 Gifted Students Don’t Need Help; They’ll do fine on their own

 Gifted students need guidance from well-trained teachers who challenge them and support them. If their needs are not met, boredom and frustration can lead to despondency in the classroom.

 Teachers challenge all students, so gifted kids will be fine in the regular classroom.

 61% of classroom teachers have had no training in AIG and don’t know how to challenge them in the classroom. Not all teachers are able to recognize and support gifted learners.

 Gifted students make everyone else in the class smarter by providing a role model or challenge

 Average or below average students do not look to the gifted students in the class as role models. They model their behavior on those who have similar capabilities.

 That student can’t be gifted; he’s receiving poor grades.

 Underachievement describes a discrepancy between a student’s performance and his actual ability. Gifted students often become bored and frustrated and therefore stop performing in the classroom.

 Gifted students are happy, popular and well adjusted in school.

 Many gifted students flourish in their community in the school environment. However, some gifted children differ in terms of their emotional and moral intensity, sensitivity to expectations and feelings, perfectionism, and deep concerns about societal problems. Many do not share interests with their classmates, resulting in isolation.

 Our district has a gifted and talented program: We have AP courses.

 While AP classes offer rigorous, advanced coursework, they are not gifted education programs. AP programs are limited in its service to gifted and talented students in two areas: First AP is limited by the subjects offered and is often only offered at the high school level. One size fits all approach is not appropriate for gifted students.

 Gifted Education requires an abundance of resources.

 Offering gifted education services does not need to break the bank. A fully developed gifted education program can look overwhelming in its score and complexity. However, beginning a program requires little more than an acknowledgement by district and community personnel that gifted students need something different, a commitment to pride appropriate curriculum and instruction and teacher training in identification and gifted education strategies.

 Over 11 years of experience working with AIG students  Lead teacher with ARMS which provided sustainable staff development for teachers across western NC  Over 9 years of experience presenting at local, state and national conferences  National Board certification  Dual math/science certification  Experience with creating/conducting staff development opportunities  Balanced assessment trained in Detroit, MI  TI Fast Track Trainer  “Eye” for numbers  Desire and ability to learn new techniques to help teachers and students  Leadership roles at school and county level  Organized and efficient  Ability to travel to local, regional and national conferences to enhance knowledge

 We should focus on all areas of curriculum.  All curriculums should be integrated.  Tasks should be well developed and rigorous and should not be seen as “extra work”.  Tasks should be engaging and encourage creativity.  Tasks should be readily available to teachers.

 “Thinking outside the box” boxes How I can help teachers enhance their AIG Curriculum and help their students: