gifted children

Typewriter - 10 Reasons You Should Memorize Poetry

10 Reasons You Should Memorize Poetry

You should memorize poetry, and I’m going to share ten reasons why. This is general advice that is good for everyone in manner of “wear sunscreen.” I love poetry. I’m not just saying this because it sounds good at cocktail parties to say you love poetry. I truly love the

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The Goldilocks Effect

In the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Goldilocks seeks the chair, food, and bed that are just right for her. She doesn’t take the big bowl of porridge just because it’s bigger, and she doesn’t take the bigger bed just because it’s larger. She takes the ones that

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Groupwork Groupthink

I just returned from Mensa’s Annual Gathering in Portland, Oregon, where I spent five days surrounded by smart people, including dozens of smart kids. It was challenging and fun and exhausting. We ran a focus group (well, my best friend, Patricia Bear, an LPC, ran the focus group) with our

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Celebrating Strengths in Gifted Children

I’m a fan of celebrating strengths, and I’d love to tell you why. I learned a lot about it from a shell. It may sound odd to take advice from a shell on celebrating strengths, yet one of the things that strikes me as a problem is the difficulty people

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Why There are Too Few Kids of Color in Gifted Programs

Children of color are underrepresented The data is clear: children of color are underrepresented in gifted programs nationwide, even when we account for socio-economic differences. I read an article about the pervasively pale nature of gifted programs. Let’s speak what it is: racism. The article focused on one young woman

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bored student

How Not to Waste People’s Time

Being careful with people’s time is an underappreciated skill. I’ve got a tip for how not to waste people’s time. As teachers, we are in a unique position to be stewards of the time we have our students. If you’re working with gifted students, not using time wisely can cause

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Gifted Guru Book Club The Genius in All of Us cover of book and bitmoji of Lisa Van Gemert

The Genius in All of Us: Book Review

My best friend recommended a book to me called The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ is Wrong by David Shenk. I was prepared to be oppositionally defiant. After all, my professional reason for being is making the world safe for

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