I believe people need to be reminded of what they already know. Think about it --as they say, we take our health for granted until we find ourselves flat on our backs and are reminded of just how great feeling good is. When things are good, our awareness of that goodness fades more and more as the goodness continues, until taking for granted finds us seldom thinking of those good things at all. Throughout history even church attendance increases during a war, as each remembers that special gift called peace. I suspect it is impossible to even recognize something as good without that dreaded something bad serving as a sort of gauge. Getting accustomed to "the finer things in life" robs us of appreciation, making us apathetic. We all need gentle reminders from time to time reawaken us to just how fortunate we are. Our gifted programs provide students wonderful opportunities --chances to explore, invent, and create in a setting that is in keeping with who they are. Students begin a path that allows them "to do" and "to make" in ways that reveal the value of our programs. However ... ... with time, the "awareness" of what is accomplished in our programs can stagnant unless we continually find ways to share what students are doing. The community and our school need to see our students in action; they need more than the occasional article in the paper --they need to BE THERE in a manner that provides ongoing gentle reminders of why our programs are valuable. "People need to be reminded of what they already know." I have that on a sign near my desk. It's there to make me think about how crucial it is to deliberately plan ways for my students to reach out beyond the door of our classroom --something I know ...but something I sometimes forget without being reminded.
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AuthorPatricia Hesse --working with gifted students as young as 5 and as old as 18 for the past 24 years --remarkable kids! Archives
January 2014
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