In the quest for solutions to make school as rigorous and relevant as possible, one particularly vibrant source of information is often omitted: the opinions of our students. Yet, by posing specific questions about curriculum, classroom climate, and teacher competencies and attitudes, a rich database of usable suggestions emerges. The author of…

A "flash mob" is defined by Wikipedia as "a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then disperse." Fueled by social media and Smartphones, flash mobs have been used, primarily, as entertaining diversions by addicted techies with (apparently) tons of time on their hands.…

In this article, the authors share their experiences and reflections on their trip to Saudi Arabia as participants of a 3-day workshop on giftedness sponsored by King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba). Delisle states that the trip to Saudi Arabia made him realize the importance of firsthand knowledge…

This article offers some guidance for those first entering the volatile, exciting, and (at times) exasperating field of gifted child education. It provides common denominators that underlie this field of study that typically surface at some point in this career. The following are among the sections included in this brief article: (1) Gifted child…

All respected educators share one ultimate goal: to enhance the lives of students in their care. Few make impacts that get lauded worldwide; instead, most are content to know that, at day?s end, one child is more knowledgeable, more secure, or more fired up to learn thanks to that presence in their lives.

According to our government, the latest recession is finally over. Still, it seems to me that lots of states are wrangling with diminished budgets for schools in general and gifted programs in particular. So, if we are to maintain our own livelihoods and our field's existence, we're going to have to become innovative in our approaches to…

Everybody is doing it: differentiating curriculum to make it deeper, broader, parallel, and more complex. No longer the private property of gifted specialists, differentiation is now a democratic pursuit of classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, and anyone else who subscribes to "Educational Leadership." In an era of competency-based tests…

This paper presents two separate and contrasting "opinion pieces" on the subject of multiple intelligence. Over the past few years, James Delisle has become more and more bold in his attacks on Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) and Joseph Renzulli's Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM). He has made numerous presentations at state…

This article describes critical events that have shaped gifted education, including: publication of "A Nation At Risk," the Roeper School, differentiated curriculum, concepts of intelligence, the Marland Report, the Torrance Tests, Teachers' College at Columbia University achievements, the legacy of Leta S. Hollingworth, Sputnik, and Lewis M.…

A survey of gifted school-aged children in the United States, Canada, and the Republic of South Africa revealed that this group is capable of envisioning the future realistically and optimistically, and that they are beginning to think more globally than nationally. Some responses are presented. (MSE)