Gifted Challenges' picks for the Top 10 thought-provoking articles of 2020

As this difficult, stressful, upside-down year draws to a close, I wanted to share my Top 10 list of interesting, thought-provoking, and controversial articles. Some of them relate specifically to gifted education; others focus on education in general or psychological well-being. Listed in no particular order, they don't include the many wonderful blog posts published this year in the gifted field, or the many interesting research papers sometimes difficult to access due to a paywall. If you have thoughts about these articles, let us know in the comments section below.

Do programs for advanced learners work?

"Advanced learning programs are effective, and we have reams of research to support that conclusion."

The science of nerdiness

"People who score high in the general tendency toward exploration are not only driven to engage in behavioral forms of exploration, but also tend to get energized through the possibility of discovering new information and extracting meaning and growth from their experiences."

Do you really see your child?

"Seeing our kids also means being willing to look beyond our initial assumptions and interpretations." 

Want more Dr. Faucis? Ensure that smart kids get educated, too 

"If America’s fate thirty years from now ends up relying on the small population of mostly-privileged smart kids whose parents can get them into elite public and private schools and supply auxiliary programs and opportunities that challenge and fulfill them intellectually, we won’t have nearly enough of the experts that we’ll need—and those we have won’t much  'look like America.'” 

The gifted brain revealed: Unraveling the neuroscience of the bright experience

"Many molecular studies show associations of high IQ and giftedness with genetics, specifically genes involved in neurotransmission, neural plasticity, and development.  Both genetics and brain size contribute to the constitution of gifted individuals, but even more important is investigating the intensity of processing in gifted individuals related to the brain and physiological response.  Gifted individuals report experiencing the world differently, more intensely, which is a neurodiverse experience."

The case for critical thinking: The COVID-19 Pandemic and an urgent need to close the critical thinking gap in education

"...critical thinking is still a luxury good. This crucial set of skills and dispositions, including reasoning, analyzing multiple perspectives, and displaying the healthy sense of skepticism needed to seek evidence to support or refute claims is notoriously hard to teach... The critical thinking gap is one of the most significant, yet overlooked equity challenges in education today."

In defense of the psychologically rich life

"The psychologically rich life is full of complex mental engagement, a wide range of intense and deep emotions, and diverse, novel, surprising and interesting experiences."

The racial-justice war on merit-based schools is an injustice against excellence, critics say

"...now, particularly in urban districts we are seeing a backlash, where the ideology is turning against excellence. We are institutionalizing anti-intellectualism, and that has long-term implications for us.”

The spatially gifted - our future architects and engineers - are being overlooked

"Our findings show that spatially talented students with relative math and verbal reasoning weaknesses are falling through the cracks in the educational system due to a lack of attention and education tailored to their needs,”

Academic achievement is influenced by how pupils "do" gender at school

"...efforts to close the gender gap in attainment need to focus less on 'girls versus boys' and more on these nuanced profiles. However, the researchers also suggest that schools could support pupils by encouraging them to think beyond traditional gender stereotypes."

Wishing all of you a happy and healthy New Year!

- Gail

A Gifted Challenges update: The year that was 2020

It has been almost nine years since I started writing this blog. Fresh out of the blocks as newly launched college students, my children no longer needed my advocacy. My parental involvement in navigating their school's gifted policies was drawing to a close; so was my role as co-chair of the school district's gifted parent advocacy group. As a psychologist who also worked with gifted teens and adults, writing seemed like the next reasonable step. My hope was that a "blog" (offering informational and opinion pieces, rather than personal sharing) would provide another means of supporting families of gifted children, disseminating the latest information found online, and advocating in my own small way for the needs of the gifted. 

I never imagined that there would be so much to write about over the years! 

Gifted kids are STILL overlooked in the schools, weather complicated peer relations, and often perform well below their potential. Families continue to struggle - often alone and misunderstood. Over 200 blog posts later - along with additional articles published online and in newsletters, a book chapter, and numerous workshops - there still seems to be plenty of material! I was a bit distracted... ahem... by the chaos of this past year, and while I wrote fewer blog posts, and focused more on social justice, political divisiveness, and the Pandemic, I tried to tailor articles to the needs of gifted children and parents. I am so appreciative of the thousands of followers on my Facebook and Twitter accounts, where I share information from across the web related to social and emotional needs, gifted education, advocacy, child development, coping strategies psychological issues, and general education. 

Writing is a joy for me, and I hope that some of you find it useful. I have continued to steer clear of website ads or other marketing ploys. I also avoid sharing personal stories about myself or my children - even though, frankly, some of our past experiences leech into my writing. As many of you know, I am vocal about my opinions, such as the importance of ability grouping and acceleration, universal screening to identify gifted children who "don't look gifted," and sorting through the hype about popularized topics, such as growth mindset, grit, and differentiated instruction. I protect the confidentiality of my clients, and when I share anecdotes related to their personal lives, any identifying information is obscured.

Here is some of what I have been doing during this difficult, chaotic year:

1. Continuing to offer psychotherapy, parent coaching, and consultation to schools and parenting groups

2. Working on a book about the experience - both the joys and struggles - of parenting a gifted child

3. Offering zoom workshops for parents of gifted children

4. Considering sending out a newsletter to those of you on my email list. If you are not already on the list, please sign up! 

5. Planning to eventually transition from this Blogspot platform to something more mainstream, such as WordPress (although given my lack of tech skills, this may continue to take a back seat to more pressing goals!)

6. Oh, yes... and like all of you, just trying to "hang in there" and get through 2020.

Goodbye to 2020!

I hope that you have weathered this difficult, chaotic year as well as possible. Many of you have suffered devastating personal and financial losses, and even deaths in your families. Disappointments seem everpresent. It has been an endurance challenge for just about everyone, but I hope that you have been able to hang in there, and perhaps, even experience some positive, unexpected surprises... anything from reevaluating what is truly important to dressing down for work!. 

I wish you all the best for, hopefully, a year of relief, safety, health, and happiness. See you next year!