Literacy Resources for Gifted Kids (and Their Parents)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Need some book recommendations for your children? Excellent lists of worthwhile books can be found at

• Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) publishes lists of award-winning books for young people, including Newbery and Caldecott winners.
• International Reading Association provides “Choices” reading lists. These are books chosen as favorites by children, young adults, teachers, and librarians around the country.
• EDSITEment's Recommended Reading List for College-Bound Students offers a list from the National Endowment for the Humanities, along with suggestions for study and discussion of each book.
• Classic Novels offers one of many lists of the classics available on the Internet. This list was compiled by the Cincinnati Public Library. If your student owns an eReader (Kindle, Nook, etc.), many of the classics can be downloaded for free.

 

In addition to reading good books, children may enjoy creating their own books. There are a number of websites to help with this. One such site is Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord’s Making Books with Children, which lists resources, ideas for teachers, and ideas for families.

Teaching Students to Write Well

 

The ability to write well is one of the major gateways to a successful education and to career advancement. It is also a tool that helps one sort through and analyze personal thoughts, express oneself effectively, and act as a stress reducer when faced with difficult physical and psychological issues in life.

Watch the video of Steve Graham discussing the importance of learning to write well.

Writing is most effectively developed when it is taught across all subjects—not just those in the field of language arts. Unfortunately, not enough teachers are sufficiently prepared to teach writing.

The National Writing Project (NWP) is one resource filled with ideas and opportunities to remedy this situation. There are currently more than 200 university-based writing project sites that provide high quality professional development and leadership opportunities to more than 100,000 K-16 educators every year. Many NWP sites offer special writing programs for children. For tips on helping children learn to write and how to support good writing instruction in schools, click on the Resources tab at the top of the NWP website.

Parents, remember that you can also play an important part in teaching your children to write. Check out the resources about and consider how you might use those at home.

The Importance of the Arts in Our Schools

Years of research show that [the arts is] closely linked to almost everything that we as a nation say we want for our children and demand from our schools: academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity.

This quote is from an article in Edutopia, titled Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best. Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in many areas, including academic development and positive character traits. Over the last few decades, arts in the schools have been eroded, but there is hope. Some school districts are now revitalizing the arts, many prompted by new findings in brain research and cognitive development.

Edutopia has a whole series of articles on the importance of arts education, including

• Why Arts Education Must Be Saved 
• The Arts Are Essential 
• Tucson Schools Enhance Learning with the Arts 
• Dallas Schools Draw on the Arts Community 
• Troubled Teens Explore Their Artistic Side 
• Art in Schools Inspires Tomorrow's Creative Thinkers  

Take some time to read these articles and encourage the arts in your child’s school. Incorporate art into your family activities. Development of the arts is at the very basis of highly civilized societies.

Do you want to know what your state policy is on arts education? Search the database at the Arts Education Partnership.

Exercising Minds through Questioning

Bright students often come to class thinking they must know all the right answers. What they (and many adults) may not realize is that thinking is not driven by answers, but by questions. It is the sense of wonder and curiosity that drives understanding. As the old saying goes…The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. The more you learn about a subject, the more you realize there is to know. Perhaps having students list thoughtful questions at the conclusion of a unit would be a better determiner of knowledge gained than taking a test.

Young people learn to develop inquiring minds when they hear their parents and teachers ask thoughtful questions of themselves and others. One way to do this is to use Socratic Questioning. Socratic questions help to

• Clarify issues
• Question assumptions
• Justify statements
• Understand the ideas of others
• Imagine consequences
• Relate different issues 

Divergent questions are also useful. They usually begin with words or phrases such as

• Imagine…
• Suppose…
• Predict…
• If…, then…
• How might…
• Can you create…
• What are some possible consequences…

Here is one example of questioning for young children in kindergarten or first grade after reading and discussing Jack and the Beanstalk.

Q. What did Jack do when he got to the giant's castle?"

A. Jack hid from the giant, found the goose that lays the golden eggs, was discovered by the giant, fled, reached the bottom of the vine, and then chopped it down. The giant, of course, tumbles down, breaks his neck, and Jack lives happily ever after with his mother and his newly found wealth.

Q. Did Jack trespass illegally? (In kindergarten terms, "Did Jack go into someone's house where he did not belong?")

A. Yes!

Q. Did Jack steal the goose that lays golden eggs?"

A. Yes!

Q. Did Jack, then, refuse to give back what did not belong to him?

A. Yes!

Q. Then did Jack escape down the bean vine and cause the giant to be killed?"

A. Yes!

Q. If Jack trespassed, stole, and murdered the giant, why is the giant the villain of this story?

Places to Publish for Gifted Young Writers

Gifted students need “real” audiences for their work. They benefit from seeing their words in print and finding others who have the same interest.

Figment is a place where young people, ages 13 and up, share their writing, connect with other people with similar interests, and discover new stories and authors. The website was started by Dana Goodyear, a staff writer at The New Yorker, and Jacob Lewis, the former Managing Editor at The New Yorker and Condé Nast Portfolio. It contains a variety of sections that will be of interest to young authors, including

• A place where students can post their writing and get feedback in the form of comments and reviews.
• Writing contests.
• Advice from adults who publish young adult books.
• Recommendations of recently published books for young adults.
• A forum where students can connect on a variety of subjects related to their writing.
• A blog that, among other things, contains interviews with published authors of books for young adults.

If your young writer is more independent, suggest that he submit his writing for publication without the feedback and interaction of a group. A Young Authors Guide from NewPages.com provides

• Updated lists of publications that accept submissions from young people, some from children as young as eight.
• A long list of writing contests, listed by month.
• Information about writing programs.
• A list of writing conferences.

Puppetry

If you think that the art of puppetry is a simple subject, think again. Like any niche subject, there is a great deal more to learn than initially meets the eye.

Puppetry can be incorporated into any subject, it can be a study on its own, or it may become a lifelong hobby. It may even lead to a profession (think Jim Henson).

Learning to make puppets and stage puppet shows is possible at many levels, from very simple to very sophisticated, and incorporates a variety of skills, including math, language arts, art, advanced problem solving, and creativity. Many bright kids will find it exciting and compelling.

Here are some puppetry websites that will help you as a teacher, a parent, or a student.

The Puppetry Home Page contains a wealth of information about the art of puppetry.

• Definitions—Lists information about more than a dozen kinds of puppets.
• Traditions Around the World—Traditions from 13 different countries.
• Puppet Building—Books, patterns, tutorials, materials, and suppliers.
• Using Puppetry—Puppet stages, plays, and scripts.
• Schools, Workshops, Internships, Scholarships, and Awards—A great section for those who are seriously interested in puppetry.
• Organizations—Links to organizations around the world.
• Festivals—Conferences and festivals in the United States and Canada.
• Exhibits and Museums—From around the world, with many in the United States.
• Resources—Books, mailing lists, newsgroups, and other puppetry websites. 

Puppeteers’ Cooperative Home Page contains instructions for making 68 different puppets that are very large.

YouTube—Search on “Puppet Making Tutorial” for many options to learn how to make puppets.

Puppeteers Unite is a blog for current and future puppeteers that provides information detailing puppet performances, building techniques, and positive business practices.

You may want to search on the Internet for summer puppet camps. Start with a search such as “puppet camp” combined with the name of your city.