Instructional Designers as Leaders in Professional Learning Communities: Catalysts for Transformative Change
In: Academic leadership
ISSN: 1533-7812
When it comes to gifted and talented education, once a student has been identified as gifted,educators make it a priority to push them to higher levels of thinking. Higher thinking is one of thedesires of these gifted students, however the emotional needs of gifted students can often be lost asthey are driven to focus on their academic abilities (Johnson, 2001). Often times the assumption aboutgifted students is that they come from a two parent home and that they will make good grades nomatter what. The following modified verbatim examples will show the impact of not meeting theemotional needs of gifted students. The first case study, by Kayleen Williams, points out how giftedstudents often comedown on themselves too hard when they come across their first academicchallenge (Edmunds, 2005). The following three case studies, by Emily Sketch, Nima Tahai and KristiRutter, show how gifted students often have to find a source of motivation after being engaged in giftedprograms for a relatively long period. The final case study, by Kelli Cohen, reveals how a student almostcompleted his graduate studies with unidentified social problems. They will also demonstrate thetransformation that takes place when the person within the gifted child is ministered to.