Today we've had the pleasure of having a marvelous talk about a topic which (sadly enough) was rather unknown to us: gifted children. The guest speaker was Mª Luz, the secretary of AVAST, the Valencian association for gifted students, parents and teachers, whose main aim is orientating and helping them to get in touch with experts in the field, so all together they can make the most of the educative experience of those children. Indeed, Mª Luz is the proud mother of two of them, the real reason which arose her curiosity and interest in this field.
Based on her personal experience, her talk has dealt with the stereotypes and false myths that have shaped society's vision of those special learners, such as:
-Gifted children mainly referring to little boys with glasses, dressed like adults and surrounded by books and blackboards (a stereotype which we can confirm after a quick search on the Internet to illustrate the post)
-Gifted as synonym of over-stimulated children whose parents 'forced' them to learn too fast for their age.
- Gifted in the sense of 'antisocial nerds'
However, she has showed us that in general those scornful stereotypes have nothing to do with the real lives of these special students -for instance, the activity she proposed about identifying gifted teenagers only basing our guesses on their physical appearance demonstrated how wrong we were. What really shocked us was the fact that many of these talented individuals have actually failed at academic levels, whereas they were outstanding in the artistic fields. The frustration they felt inside a school system which limits their cognitive capacities really touched us. Neither did we see as students the purpose of repeating the same kind of exercise one hundred times once we had already learnt to do it. Thus, now as teachers we understand the innate curiosity of these children and their desire of always learning more. Instead of cutting their wings, as educators it is our duty to make available for them all the materials and resources which can better equip their eager minds. After all, curiosity is one of the most powerful tools to change and improve the world!
On the other hand, the idea that also caught our attention was the legal situation of these children and their families, and the lack of resources available for them. As the case of Ena demonstrates, families encounter a lot of red tape and social opposition when trying to find the most suitable educative experience for their children. In general, we tend to pay more attention to the people at the left side of the Gauss curve (people with a lower IC), completely forgetting the ones at the right side. Our point is that the principle of 'catering for diversity' means taking into account all the different types of special needs when designing the syllabus -as it is the core idea of the inclusive school. We believe that it is possible to adapt the educational standards to the particular needs of each student. Thus, we agree with Mª Luz' statement that a system in which all learners, regardless of their innate capacities, are 'forced' to learn the same content with the same level of difficulty has no sense, since ones could get bored while others would feel confused and lost. The ideal model would be an equitable system in which the content is adapted to each student, so every single individual is guaranteed the right of learning something new and enriching every day, something able to stimulate them at all levels.
In conclusion, this talk has completely changed our vision of talented children. We are no longer afraid of having one of them in class, because now we understand this challenge as a unique opportunity of learning more and growing ourselves both as teachers and individuals.
We hope to be able to identify these special students in the future and to construct together a successful learning experience for everyone!
We hope to be able to identify these special students in the future and to construct together a successful learning experience for everyone!
