Hello! I'm Jessica Gutierrez, your new Member Engagement Manager here at NAGC. It's hard to believe I'm almost through my first month with NAGC, and what an exhilarating journey it's been already! I've been soaking up information about you, our incredible members, and the impactful work you're doing nationwide. I feel truly honored and excited to be part of this dynamic community.

In my role, I'll be working closely with Meagan Roloff to ensure that every aspect of your membership experience is top-notch. Meagan's expertise is invaluable, and I'm grateful to be working alongside her. One of my key focuses will be overseeing our Engage community platform, where my desire is seeing it become a platform for all members to come and collaborate with each other through sharing moments of impact and resources on how to serve Gifted students better.

I come to NAGC with a background in volunteer management, where I've seen firsthand, as I’m sure you have as well, the power of individuals coming together to make a difference. I'm passionate about helping each of you find your place within NAGC and making sure your voices are heard. In this new role, I'm excited to ensure every member finds their passion within NAGC and contributes meaningfully to our collective goals. Your input from the Member Needs Assessment survey earlier this year has been crucial. I've taken note of areas for improvement as well as the aspects where we're excelling. Let me share some of the highlights from that survey with you.

As I said above, all NAGC members were invited to participate in the Member Needs Assessment back in January 2024. About 10% of all NAGC members (304 of you) shared your valuable and insightful feedback with us. Thank you!

What We're Doing Well

It's heartwarming to hear how much you appreciate the resources, networking opportunities, and professional growth that NAGC brings to the table. Your words of gratitude for the support, knowledge, and inspiration you've found here mean the world to us.

Let's talk publications – you are loving - , Teaching for High Potential, and Parenting for High Potential. You also valued many of the NAGC programs and resources that are available to both members and non-members. It was no surprise that the Annual Convention was at the top of the list, but the PreK-Grade 12 Gifted Programming Standards and State of the States in Gifted Education Report were also important to you. Gifted Child Quarterly, Teaching for High Potential, and Parenting for High Potential. You also valued many of the NAGC programs and resources that are available to both members and non-members. It was no surprise that the Annual Convention was at the top of the list, but the PreK-Grade 12 Gifted Programming Standards and State of the States in Gifted Education Report were also important to you. 

The chart above illustrates the responses of our members regarding their connection with NAGC. We are thrilled to see their positive sentiments towards NAGC's contributions to the field of gifted education. We also feel it is important to highlight that we’ve increased the number of individuals feeling a personal connection with NAGC as well as have enhanced members’ awareness of the direct benefits we offer compared to last year’s results on this question.

Where We Can Do Better

You've highlighted some key areas for improvement, particularly with NAGC Engage, noting difficulties in accessing and navigating the platform, as well as concerns about the frequency of emails received.

Beyond Engage, you've raised valid concerns about the costs associated with NAGC programs and memberships. Additionally, you've expressed a strong desire for more practical resources tailored for classroom teachers, emphasizing the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion across NAGC's leadership, staff, and membership.

Lastly, you've advocated for increased professional development and leadership opportunities for all members, urging us to dismantle barriers that may hinder access to such opportunities. Your feedback is invaluable as we strive to enhance the NAGC experience for all members.

Notable Quotes

“I feel exhilarated when I have the chance to converse with other conference attendees. Talking one on one and in small groups with experts and educators from around the country is my favorite part!”

“Attending the annual conference allows me to interact with like-minded colleagues from across the globe. This opportunity is priceless and solidifies my calling to identify gifted students from underrepresented populations; particularly students of color. The resources provided by NAGC equip me to better serve my students and their families”

“Attending the NAGC as a Javits's scholar a decade ago changed my life, and I'm not exaggerating! It opened doors that I wasn't even aware existed, and now in 2024, I'm serving as our state affiliate organization's president. I gained an invaluable perspective and hope to spend the rest of my days advocating for and serving the families of gifted students in Kansas!”

Meet our NAGC 2024 Winner!

Amanda Khan, District Instructional Specialist for Gifted and Talented in Pasadena, TX!

Everyone who took the survey was entered into a raffle for a free registration to NAGC24. We asked Amanda to share a little bit about herself, why she completed the survey and what she’s looking forward to at NAGC24 this year, and here is what she said:

“[Last year’s] National Gifted Conference inspired me to begin the conversation in my school district about enhancing our gifted program and starting gifted magnet schools. I completed the survey because participants’ feedback helps the leaders to provide even better conferences that meet the needs of its members.

At last year’s conference in Orlando, I gained valuable insight into the gifted world outside of Texas, I did not know there were so many differences in identification and service. The keynote speakers “lit a fire in me” to want to do more and help more students reach their potential. The conference provides opportunities with insights, different perspectives, and informative sessions to develop better professional development for our teachers in Pasadena. I am so excited to have won a free registration to this year’s convention to continue learning and growing with NAGC! Thank you, see you in Seattle! 😊”

Speed Geeking 2023: Making Magic with Ed Tech

Last November at NAGC’s annual convention gifted and ed tech enthusiasts gathered in the most magical place on earth for our latest installment of the perennial favorite Super Sunday session- Speed Geeking.  Started by the OG Speed Geek Brian Housand in 2009, Speed Geeking provides a rapid-fire opportunity to share and learn about favorite online resources to use with our students.

This year thirteen Speed Geeks volunteered to share nearly twenty different resources to support learning.  Each Geek chose whether to present as many tools and resources as possible or just one tool or resource--their absolute favorite at this point in time--and they had just five minutes to tell the audience about it before being buzzed off the stage. Attendees filled the room quickly and many people were standing or sitting in the hallway from doors at the back and side of the room.

Below is a brief recap of the tools and resources shared in our annual Speed Geeking session. Special thanks to each of the Geeks who contributed to this year’s session, especially Chris, Morgan, April, Amanda, Karen, Erica, Pauline, Christine, Jessica, Alissa, Shirley, Alison, and Brian!

Bitsbox Coding  This coding platform provides students with challenges and games to build, helps to transition from block based to text based coding, and gives error guidance.

Text Blaze This is a freemium, AI Chrome extension where users can add text snippets and save to use in other apps.

Classkick  This is a freemium platform to create assignments, see students working in real time, utilizes drag and drop manipulatives, and can be useful for virtual activities .

www.openai.com Chat GPT (generative pre-trained transformer), generative AI

Duotrigordle This Wordle game challenges users to solve 32 words in a set amount of time.

Tinkercad  This program can be used for 3D modeling and circuit building.

Connections: Group words by topic. New puzzles daily. - The New York Times  In this puzzle 16 words are given. Solvers find four word matches in four categories of varying levels of difficulty.

Connections – Custom Puzzle Creator View past Connections puzzles and create your own.

PuzzGrid Similar to Connections, but you can solve more than one a day.  It is  timed and you have the ability to submit your own.

켄켄(KenKen) Customizable Killer Sudoku/ Addoku puzzles where students must do mathematical operations to complete the puzzles.

Diffit  Website to assist in creating differentiated lessons/articles, reading level, language, create passages, questions, etc.

Mathigon  Free site that provides virtual math manipulatives, lessons, and games.

Goblin Tools This site has six awesome AI tools that can help with task management and executive function:

• Magic to do- prioritize lists of things to do, indicate amount of support needed
• The Chef- put in ingredients, tells you what to make and recipe
  
• The Judge- lets you know the tone of your response/emails
  
• Formalizer- “less snarky” to help you modify the tone of your writing
  
• Estimator- how much time something should take
  
• Compiler- brain dump organizer/prioritizer
  

Pixton You can use this freemium program to create comics/class photo with changeable themes.

Scribble Diffusion Create AI images from your drawings.

Adobe Firefly  AI image generation you can use to create and save images/fonts.

Calligraphr  Create your own fonts- used for pigpen cypher, personalized fonts for students

Waffle Wonderments - BRIAN HOUSAND, PH.D. Waffles! I was wondering what U.S. State would make the BEST Waffle 🧇. Use this Google Slides Template to create a state shaped waffle and make your case as to why your waffle would make the best one. Also, consider what state based product would make the perfect waffle topping.

Recipes for Disaster Have students imagine the worst possible scenario, product, etc.  help to reduce anxiety around trying to create the best possible, increase creativity (reverse brainstorming)

Be sure to join us next year in Seattle, Washington, November 21-24, 2024 for the fifteenth annual Speed Geeking Super Sunday session and our Thursday evening network event. Come be a Geek or see what the Geeks will share next!! 

Stay Connected with the NAGC Computers & Technology Network

Is your NAGC membership current? Join/renew your membership to receive members-only updates and emails. Be sure to indicate that you want to join the Computers & Technology network! NAGC members can login to the Online Store and add network memberships for no extra fee. Join C&T Network on NAGC Engage.

Do you have an idea for a future Insider article or blog post? We welcome and encourage network members to share new tools, innovative practices, and useful strategies. Please contact Becky Renegar, if you have ideas or content to share on behalf of the Computers & Technology network!

Rebecca Renegar is the coordinator of gifted services at Milton-Union Schools in West Milton, Ohio. She is Chair of the NAGC Computers & Technology Network.

Every parent hopes that their child will achieve excellence, whether that comes in the form of money, career, family, love, and so on. As the parent of a gifted child, I know that wherever the wind blows my daughter Kris, excellence will follow. This inspires me everyday and is why I decided to get involved in gifted education to begin with. It was quickly revealed to me that gifted students’ excellence was not adequately celebrated, especially in minority communities, which deeply saddened me as a proud Latino parent and has pushed me to make this unfortunate reality change for the better of our children.

The idea to highlight the excellencies of Latinx students began at the 2018 National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Annual Convention in Minneapolis, MN. This was the first NAGC convention that Kris and I attended, so we were both pretty anxious and overwhelmed by the scale and environment. Kris and I were running our state affiliate’s (NMAG/SCNMAG) booth when I learned that NAGC has often given student awards throughout its history. On the second day of the convention, our booth was approached by a gentleman who kindly introduced himself and thanked us for supporting gifted education. These were his parting words: “If there is any way that I can help you, please let me know.” I tested these words the following January when I reached out to him with questions about creating or supporting an award to uplift Latinx students. This is how we met Dr. Jonathan Plucker.

Over the next several years, I worked with Jonathan to propose this award. He thought it was a great step for NAGC, especially following closely behind the Latina/o Task Force created during his term as NAGC president. Many NAGC members and staff have provided helpful guidance and assistance along the way, most notably Dr. Shelagh Gallagher, who led the charge to make the award a reality. With the assistance of the NAGC Awards Committee and the Rompiendo Barreras SIG, the award will be launched on May 1, 2024.  

Excelencia Latina is intended to open opportunities and celebrate Latinx gifted students first and foremost. This award recognizes those gifted students who strive for excellence in all aspects of their life and in what they are most passionate about. It’s hoped that every parent of a Latinx gifted child will encourage them to apply so we can recognize as many extraordinary children as possible. Finally, this award will shed light on the plethora of issues and barriers that our gifted Latinx students experience while navigating our education system. Although some are able to overcome these barriers, this is tragically not the case for many. Every gifted child should have ample opportunity to exhibit excellence with as few hoops to jump through as possible, especially our Latinx youth. 

After a 5-year journey, my wife Christina, daughter Kris, and myself are grateful that this award is finally coming to life. We are counting down the days to celebrate our first group of students to be named Excelencia Latina Scholars this upcoming November in Seattle at the annual NAGC conference. 

—

How to Apply

Parents of students should complete the application for Excelencia Latina scholarships which are open from May 1 to June 30, 2024 at 11:59pm. Parents of applicants must submit an online application form, a letter of recommendation from a teacher or counselor, and include a personal statement from the student describing their achievements and goals. Click here to learn more and view the application.

Support Excelencia Latina

• Donate: Make a donation to the Excelencia Latina Fund to support the inaugural class of scholars and ensure the longevity of the program for years to come.
  
• Volunteer: Serve as a scholarship application reviewer. NAGC is offering the scholarship application in both English and Spanish – volunteers who are native Spanish speakers or who have a high level of Spanish proficiency are especially needed.

In the recent past, a number of laws have been proposed, and too many passed, by state legislatures restricting the teaching of certain topics in K-12 schools and even in higher education. There has been a concomitant movement to ban the availability of certain books and educational materials. Promoted largely by adherents to a particular political philosophy, the forbidden topics have included such things as historical relations in the US between Whites, Blacks, and Native Americans, as well as the personal subjects of sexuality and gender. The political motivations for these laws and restrictions are topics for discussion elsewhere. The focus of this essay is two-fold: (1) The serious assault on advanced learner education these restrictions represent; and (2) The emotional cost the restrictions will cause BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students to bear, and the differing, though also profound, negative effects on White, cisgendered, straight students as well. Note, this essay is not a research study; it is based on clinical and personal observations arising from a decades-long practice of psychotherapy with gifted and talented individuals and families, in whose intimate emotional lives it has been my honor to have participated.

No one who is familiar with a gifted child has missed their motivation to learn; the desire to understand and the passion for meaning-making might well be psychologically universal hallmarks of what our modern Western culture has designated as giftedness. Advanced educational materials are appropriate for gifted students because of the lure of expanded understanding. A primary issue for parents of gifted kids, since organizations advocating on their behalf have existed, is the failure of educational programs to appropriately meet advanced learning needs. The restrictive laws currently being proposed and passed in several states aim to purposely limit what information is presented in schools, thus specifically limiting the ability of all students, and in particular advanced learners, to explore the world as it is. This stunting of the educational process is frustrating, yes, but it also opens the door to a student’s sense of betrayal when the information being denied in school is discovered from outside sources — which of course in the internet age is certain to occur. The bottom line here is that laws restricting information in the classroom, or in the libraries, are direct attacks on freedom of speech, profound frustrations of the educational process, and—most notably for our purposes — a destructive barrier to advanced learner education.

What happens when certain information about the history or cultural experience of particular social groups is limited or forbidden in the classroom? The answer to this will be clear to many parents and teachers of gifted students, who have understood that a primary advocacy aim is basically the recognition that advanced learners exist, and that they have specifiable needs. It is the invisibility of these students and their educational needs — a non-recognition of a significant aspect of their personhood — that affects not just the students’ educational progress, but also their very self concept. In another blog post, I have described the effects of non-recognition in a racialized context (Recognizing Others: A Call to Accomplices On The Path To Equity). Clinical experience demonstrates that the result of this non-recognition is often a sense of shame; a child questions whether they are abnormal or defective in some way, and whether they are deemed worthy of others’ attention. Although in modern Western culture we have a tendency to think of people as isolated units, with emotional states such as shame representing some kind of internal pathological state, current psychological research shows us that we actually understand ourselves in a relational context. Our self-concept is created and shaped in relation to those nearest to us, embedded in still wider cultural and religious influences. Feelings of shame have their origins in our experience of other people’s attitudes toward us. 

Laws being passed, and books being banned, aim at preventing certain information from reaching our children. When this information concerns students’ racial background, or cultural history, or sexual orientation, or gendered experience, those significant aspects of their lives are made invisible. If it is forbidden to speak of certain aspects of my life, I am likely to feel shame: “What is so wrong with me that I cannot be seen? Am I a threat to others?” Nor is the silence the only problem in such a classroom. Today we are aware of racial trauma: historical contempt, mistreatment, and threat of the sort that infuses family life and affects self identity and is passed, explicitly or not, down the generations. Black and Native American students bring this with them into the classroom; LGBTQIA+ students come surrounded by an equally pernicious culturally-invoked attitude. Invisibility, by ignoring of the realities of students’ life experience, evokes shame, which in turn significantly interferes with the student’s ability to think clearly. 

Nor does this constricted classroom atmosphere affect only BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students. White students currently represent the dominant culture in our schools. It is White students whose feelings are purportedly to be protected by the educational restrictions we are seeing. It is (certain) White parents who are said to be in need of choices for what their children will learn. Nonetheless, White students in restricted-information classrooms experience the same limitations on their ability to grasp the world around them. They are made either to remain unaware of the realities of their classmates’ lives, or to conclude that those classmates’ lives are not worth understanding. This educational outcome is not something we should countenance for any student, and certainly not for advanced learners.

Where does this leave us? Advocacy organizations seeking to promote and support educational programs of demonstrated benefit to advanced learners have, in my view, an obligation to confront the current wave of anti-educational, anti-intellectual law-making. We must join the public outcry by organizations demanding freedom of thought, freedom of dialogue, and the ability to grapple with even the most contentious of contemporary issues, in an educational environment where thoughtful listening, expression, and understanding are the goals. See, for example, NAGC’s recent policy position. We owe this to advanced learners, because open access to ideas is for them a fundamental educational and emotional need, and we owe it to them and to all students because in a larger context access to differing ideas, and encouraging dialogue about them, is our only realistic hope for altering the spread of an increasingly contentious and violent world.

Related resource links:

• NAGC Policy Position: Support for Culturally Relevant and Responsive Education
• Truthout: Teachers Are Fighting Book Bans and Unjust Firings in Courts and State Houses
• NCTE: Freedom To Teach: Statement Against Banning Books
• NY Times: What Students Are Saying About Banning Books From School Libraries
• Harvard Graduate School of Education: Teaching in the Face of Book Bans
• ASCD: A Framework for Resisting Book Bans
• Unite Against Book Bans: Book Resumes
• Banned and Challenged Books
• Pen America: Cracks in the Facade
• Education Week: No, Book Bans are Never Reasonable
• Racial Equity Tools
  
    
  

The Role of Curriculum in Identifying Gifted Behaviors and Gifted Potential*

Kristen Seward, Ph.D.
NAGC Curriculum Studies Network Chair
Clinical Associate Professor in Gifted, Creative, and Talented Studies
Purdue University

Enriched and accelerated curriculum differentiates gifted education from regular and special education, and in typical education practice, this advanced curriculum is initiated after students have been identified for gifted programming. For this blog, however, I’d like to consider the important role curriculum serves in identification of gifted behaviors and gifted potential, particularly for students with limited opportunities to learn (OTL) prior to and throughout formal schooling and for students from underrepresented populations. Specifically, how does curriculum front-loading support equitable identification practices?

We’ve been searching and re-searching (pun intended) for the best identification assessment or combination of assessments for years with minimal gains in access, equity, and missingness (Gentry et al., 2019). Our efforts to develop identification processes that increase equitable access to and selection for gifted programming have resulted in complicated systems that utilize multiple quantitative and qualitative measures that are difficult to combine, further complicating the identification process, while students from underrepresented populations continue to be left behind (Cavilla, 2013). Curriculum front-loading holds great potential for resolving this identification conundrum. Front-loading is “the process of preparing students for advanced content and creative and critical thinking prior to identification or before advanced-level courses are offered” (Briggs et al., 2008, 137), thereby ameliorating concerns related to students’ opportunities to learn or to long-standing criticism of traditional identification processes. 

As more schools adopt the talent development model of gifted education, front-loading before and after formal identification makes sense. Prior to identification, front-loading enriched and accelerated curriculum allows students with gifted potential opportunities and time to develop their intellectual abilities and academic skills, including problem-solving and creative thinking (Cavilla, 2013). In addition, learning experiences that incorporate students’ interests and meaningful choices in how they learn and/or the products they create allow teachers special opportunities to identify talent in ways they may have otherwise missed. In a very real sense, front-loading provides the opportunities to learn that some students may have missed, thereby leveling the playing field, so to speak, prior to formal identification. In addition, front-loading is cost-effective and fiscally responsible. Districts can direct funds designated for gifted education to their schools to support teachers and students as opposed to sending funds to testing companies to purchase costly assessments. Because curriculum front-loading is implemented with students (not done to students on a specific day and time like a test), it naturally aligns with the gifted programming schools offer. These important considerations follow recent recommendations researchers have developed for evaluating identification processes based on Cost, Alignment, Sensitivity, and Access (CASA) criteria (Peters et al., 2022).


Front-loading also promotes equity and access after formal identification by providing students with deeper and broader exposure to essential concepts, questions, and vocabulary in the content areas needed for future success in rigorous coursework (Cavilla, 2013). In addition to identification, excellence gaps represent another persistent problem in gifted education metrics. Excellence gaps represent the stark variations in gifted students’ academic performance across demographic groups, with underrepresented populations scoring much lower than well-represented populations of gifted students (Plucker et al., 2017). Front-loading provides an avenue for equitable access to and potential for success in advanced programs for students already identified for gifted programming (Meyer & Plucker, 2021). What’s more, curriculum front-loading has been promoted as “the foundation for any comprehensive intervention efforts [to reduce excellence gaps]” (Plucker et al., 2017).

The importance of teacher training in this curriculum front-loading expansion of the identification process cannot be overstated. First, teachers must be trained to deliver an enriched and advanced curriculum in a way that increases the teachers’ opportunities to identify talent. Teachers trained to identify gifted behaviors and gifted potential observe and interact with students engaged in hands-on, minds-on learning experiences over several days, not one lesson or one day. Effective programming for gifted students often involves integrating advanced curricula with instructional strategies to enhance learning outcomes (Callahan et al., 2015). Many curriculum models in gifted education emphasize the use of confluent approaches that combine advanced content learning with enriched experiences to serve gifted students effectively (Sak & Ayas, 2020). 

Second, teacher training must include the identification of gifted behaviors that are representative of the cultures, languages, disabilities, and economic diversities that students bring to the classroom. Observing and noting students who persist through difficult tasks, who ask intriguing questions related to the content, who take charge of a small group of learners on a project, who demonstrate empathy when working with others, or who demonstrate divergent thinking are only a few of the ways gifted potential can be identified through behavior. Note that some of these behaviors are academic in nature, but others point to social and emotional characteristics that are common among learners with gifts, creativity, and talents. Teachers may use a teacher rating scale that yields reliable results and focuses on academic and social behaviors that indicate gifted potential, such as the HOPE Teacher Rating Scale (Gentry et al., 2015). Teachers may find such scales especially helpful for identifying students from underrepresented populations. 

Although research on front-loading is sparse, what exists is positive and promising, especially when schools that have expanded their identification processes to include curriculum front-loading have identified gifted behaviors and gifted potential in students from underrepresented populations. 

*This blog was created with the assistance of scite.ai.