"Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder."
~ E.B. White
Resources
We encourage you to dive deeper into these videos, books, and websites by experts and thought leaders advocating for innovative changes to schooling, educational reform, and creative learning, especially for gifted students and those with learning differences.
Videos
Jet Cockpits and The End of Average
The Air Force realized performance results for pilots were improved when they stopped designing for "average" but made jet cockpits adjustable. It's a story of how a clear and pragmatic change can have big results. Todd Rose - author of "The End of Average" - uses the story to wonder and provoke how human potential can be unlocked in the U.S. by considering how schools can be re-designed and updated for the future.
Do Schools Kill Creativity?
In the most viewed TEDTalk of all time, creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenged the way we educate our children, championing a radical rethink of how our school systems cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.
Bring on the learning revolution!
In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.
Most Likely To Succeed ("MLTS") Title
MLTS is a groundbreaking documentary about education and curriculum reform in 21st century America. Directed by Greg Whiteley and produced by Ted Dintersmith.
The Power of Yet
Carol Dweck's speack to "plasticity" and makes it quite clear that improvements of such capabilities are supported by systematic use of appropriate training and feedback. Her research focuses on why students succeed and how to foster their success. More specifically, her work has demonstrated the role of mindsets in success and has shown how praise for intelligence can undermine students’ motivation and learning.
Grit: The power of passion and perseverance
Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of "grit" as a predictor of success.
Our Favorite Websites & Blogs
Gifted Homeschoolers Forum is a non-profit volunteer organization that works to support, educate and advocate for gifted individuals around the world.
TiLT Parenting was founded in 2016 by Debbie Reber as a podcast and community aimed at helping parents raising differently-wired kids do so from a place of confidence, connection, and joy.
SENG is a nonprofit network of people who guide gifted, talented, and twice-exceptional individuals to reach their goals intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.
GRO’s unique purpose of research and outreach bridges the gaps between the educational, medical, psychiatric, and therapy communities to create meaningful change and prevent misdiagnosis across all intelligence levels.
The Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) is a global organization that supports the learning and sharing of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), and helps people peacefully and effectively resolve conflicts in personal, organizational, and political settings.
Bright and Quirky's mission is to ease the struggle for bright and quirky kids and parents, help them self-actualize with the help of experts in the fields of mental health and education, and inspire the hope that new ideas and possibilities bring.
Crushing Tall Poppies is the work of Celi Trepanier, a passionate advocate for gifted children after tiring of her battles with schools and their misunderstanding and neglect of gifted students. She writes about her journey with her gifted children, about giftedness, advocacy, and education.
The work of Alfie Kohn, who writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. The author of fourteen books and hundreds of articles, he lectures at education conferences and universities as well as to parent groups and corporations. Kohn’s criticisms of competition and rewards have been widely discussed and debated, and he has been described in Time magazine as “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores.”