Schools that want to be world class are now paying attention to the findings from neuroscience and psychology that tell us we can build better brains. They are changing their mindset, expecting success for far more students and no longer being constrained by ideas of genetic potential. High Performance Learning provides readers with a ground-breaking and approachable model for achieving high levels of academic performance for all students and schools. It takes what is known about how people reach advanced cognitive performance and translates it into a practical and user-friendly framework, which can be used with all students to systematically build the cognitive thinking skills and learner behaviours that will deliver success in school, in the workplace and in later life. Flexible and adaptable, High Performance Learning can be used in any context, with any curriculum and at any age. It does not require separate lessons but rather becomes the underpinning pedagogy of the school. Drawing on the author's 40 years of research into how the most able students think and learn, this book provides a framework that has been extensively trialled in schools in eleven countries. . Themes include: Creating world class schools The High Performance Learning environment The High Performance Learning framework Advanced Cognitive Performance characteristics (ACPs) Values, Attitudes and Attributes (VAAs) Creating and leading a High Performance Learning school The role of parents, universities and employers. This invaluable resource will help schools make the move from good to world class and will be essential reading for school leaders, teachers and those with an interest in outstanding academic performance.

Outlines process for designing student experiences rather than lesson plans; Provides space for reflection questions and key takeaways; Written in a refreshing conversational tone.

This book reveals the dramatic stories of twenty outstandingly gifted people as they grew from early promise to maturity in Britain. Recorded over the last thirty-five years by award-winning psychologist, Joan Freeman, these fascinating accounts reveal the frustrations and triumphs of her participants, and investigates why some fell by the wayside whilst others reached fame and fortune.

These exceptional people possess a range of intellectual, social and emotional gifts in fields such as mathematics, the arts, music and spirituality. Through their particular abilities, they were often confronted with extra emotional challenges, such as over-anxious and pushy parents, teacher put-downs, social trip-wires, boredom and bullying in school and conflicting life choices. Their stories illustrate how seemingly innocuous events could have devastating life-long consequences, and confront the reader with intriguing questions such as: Does having a brilliant mind help when you are ethnically different or suffering serious depression? How does a world-class pianist cope when repetitive strain injury strikes, or a young financier when he hits his first million? What is the emotional impact of grade-skipping?

Joan Freeman's insights into the twists and turns of these lives are fascinating and deeply moving. She shows us that while fate has a part to play, so does a personal outlook which can see and grab a fleeting chance, overcome great odds, and put in the necessary hard work to lift childhood prodigy to greatness. Readers will identify with many of the intriguing aspects of these people's lives, and perhaps learn something about themselves too.

The Routledge International Companion to Gifted Education is a ground-breaking collection of fully-referenced chapters written by many of the most highly-respected authorities on the subject from around the world. These fifty contributors include distinguished scholars who have produced many of the most significant advances to the field over the past few decades, like Joseph Renzulli and Robert Sternberg, alongside authorities who ask questions about the very concepts and terminology embodied in the field - scholars such as Carol Dweck and Guy Claxton. This multi-faceted volume: highlights strategies to support giftedness in children, providing ideas that work and weeding out those that don't; is written in jargon-free language in an easy-to use themed format; is the most authoritative collection of future-focused views, ideas and reflections, practices and evaluations yet produced; includes chapters dealing with the major controversies and concerns in the field today, from the problems of identification to changing understandings of giftedness and creativity. The international aspect of the Companion, and its juxtaposition of points of view - whereby chapters are deliberately positioned and accompanied by editorial commentary to highlight the contrasts with each other - ensures that different views are addressed, allowing the reader to absorb and reflect upon the many perspectives on each issue. The Companion is a guide to the new ideas and controversies that are informing gifted education discussion and policy-making around the world. It is a first class resource to students and researchers alike.

What would happen if we had automobiles, but no roads? Light bulbs, but no electricity? Our world functions smoothly when systems are in place. Transportation, health care, and education are all organized into systems that we depend upon daily. The Systems Differentiated Curriculum Kit provides exciting activities to help students discover the systems that exist all around them. The books in Prufrock's new Differentiated Curriculum Kits employ a differentiated, integrated curriculum based on broad themes. This all-in-one curriculum helps teachers save planning time, ensure compliance with national standards, and most importantly, pique their students' natural excitement and interest in discovery. By participating in the wide variety of activities in the Differentiated Curriculum Kit for Grade 4, students will discover the systems around them and gain a lifelong desire to learn. In Systems Book 1: Exploration, Culture, and Ecology, students will discover the solar system, the water cycle, and their family history (among many other things). In Systems Book 2: Settlement, Currency, and Measurement, students will discover their hometown history, probability math, and climatology (among many other things). In Systems Book 3: Economics, Climate, and Comparisons, students will explore the system of free enterprise, weather systems, and the systems on other planets (among many other things). Each book contains detailed lesson plans, reproducible activity sheets, and assessment tools. Grade 4

What are relationships? How do they affect students? There are many different types of relationships to explore and this series helps make this topic one that is meaningful to all students. The books in the Relationships Differentiated Curriculum Kit provide exciting activities to help students discover the relationships that exist all around them. The books in the Differentiated Curriculum Kits employ a differentiated, integrated curriculum based on broad themes. This all-in-one curriculum helps teachers save planning time, ensure compliance with national standards, and most importantly, pique their students' natural excitement and interest in discovery. By participating in the wide variety of activities in the Differentiated Curriculum Kit for Grade 3, students will discover the relationships around them and gain a lifelong desire to learn. In Relationships Book 1: Ecosystems, Comparisons, and Power, students will investigate the interdependent relationships between animals and plants. Students also will compare rules and laws with our rights and freedoms in order to determine the relationships between our government and its citizens. In Relationships Book 2: Environment, Cause, and Effect, students will explore the relationships found between people in a community, the relationship between humans and the environment, and the relatonships in students' daily lives. In Relationships Book 3: Economics, Opposites, and Social Action, students will explore topics such as place value, decimals, inverse operations, banking, antonyms and synonyms, physical disabilities, women's suffrage, and minority groups. Each book contains detailed lesson plans, reproducible activity sheets, and assessment tools. Grade 3

In this fully revised and expanded second edition, Being Gifted in School: An Introduction to Development, Guidance, and Teaching reviews the past developments within the field of gifted education and identifies the current trends, issues, and beliefs in the field. This book offers the most comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to the field of gifted education available. The authors, who are nationally recognized leaders in the field, discuss definitions and models of giftedness, identification of the gifted, teaching methods and best practices, creativity, counseling and guidance, administrative arrangements, and program prototypes and evaluation. The book is geared toward educators with questions regarding curricular and instructional implementation, administrators facing program planning, parents with an interest in their child's educational opportunities, and advanced undergraduate and graduate students curious about trends within gifted education. By recognizing both typical and atypical gifted students, the authors enourage readers to defy traditional assumptions about gifted children and their education.

Based on the renowned 'Renzulli Method', which has been adopted in schools all over the country, LIGHT UP YOUR CHILD'S MIND presents a practical programme to help children fire up a love of learning to last a lifetime. World-renowned experts Drs. Renzulli and Reis illustrate the crucial role parents can play in their children's development and address how they can work with teachers to enhance their children's education. They uncover the hidden potential of daydreamers, rebels and one-track minds, arguing that gifted behaviour - basic smarts, high levels of task commitment and creativity - can be fostered in bright children, even unmotivated ones. Step by step, LIGHT UP YOUR CHILD'S MIND will show parents how to set their kids on the path to a rewarding future.

* Provides a well-researched, yet comprehensive introduction to gifted education-focusing on equity and diverse learners. * Features varied perspectives and approaches from experts to acquaint new teachers to the field. * Provides an overview, history, and discussion of critical topics in gifted education.

This top-selling comprehensive book, written by leaders in the field, presents a thorough review of the entire field of gifted education with best-practices. After a brief overview of current issues in the field, the book discusses crucial topics in the field, including the characteristics of gifted students, strategies for identification, considerations in planning sound gifted and talented programs, contemporary program models, varieties of acceleration, differentiated curriculum models, problems of underachievement of disadvantaged, twice-exceptional, and female gifted students, and the evaluation of gifted programs. The authors also address affective needs, leadership, and counseling. A chapter on parenting gifted children includes a section on advocating for gifted education and communication with schools. The sixth edition has been thoroughly revised, most notably with the latest research on acceleration, curriculum models, underachievement, culturally and economically disadvantaged students, gender issues, and dual exceptionalities. The content is further supported and enhanced by the inclusion of numerous practical strategies that can be implemented in the classroom, case studies that help teachers identify student needs, summaries of research on effective programs, emphasis on pedagogy and on social-emotional needs, heightened awareness of less visible sub-groups within gifted populations, and an amusing, witty writing style that adds to the appeal of this best-selling book.

Contents:
1. The Scope of the Problem 2. Gifted Education in Australia 3. Methodology and Procedures of the Study 4. Early Development and Physical Health 5. Family Characteristics and Family History 6. Academic Achievement Levels 7. Reading Development and Recreational Interests 8. School History 9. Psychosocial Development 10. Where Are They Now? 1993-2003 11. The Exceptionally Gifted: Recognition and Response

Now in its seventh edition, Creativity in the Classroom helps teachers link creativity research and theory to the everyday activities of classroom teaching. Ideal reading for any course dealing wholly or partially with creativity and teaching, this foundational textbook covers definitions, research, and theory in the first half, and reflects on classroom practices in the second. Thoroughly revised and updated, the seventh edition features new research on neuroscience and creativity in specific disciplines; new sections on social-emotional learning, teaching engineering, and leadership; and an entire new chapter on building creativity at the school or district level.

Radical activists do not see the American middle school as an organization to impart academic knowledge, but as an instrument through which they can force social change. Yecke, an experienced teacher and administrator, shows how these activists have implemented their plans and endangered the education of all middle school children--especially those who are gifted. In 1983 A Nation at Risk declared, "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war." How did American educators respond? In their quest to establish a more egalitarian society, middle school activists and social reformers made it clear that the middle school was not just a new educational organization, but a means promoting social egalitarianism by coercing gifted students to be like everyone else. This was nothing less than a declaration of war against gifted children. Yecke shows that the inadequacies of our systems of research and education pose a greater threat to U.S. national security over the next quarter century than any potential conventional war that we might imagine. The achievement of students in other nations now regularly surpasses that of American students, and it will be impossible to reverse this trend within the confines of the contemporary middle school concept. Yecke asserts that it is time for the American public to reject the radical middle school movement before too much damage is done.

This comprehensive volume explores the origins, development, and applications for Francoys Gagne's Differentiating Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT). In an authoritative yet accessible style, Professor Gagne offers a holistic coverage of the DMGT, including its implications for the field, and its main divergent points with competing theories of talent development. Chapters guide readers through each of the five DMGT components, addressing the diversity of gifts, the contributions of Nature and Nurture, the most important personal qualities, the overemphasized power of outside agents, the key role of chance, and more. Filled with illustrative examples and vignettes from the author's estimable career, this book is the authoritative resource for researchers and students looking to understand the DMGT and its unique role in shaping gifted education as we know it today.

This book addresses critical issues related to appropriately servicing gifted students with other learning exceptionalities, also known as twice exceptional (2e) students. Utilizing a social, emotional, and cultural lens, it extends beyond the historical cognitive discussion within the domains of special and gifted education and draws on a variety of interpreted perspectives, featuring leading authors, experts, and specialists from several countries and from different academic disciplines and backgrounds. The collection offers a balance between theoretical/methodological and empirical chapters to provide a discourse for operationalization and implementation of services that best serve the educational and individualized needs for a diverse group of students.This work demonstrates the importance of knowing and attending to the social, emotional and cultural dimensions of 2e students while simultaneously fostering the appropriate cognitive skill development for whole-child well-being.

Covers social-emotional issues in the lives of gifted students Features examples of lessons and menus of discussion questions for successful book discussions alongside enrichment activities to extend students' learning Includes an annotated bibliography of children's and young adult books ideal for social-emotional learning.

Driven by a passion for music, for excellence, and for fame, violin soloists are immersed from early childhood in high-pressure competitions, regular public appearances, and arduous daily practice. An in-depth study of nearly one hundred such children, Producing Excellence illuminates the process these young violinists undergo to become elite international soloists. A musician and a parent of a young violinist, sociologist Izabela Wagner offers an inside look at how her young subjects set out on the long road to becoming a soloist. The remarkable research she conducted - at rehearsals, lessons, and in other educational settings - enabled her to gain deep insight into what distinguishes these talented prodigies and their training. She notes, for instance, the importance of a family culture steeped in the values of the musical world. Indeed, more than half of these students come from a family of professional musicians and were raised in an atmosphere marked by the importance of instrumental practice, the vitality of music as a vocation, and especially the veneration of famous artists. Wagner also highlights the highly structured, rigorous training system of identifying, nurturing, and rewarding talent, even as she underscores the social, economic, and cultural factors that make success in this system possible. Offering an intimate portrait of the students, their parents, and their instructors, Producing Excellence sheds new light on the development of exceptional musical talent, as well as draw much larger conclusions as to ""producing prodigy"" in other competition-prone areas, such as sports, sciences, the professions, and other arts. Wagner's insights make this book valuable for academics interested in the study of occupations, and her clear, lively writing is perfect for general readers curious about the ins and outs of training to be a violin soloist.

In one comprehensive resource, this superb handbook covers everything you need to know about the subject. It brings together leading experts from the fields of psychology and education, combining theory and applied empirical research on such crucial topics as conceptualization, types of intelligence, developmental considerations, and ethical and legal concerns. Particular attention is given to social and family contexts, and evidence-based strategies and interventions offer solid guidelines on assessment, curriculum design, and encouraging and nurturing talent - from preschool through adolescence.

Winner of the 2017 NAGC Curriculum Studies Award Space, Structure, and Story integrates Earth and space science with science fiction and nonfiction texts, poetry, and art. This unit, developed by Vanderbilt University's Programs for Talented Youth, is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Students explore advanced science and ELA content through the lens of structure-its parts, purpose, and function. Mobius strips, the hero's journey, dystopian fiction, black holes, Einstein's relativity, stars, and moons are just a few of the captivating in-depth topics explored through accelerated content, engaging activities, and differentiated tasks. Ideal for gifted classrooms or gifted pull-out groups, the unit features poetry from Carl Sandburg, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and C. S. Lewis; art from M. C. Escher, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Salvador Dali; a novel study featuring A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle; short stories from Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury; speeches from President John F. Kennedy and President Barack Obama; and informational texts about gravity, orbits, and black holes. Grades 4-6

Kazimierz Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD), which includes the widely know "overexcitabilities," is one of the most influential theories in gifted education. This groundbreaking book, edited by Dr. Sal Mendaglio, brings together leading professionals, many of whom knew Dr. Dabrowski himself, and provides readers with a diversity of perspectives on TPD. It summarizes the research and application of TPD, as well as compares it to other theories of personality and psychological development. Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration is a thought-provoking book that provides powerful insights and information not previously published about Dabrowski's theory.

The second edition of Understanding the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Students presents a comprehensive treatment of social and emotional development in high-ability learners. This text: Discusses theories that guide the examination of the lived experiences of gifted students. Features new topics, such as cyberbullying and microaggressions. Covers social and emotional characteristics and behaviors evidenced in gifted learners. Includes considerations for gifted underachievers, gifted culturally diverse students, twice-exceptional students, LGBTQ gifted students, and young people from low-income backgrounds. Describes gifted students' friendships and family relationships that support them, contextual influences that shape their social and emotional lives, and identity development. The author provides a wealth of field-tested strategies for addressing social and emotional development. In addition, the book offers a plan for designing a gifted-friendly classroom environment to support the social and emotional well-being of gifted students and a comprehensive collection of resources to support professionals in gifted education research and practice.

Winner of NAGC's 2021 Book of the Year Award This edited book, written by authors with extensive experience in working with gifted students from low-income households, focuses on ways to translate the latest research and theory into evidence-supported practices that impact how schools identify and serve these students. Readers will: Learn about evidence-supported identification systems, tools, and strategies for finding students from low-income households. Discover curriculum models, resources, and instructional strategies found effective from projects focused on supporting these students. Understand the important role that intra- and interpersonal skills, ethnicity/race, families, school systems, and communities play. Consider the perceptions of gifted students who grew up in low-income households. Learn how educators can use their experiences to strengthen current services. Unlocking Potential is the go-to resource for an up-to-date overview of best practices in identification, curriculum, instruction, community support, and program design for gifted learners from low-income households.

* Provides gifted educators with a researcher-based model for effective professional learning to increase equity in their programs. * Offers practical tools and strategies to help the reader absorb, reflect on, and then use in professional learning with fellow teachers, parents, and gifted advocates. * Acknowledges that a one-size-fits-all professional learning model does not work for everyone and provides practical ways to tailor the experience to individual learning communities.