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1) Michelle, please tell us a bit about yourself and how you got involved with gifted education.

When my children were in elementary school I began reading everything I could find on parenting gifted children.  I realized that I wanted to know more and began pursuing a Masters Degree in Education, concentrating in gifted education, at the University of Connecticut (graduated in 2005).  I am a founding member of Boulder Valley Gifted and Talented (BVGT) and currently serve as secretary for BVGT.  I am on the Boulder Valley School District TAG Advisory Committee and I write a blog on Gifted and Talented Education in the 21^st Century,   http://www.talentedandgifted.net/.   

2) What do YOU see as the main needs of gifted kids?

Michael, that's a loaded question. There are so many different needs of gifted kids and it's difficult to generalize when the population of gifted students is so diverse.  I see two main types of needs for gifted students:  their intellectual or academic needs; and their social and emotional needs.  It is really important to address both the academic and affective sides of giftedness.   I would say the main needs are: to interact with like minded peers (other gifted students) while engaging in high level, interesting and relevant content.  GT kids need to be supported in their learning and need to learn at least a year's worth of content each and every year.   

3) What do YOU see as their current "great gripes" or complaints?

Gifted students frequently complain of boredom in school.  Begin forced to do homework and sit through lessons where they are not learning anything new can get tiresome very quickly.   Or worse, being forced to sit through they already know lessons, doing their required homework that doesn't teach them anything, and THEN being given extra work to do to 'enrich them'.  Gifted students often complain that being in a GT program simply means they get extra work to do. 

Another big complaint is teachers who make them feel uncomfortable about being gifted by them an example to the class. This frequently causes problems with peers and encourages the GT student to shut down.

4) What are the challenges that parents face?

There are so many challenges to raising a gifted child.  Here are a few I see as the big ones…

a) Helping the gifted child to find a comfortable peer group.

b) Maintaining the joy in learning for the child.

c) Balancing the intellectual needs of the child with the social and emotional needs.  Due to the asynchronous development of many gifted children these needs may be conflicting.

5) What are the challenges that teachers face?

Let me start by saying, I'm not a classroom teacher so I really cannot speak to this question fully.  I image that teachers in heterogeneous classrooms have a really tough job in the era of No Child Left Behind.  NCLB has created so many requirements for state testing and bringing lower performing students up to standard, it is often difficult to address the needs of advanced learners.

6) Tell us about this "Gifted Kids Network" . When was it set up and by whom?

In October of 2007 I attended the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented 2007 conference.  Dr. Sally Reis gave a keynote on Loosing our way in the maze of federal mandates and standardization.  In addition I attended a presentation by Ben Wilkoff on how he was using web 2.0 technologies with his middle school students.  The entire ride home from the conference my mind was spinning with ideas and I began researching using technology with gifted students.  In November, I presented my ideas to Becky Whittenburg and Jenn Barr in the Boulder Valley School District.  With very helpful feedback from both Becky and Jenn, I began revising and tuning my ideas.  In January, the first classes in the Gifted Kids Network were offered as a pilot program. 

The Gifted Kids Network is a web based supplemental gifted and talented programming model that includes accelerated or advanced content and affective programming. Enrolled students from schools and districts throughout the United States are able to come together in a private secure online environment to engage in high level content with other gifted peers.  Gifted Kids Network utilizes technologies such as wikis, blogs, social bookmarking, collaborative documents, podcasting and video or photo sharing to create a virtual gifted program that is collaborative, connected, and social.    

7) What kinds of information would be found there?

Accelerated Learning Unit are standards based units of instruction centered on multidisciplinary high interest topics.  Each unit is based on major principles and essential understandings that correlate to state and national standards within the areas of science, social studies, and language arts. Each lesson in the ALU includes media rich content and activities requiring constructivist student inquiry. Throughout each unit there are opportunities for students to collaborate on activities, to share ideas through discussion forums and to reflect on their learning through blog entries and responses.  Students, teachers, or mentors can post forum questions for discussion.

Students use blogs to reflect on: what they have learned; why it is important; and how they can use the knowledge they have gained. Students work both collaboratively and at times independently on projects. School districts can enroll identified gifted students in one or more standards based course.  Each course runs for one semester (approximately 16 weeks).   Students are expected to commit to three to five hours per week for each course.  Schools should plan on providing at least three hours of in class time for each course and students should expect to have about one hour per week of work outside of the school day.  Students will be required to participate in weekly discussion forums and write weekly blog entries related to their learning.  Projects will be assigned for each major topic (approximately every two to three weeks).  

Students will receive feedback on their blogs and discussion forum contributions and will receive grades on their projects.  Some classes will also include quizzes and tests.

Enrichment 2.0 , like it's the model it is based on, the enrichment cluster, is an inquiry based learning model where students select a topic, are grouped to work on the topic, and prepare an authentic product or service. Enrichment 2.0 allows students who are not physically in the same space to collaborate in an area of interest.

The "Lounge" component of Gifted Kids Network is designed to support the affective needs and growth of gifted and talented students. The lounge provides students an opportunity to socialize with other gifted students. The socialization includes informal discussions about topics of the student's choice including music, sports, hobbies, and life in rural communities. The lounge acts as a cafeteria or playground for students to relax and get to know each other. In addition, formal discussion groups will address common concerns of gifted and talented students including: multipotentiality, perfectionism, asynchrony, peer relations, excessive self criticism, and career planning.

The discussion groups are directed by adult facilitators with training in the social and emotional needs of gifted students

8) Do you endorse any specific products or book companies or authors?

GKN uses the Multiple Menu Model to create curriculum units and utilizes the Independent Investigation Method  for student research projects.  I create most of the content for the lessons myself. However as GKN grows I am beginning to investigate vendors for the Flash media simulations and videos that I include in the accelerated learning units and enrichment clusters.  GKN is specifically for gifted and talented students so I am always evaluating curriculum and products for their ability to encourage critical and creative thinking as well as for the specific content presented.

9) What are you trying to accomplish with the network?

a) Outcome 1: Students would gain increased technological skills and increased confidence using the computer for collaborative and self directed learning. 

b) Outcome 2: Students would connect with other gifted students and address many affective concerns of being gifted. 

c) Outcome 3: Students would master benchmarks related to their specific courses. 

d) Outcome 4: Students would improve research, writing skills and thinking skills:

1. Students will be able to ask and assess multifaceted questions in a variety of content areas.

2. Students will be able to critically examine the complexity of knowledge and information.

3. Students will be able to think creatively and critically to identify and suggest possible solutions to real-world problems.

4. Students will be able to conduct thoughtful and thorough research.

5. Students will be able to assume leadership and participatory roles in group learning situations.

6. Students will be able to set and achieve personal and academic goals.

7. Students will be able to produce a variety of authentic products using 21st century tools that demonstrate understanding in multiple fields and disciplines.

10) What question have I neglected to ask?  

Readers might be interested in seeing some of the work GKN students have produced:

Pilot Program Student Blogs http://giftedkidsnetwork.com/wp/

Summer 2008 Virtual Zoo http://talentedandgifted.wikispaces.com/Virtual+Zoo+-+Summer+08

Published August 12, 2008