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Teaching Mathematically Gifted Students 

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Teaching Mathematically Gifted Students 

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Below is an alphabetical listing of highly gifted programs, organizations, opportunities, and more for math students.

AlphaStar Academy (Santa Clara, CA) AlphaStar Academy offers extensive training programs for gifted students towards national and international Math and Science competitions such as MathCounts, American Mathematics Competitions, USA Math Olympiads, USA Computing Olympiads, F=ma, and USA Physics Olympiads.

American Mathematical Society (AMS) The AMS offers mathematics resources, including online listings for awards, fellowships and other professional opportunities. Visitors can search, browse, share, and post calls for fellowship and grant applications, prize and award nominations, and meeting and workshop proposals in the mathematical sciences. The page serves mathematics faculty/scientists, institutions, programs, postdocs/early-career mathematicians, graduate students, undergraduate students, high school students and teachers. The website also provides links to summer math camps for high school students.

Areteem Institute Areteem Institute is an educational institution that develops and provides in-depth and advanced math and science programs for K-14 (High School, Middle School, Elementary School, and 2-year college) students and teachers. The Areteem Institute offers online classes, summer programs and teacher training. Students may attend the Areteem Institute part time or fulltime through these options: live and real-time face-to-face online classes; self-paced classes by watching the recordings of the live classes; and summer intensive and winter boot camps.

Army Educational Outreach Program Through AEOP, the Army continues its long tradition and strong commitment to the advancement of STEM education and literacy. Leveraging its most valuable assets - world-class scientists and engineers and research facilities - AEOP offers our nation's youth and teachers a collaborative, cohesive portfolio of opportunities that effectively engage future workforce generations in meaningful, real-world STEM experiences, competitions and paid internships. From elementary school through graduate school, students of all proficiency levels, interests, social and economic backgrounds are encouraged to participate in real-world STEM experiences while also engaging with Army-sponsored mentors.

Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) Art of Problem Solving offers online math courses, curriculum and textbooks. The website brings together students, instructors, peers, and friends to discuss problem solving methods, instructional materials and other common interests. Their project Beast Academy provides a full, rigorous and entertaining curriculum for aspiring math students in grades two through five. Four fully-illustrated guides per grade provide complete lessons, delivered by the Beast Academy instructors in an engaging comic book style. Beast Academy also now has a new online learning system for elementary school math that provides over 600 lessons, 10,000 problems, and access to the digital versions of the Beast Academy Guide books.

Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) (Fairfax, VA) The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) is a non-profit organization founded in 1971. Their continuing goal is to encourage women in the mathematical sciences. AWM currently has more than 4,100 members (women and men) representing a broad spectrum of the mathematical community - from the United States and around the world!

Blair Science Magnet (Silver Spring, MD) The Magnet Program is designed to offer accelerated, interdisciplinary courses in science, mathematics, and computer science for highly able students particularly interested in these subjects.

Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM) (New York City, NY) Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM) is a nonprofit organization based in New York City that seeks to find low-income, high-performing math students. The mission of Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM) is to create pathways for underserved students to become scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists. BEAM Scholars are provided with organizational help, academic counseling, academic help, mentorship, and support to enable them to attend advanced academic programs through high school. BEAM Scholars are immersed in deep mathematical experiences through rigorous summer programs and challenging, enriching year-round activities.

Center for Precollegiate Education and Training - University of Florida (UF-CPET) (Gainesville, FL) This program promotes interaction between teachers, students, graduate students, researchers and industry stakeholders in science and technology education and training. Some programs include: Dual Credit Enrollment, Excursions in Science, Mini Medical School, Science Information for Teachers, Summer Science Institute and more.

Center for Talent Development at Northwestern - Online and Hybrid Programs CTD offers engaging gifted online courses and programs, including family programs, enrichment, core essentials, honors, and AP courses for gifted and talented students in kindergarten through grade 12. Eligible home schooled, elementary, middle or high school students can accelerate and broaden their knowledge base any time and any place. GLL courses provide rigorous, individualized instruction helping gifted students to achieve their educational goals.

Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) The Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) is a private foundation whose statement of purpose is to increase and disseminate mathematical knowledge; to educate mathematicians and other scientists about new discoveries in the field of mathematics; to encourage gifted students to pursue mathematical careers; and to recognize extraordinary achievements and advances in mathematical research.

Cooperative Highly Accelerated Mathematics Program (CHAMP) (MI) This Michigan State University Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program is available to students in Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, and Shiawassee Intermediate School Districts in Michigan. Mathematically gifted students are able to complete the required four years of high school math in two years through CHAMP. Students meet on Thursday afternoons each week on the MSU campus.

Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology (Alexandria, VA) Cora Kelly School for Math, Science, and Technology offers exciting and challenging instructional programs. The school curriculum is organized around mathematics, science and technology laboratories and reading/language arts department that focuses on the Four Block Balanced Literacy. Though we are a math, science and technology magnet school, our "foundation program" is Four Blocks. Our belief is that literacy is the gateway to success in every other curriculum area.

eIMACS - e-Institute for Mathematics and Computer ScienceeIMACS, the distance learning division of the Institute for Mathematics & Computer Science (IMACS), is dedicated to delivering high quality interactive math and computer science classes for gifted secondary school students. University-level, online courses include Advanced Mathematical Logic, University Computer Science, AP Computer Science, and Test Prep for the AP Computer Science and AP Calculus exams. eIMACS is based in Plantation, Florida, and serves students from across the US and around the world, including homeschoolers, students without access to AP Computer Science, and students who want to study advanced math and computer science at their own pace.

Elements of Mathematics: Foundations (EMF) EMF is a self-contained, self-study program from IMACS that allows gifted student to complete all of middle and high school mathematics except calculus before leaving middle school. The EMF curriculum exposes students to subject areas not found in the standard curriculum such as operational systems, set theory, number theory, abstract algebra, and probability and statistics.

Fermilab Target Program (Batavia, IL) Fermilab's TARGET: Science and Engineering Program is a highly competitive paid summer internship opportunity for high school sophomores and juniors who have strong interest and demonstrated aptitude for mathematics and the sciences, physics, in particular.

Georgia Academy of Arts, Mathematics, Engineering and Sciences (Cochran, GA)
This is an exclusive 2-year Dual Enrollment residential program that allows high school students the opportunity to simultaneously earn a high school diploma from their home high school as well as a possible associate's degree from Middle Georgia State University (MGA), while experiencing dorm living and integrating within our inclusive university community on the Cochran Campus.

Gifted & Talented Education (GATE), The Honors College at Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI)
The various Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) programs offered through Michigan State University (MSU) are dedicated to promoting differentiated educational programs for students in grades 7-12. Mathematics Science and Technology (MST) is a two-week residential program for academically talented students. CHAMP is a regional program for students highly gifted in mathematics. ISHALL is an accelerated, intensive two-year course in literature and language designed to meet the curricular goals and merit standards of high school English, grades 7-10, in two years. Plus, there is also a dual enrollment program, a Michigan-Shiga Exchange program, a CSI Forensic Science program and several others listed on the website.

Glenn T. Seaborg Center at Northern Michigan University (Marquette, MI) The Center is both a department in the Northern Michigan University College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Michigan Network of Mathematics and Science Centers funded by the Michigan legislature. A major component of the Center's activities are in programs for K-12 students, teachers, and the community. As a Michigan mathematics and science center, the Seaborg Center is accountable in six areas: leadership, student services, professional development, curriculum support, resource clearinghouse services, and community outreach.

Idea Math (Various Locations) The IDEA MATH program was created to help talented students who want to advance their problem solving skills - both to expand their mathematical horizons, and to maximize their performance in math competitions. They offer the following for students entering 6th to 12th grade: weekend program; winter program (AMC 123); summer program; and an online program.

Ideaventions Academy for Mathematics and Science (Reston, VA) This is an independent school for the gifted offering grades 4th-12th, where passionate teachers help intellectually-curious students with an interest in math and science pursue their interests as part of a lively community and through engaging experiences.

Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS) Math Enrichment IMACS gives talented students a competitive edge by teaching them how to think critically using logic and reasoning. The online IMACS Math Enrichment program (grades K-6) incorporates games, stories, and logic puzzles to make the weekly instructor-led classes fun and engaging. Students progress through five levels of meticulously designed lessons, learning advanced concepts often overlooked in traditional math classes such as sets, relations, and functions. IMACS students are grouped by ability, not age, and so students will be free to reach their full potential. IMACS serves students from across the United States and around the world through its online programs. Parents with elementary school children may register for a free math enrichment placement class.

International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO)
IMO is the World Championship Mathematics Competition for High School students and is held annually in a different country.

Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth Online Distance Courses (CTYOnline) The Center for Talented Youth (CTY) has served the needs of academically gifted students worldwide by providing challenging programs matched to their abilities. CTYOnline distance courses offer eligible students opportunities to accelerate and enrich their learning at home or at school. Students can take advanced math, for example, without having to take a bus to a high school or college and without having to miss other classes at their local school. CTYOnline offers gifted students in grades pre K-12 challenging academic course work throughout the year.

Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center (KAMSC) The Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center (KAMSC) delivers a challenging, accelerated education in mathematics, science and technology to selected students, grades 9 - 12 in Kalamazoo County. Students can apply to the program in the eighth grade, and if accepted, spend a half-day at KAMSC in intensive mathematics, sciences and/or computer courses.

Math & Physics Exploration (Lagrange, NY)
This organization develops a curiosity and interest in mathematics so students, parents and teachers can improve their math and science education. Activities focus on various topics in mathematics and their application to physical phenomenon.

Math in Focus - The Singapore Approach Math in Focus offers the authentic Singapore math pedagogy with fewer topics taught in greater depth at each grade level. The program features visual representations and modeling strategies to solve complex problems; a consistent concrete-pictorial-abstract progression; and strong development of both conceptual understanding, place value, and computational fluency so students that understand the "how" as well as the "why."

Math Prize for Girls Sponsored by Advantage Testing Foundation as the largest monetary math prize for girls in the world, Math Prize for Girls is a math competition targeting high school girls who excel in science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics (STEM). The goal is to encourage young women with exceptional potential to become the mathematical and scientific leaders of tomorrow.

MathBootCamps This website features instructor led courses run in small groups with students recieving multimedia lessons everyday (for the seven day bootcamps) or once a week (for the sixteen week courses which is the length of a semester). Each lesson contains tons of worked examples and practice problems.

MathOnline - University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (CO) MathOnline allows gifted high school students the opportunity to take college courses, earning transferrable college credit upon successful completion of them. The courses are identical to the traditional courses offered to students on campus. Homework is completed on the same schedule as on-campus students, submitted through email or fax. There is no difference in tuition for in-state or out-of-state students.

Mathcamp This is an intensive 5-week-long summer program for gifted high school students designed to provide them with the opportunity to study advanced and unusual topics in a challenging and dynamic environment. There are regular courses, problem-solving sessions, small group tutorials, and lectures with opportunities for follow-up and discussion.
Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP)
The goals of MOSP include providing a mathematics program for about 25 very promising students who have risen to the top on the American Mathematics Competitions. The rigorous curriculum and daily schedule of the MOSP is designed to achieve the goals of the program. The MOSP will give students extensive practice in solving mathematical problems which require deeper analysis than those solved by students in even the best American high schools.

MIT PRIMES-USA (Cambridge, MA) PRIMES-USA (Program for Research in Mathematics, Engineering and Science for U.S.A. high school students) is a free, year-long research program for high school juniors from across the United States. PRIMES-USA students will work on original research projects in mathematics provided by MIT faculty. Projects will be mentored by MIT graduate students via the Internet, using software and hardware tools for online collaboration.

NetMath This distance learning program offers only college-level math courses to high school students as well as college students from all over the world. It uses Mathematica, which allows students to truly explore and understand mathematical concepts.

Proof School (San Francisco, CA) Proof School is for students with a genuine love for math, computer science, and making things - and who want to learn with like-minded peers. The best-fit students are internally driven to pursue mathematical sciences, not externally pushed. They are students excited by the opportunity to spend 2.5 hours on math in school every day. They are students open to new ideas, persistent with projects and problems that are challenging and inspiring. They are students interested and ready in areas outside of mathematics, be it music, laboratory sciences, history, or literature.

Research Science Institute (RSI) (Massachusetts)
Sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Research Science Institute (RSI) summer program involves focused content on advanced theory in the sciences, technology, engineering, and research in mathematics (STEM). Held every summer at MIT, RSI is open to students who have completed the third year of high school or the equivalent. Successful applicants will have demonstrated superior scholastic achievement in mathematics, the sciences, and verbal arts. They will have shown the potential for leadership in science and mathematics through their activities in and beyond the classroom. Refer to their informative web page for application deadline details.

Russian School of Mathematics (Various Locations) The Russian School of Mathematics is an award-winning, afterschool math program for K-12 students. The RSM programs help children of all levels build a solid math foundation and develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Their systematic curriculum and approach is based on the best practices of math schools in the former Soviet Union and Europe, adapted to the U.S. educational environment. More than 15,000 students attend branches across the country in a variety of after school and summer programs ranging from day camps to sleep away camps. Online courses are also available for students in locations without a physical branch.

Society for Science & the Public (SSP) The mission of the Society for Science & the Public (SSP) is to advance public understanding and appreciation of science. A non-profit based in Washington, D.C., SSP encourages students, parents, teachers, and communities to explore the vast world of science. Through publications, programs, science fairs and scholarship competitions, SSP helps young people utilize and strengthen their knowledge of science, math, and engineering.

Stanford Math Circle (Stanford, CA) The Stanford Math Circle offers quarter-long sessions for local, elementary-, middle-, and high-school students who are interested in math. Math circles are weekly gatherings of students working on problems involving complex and advanced mathematical topics, guided by mathematicians and educators. The weekly meetings take place on Thursdays on Stanford University's campus.

Stanford Pre-Collegiate University-Level Online Math & Physics Stanford Pre-Collegiate University-Level Online Math & Physics courses bring motivated and academically-talented high school students together to allow them to explore their intellectual passions, develop analytic reasoning and creative thinking, and study directly with expert instructors. These online courses are offered throughout the year and give students the opportunity to take a broad offering of math and physics courses not typically offered in secondary schools. Courses in the University-Level Online Math & Physics programs are largely self-paced.

State University New York at Buffalo (SUNY) - Gifted Math Program (Buffalo, NY) The Gifted Math Program is an enrichment program for students in grades seven through 12 at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Students commute to the University twice weekly to study an enriched and accelerated program of mathematics in grades seven through 10, and university level courses in discrete mathematics and calculus in grades 11 and 12. They can accumulate a total of 22 semester hours of university credit for successful participation.

Talcott Mountain Academy for Science, Math & Technology (Avon, CT) This small private school is for "intellectually excited" students and focuses on science, math & technology. It has its own weather station including Doppler, TV station, hypospherium, planetarium, observatory and state of the art computer labs. The 4th through 8th grade program has been well established for over 15 years, and the Primary school (grades K-3) opened in 2000.

TechBridge Girls The Math/Science Network is a non-profit membership organization of educators, scientists, mathematicians, parents, community leaders, and government and corporate representative. The goal of the Math/Science Network is to increase the participation, retention, and advancement of girls and women in mathematics, science, and technology.

The Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter in Massachusetts (Marlborough, MA) This charter school offers students the opportunity of a classical education experience with an emphasis on technology, science and math. Students are held to high standards in a rigorous academic setting.

The Continental Mathematics League (CML) Continental Mathematics League (CML) experiences are designed to maximize student opportunities to participate and improve problem solving capabilities. Students participate with other students in the same grade level from schools acrossthe United States. These activities may be conducted in class during regular school hours without any additional time or transportation requirements.

Treasure Valley Mathematics & Science Center (TVMSC) (Boise, ID) The Treasure Valley Mathematics & Science Center (TVMSC) is a unique learning community that offers opportunities in mathematics and science education unlike those found in traditional school settings. The curriculum is specifically designed for students with a strong interest/desire to excel in mathematics and science. A key focal point of the instructional program will be activities that require students to work as a member of a research team. Students will collaborate in posing questions, designing experiments, acquiring and analyzing data, and finally, presenting their findings. The Center will run a half-day junior high program and a half-day senior high program.
University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program (UMTYMP) (Minneapolis, MN)
UMTYMP provides a challenging alternative for Minnesota's talented mathematics students in grades 6-12. The highly accelerated courses are specially designed to provide these students with an intense academic experience that will stimulate their mathematical interest and abilities. The program, offered through the University of Minnesota School of Mathematics Center for Educational Programs (MathCEP), is partially supported by an appropriation from the State of Minnesota. Students currently in grades 5-7 are identified and recommended by their schools as eligible for entering UMTYMP at the Algebra level.

University of Wisconsin, Regional Center for Math and Science (RCMS) (Green Bay, WI) The RCMS is a federally funded, six week residential pre-college program, designed to enhance and enrich high school students' understanding of science, mathematics, and the nature of scientific research. The Center's emphasis is on the health sciences. Careers in medicine, nursing, physical therapy, medical research, and the like, will be explored.

USA Mathematical Talent Search (USAMTS)

The USA Mathematical Talent Search (USAMTS) is a free mathematics competition open to all United States high school students. Students may enter the competition at any time of the academic year.

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Mathematically Gifted Students: A List of Resources | Davidson Institute

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Below is an alphabetical listing of highly gifted programs, organizations, opportunities, and more for math students. AlphaStar Academy (Santa Clara, CA) AlphaStar Academy offers extensive training programs for gifted students towards national and international Math and Science competitions such as MathCounts, American Mathematics Competitions, USA Math Olympiads, USA Computing Olympiads, F=ma, and USA Physics Olympiads.

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Tips and Tricks for Teaching Gifted Learners

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Tips and Tricks for Teaching Gifted Learners

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Gifted kids can be a joy to teach when you know how to identify what engages them. These 50 tips and tricks come from my own experience and from around the Web. They're good to have in your bag of tricks whether you're a newbie or an old hand at teaching these high-level thinkers.

Every year, I start by having my students complete an interest inventory. This helps me ensure that curriculum is personalized to their interests.

Share what you are reading with gifted students. Often, these students experience a reading lag where they can't find a sweet spot because it is hard for high-ability students to understand what is both challenging and appropriate.

Gifted students often need to have the ability to move when learning ... pacing, flapping and bouncing are parts of their thinking process.

4. Offer Flexible Seating

A window seat is my favorite place to read, so I keep that in mind when offering seating. Try to offer different seating options for students: beanbag chairs, carpet squares, pillows, director chairs ... the list can go on and on.

SOURCE: kindergartenisgrrreat.blogspot.com

5. Model Social Situations

Social situations can be challenging for some gifted students as their ability to understand social cues can be underdeveloped. Team up with other teachers to model the proper way to start conversations.

6. Share Current Events

Current events are important to incorporate into gifted programming. We want these students to be thinking about how they can use their talents to solve real-world problems.

As important as current events are, it is also just as important to understand that gifted students internalize global happenings on a very personal level. Kids do not have the experience with the world to understand that despite there being a war or attack, there are still good things happening in the world.

SOURCE: Reddit

Not all gifted students are meant to be the project manager. Allow students the opportunity to work alone or in a group. Even cross-grade groupings work well with gifted students.

9. Mind the Child Labor Laws

Gifted students who finish early should not automatically be the teacher's helper. Gifted students can be some of the worst students to assist others because their brains often work very differently. Having a gifted child help a student who is struggling may do more harm than good.

My grandmother always said, idle hands are the devil's workshop ... so keep some key things in the back for busy hands. LEGO bricks, cardboard and masking tape, and Snap Circuits are some of my favorites!

11. Introduce Minecraft Edu

SOURCE: http://education.minecraft.net/

Provide gifted students with clear endpoints on projects and assignments. Gifted students can create unusually high expectations and never see an end in sight; a book reflection can easily become a 10-page paper, a PowerPoint can become an intensive course on the topic. Letting students know where to stop can be helpful.

Use FutureMe.org and have students write a letter to their future selves. Once students have written the letter, you can set the date for it to be sent to their inbox. What a great way for students to set goals and create natural check-in points.

14. Teach Decision-Making

Gifted students can have a huge case of FOMO: fear of missing out. They understand that decisions have consequences, and sometimes they need to be given an inordinate amount of details about their options. Allow for the gifted student to fully understand the pros and cons of a decision.

Gifted students are processing a lot in their minds. Be patient and give them the time to reflect on what they need to come to a consensus they can live with.

16. Assign Expiration Dates

My gifted students walk into class with exploding folders and binders. They keep everything because there is a fear of being unprepared. Just like expiration dates for food, think about adding a footer to your handouts: "This handout expires on April 15."

17. Model Organization Strategies

Or at least model how you organize life. Gifted students like options and seeing how they work in the "real world" is very helpful. I show students how I use notes to organize things, how Google Calendar is my lifeline, and what I do for physical notes. I have used planners in the past and show those examples as well.

We also review different apps that could be helpful. I urge students to find what works for them. No system is not an answer. We all need a system to help us be productive. When I taught younger students, we would all try different systems together as our end-of-the-day procedure.

Offer gifted students a hobby that can help calm their busy minds. Teach them how to Zentangle, breathe, meditate, make friendship bracelets, knit, color-anything that allows for them to focus carefully on details can help them quiet some of the extra noise.

SOURCE: http://teachertothecore.blogspot.com

19. Explore Their Passions

Some gifted students don't have a passion yet because they haven't found it. Provide exposure to as much as possible. are one way to help students think about different topics. even has created teaching enhancements. I heart TED.

20. Read Tons of Biographies

Reading, watching or listening to the lives of others can help gifted students develop a plan of action and see what others did to accomplish goals.

21. Read Lots of Everything

It is true, so many gifted students have found a book that becomes so much a part of them, they can discuss it at length. Bibliotherapy is a great way for students to experience how to deal with issues and learn tactics and strategies.

For the love of anything that is holy, this should probably be no. 1. Research states that most gifted students do not learn new information until January. Don't make a student who has already mastered a concept sit through the lesson again.

Let gifted students pursue their interests. If they want to let everything be about dinosaurs, more power to them! We need paleontologists. As mentioned in , it takes over 10,000 hours to be an expert. To get that many hours on a time card, students have to be allowed to focus.

We need to allow students to hyper-focus but also then be the "guide on the side" that helps them make connections from one area to another. Perhaps we can get our dinosaur expert to use Scratch and make a "Dino Dig" math game?

Gifted students need mentors within their interest areas. Mentors can teach students how to navigate through professions and can even be gatekeepers to additional opportunities.

26. Practice Like Professionals

27. Locate Authentic Audiences

The work students create should have a real audience and be appreciated by those who authentically would benefit from its completion. Younger students are a great first authentic audience.

28. Put Them in Escape Rooms

I love The Mind Research Institute, which challenges students in grades K-12 to design their own mathematical game.

32. Check Out Local Happenings

Do you live in the middle of nowhere? Me too! But I was surprised to learn there were still a TON of events happening on the weekends. If you are in the urban areas, you are rich in opportunities. Look to local libraries, museums or universities.

33. Send Them to Summer Camp

Some of my closest childhood friendships started at summer camp. These times allowed for encouragement and allowed kids to be nurtured in an environment where trying something new was the goal. Summer camp allowed me to be myself and try new things.

34. Solve Local Problems

"With great power comes great responsibility," says one of our favorite superheroes, and he is correct-kindness counts. We need to do good with the gifts and talents we have been given. Give gifted students the opportunity to solve local problems and see the need for change in their own community. Allow a book to inspire this mission: Summer I Changed the World in 65 Days.

What do friends all have in common? Interests!! We are attracted to those who think similarly and those who challenge our beliefs. Book clubs make for a great space for likeminded students to come together to discuss a common theme ... in this case a book, which serves as a great discussion starter.

36. Allow for Voice and Choice

How many of you hated a certain book in high school only to read it as an adult and see how wrong you were? The moment we lost choice (of what to read in this case), we also lost joy. Allowing gifted students to have choice in the classroom allows them to feel empowered and engaged. Choices do not need to be huge either, small choices are just as important.

No one wants to only be the big fish in a small pond. We want to be around people who will make us better and want to achieve more. Allow your gifted student to be challenged by participating in academic competitions such as National History Day. Your students will see what true competition is.

This is one of the best ways to develop critical thinking. Show a picture of clouds ... what do you see? This type of activity develops fluency, elabora tion, originality and abstract thinking, which are all integral parts of being a creative thinker. Try Google's It's a great tool for getting students to think rapidly-it's also a gem for indoor recess.

When the students ask a question you don't know, look it up with them. As librarian media specialist Melissa Thom says, "the smartest people are the people who know how to find answers to their own questions." Follow her on twitter at .

Flocabulary creates content-rich raps (yes, as in hip-hop) about just about ANYTHING. There are so many wonderful resources embedded within-contests, lyric labs, lyric notes, connections to primary sources, teacher plans, corresponding handouts, questioning and so much more! This will quickly become your favorite teaching resource. I promise!

41. Let Them Read Below-Level Books

Why do we expect every book gifted students read to be 1.5-2 grade levels above their reading level? I say, if a student is enjoying a book, read it! Yes, challenging books are needed to develop reading ability but don't discount a book just because it is below a student's level. Reading a book for a different purpose can increase the difficulty of a book without changing the text.

42. Connect Globally

Global Read Aloud is a program where one book is used to connect the world. Pernille Ripp founded GRA in 2010 with the simple idea to read a book aloud to her stude nts and during that time try to make as many global connections as possible. This mission has grown exponentially and has reached over two million students. Collaborating with students in other states and countries will help a gifted student think empathetically.

43. Incorporate Mythology

If you know a gifted s tudent, then you know that mythology can be a huge interest-often spurred by the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Allow students to build a better understanding by incorporating mythology into different curricular units.

Provide a safe space for gifted students to take risks without being put down. Gifted students are often timid to answer something they are unsure about because of the social stigma attached to not answering correctly. Create a classroom culture where wrong answers become an opportunity to celebrate different thinking. Check out Nancy Anderson's book, What's Right About Wrong Answers? Learning Math From Mistakes.

QR codes add an interactive component to your classroom. Create a QR Code Museum or Gallery or even a QR scavenger hunt on one of your classroom bulletin boards.

A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again. This is Basho Matsuo's famous haiku. Use haiku as a way to challenge gifted students to summarize chapters, current events, biographies or vocabulary words. Haiku are student-friendly yet force them to be concise and purposeful with their word choice.

Action is powerful for gifted students. Allowing students to find solutions to problems they see in their school, neighborhood or community will allow them to understand that they can make a difference. Internalizing that they can be the change in the world is transformational. Watch these TED Talks to show them what kids like them are doing to change the world.

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50 Tips, Tricks and Ideas for Teaching Gifted Students - We Are Teachers

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Gifted kids can be a joy to teach when you know how to identify what engages them. These 50 tips and tricks are great to have in your back pocket.

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Tips for Teaching Cognitively Gifted Students 

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Tips for Teaching Cognitively Gifted Students 

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Tips for Teachers: Successful strategies for teaching gifted learners - Davidson Institute

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This article by the Davidson Institute offers a list of tips for teachers. It focuses on suggestions any teacher can use in the classroom to aid their

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Understanding Cognitively Gifted Children 

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Understanding Cognitively Gifted Children 

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Cognitive ability is less about specific knowledge bases, and more about the neurological skills needed to do anything - from the simplest to the most difficult task. It is how we learn, problem-solve, and pay attention. Each of the mental functions {cognitive abilities} we need to function relies on specific brain structures.

So, if we're not neurologists or psychotherapists, and have no idea which parts of the brain control perception, attention, memory, motor functions, language, visual/spatial processing, and executive functions, how can we understand and nurture our cognitively gifted child?
Superior cognitive ability - or cognitively gifted - refers to what we think of as intellectually gifted. It's not reflective of specific academic areas, arts, athletics, or anything else that is easily quantifiable. It's an overall exceptional intelligence.
Knowing your gifted child, even being able to explain what a gifted child looks like, isn't always enough to determine superior cognitive ability at a glance. It's not like a creatively gifted child who may be decorating your house with fine art or coming up with, and solving, complex problems. And cognitively gifted children are nothing like the academically gifted ones that excel in certain areas.
They are all over the place...and sometimes nowhere at all.
Can you relate?

Characteristics of the Cognitively Gifted Child

A cognitively gifted child may exhibit some or all of these characteristics. He or she may:

have an advanced vocabulary for her age.

develop an early interest in books and reading.

show a preference for independent reading and want to read adult-level books early on.

display rapid learning and easy recall of factual information.

demonstrate quick perception of cause-effect relationships.

have a high level of curiosity evidenced by many "how" and "why" questions.

have a long attention span with high retention of information.

use analogies in speech and writing.

possess a mature sense of humor.

seek complex and challenging activities.

be good at problem solving and display abstract thinking skills.

have an ability to reason and use logic.

Possess an ability to detect errors and understand consequences.

generalize quickly.

be in possession of large storehouses of information about various topics.

a tendency to become bored with routine tasks.

show concern for ethical issues, and have a strong sense of fairness.

demonstrate an unusual capacity for processing information.

display accelerated pace of thought.

have persistent, goal-directed behavior.

be a self-starter, show initiative, follow through with tasks, and hold herself to self-imposed high standards.

Might your child be cognitively gifted? Great... right?

Maybe, maybe not. Raising, parenting, and teaching a cognitively gifted child can be very challenging. And difficult. And frustrating. And tiring. And... Well, you get the picture. But how can we tell for sure that our child is cognitively gifted?

Identifying the Cognitively Gifted Child

Regardless of whether you choose to test or not, identifying a cognitively gifted child can be quite challenging. A child with superior cognitive ability just doesn't think like anyone else. Consider for example, this simple question - what does a scientist do? An average child may tell you that a scientist discovers things or works in a lab. A moderately gifted child may tell you that a scientist may study insects, or examine the mating habits of the garter snake, or find new ways to safely dispose of nuclear waste.

The exceptionally, and cognitively gifted child may be completely unable to answer the question. It's too simple. He needs to ask you questions instead: What type of scientist? At what stage of his career is he? He may be completely bogged down by the fact that there are just so many different types of scientists who do so many different types of things.
He knows the material backward and forward...but cannot be tested on it.
So, what do you do? Test...or not?

It goes back to what I mentioned before about knowing your child and your motivations for testing. Overall, it's better to know your child well, and know what motivates him and how he learns best - especially if you homeschool your gifted child like I do. Testing doesn't necessarily help with that.

Unless there are other issues like learning disabilities, ADHD, sensory processing struggles, etc. In those cases, and for those children that are going to a school, testing is important. Your children need services and you need all the tools possible in order to advocate for them correctly.

If you know, whether through testing or mother's intuition, that your child is cognitively gifted, it's important that you support him.

Supporting the Cognitively Gifted Child

So how do you do that? How do you meet the needs of a child that can't answer a simple question like, what does a scientist do, but can tell you - in great detail - what a hydrogeoloist does, how his job impacts our society, and what one must study in school to follow that career path?
I try to keep a stock of coffee and chocolate on hand at all times.
Seriously, though, meeting the needs of cognitively gifted children is hard. The simplest of questions become debates. Here's a recent example from my house:

Me: "Trevor, did you have a good time at co-op?"

Him: "What do you mean by 'good time?'"

Me: "Well...I mean did you enjoy yourself?"

Him: "During which part?"

Me: "Overall. Did you enjoy yourself overall?"

Him: "Overall? Like as in the whole time I was there? No. Not the whole time. Some parts were really bad. I wanted to poke my eyes out during a few of the classes. One was great though. I really like that. So I had a good time for like 30 minutes."

Me: {Getting ready to ask about the poking the eyes out thing... or which class he liked... or something else destined to become another circular conversation.} "I'm glad some of it was good. Do you want a snack?"

See what I mean? So what do you do?

Cognitively gifted children do really well with interest-led and project-based educations. T hey need to have a buy-in and a say in their education. When I taught gifted kids, I usually worked on year-long projects with my superior cognitive groups. One year we studied the Iditarod. We researched Alaska, starting and ending points, the check points along the way, and all of the mushers that were set to participate that year. In studying the history of the race, we came across a program that used volunteers to sew and send dog booties to rookie mushers to help them off-set the costs of their first Iditarod.

We sewed 500 booties, signed them with sharpie markers, and sent them to "our" musher. Throughout the race, we followed his progress, and received updates from him, along with a thank you package at the end of the race with photos from the trail and some of our booties - with Iditarod trail mud and dog hair on them. It was great.
Cognitively gifted children need to be immersed in their learning, steeped in their interests, and challenged to think.
It makes for a uniquely fun adventure for us parents.

And difficult.

These are the kids that others don't understand. The ones that are thinking about something fifteen steps ahead of where they are so they knock down the toddler {that they never saw} in front of them, coming across as a behavior problem. They are the ones correcting the teacher's grammar in the classroom. In front of all the other students. And alienating adults who don't get it. They are the ones that struggle to make friends. They just don't think like other kids their age.
They just don't quite fit in.
These precious children need support from us, their parents, that goes beyond their academic needs. They need to feel loved and accepted for who they are. Even when you are tired, and exasperated, and frustrated, and just wish your kid was average...because average is what the world expects.

Gifted children are important. They are unexpected and special - no matter where on the continuum they fall. But they have special needs and must have adults that are willing and able to advocate for them in order for them to reach their potential.

In the coming weeks we'll explore twice-exceptionalities, and then dive into some of the social and emotional issues facing our gifted kids.

In the meantime, sign up to receive emails straight into your inbox. I'm transitioning to a weekly newsletter format later this week that will contain an article for subscribers only - things you won't see on the site - and recaps of the week's posts, popular posts from the archives that you might have missed, as well as exclusive subscriber freebies.

Be sure to follow the Raising Gifted Learners board on Pinterest for more resources and support:

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Understanding the Cognitively Gifted Child

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Cognitive ability is less about specific knowledge bases, and more about the neurological skills needed to do anything - from the simplest to the most difficult task. It is how we learn, problem-solve, and pay attention. Each of the mental functions {cognitive abilities} we need to function relies on specific brain structures.

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Characteristics of Cognitively Gifted Students 

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Characteristics of Cognitively Gifted Students 

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Ideas to Spark Creativity in the Classroom 

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Ideas to Spark Creativity in the Classroom 

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Child Psychology Resources by Dr. Tali Shenfield

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What is Creative Giftedness, and How Can Creativity be Nurtured in Gifted Children?

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One of the most common misconceptions about gifted kids is the idea that these children automatically excel in every area. In reality, like all children, gifted kids have distinct individual aptitudes.

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Teaching critical thinking: An evidence-based guide

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© 2009-2012 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved Teaching critical thinking? You might wonder if kids will work it out for themselves. After all, lots

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Developing critical thinking skills helps all children to become better problem solvers (and better learners!). Gifted children often "chase wonder," engaging fiercely with complex material, a characteristic that provides a welcome opportunity to foster and teach critical thinking.
Chasing wonder is not so simple

This year, a group of Upper School students enrolled in a full-year history course called The Modern History of Water. It might seem counterintuitive for some of our oldest students to be spending an entire year deconstructing something so simple before matriculating to institutions of higher learning: surely there are more complex subjects these critical thinkers are ready to tackle?

Surprisingly, the answer is no: water is, in fact, a more-than-sufficiently-complex topic for an entire year of exploration. And the reasons why are directly related to what we know to be true about gifted children and the best ways to teach them and engage them in deep dives (forgive the pun) on intellectual topics.

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.
- Loren Eiseley, American anthropologist

Knowledge, information, and thinking

There is a substantial difference between knowledge and thinking, but a hefty dose of the former makes high-level products of the latter possible. To teach critical thinking, having students ponder the multifarious implications of facts requires knowing facts. Happily, one of the things at which many gifted children excel is the rapid accumulation of information; generally speaking, they are voracious consumers of facts of all kinds (often focused on highly specialized fields), right from the beginnings of their lives. Any parent of a gifted child knows far more than they might want to about dinosaurs, for example, or the periodic table, or bacteria, or words that end in -ologist, or species of insects, or the Korean War, etc. - sometimes a child's special interest shifts every few months or years. Their parents dutifully follow, becoming experts anew in an entirely different area of knowledge.

This instinctual agglomeration of facts - and the intrinsic drive to seek out more and more of them - is a characteristic of gifted children. As a part of optimal intellectual development, students must make an important shift from the collecting of information to the connecting of information, and from there to the potential implications of these connections. This earlier shift from concrete to abstract thinking is one of the hallmarks of gifted children. Taking full advantage of that capability is one of the primary responsibilities of those educators who work with them to teach and develop deep, complex, critical thinking.

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim, you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do, you will sink and drown. Instead, you relax, and float.
- Alan Watts, British writer, theologian, and early popularizer of Buddhism in the West

Intellectual risk-taking requires trust

A year-long engagement with water requires a school or classroom culture of relentless curiosity; their enthusiastic participation is reflective of a leap of faith, a willingness to wade into intellectual murk. Many gifted students have had what might be euphemistically called "negative educational experiences" prior to coming to Grayson, and it's not uncommon for such ordeals to have left behind academic "scar tissue" including a lack of trust for teachers, administrators, and other adults who putatively have their best interests at heart but do not seem to actually follow through on promises to help them learn and grow. In that circumstance, a student is understandably not ready to go out on an intellectual limb to explore weird-sounding ideas, much less to do so out loud in full view of new classmates and an unfamiliar teacher.

A student willing to wrestle with slippery concepts with vast socio-historical underpinnings and to energetically joust day after day with classmates (and their instructor) is a student whose thinking is unfettered and eager, and whose ability to experiment in a kind of cerebral juggling act is powered by trust.

That student trusts that both their classmates and teacher will genuinely listen to their ideas, and that their teacher will allow vigorous debate - and even disagreement. That student has also been led to believe that their ideas are valuable and interesting because their teacher listens to them and takes them seriously, even if they are only seventeen years old.

In fact, this teacher thinks so highly of their intellect and ability to analyze high-level material that she seems to keep giving them more and more of it: raising the bar to such a high level implies that at least the teacher believes you can clear it, after all, even if the last few inches are very, very difficult, indeed. But in the company of other students who are also trying (and sometimes failing and trying again) to clear that very high bar, the student begins to believe that the bar really is meant for them, no matter how high and no matter how implausible clearing it might have looked at the outset.

Gifted children and social capital

Crucially, also, water presents a genuinely existential crisis that the next generation must address urgently. Between climate change, rapid depletion of natural resources, and deep inequities between peoples across the globe, water increasingly cannot and must not be taken for granted. Gifted education pioneer Joe Renzulli posits that it is imperative for the well-being of society that the education of gifted children should prepare them to apply their powerhouse intellects in socially constructive contexts to benefit the world at large; the coming water crisis seems an ideal target at which to aim their considerable cognitive firepower (Renzulli, 2002).

While young gifted children may be prone to existential angst when pondering "big questions" about why we are here, what our purpose is, what is beyond death, etc., the main source of that anxiety is generally the distance between their ability to engage intellectually with the topic and their ability to process the emotions that their ideas provoke.

By the time they are ready to go to college, however, their emotional processing has had a substantial amount of time to catch up. Malthusian economics is never going to be a cheery topic, of course, but teenagers are far better equipped to engage with it intellectually than younger children: they are at the peak (so far) of their abstract thinking capabilities, amply armed with facts and background knowledge, and developmentally poised to look forward to the larger world, where they can make a genuine impact. In the right educational environment, there is no better time to shape them into engaged citizens of the world.

teach critical thinking by CHASING WONDER

The best lesson we can teach gifted children, then, may be a simple one that they definitely understand when they are young, but which they may forget in the course of growing up: that the world is full of countless wonders you can discover if you are paying attention. Wonder is hardly a state of being one associates with the ostensible "cool" of teenagers, but it is a necessary component of keeping the gifted brain fed.

"Wonder is like a muscle," according to Ms. O'Rourke-Barrett, creator of the curriculum for her Modern History of Water course; once you learn it, she explains, you can strengthen it through practice over time. It is also the crucial ingredient in the mind of a "lifelong learner": while those studying for a class have an endpoint for their learning - a final exam, a due date for a paper - those who continue to be fiercely intellectually engaged in the world for the duration of their lives fundamentally see the world through the lens of wonder, or in the words of Ms. O: "Let nothing go unconsidered!"

Ms. O shares a few notes on her course:

While what author Jamie Linton calls the "essential fecundity" of water has established and shaped all life on Earth, human understanding of, interaction with, and control over water itself have shifted and evolved over time. Even our simple and self-evident characterization of water as H 2 O does not represent the fundamental reality of water, but rather exists at the intersection of the "water process" and the "social process" of producing and representing scientific knowledge. What, then, defines this shifting force, this inspiration for countless avenues of human exploration, and this most abundant molecule on the surface of the Earth? Can history exist without water? How has technology radically shifted our relationship with water? How might we understand water as a multi-faceted concept rather than simply a source of contemporary scarcity and conflict?

CRITICAL THINKING IS CRITICAL FOR LIFE

Educators speak frequently about teaching critical thinking, but in the day-to-day educational career of a student in elementary through middle and high school, it may seem to students that "critical thinking" means spending time thinking about things far removed from their real lives, whether in space or time or meaning.

One of the best ways to teach critical thinking in "real life" is to show students something with which they feel very familiar and then reveal to them that the thing they think they know is actually quite different from what they thought they knew. It is an academic rabbit-out-of-a-hat trick that surprises them every time.

In essence, right before they leave the relatively sheltered nest of high school, they learn that maybe they don't know everything. (!)

Not just that, but maybe they don't really know everything about any thing, if something as basic as water is actually a robust and multilayered idea that weaves together economics, physics, history, religion, chemistry, literature, meteorology, politics, geography, philosophy, and cosmology. Maybe we - as a species - don't know everything about any thing, either.

It is the perfect juncture for them to realize that maybe there is a lot more for them to learn - that things that may appear simple are often quite complicated and messy and need more untangling and deeper background knowledge than might seem necessary at first glance.

Best of all, they learn that lesson while examining something incredibly mundane - so much so that the very title of the course causes both adults and students alike to tilt their heads in puzzlement. (If we've been doing our job properly, after the head tilt, our students respond with wide eyes and leaning forward rather than knitting their brows in consternation - or worse yet, that staple of all-knowing teens everywhere: rolling their eyes). If there is this much depth and this much transdisciplinary thinking - and this much import! - in something so pedestrian, imagine how much there is to think about in the world around them!

There really is no better message to impart to them as they embark on the next leg of their intellectual journey: wonder, wonder, everywhere - and oh, so much to drink.

REFERENCES

Linton, J. (2010). What Is Water?: The History of a Modern Abstraction. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Marzano, R. J. (1984). The Theoretical Framework for and Instructional Model of Higher-Order Thinking Skills. Denver: Mid-Continent Regional Educational Lab, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2022.

Renzulli, J. S. (2002). Expanding the Conception of Giftedness to Include Co-Cognitive Traits and to Promote Social Capital. Phi Delta Kappan 84 (1), 33-58. Retrieved 20 January 2022.

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How to teach critical thinking: chasing wonder and water

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Developing critical thinking skills helps all children to become better problem solvers (and better learners!). Gifted children often "chase wonder," engaging fiercely with complex material, a characteristic that provides a welcome opportunity to foster and teach critical thinking. This year, a group of Upper School students enrolled in a full-year history course called The Modern History of Water.

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Activities to Enhance Creative and Critical Thinking 

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Activities to Enhance Creative and Critical Thinking 