Every Child's Right: Academic Talent Development by Choice, Not Chance by Lauren A. Sosniak, Nina Hersch Gabelko

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

1 Grow Talent, Don't Mine It 8

What's Talent? Who's Talented? 8

Is She Gifted? Is He Talented? Who Studies It? Who Cares? 10

It's Less About Differences in Kind, More About Speed or Amount 10

What Comes of Searches to Measure "It"? 14

Looking for Talent in the Wrong Places or at the Wrong Times 16

More Dynamic Ways of Thinking About Talent and Its Development 18

The Shift from Innate Characteristic to Alterable Variable 19

Here's Where Our Conversation Starts: The Academic Talent Development Program 22

The Do-It-Yourself Gifted Program 25

Nearly Twenty Years as ATDP: So What Have We Learned? 26

2 Welcome to the Academic Conversation! 29

One More Advantage for Some; for Others, It's Much More Significant 30

Welcome to the Academic Club! 30

Traditions from the First Meeting Set the Tone 31

What Brings You Here Today? A Volkswagen Phaeton 32

The Academic Conversation and the Work Begin Immediately 33

There's Always More Happening Than Meets an Uninformed Eye 39

Your Ideas Not Only Count, They Inform Others 41

Who Joins the Club? Who Lives in the ATDP Community? 41

A Brief History: From Mining Talent to Growing It 43

Becoming ATDP 44

Development Isn't Only for Students; It's for Programs, Too 46

ATDP Is Not Small, but It's Very Personal 47

The Good News Is That Even Good Things Change and Evolve 48

Especially "Sticky," Virtually Speaking 49

3 When Learning Is Child's Play 52

While Figuring Things Out, Changes Begin 52

Finding a Home and Consolidating Lessons Learned 54

Inviting Young Students Into the Academic Community 54

Play: The Best Way to Accrue IntellectualCapital 57

Evoking Curiosity, Inspiring Persistence 63

Elementary and Secondary Divisions: Two Approaches Toward One Goal 65

Exploration and Purposeful Learning Aren't Just for Kids: Inviting Novice Teachers into the Conversation 71

4 Every Child's Right: Academic Talent Development in All Communities and Classrooms 76

Starting with Things as They Are 76

Just a Little Deconstruction 81

Putting Things Together: It's All About Context 94

5 Changing College-Going from Chance to Choice 100

It Still Helps (a Lot) if Your Parents Are College Grads 100

We Knew We Had to Go to College; We Just Didn't Know What College Was 102

While Things Are Good for Some as Is, They Don't Improve on Their Own 107

A Sense of Belonging and an Actual Place to Belong 108

Rituals, Traditions, and Symbols to Convey the Spirit and Purpose of ATDP 109

Learning the Steps That Change Chance to Choice 111

Rituals and Traditions for Teachers Who Play Expanded Roles 114

It's More Than an Image of College; It's a Way of Conducting Business 116

ATDP Is Like College, Except When It's Not 118

It's Not Just a Sense of Place; It's a Sense of My Place 122

6 The Gift of Community and the Community of Gifts 125

Those Who Choose to Return to the Community, and Those Who Choose to Remain in It 126

Would You Like to Return? Would You Recommend the Class to a Friend? 129

If Responses Are So Similar, Can Students' Backgrounds Really Be That Different? 133

A Community of Gifts, Gladly Shared 134

Membership Has Benefits Not Available to Visitors 136

The Students Voted with Their Feet; What Did They and Their District Say? 137

Gift of Community, Community of Gifts: Belonging, Creating, Conferring on Others 139

Even with the Best Intentions, Schools Can't Do It All 144

Please Consider the 91% Solution: Rich Learning, Inside and Outside of Classrooms 145

References 149

Index 157

About the Authors 164