As the chat went on, we found there was so much in common with school districts, and that our school districts would do more for our gifted child. Between all of the participants we found our programs had a lot of similarities such as pull out programs, acceleration plans, push-in programs, and co-teaching.
We also found there is more that we wish our schools would do more of, or explore as additional options. Many wanted to see more internships for high schoolers, along with a defined gifted program such as IB, or fast track to graduation and college. Many also wanted to see more student collaboration, along with Genius Hour and Innovation Classes.
One point that was hit home was from Lisa. (That's her tweet above.) We have to continue to advocate for our gifted children. We need to continue to push ideas to our administrators to enhance our gifted programs. Our children continue to change due to technology, and social norms. Our programs also have to change. The things we did 20 years ago will not necessarily work today. There are so many differnt options our gifted children could take advantage of. We need to expose our administrators, parents, and other advocates to those options. Not all options will fit every student, but we still have to continue to advocate what is best for our students.
Our next #oagctdchat will be April 19th at 9pm ET. Our topic will be: Exploring the Social and Emotional Needs of Gifted Children with featured guest Heather Cachat (@HeatherCachat) who is a facilitator for the Central Ohio Gifted Support with SENG Parent Groups.