies and/or mandates for gifted education.

* Equity vs. Excellence
Advocates of gifted education need to address the “Equity vs. Excellence” issue. Many community members perceive gifted programs as elitist. However, it is neither fair nor reasonable to provide equal educational programming and hold equal expectations for all students, regardless of their abilities. By providing enrichment and acceleration experiences for gifted students, we are providing them with what what they need, not superfluous or unnecessary education. Helping the community see and value the educational needs of gifted and talented students will help generate support for their special programming requirements.

* Dispel Myths
It is vital that advocates dispel the myths associated with gifted students. Several of the more comom myths are:
It is undemocratic to give special attention to the gifted. This myth relates back to the equity versus excellence debate. All students should receive educational programming that is appropriate to their needs and abilities.
Gifted students will do well on their own. Gifted students need special programs to meet their complex learning needs. Without special considerations, these students may not reach their full potential.
Gifted students should strive to be part of the mainstream. Our country was founded on the premise that all individuals would develop their natural talents for the benefit of society. We should not be satisfied with mediocrity when excellence and preeminence are necessary to compete in the ever-changing world marketplace.
Gifted students in special programs will have social-emotional problems. The reverse of this myth is probably more often true. If gifted students do not receive the necessary enrichment experiences they need, social-emotional discontent may surface.

* Improve Understanding
Educating the general public about the characteristics and needs of gifted students is of utmost importance in gaining community support. Presenting clear facts and information relating to current research can help improve the public's knowledge and perceptions of gifted children and the programs that serve these unique students.
Enhancing community support for gifted education will help locate and maintain financial support for gifted programs. Funding for gifted education is limited, with additional budget cuts occurring from year to year. In order to keep gifted programs appropriate funded, it is imperative that we improve public opinion and awareness of the benefits of quality educational options for gifted students. As taxpayers, citizens play a crucial role in the appropriation of funds for various programs that affect gifted education. As stakeholders in the system, these same community members need to be made aware of the impact appropriate gifted programming can have on both students and the community as a whole.

* Recruit Teachers
Strong public support will encourage teachers to enter the field of gifted education and to sustain, perhaps increase, the number of teachers pursuing degrees and certification in gifted education. It is essential that student-teacher ratios be kept low in the gifted classroom to ensure that the needs of these exceptional students can be adequately addressed. Whenever teacher units are cut, class size grows. Continued public support can assist in recruiting and maintaining quality teachers for gifted students.
Finally, public endorsement is desperately needed to advocate for state mandates for gifted education so that appropriate educational opportunities can be assured to all gifted students. Again, citizens play a vital role in developing and establishing policies relating to education.
Continued legislative support is needed to ensure a certain future for gifted education.

* Why parents?
There are several reasons why parents make excellent ambassadors of spreading the word about gifted education. Parents are a primary, direct link between the school and the general community. This link can be nurtured and strengthened to become a vital and valuable resource. In addition, parents of gifted children have first-hand experience with the characteristics of gifted children and youth; they can influence other parents; they can make issues relevant and clear to the general public; they may have direct contacts to those in influential positions at the local, or national level; school administrators listen to parents; and parents can network to pool their skills for formulating and effective public relations plan.
While parents can be an excellent connection to the community, to be an effective advocate it is necessary to become well informed of the issues and policies relating to gifted education within the local school districts and state. Thorough research to acquire a strong knowledge base on concerns relating to gifted education will enhance accurate communication with the public. Misinformation can create more harm than good. Below are some more guidelines and activities:
- Speak out on behalf of gifted and talented children and appropriate educational programs and services;
- Be sure to stay on top of developments in your local school budget and curriculum planning decisions. It is always easier to have an impact on key decisions before they are made, rather than trying to undo unfavorable determinations;
- Advocate as individual parents and join others as well;
- Check to see if there is a local organization in your area already working on these issues;
- Check with your state gifted education organization. They may know of activists in your area.
- Offer to work with the state association on issues in the state capital and in Washington, DC;
- Consider starting your own local group to work with parents, teachers, and your local school board;
- Help make sure that gifted education programs and services in your area, as well as students activities and competitions, receive coverage in your local paper. The public gets behind local success stories!

by Kristen Stephens.

Wisdom of Childhood

Relish the present,

celebrate the obvious,

ask questions ... cherish details,

think with your senses,

read with your imagination,

consult your emotions,

build on success not failure,

pretend the world is your head,

live in your body,

watch everything,

do things for no reason,

control less ... navigate more,

focus on how you see ... more than how you look,

appreciate as well as achieve,

collect tiny pleasures,

know more than you understand,

lose yourself in something,

enjoy confusion

Don't wait for reasons to be happy

By Jon Pearson / http://www.createlearning.com/

A Dozen Daily Doses of Advice to Gifted Students

1. Empower yourselfe with knowledge, love and sense of humor.
2. Ask at least a zillion questions in your lifetime.
3. Embrace change. Life is full of surprises.
4. Emotion is the key to everything. Allow yourself to feel, to get angry, to be sad.
5. Latch on to a passionate cause and never let go.
6. Write down a set of values, hang them on the wal for all to see, then be proud to live them.
7. Slow down. Don't live your life on the surface. Take time to think and reflect. There are precious details not to be missed.
8. Be a history buff. Respect those who walked this earth before you. Honor them by memorizing their poems, speeches, formulas, documents, songs and theories.
9. Be incredibly fluent in a foreign language. Try to think and feel in that language.
10. Keep a journal. Your words are who you are. Remembering is a journey the heart takes and your thoughts are the only tickets needed to ride.
11. Be spiritual. There is a greater power than you. Developing a spiritual intelligence is a life-long journey. Star now!
12. Be open and prepared to love someone -many someones. The risk is always great, but always worth it.

By Nancy Johnson-Farris / http://www.piecesoflearning.com/

Steps to Becoming an Effective Advocate at the Local Level

1. Get to know and communicate regularly with teachers interested in gifted and talented education, your school principal, your GATE program coordinator, and familiarize yourself with the program guidelines and any new laws affecting gifted education and parents of gifted students.
2. Become an active participant at the school site by attending meetings, serving on the school-site council, GATE advisory commitee, or PTA.
3. Form or join an advocacy group.
4. Become aware of the duties and responsabilities of your local Board of Education and how they are implemented.
5. Become and advocate with the local Board of education.
6. Encourage other community members to become involved. Lobby your local officials.
7. Use appropriate websites to stay current with local legislative information and action.

Author: California Association for the Gifted