Taking a Closer Look at Mentorships

Mentorships are an important part of gifted education for many gifted and talented students. They differ from internships or apprenticeships as these are vehicles that allow students to learn new skills and to investigate careers. Mentorships are relationships based on shared passions and values that are passed on to the student. It is more than a casual relationship.

Mentorships provide a student with someone who can encourage, inspire, and give insights by sharing time, talents and specific skills. Mentors, when properly matched, serve as role models. They can stimulate intellectual discovery, bring excitement to the learning process, and provide understanding of the student’s passions.

Intellectually and artistically gifted students can benefit when paired with masters in their fields such as artists, musicians, scientists, business professionals and scholars. Multipotentiates specifically benefit from mentorships by honing in on a vision of their future self that is guided by a mentor with similar lived experiences in their areas of passion. Well done mentorships provide depth and challenge to educational experiences for gifted students.

As with participation in any academic intervention, the gifted student should be an integral part in deciding if they want to have a mentor and will be a willing participant. Then, needs should be discussed. Special consideration should be given to availability, enthusiasm to mentor, expertise, and personal compatibility with the student when choosing a mentor. Mentorships should be monitored over time to ensure that the student is benefitting from the relationship and progress is being made towards initial expectations.

Resources available to locate mentors can be found in surprisingly simple places … local parent groups and schools or universities, local businesses, institutions supporting the arts, and professional organizations. Locating mentors for gifted students can tap opportunities available within existing gifted programming such as educators and professionals in magnet schools, AP/IB programs, or governors’ schools.

Mentoring relationships can be differentiated by considering the specific needs of a student, where parties to the mentorship are located, expectations regarding ultimate goals to be achieved by mentoring, and time constraints. Mentorships can be classified as one-on-one relationships that revolve around in-person communication, online mentoring via electronic communication, or group mentoring that involve a mentor and multiple mentees.

If you are interested in learning more about mentorships, check out the resources below. A transcript of this chat can be found at Wakelet.

Global #gtchat Powered by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented is a weekly chat on Twitter. Join us Thursdays at 8E/7C/6M/5P in the U.S. and Fridays at Noon NZST/10 AM AEST/1 AM UK to discuss current topics in the gifted community and meet experts in the field. Transcripts of our weekly chats can be found at Wakelet. Our Facebook Page provides information on the chat and news and information regarding the gifted community. Also, checkout our Pinterest Page and Playlist on YouTube.

About the author: Lisa Conrad is the Moderator of Global #gtchat Powered by TAGT and Social Media Manager of the Global #gtchat Community. She is a longtime advocate for gifted children and also blogs at Gifted Parenting Support. Lisa can be contacted at: gtchatmod@gmail.com

Resources:

Mentor Relationships and Gifted Learners (1990)

Mentor Relationships How They Aid Creative Achievement (Torrance – Amazon 1984)

What is Mentoring?

How to Find a Mentor

Mentoring and Your Child: Developing a Successful Relationship (pdf)

Davidson Institute: Mentoring Guidebook (pdf; updated 2018)

Mentor: The National Mentoring Partnership

iMentor

The Mentor Group Inc.

Gifted Children and the Role of Mentors Blog Hop

Developing Mentorship Programs for Gifted Students (Practical Strategies Series in Gifted Education) (Amazon)

Finding Mentorship: Gifted Students Need Guidance, Too

Mentoring Gifted Children: It Takes a Village

Cybraryman’s Tutoring and Mentoring Page

Hoagies Gifted: Mentors for Gifted Students

NAGC: Peer Tutoring and Gifted Learners – Applying a Critical Thinking Lens

Sprite’s Site: Asking for Help – A Guest Expert Panel Q&A Session

Sprite’s Site: Purple Riding Boots

TX: Connecting Classrooms and Experts in New Braunfels and Comal County through our Guest Speaker Portal

Texas STEM Connections

Civil Air Patrol

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Graphic courtesy of Lisa Conrad.

Humor and Gifted Kids

This week at Global #gtchat Powered by TAGT we explored the relationship between humor and gifted kids. Our guest was Jo Freitag, #gtchat Advisor and founder/coordinator of Gifted Resources in Victoria, Australia. She also blogs at the Gifted Resources Blog and Sprite’s Site. Jo wrote a great post at Sprite’s Site about this week’s chat, The Punch Line!

Gifted children with advanced abilities well beyond their years can manipulate and play with words in demonstrating verbal ability. They enjoy puns and word games which lead to seeing everyday situations in a comedic light.

Recognition and appreciation of adult humor is often part of an extensive native knowledge base possessed by intellectually gifted children. They may enjoy absurd types of humor such as Monty Python. Higher levels of intelligence permit the gifted child to be more quick witted and display a sense of humor that belies their ability to interpret everyday experiences in a different light than age-peers or even older children.

What are some of the downsides of verbal ability for gifted children? Language abilities tend to shine a light on gifted children making them a target of age-peers who don’t understand them. This can lead to teasing and verbal bullying. When bored in the classroom, gifted children may be prone to express thoughts and feelings conceived as being a ‘class clown’; considered an annoyance by teachers and even other high achievers in the classroom.

Teachers and professionals can use ‘sense of humor’ as an indicator of giftedness. Recognizing a mature sense of humor is an easy way to begin the identification process. Expressions of humor deemed beyond that of age-peers may reveal a gifted child in hiding. Teachers and professionals can provide opportunities for gifted students to express humor in settings such as school talent shows.

What can teachers do to develop humor potential in gifted children? They may use satire in Greek drama, political cartooning, or investigate bathos (anticlimax; especially in literature) and pathos (pity, sadness; in rhetoric, film, or literature) to develop humor potential in gifted children. Teachers can encourage using humor appropriately and at appropriate times; using humor for positive purposes; and give students time to explore different types of humor. They should model appropriate forms of humor that show students the need to be considerate of others’ feelings; emphasizing the importance of developing positive relationships with age-peers.

Humor can also help gifted children deal with stress. At work and school, it can increase creative output and thus reduce negativity associated with stress. Humor is a natural way to reduce stress; to recognize social injustice and work to seek a way forward involving fairness and equality in society. Humor and laughter can enhance enjoyable leisure activities. A transcript of this chat may be found at Wakelet.

Links:

It’s a Funny Thing: A Gifted Child’s Sense of Humor

Characteristics of Gifted Children: A Closer Look

Verbal Humor in Gifted Students and Students in the General Population: A Comparison of Spontaneous Mirth and Comprehension (Abstract Only)

Affective Trait 5: Advanced Sense of Humour (pdf)

The Double-Edged Sword of Giftedness, Part 2: Affective Traits

Tips for Parents: Teaching the Use of Humor to Cope with Stress

An Investigation of the Role of Humor in the Lives of Highly Creative Young Adults (pdf)

The Power of Humor in Ideation and Creativity

Haha and aha! : Creativity, Idea Generation, Improvisational Humor, and Product Design (pdf)

The Power of Laughter: Seven Secrets to Living and Laughing in a Stressful World (Amazon)

The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach (Amazon)

Using Improvisation to Enhance the Effectiveness of Brainstorming (pdf)

How to Spot a Gifted Child

Raisin’ Brains: Surviving My Smart Family (Amazon)

Neuroscience of Giftedness: Greater Connectivity Across Brain Regions

Class Clown or Gifted Student? It’s A Matter of Perspective

Comedians’ Smarts, Humor, and Creativity

How Laughing Leads to Learning

The Benefits of Humor in the Classroom

Using Humor in the Classroom

Edublogs Webinar Overview – Using ToonDoo

Health Benefits of Laughter (pdf)

Cybraryman’s Words Page

Cybraryman’s Humor in the Classroom Page

Cybraryman’s Educational Puns Page

Photos courtesy of Jo Freitag and Natasha Bertrand.

Graphic courtesy of Lisa Conrad.

Parent Support Groups – Meeting Needs

It is undeniable that great parent support groups precede quality education and gifted programming is no different. When parents get involved, schools respond. Parenting gifted children is fraught with frustration at trying to get an appropriate education for their atypical child … something that should be available to all children. Professionals to whom parents for turn lack knowledge and information about gifted children which leads to inappropriate directions, misdiagnosis and a general lack of empathy to the situation parents find themselves.

When beginning an affiliate group, welcome parents, teachers and administrators, homeschooling parents into your group. You can achieve things like additional teachers and programs never seen before in your district. Parent Support Groups should think ‘big tent’ … there is strength in numbers. Bring all parties to the table; consider all viewpoints and work for consensus making sure you’re always going forward.

Many state and national gifted organizations can provide info and support to parents on starting a local support group. Working with schools to find other parents is best. If not, talk to your child; they know who’s in the gifted program. Parents can also connect at school events and in online groups. Remember that everything you do is for gifted children; to provide advocacy for appropriate educational programming and to support their parents.

What resources are available to parents to start a group? A simple online search can identify your state’s gifted organization. If you state doesn’t have one, check out websites outside your area for general information. Some great states include TX, CA, CT, IL, CO, GA, OH, MD and FL. Other organizations to check out include: SENG, NAGC, IEA Gifted, Gifted Homeschoolers Forum, World Council for Gifted and Talented Children, Potential Plus UK, and European Council for High Ability.

Gifted parent groups organize first for educational goals, but soon look to meet the social-emotional needs of GT kids through peer networking and providing access to out of school opportunities. They need to keep the needs of their parents in mind by working together toward common goals and supporting the social-emotional needs of parent members as well.

What steps can be taken to ensure the continuation of the group over time? The average time commitment of parents usually only lasts 7 to 8 years – from identification to the early years of high school. No one wants to spend time building a group only to see gifted services fade over time. Parent support group should be constantly looking to recruit new members; those with younger children. Groups should provide leadership mentoring to ensure the continuation of the group. A transcript of this chat may be found at Wakelet.

Links:

Starting & Supporting a Parent Group to Support Gifted Children (pdf)

Parent Support Groups at TAGT

Establish a Parent Support Group at TAGT

What Makes a Parent Group Successful (pdf)

NAGC Advocacy Tool Kit

Resources from McKinney (TX) Gifted and Talented Alliance

SENG Model Parent Groups (SMPG)

What Can Parents’ Groups Do for Gifted Kids?

Starting a Gifted Parents’ Group

How Parent Advocacy Groups can Make a Difference

Start a Support Group for Parents of Gifted Kids

One Person Can Make a Difference

Power in Numbers: How Gifted Advocacy Parent Groups can Help You and Your Kids

Three Reasons to Join a Parent Support Group

Image courtesy of Pixabay CC0 Creative Commons

Graphic courtesy of Lisa Conrad

Digital Citizenship for GT Students

This week at Global #gtchat Powered by TAGT we chatted about the need for gifted students to become not only good digital citizens, but digital leaders as well. We first discussed what digital literacy is and why it’s important.

Digital literacy involves a firm grasp on technology vocabulary, comprehending the impact of online collaboration, understanding the how to use cloud-based storage, and acknowledging the moral consequences of one’s actions. GT students must develop specific skill-sets based on authentic learning opportunities including creation of collaborative engagement involving discussion built on credible arguments, negating others’ opinions & effective presentations (Coiro, 2016.) It’s important to not assume a new generation – digital natives – are automatically highly qualified digital citizens; they require guidance too.

Students are encountering new technologies and choices at breakneck speeds; developing a moral construct is essential to providing them with a safe and responsible online presence. Educating students about the consequences of online behavior must start early. They must learn about the instantaneous nature of their actions; their right to privacy and how to protect it; and the far reaching effects of cyberbullying.

GT students are poised to use social media to their benefit by exploiting the positive aspects of its use – connecting classrooms, fostering cross-cultural interactions, and choosing it for advocating positive change in the world. They can benefit from social media via online mentorships, connecting with professionals in their chosen fields, and promoting critical thinking among intellectual peers.

Teachers should model digital etiquette from the very beginning of student interaction. Goals vertically aligned across the curriculum involving digital citizenship can increase learning and provide students with an enhanced online presence. Strategies for teaching digital citizenship include a robust curriculum, including student voice in developing acceptable use policies, and impressing on students that what they do and say online is forever. Additional strategies include making sure students know their rights online, providing guidance for online behavior, and including parents in the learning process; especially relating to new technologies.

GT students need to be digital producers; not just consumers. Digital leaders are those who integrate technology to make life better for all through facilitating communication and by being transformative change agents. As digital leaders, GT students are those who value collaboration, understand how to integrate technology into their lives to increase positive outcomes, and embrace change to harness the future. Those who become digital leaders are flexible in their thinking, adept at problem solving, and analytical in their approach to global problems.

Why should schools involve parents in teaching digital citizenship? Digital citizenship goes far beyond the classroom walls. It is an integral part of life and as such must be addressed at home as well as at school. Parents should be encouraged to be a part of the education process. Schools can involve parents in teaching digital citizenship by informing them about new technologies, online trends, and the latest social media. This can be done through parent-teacher communications or even workshops. A transcript of this chat may be found at Wakelet.