Gifted Teacher Toolbox: Affective Resources
Welcome to the newest series Gifted Teacher Toolbox! Last year, at the beginning of the year, I wrote a blog series titled Back to School Planning. This series was incredible in helping many teachers (both gifted and not) learn ideas and strategies for planning for their gifted students. If you have not read that blog series – I HIGHLY suggest it. I will link each of those blog topics below. This year, when creating my new series, I decided to move from the conceptual understanding of planning for gifted students to more concrete support – specific resources.
Back to School Planning:
Low Prep, High Thinking Strategies
What are good gifted resources?
One of my most asked questions is: but WHAT do I use?
Sadly, there is not one size fits all resource for our gifted students. There is not one curriculum, one book, one resource that fits all students. When I became a gifted teacher, this was one of the most surprising aspects to me – WHAT do I use?
Over the past years, I have worked to create a toolbox of resources. I have learned what is great for my students and what is NOT great. Through this blog series, I hope to share what I have learned for many different grade levels.
Before I begin, please recognize, this is not a comprehensive list nor a “must use” list. These are merely suggestions (hopefully some new ideas!) for you to explore and decide if they would be beneficial for your students. Happy reading!
Affective Resources
I decided to create the first blog post on affective resources because as teachers, we need to remember that kids can not begin to access academics until all affective needs are met. This year, as we begin a new year, lets remember to start with social emotional growth before we dive into academics! Although our gifted students have many talents, they often have many affective needs as well.
Set Goals, Introduce Rubrics
One of the best ways to begin with affective lessons at the beginning of the year is for students to identify an area they would like to grow in, set goals, and then introduce rubrics for those goals.
Resource #1: NAGC Gifted Programming Standards
Standard 4 states that educators or gifted students create learning environments for not only academic achievement, but social-emotional achievement as well. These standards outline 5 different student outcome areas of focus:
- Personal Competence: self-awareness, self-advocacy, self-efficacy, confidence, motivation, resilience, independence, curiosity, and risk taking
- Social Competence: positive peer relationships and social interactions
- Responsibility and Leadership: demonstrate personal and social responsibility
- Cultural Competence: value their own and others’ language, heritage, and circumstance; possess skills in communicating, teaming, and collaborating with diverse individuals and across diverse groups; use positive strategies to address social issues, including discrimination and stereotyping
- Communication Competence: develop competence in interpersonal and technical communication skills, advanced oral and written skills, creative expression, fluency with technologies that support effective communication, are competent consumers of media and technology
This resource is a great way to have students identify an area of possible growth.
Resource #2: Setting SMART Goals
SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Specific. When students (especially older students) begin to create goals, this is a great tool for directly teaching goal setting.
TED Ed Video: Why the Secret to Success is Setting the Right Goals
Khan Academy Video: How to write a SMART Goal.
TPT – When looking at SMART Goal student resources, there are MANY on TPT. Each year, I have used different resources depending on the grade level, my students’ independence, and background knowledge on SMART goals. I suggest looking through the different SMART Goal resources, because there are many great ones!
Affective Books
Below are different books that I have used to support my teaching. Some are described more detailed, others are there for you to click and explore if it would support your students!
Teacher Professional Development/Teaching Books and Websites:
-Social and Emotional Curriculum for Gifted Students – Grade 5, Grade 4, Grade 3
Though I truly believe there is no one curriculum for gifted students, these books have some great lessons that I have loved exploring with my students! Highly suggest checking them out!
–Empowering Underrepresented Gifted Students
This book is a bit more of a case study, but it was incredible insight into how to support student advocacy – especially for underrepresented populations.
–Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students
Emotional intensity is a big part of being gifted and learning how to manage those emotions. This book is a great resource for parents and teachers to better understand intense emotions.
– Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children
This was actually one of the textbooks I read in my Gifted Masters program, but I highly suggest it for anyone starting out in gifted education. It can provide a strong foundation of social/emotional needs for gifted students.
–Hoagies Social/Emotional Aspects of Giftedness
A website containing MANY articles and resources to explore.
-Davidson Institute Gifted Social and Emotional Resources
Student Books:
–The Survival Guide for Gifted Kids
I believe all gifted students should have a copy of this book! For younger students, it would be a great book for parents/teachers to read with them and discuss many of the topics. Many of the students I have read it with have felt very seen and understood. There is also a Survival Guide for Gifted Teens book.
I have used a few different books from this set as fun activities and conversation starters. They are especially great for small groups and 1:1 settings.
Favorite Picture Books By Topic:
Advocacy: Say Something by Peter H Reynolds, You Forgot Your Skirt Amelia Bloomer by Shana Corey, She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton, The Girl Who Thought in Pictures by Julia Mosca, I Dissent by Debbie Levy, Emmanuel’s Dream by Laurie Ann Thompson, Little Dreamers by Vashti Harrison.
Emotional Regulation: I Lost my Mojo by Rachel Rave, The Boy with Big Big Feelings by Britney Winn Lee, Ruby Finds a Worry by Tom Percival, Listening with My Heart by Gabi Garcia, Find Your Calm by Gabi Garcia
Thinking Differently/Understanding Differences: The Girl Who Thought in Pictures by Julia Mosca, Emmanuel’s Dream by Laurie Ann Thompson, Some Kids Series by Lola M Schaefer, Included by Jayneen Sanders, What if We Were All The Same by C M Harris, Same-Same But Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
Affective Lessons
-Social and Emotional Curriculum for Gifted Students – Grade 5, Grade 4, Grade 3
Though I truly believe there is no one curriculum for gifted students, these books have some great lessons that I have loved exploring with my students! Highly suggest checking them out! (Copied from Above)
–Gifted Guide SEL Resources Website
This website has many resources for you to explore by grade level
Jacobs Ladder is a reading comprehension program for gifted learners and there is a social/emotional set for different grade levels.
This program is great for helping students develop a growth mindset. There are also guides for parents and teachers to help support children.
In Conclusion…
There is no one right way to teach social emotional lessons to gifted students – it will truly depend on their needs. BUT, it is imperative to begin with social emotional support in order to access all academic potential. Allowing gifted students to identify their own areas for growth can be incredibly impactful and create more meaning.
Want to explore other blog posts that discuss social emotional needs further and help add to your gifted teacher toolbox? Check these out:
4 Comments Gifted Teens & Adults Say About Their Childhood
Higher Level Picture Books in all Grades for Critical Thinking and Gifted
