INGENIOSUS

How to Extend an Olive Branch and Other Useful Communication Tips for Parents of Gifted and Talented Students

Most parents of gifted and talented (GT) students care deeply about the education of their sons and daughters. They also want to be a part of the conversation. Parents want to feel informed about their student’s progress, Advanced Learning Plans, socio-emotional development and challenges.

 

If you’re a parent of a GT student, you may feel elated and/or frustrated when dealing with your child’s classroom teacher or GT coordinator. And though you’re apt to be proud of your son’s or daughter’s giftedness, you may also feel nervous about his or her future. Whether you have a profoundly gifted student, a visual-spatial learner, a creative wonder or a twice-exceptional student, you may be fed up with GT communication logjams or utterly impressed. Regardless, you want the very best for your child. This post is for you!

 

Take a moment and pat yourself on the back for being a proactive parent. If you’ve found the Ingeniosus blog, you’re someone who seeks out, absorbs and likely applies relevant information on gifted issues. Being an informed advocate is simply one of the greatest gifts you can offer your son or daughter. How you communicate your passion, though, can – and will – impact your child’s overall experience.

 

And while there’s obviously no one-size-fits-all communication strategy for parents (who experience vast differences in GT programming across the country), I’ve assembled a few timely and exemplary tips for consideration. Thank you to the many gifted and talented teachers who volunteered their thoughts on this subject!

 

Bret Loucks, a teacher at Scottsdale Unified School District in Phoenix, shares this sage advice:

1. Most of what we learn, we learn by making some mistakes. This is how we develop tenacity and resiliency. GT kids are not made of glass. Don’t be afraid to let them fall and fail a bit.
2. Let kids manage some of their “free” time. Filling up their evenings and weekends with obligations prevents them from being introspective.
3. Your child may have some extreme sensitivities. These “quirks” can be managed if we listen to their needs, and help them learn strategies to compensate.
4. They may be smart, but they are still kids. They need to know they are loved and safe. For this, they need their parents to set limits, rules and principles to live by.
5. Parenting GT children is more challenging. Look to others for support and information. Help is available through associations, teachers, books and other parents.

Carol Fertig, author of Raising a Gifted Child: A Parenting Success Handbook (Prufrock Press: http://www.prufrock.com), offers these recommendations:

 

1. Assume that you will create a very good educational environment for your child. Know that there are many options. Consider your child’s school your ally, not your enemy. If you are not able to work with teachers at your child’s school, you have the choice to find alternatives.
2. Teachers are most receptive if parents approach them with consideration and respect. If you come in with anger, emotional curtains may immediately fall, as the teacher feels attacked.
3. Be willing to really listen to teacher’s observations about your child and about the class in general. You may gain insight into a different side of the situation.
4. Ask, “In what ways might we…” This will demonstrate a willingness to work together, rather than expecting the teacher to do it all.

As noted before, personalities play a bit part in building bridges or detonating bombs, which can both have long-term impact. Give your teachers the benefit of the doubt and listen longer and more actively than expected. If you find yourself getting defensive, bite your tongue and take a deep breath. Don’t assume your view is the only correct view. And certainly don’t rush to the principal without trying to share your concerns with your child’s teacher first.

 

Diane Moline, a gifted and talented teacher in Bellevue, Washington, shares the following with regard to parent/teacher communication challenges:

I want parents to e-mail me with a question or concern. I can usually tell from the tone how to handle it: phone them, email them, or write them a note. I figure as often as not they blind copy my principal if they really want to complain or express frustration…If I hear third-hand from another parent or the principal that a parent is unhappy about something, it just makes me mad, especially if s/he remains "anonymous." Parents of gifted children are, as we all know, much more involved with their child's education, than others - mostly a good thing, sometimes not. I've taught gifted kids many years, get few complaints, and pride myself on being able to handle the occasional complaint. But I am left "defenseless" against those who would criticize and not put me in the conversation.

 

I agree with Diane. As I’ve said before, parents often forget that teachers can’t read their minds! They’re also human beings who have feelings and distinct personalities. So, extend a hand and an olive branch. We need parents and gifted educators working ardently together if we are to help launch our gifted and talented students toward meaningful futures.

 

Even if you arm yourself with books and information online, be sure to seek out input and advice from educators regularly. These individuals went to graduate school for a reason, and they’re eager to serve this population. They want nothing more than to make an impact. Remember, these men and women are often stretched for time and resources, but they do have insights and strengths worth tapping, admiring and applauding.

 

Lastly, be willing to give. Ask your child’s GT teacher about volunteer opportunities. Perhaps your biggest frustration is with your son’s or daughter’s regular classroom teacher. If that’s the case, your GT educator may be able to set up a meeting to talk cooperatively and find ways for you to better support that teacher and your student. Your instincts may be right, but be open to joining forces and serving.

 

The education of gifted and talented children is our collective responsibility. It’s not your GT coordinators’ job to ensure your child becomes valedictorian or gets into Harvard, MIT or Stanford. It’s their job to support your son’s or daughter’s strengths. Pressures and expectations on these students and teachers are great. Finding ways to support them both will serve you and your child in powerful ways.

 

If you would like to receive post updates for the Ingeniosus blog, feel free to send me an email at innovate@deborahmersino.com with “Subscribe” in the subject line. As always, I welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing your comments. If you tweet, I’m @DeborahMersino. I’m also on LinkedIn; feel free to connect with me directly or via the “Gifted Talented Network” group.

 

Until next time, cheers!  

The Case for Ingeniosus: Why Advanced Communications Can Foster Hope

Welcome! My next post will center on GT educator/parent communications; however, I’d like to take a moment to explain why I made the decision last October to leave a lucrative job in Chicago to launch a new marketing communications agency in Colorado called Ingeniosus.

After spending nearly 20 years in journalism and communications and becoming a partner at a well-respected Chicago-based national marketing firm, I felt a tug in my heart. I knew I was either having a mid-life crisis and/or a prompting that would lead me to something powerfully rewarding. While I enjoyed rebranding publicly traded companies, working closely with CEOs, and bringing digital and print communication advancements to nonprofits, the time had come for me to leap. And leap I did.

I left behind my swanky Chicago River office, a cherished mentor (Connie Dickinson), an ingenious partner (Colleen Scrivner), and wickedly smart clients and colleagues at DickinsonGroup. I packed up my family and belongings and moved to my home state of Colorado, where I launched Ingeniosus, the first and only marketing communications firm in the country solely dedicated to gifted and talented education and support.

I took the leap because I firmly believe that advanced communications in this realm can create new and needed leverage, lasting partnerships and vital progress throughout the United States to ultimately increase support for our country’s highest potential learners.

Outside of my own family, it’s my strongest passion. I can’t imagine a more fulfilling way to direct my energies and invoke hope. The more access parents, educators and students have to vital information, the better.

Identifying, developing and improving Web sites, newsletters, events, social networking, and public relations opportunities for gifted communities motivates me greatly. Conducting research audits, offering educator/parent workshops and helping individuals, organizations and schools thrive with ongoing communications consulting all have the potential to further bolster support for GT students and those who serve them.

 

By infusing the GT sector with business sensibilities, including educator profiling, advanced targeting, technological offerings (Podcasts), and collaborative networks, we can make our country’s top programs even better without expending exorbitant sums of money.

    

I applaud the men and women who have already dedicated their professional lives to improving support for gifted and talented students across our nation. Despite the current economic realities, the GT community in the U.S. is working harder than ever.

We’re fortunate to have the many fine leaders at the National Association for Gifted Children (www.nagc.org), SENG (http://www.sengifted.org/) and state gifted associations. We can all tip our hats to www.hoagiesgifted.org, the Davidson Institute for Talent Development (http://www.davidsongifted.org/), Prufrock Press (www.prufrock.com) and the thousands of dedicated GT educators, coordinators, consultants, businesses, psychotherapists and counselors who share their own talents every day to serve this critical population.

I am honored to join you in the pursuit of serving this community with creativity, commitment and zeal. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahmersino) or on Twitter (I’m @DeborahMersino). You’ll also find me on Facebook.

 

As always, I welcome your comments and feedback to the Ingeniosus blog. Check back next week for “Educators Sound Off: Why Communicating with Parents of Gifted and Talented Students Isn’t a Cakewalk.”

 

If you think your organization could benefit from marketing communications support and/or you know someone at a GT organization, school, university program, business or association who might be interested in Ingeniosus, feel free to pass along this URL and/or have them contact me (Deborah Mersino) directly at innovate@deborahmersino.com.

 

Thank you for stopping by today. Until next time, may you exceed your own expectations!

 

 

Bringing Business Sensibilities to Gifted and Talented Communities: 4 Steps to Sanity – Part II

Welcome! I’ve been stunned and inspired by the amount of impassioned responses I’m receiving to the Ingeniosus blog and appreciate all of the thoughtful feedback and comments. Thank you to Carol Fertig, who writes the nation’s most popular blog on parenting gifted children, for her recent mention (scroll to the second post - Marketing Gifted Education). Be sure to subscribe to Carol’s blog on Prufrock Press’ Web site; it’s golden.

 

I also want to give a special nod to Northwestern University alumni, who have come out in droves and offered personal commentary on their experiences with gifted and talented (GT) professionals serving their sons and daughters. From Boston to L.A., it’s clear that communications in this realm is a touchy, delicate and crazy-making topic that deserves our attention.

Today, we will dive further into the subject of “Bringing Business Sensibilities to GT Communities.” In my last post, I extolled the benefits of profiling GT pros and educating them on their communication styles and triggers to help improve strained relations with parents of gifted and talented students.

 

In this post, we’ll cover steps 2-4 for overworked GT educators hoping to maintain some semblance of sanity into today’s fast-forward world. Here they are:

 

2. Conduct a communications audit
3. Identify touchstones
4. Create and implement communication strategies

Even if you’re not a gifted and talented instructor, you may find these steps helpful in advocating for improved communications within your school, district, GT summer program and/or organization.

 

Step 2 - Conduct a communications audit

Numerous public and private schools undertake formal and informal program reviews. These are essential and often times required. GT leaders can gauge what’s working and how a certain district or school is performing comparatively and evaluate everything from program design, administration and student identification to curriculum, instruction and socio-emotional guidance and counseling. Looking at professional development and overall program evaluation makes these reviews powerfully insightful and helpful.

 

However, often times, these reviews don’t include a communications component and/or a full-blown communications audit, which is perhaps one of the most efficient and effective ways to garner poignant truths on how to maximize strengths and shore up communication weaknesses within GT programs. See previous posts for more on this subject.

 

An objective third-party consultant can help you uncover simple, yet innate trends and address concerns with creativity. Look for someone who will offer recommendations with a balanced and pragmatic view of budgets, time constraints, scheduling issues and administrative challenges.

 

As mentioned before, you’ll be doing your internal staff, parents and students a huge favor by taking this one step. The results will provide you with the insights needed to make bold changes that will infuse your gifted and talented community with better understanding, collaboration and empathy.

 

Step 3 – Identify touchstones

GT leaders are cognizant of the critical touchstones taking place within their programming; however, their dedication and thinking behind these milestones isn’t always communicated with regularity to parents. From identification and placement to Advanced Learning Plans (ALPs) and reviews, GT instructors would benefit from placing greater emphasis on touchstones.

Let’s use the example of identification. Whether your school begins this process in pre-K, kindergarten, first- or second-grade, GT leaders are well-versed on how this identification takes place. They may work hand-in-hand with classroom teachers to collect a full body of evidence, administer testing and review CogAT, WISC-III, OLSAT, SIGS and/or other identification instruments, and discuss temperaments, typing and development. They work tirelessly year-in and year-out doing this. So what’s the problem?

 

Parents often have no clue what’s taking place. They may be unaware what their role needs to be, how and when they can learn more about the district’s identification policies and/or whether they can set up a meeting to discuss findings. They may wonder whether their input will be welcomed or seem off-putting. Moreover, some parents don’t even know the identification process is taking place and may not even realize their son or daughter is gifted.

 

Typically, a lack of resources – both time and money – exacerbates this issue. Nonetheless, this is a pristine example of how “Bringing Business Sensibilities to GT Communities” can have exponential benefits. How can a school properly relay what’s happening without creating a truckload of paperwork and spending countless hours debating with parents about whether their son or daughter meets the identification criteria?

 

While numerous communication scenarios exist, here’s a minimalist approach to consider. Think of your students – and their parents – as your clients. In the corporate world, leaders are required to:

 

·         Keep their clients informed

·         Set expectations

·         Garner feedback

·         Communicate regularly

·         Deliver

·         Create win-win situations/solutions

 

And while teachers do this valiantly for their students, parents frequently and inadvertently get left in the dark. In the gifted and talented world, we can’t afford to have this happen. There’s too much at stake! Here’s an older example that illustrates one such touchstone breakdown at its worst:

 

The New York Times - In Testing for Gifted Programs, A Few Knots

 

This may an extreme example, but even so, we need to evaluate how we approach communications. Rather than blame teachers, who are talented and already running at full speed, let us rethink how to serve these devoted men and women serving our sons and daughters with pragmatic and convenient solutions.

 

If you’re a coordinator and don’t have the bandwidth to tackle communication tactics, invite outside counsel. I’ll go into more detail about communicating touchstones to parents in the months ahead, but know that the sooner you invite parents into the conversation, the better off you and your students will be!

 

4. Create and implement communication strategies.

The opportunity for increased impact exists. We’ve covered step 4 in previous posts; so, if you haven’t yet seen these guidelines, take a look (simply scroll down). Embracing technology, thinking strategically and getting wildly creative will enable us to build supportive partnerships with parents -- and ultimately serve GT students better.

 

I’m cooking up some intriguing topics for the Ingeniosus blog for May and June, including how businesses supporting GT communities can reach their target audiences more effectively and “What GT Pros Wish Parents Knew!” If you’re enjoying these posts, please pass along this URL.

 

If you’re having trouble accessing the RSS feed for the Ingeniosus blog, feel free to send me an email at innovate@deborahmersino.com and include your name and email address. I’ll ensure that you are notified when new posts are available.

 

As always, I welcome feedback, comments and suggestions. As Moliere said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

 

Cheers!