I Am a Farmer and My Students Minds Are the Fields in Which I Plant Seeds of Knowledge

“I am a farmer and my students’ minds are the fields in which I plant seeds of knowledge.”

~Michelle Turner,

Teacher of the Gifted

I believe that teachers are the distributors of knowledge. Although we may not know the answers to every question, we are capable of exhausting all resources to find the answer. In my opinion, teaching is a profession that must be entered into with passion and dedication.

Teaching means waking up early in order to arrive at school early enough to greet your students with a smile because you never know whether or not that is the only smile they will see in a day’s time. It also means staying late enough to ensure that the next day you can be equally prepared for their arrival. I also believe that teaching means, often putting aside my own personal convictions and opinions to objectively acknowledge the differing opinions of both colleagues and administrators in order to attain the ultimate purpose of providing exceptional instructional and counseling services to identified gifted and talented students. I affirm that it is my job to motivate students, facilitate the learning process according to each student’s individual learning style, challenge my students academically, and support their ever changing learning abilities.

Much like Maria Montessori, I too believe that children should learn in an environment that is comfortable and familiar to them much like home. We also share the belief that early childhood education and emphasis during the formative years contributes greatly to the development on the whole child. With the development of Montessori schools, came an environment that designed preplanned teaching mechanisms necessary for the growth of children’s practical, sensory, and formal skills. In my gifted education classroom, I continuously strive to provide an environment much like the one that Maria Montessori desired to create. An environment that makes students feel comfortable and at home. By creating this type of atmosphere, I feel like I am providing students with an environment that is conducive to learning.

It is my belief that learning is a continuous process. It begins with a simple question that easily becomes complex. At that moment, the desire to seek out answers is an example of inquiry-based learning. Much like Experimentalist philosopher, John Dewey believed it is also my belief that the scientific method is an exemplary manner for problem solving. If a student applied the method to every question posed the realm of knowledge would be cosmic. Questions would continually arise and learning would incessantly occur. Learning is realizing that knowledge is infinite. The learning process is in constant motion for there is always something to be learned. I encourage all of my students to become lifelong learners, by never allowing their minds to believe that have gained all knowledge. By experiencing every day of life each of us is contributing to the learning process.

It is my goal to develop students that are not only lifelong learners, but lifelong thinkers as well. It is my expectation, that each of my students discover what interests them most and find ways to incorporate what they enjoy into continuous learning. By recognizing interests, talents, and skills during the primary years, students are more capable of choosing classes and eventually fields of study that interest them. One of the major components of gifted education is career counseling. By participating in college and job fairs, the gifted students I instruct will have increased awareness into careers and interests that may go otherwise acknowledged. Through the duration of each student’s gifted experience, they should be to correlate their interests as well as their area of strength with their respective careers.

Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist used clinical observation to discover how children construct and act on their ideas. In many ways, my approach is to gifted education resembles

Piaget’s. I believe that in order to enhance the learning experience we as teachers must first observe our students to ensure our own understanding of their individual and unique learning needs. The needs of gifted learners are unique and as a gifted education specialists it imperative that I strive to address those needs. The observation and discovery phase of the job is an added bonus. Having an opportunity to learn how I can better serve my students is a charge that I believe all educators should embrace.

The world is continuously changing and evolving. It is imperative that all children be exposed to as many of the world’s culture as possible. Multiculturalism is a major component of my personal gifted instructional services. In order for today’s gifted student to compete in a global market, they must be aware of whom they are competing against. Exposure to multicultural influences allows students to become effective global competitors. It also provides them with enhanced world knowledge and the confidence to communicate that knowledge. By embracing a multicultural approach to education, I believe I am providing my students with the necessary comprehension to compete globally.

It is my professional goal to continually attain knowledge on the growing trends and issues in gifted education, as well as, participate in professional development opportunities in the field. In an effort to serve the ever changing and unique needs of gifted learners, I must stay abreast of all current legislation and advocacy as it relates to gifted education. It is with that in mind, that I also feel empowered to contribute to the world of gifted education by continuously researching methods and materials that will help promote advocacy in the field.

Advocacy for gifted education has become a new found passion of mine. Previously, I was unaware of how gifted education has been constantly overlooked. In the past, and even in some instances recently, gifted education has been placed on the chopping block due to restrictive budgets. Unfortunately, whenever there is a need to make cuts in education the first to go is usually fine arts education, followed closely by gifted education.

Coming from a long lineage of educators, naturally, it has been instilled in me to teach. I enjoy the feeling that comes from teaching someone something that they did not know and the excitement that learning creates. Having been involved in the arts most of my high school, college, and post years I have also learned that encompassing the arts as well as technical teaching principles help aid in the development of young minds. Currently, as an educator of gifted and talented students, I strive to enhance the critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving skills of the students that I encounter. Teaching, as I have found, is the most challenging and rewarding job because you actually see the fruits of your labor as it is yielded. A Personal Connection with Maria Montessori...

Maria Montessori was an Italian educator and a physician who worked with children classified as mentally handicapped and/or psychologically impaired. Her methods with these children proved to be so effective that she figured they could also be useful in the education of all children. Montessori developed a school for impoverished children in Rome and offered what she referred to as a “specially prepared environment.” This environment featured methods, materials, and activities based on the observations that she conducted of children. The environment that Montessori promoted greatly resembles the gifted education classroom in that it was developed in an effort to create an environment that is conducive to the students’ learning styles. It was also designed to help students feel comfortable in their learning environment.

Montessori believed that children possess an inner need to work at what interests them without the interruptions or prodding of teachers and without being motivated by external rewards and punishment. Her methods highlighted the fact that students tend to learn better when they are interest in the things that they learn about. In the gifted classroom, this is known as independent study or investigation. When a student can choose what they would like to learn about they are more apt to learn.

Maria Montessori’s major contribution to education was her emphasis on the power that early childhood education could play in developing lifelong learners. This contribution parallels the goal of most gifted programs, which is to develop lifelong learners. Montessori’s other significant contributions include her first, concept of sensitive periods which are phases of development, during which children are ready to work with materials that are especially useful in sensory, motor, and cognitive learning; next, the belief that children are capable of sustained self-directed work in learning a particular skill; and finally an emphasis on the school as part of the community and the need for parent participation and support. The beliefs that Maria

Montessori embraced greatly parallel those associated with gifted education.

A Personal Connection with John Dewey…

John Dewey an experimentalist philosopher that developed his philosophy of education against the backdrop of the social, political, scientific, and technological changes. His philosophy incorporated elements of progressive social reform, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, and Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Dewey believed that social intelligence is enhanced by cooperative group activity. It is also my belief that social intelligence is enhanced by cooperative group activity. When children work together they are capable of sharing their own knowledge with other and vice versa. Many children learn through experience and Dewey’s philosophy highlights this way of thinking.

Dewey also believed that the scientific method is the most effective process we have to solve problems. By using the scientific method to solve problems, children can learn how to think reflectively and to direct their experiences in ways that lead to personal and social growth.

He highlighted several important steps in the application of the scientific method to teaching and learning; these steps also parallel both the independent investigation methods taken by gifted students and the creative problem solving process used in most gifted classroom settings.

The steps include: 1. The learner, involved in a “genuine experience,” encounters a problem that truly interests

him or her.

2. Within this experience, the learner locates and defines the problem.

3. The learner acquires the information needed to solve the problem by reading, research,

discussion, and other means.

4. The learner constructs possible, tentative solutions that may solve the problem.

5. The learner chooses a possible solution and tests it to see if it solves the problem. In this

way, the learner constructs and validates his or her own knowledge.

Dewey believed education was a social process that encouraged immature children to learn how to participate in group life. This strongly correlates with the relationships that are developed through cooperative learning in the gifted classroom. Children that are normally ostracized for their uniqueness are now connected with peers that encourage them to be themselves. Thus, allowing gifted children an opportunity to grow in an environment that is conducive to both the learning style and their social and emotional development needs.

Dewey’s influence can also be seen in the “hands-on” movement that education has taken over the past few decades. This is visible through the “whole-language” movement and the process-oriented approach. He would also construct the preservice education of teachers on the principles of (1) seeing education in broad social terms (which is of great importance) and (2) in developing competencies to solve problems according to the scientific method (also of extreme importance). A Personal Connection to Jean Piaget…

Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, used clinical observation to discover how children construct and act on their ideas. Imagine having an inside scoop into all of your students inner thoughts. How could one use the information that they gather to better service the student?

Honestly, in a condensed form this is what Piaget was attempting to do. Observing students in order to determine that their thought process in developed through a series of stages.

Observation plays an essential part in understanding the needs of gifted learners. It is my belief that when students are properly observed their needs can be assessed and potential met with greater success. Using the approach that Piaget to discovering the needs of children can potentially be of even greater benefit in the world of gifted education.

In his stage-learning theory of development, Piaget identified four qualitatively distinct but interrelated periods of cognitive growth. These include:

1. The sensorimotor stage, from birth to two years. This is the time when children learn

by exploring their immediate environment. They explore by using their mouth, eyes,

and hands.

2. The preoperational stage, from two to seven years. Children combine intuition with

speech and develop operational thinking involving concepts of space, time, and

cause-and-effect relationships that go far beyond the immediate situation.

3. The concrete-operational period, from seven to eleven years. This is when begin

thinking in a mathematical and logical way. 4. The formal-operational period, from age eleven through early adulthood. At this

point individuals deal with logical propositions and construct abstract hypotheses.

Children are even capable of understanding and interpreting space, historical time,

and multiple cause-and-effect relationships. They use this type of thinking to develop

possible plans of action.

Although it is my belief that any or all of these stages can easily be pointed out in a gifted classroom setting, it is also my belief that the formal-operational period is what is witnessed most often. Ironically, the children are often in alignment with the age grouping. I also believe it is important to note that in a gifted setting most children are advanced well beyond their peer groups.

It is difficult to compile in only a few words what I have gained from this course. I have chronicled education from its very conception and learned that in some cases very little has changed. Much like the belief in Ancient Rome, some cultures, like parts of Asia, still believe it is most proper to educate the males first. On the contrary, even though times have progressed over the years, still very little has been done to actively ensure that the education of gifted and talented learners takes its rightful place in the history books. After having gained the knowledge of the history of education and its philosophers, principles, and progression, I take it as a personal charge to ensure that I continue to advocate for the unique needs of gifted and talented learners. After much thought, I can now affirm that it is not only my job, but it is also my passion.