Gifted Endorsement: Coursework Hours

I participated in a webinar presented by Dr. Sandra Kaplan and Dr. Eugenia Mora-Flores. Both women are educators at the University of Southern California. This webinar addressed challenges of gifted bilingual students, particularly in urban  areas. We began with a Poll Everywhere survey – What are the characteristics of giftedness? The answers were collected and represented in this word cloud.

Dr. Mora -Flores presented a majority of the presentation. She shared concerns that bilingual students are not receiving the services they deserve due to circumstances that should and can be addressed and corrected. These circumstances are often an “Academic Prejudice” described as being an inhibitor for identifying students in these communities. These prejudices included teacher expectations, standards student expectations, and preconceived concept of giftedness. A fix, teachers need to commit to giving students the opportunity to be creative. Dr. Mora-Flores described “Multiple Memberships” as alternative ways to observe bilingual students when determining potential giftedness. We need to consider culture, school, family, and sports. Identifying through sports was a bit of a surprise, but she explained even though a student might not excel in school math, you can tell much more when they describe points, averages, or other math concepts that relate to sports in real world situations.

Dr. Kaplan addressed “teaching for opportunity to recognize potential.” As educators we need to consider non-traditional learning experiences through facilitating prior knowledge to new situations. By differentiating and specially designing instruction, bilingual students are more supported in their individual learning quests. This could include allowing students to “show vs. prove” their learning in a range of ways. The point was strongly made that differentiations is not a “reward” for being identified as gifted, but an opportunity for all students. 

“Funds of Knowledge” or ways to understand and get to know your students were recommended. These included an interest survey, cultural bags, I am…, and I wish my teacher knew…  I feel this strategy is helpful with all students. I love finding out the little things that really give incite to how they are feeling daily about situations that might not seem concerning to an adult, but can be in the mind of a child, especially a child speaking English as a second language.

A list of potential items to look for that could indicate a student is gifted included abstract thinking, long attention span, interests, sense of humor, creativity, and making connections. This was particularly important because universal testing or screening may not show what a student truly knows.

The culminating point, differentiations is necessary for all students, gifted or not.