Gifted Endorsement: Elective Hours 

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is not education at all.”  -Aristotle

After spending many years researching the social and emotional needs of children living in low socio-economic disparity, I was curious about the research behind gifted students. I read Supporting Your Emotionally Excitable Gifted Child at Gifted Challenges and Sensitivity in Gifted Kids at Brydseed. I also read Development of the Emotional and Social Needs of Gifted Individuals by George T. Betts in the Journal of Counseling and Development. What I found, the needs of students in highly stressful living situations are very similar to the emotional intensity in many gifted children. There was a prevailing theme in the research – give students an outlet, build in talks about emotions, and teach conflict resolution  as a skill. I had two plans, Community Themes and Morning Meeting.

I started off the year introducing “Community Themes.” These themes included perseverance, conflict resolution, compassion, kindness, and belonging. Each week a new theme was introduced with a quick daily activity and discussion. Here are the materials I used for the week of kindness and this one is for conflict resolution.

We also held a daily “Morning Meeting” that benefits not just social and emotional needs, but building community, and language and communication skills as well. I adopted this routine from this video on the Teaching Channel. Students sit in a circle and the Student of the Week leads the meeting. They begin by closing their eyes, taking a deep breath, and thinking about something they did well yesterday, and something they will do better today. Students are then prompted to open their eyes and share. The next segment is to share a feeling statement, I am feeling  _________ because_______. This really helps students identify the reason they may be feeling the way they do. It’s not just I’m angry, but why am I angry? Where is my anger coming from or directed to? It helps to reduce displaced emotions as well as help others understand what individuals may be having problems expressing. The meeting ends with a handshake chosen by the leader and telling each other good morning! Here’s a great example of a handshake.

My students loved Morning Meeting! I have done this with 3rd and 4th graders, but wasn’t sure how 5th graders would react. How would they feel about sitting on the floor? Would the peer pressure of one change it for all? It turned out to not be just good, but amazing. This helped me get to know them, as well as them get to know me. This was a safe place where eventually all students felt they could share with the group. One one occasion, the principal walked in and was curious about what they were doing. I quickly explained as he listened to the students. He was most surprised by one student in particular who happened to be sharing. If you can get them to buy in, it really is beneficial for all students.

Have you tried Morning Meeting or Community Meeting in your classroom? 

What are some other options?