Amber Moore's Blog

Reflections

Rethinking Giftedness

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Gifted Endorsement: Elective Hours 

While looking for engaging math activities that create a growth mindset, I came across this short video found on youcubed.org.

Rethinking Giftedness Film

Jo Boaler created this short film to show how labels can be harmful to student learning, even when the label is considered positive. Several students who have been labeled as gifted share their struggles with having been labeled as gifted. It was interesting to hear, but I could definitely see how it could be harmful to a growth mindset. When these students were faced with struggle, they often gave up because they somehow thought failing was not allowed for them because they are “smart” and should have all the answers.

This made me curious, what research has been done on the topic? I found this paper, Wrestling with Misconceptions: Is the Gifted Label Good or Bad? This made some very interesting points that support Jo Boaler’s film, but it went further to explain a different approach to insuring gifted students receive the necessary support without the label. When speaking about a child, instead of “Is this child gifted?” we should ask “How is this child gifted?” Moving away from the generalization of all around gifted to more specific allows students to focus on their strengths while also knowing it’s okay not to be the best at everything. The article also mentioned that gifted testing should be “ongoing, flexible, and domain-specific.” If this is accomplished, students that are no longer learning in the classroom due to content level of mastery, other options are made available.

What made this even more of a question for me was after listening to a webinar addressing giftedness in bilingual students. My big aha moment after viewing the presentation by Dr. Kaplan and Dr. Mora-Flores was the focus should be on addressing all students needs through differentiation of activities and instruction. If students needs were truly met in this manner, would testing and labeling be necessary? I do realize the problem, what happens when content is not differentiated. This webinar will eventually be posted on California Association for the Gifted You Tube Channel. 

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