Above and Beyond~ Gifted Students and the 4 C's

It is so hard to believe that I have been blogging for a year now!  This weekend marks my one year blogiversary!  I started blogging because I was inspired by all the teacher blogs I was seeing on Pinterest.  I wanted to be part of the community of teachers who wrote and shared about what they were doing in their classrooms each day.  Initially I thought I would blog only about teaching gifted students, but I have come to realize that I blog about what is happening in my life, my classroom, the world, and it doesn't matter if it is directly related to gifted teaching or not.  It's all good:)  I hope you enjoy this post in honour of my one year milestone.  As most of my posts, it doesn't apply just to gifted students, it applies to all of us.

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I went to a meeting last fall where they showed the video "Above and Beyond".  This is how teachers often describe gifted learners, those who are able to go "above and beyond" what is expected of them.  Often times, this "above and beyond" is measured in academic terms.  These are the students we think will always get good grades, study, turn in their work on time etc.  From my experiences teaching students who have been identified as gifted, I know that often these traits are those of a "good student" rather than those of a "gifted" student.  Some students ARE gifted thinkers and good students...but many others who have been identified as gifted, are not your typical good student.  

If you have read my earlier post "You might be gifted if..." you know that I feel there exists a wide spectrum of gifted behaviours.  I am an adherent that everyone is gifted in some way.  Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences very much appeals to my way of teaching students and addressing their unique gifts.    "According to Howard Gardner, human beings have nine different kinds of intelligence that reflect different ways of interacting with the world. Each person has a unique combination, or profile. Although we each have all nine intelligences, no two individuals have them in the same exact configuration -- similar to our fingerprints."
(http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/ed_mi_overview.html)

   

I like that this video stresses thinking "outside the box" as well as critical thinking skills, communication, collaboration, and creativity.  To me it represents what we want for ALL students, be it in a gifted program or not.  All students need opportunities to explore their gifts, to work with others, to problem solve, to think critically, to fail and to try again.