THE BEST TEACHERS FOR SMART KIDS

Bright children typically have a different learning style than regular students. Besides learning faster, they are more intuitive, more creative, and seek the big picture more. They need a corresponding teaching style.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth researched the best teachers of gifted kids and found

Most hold advanced degrees in the subject they teach (for example, a masters degree in math)
Most are NOT certified school teachers. They studied their passion (for example, physics) rather than elementary education.
Most have not completed formal coursework in gifted education.
They are more intuitive and analytical than regular school teachers. They prefer abstract themes and concepts – characteristics similar to gifted students themselves.
They are open and flexible.
Moreover, finding the right teacher is more important to bright students than choosing a textbook. The teacher and teaching style matter more.

Mills, C.J. (2003). Characteristics of Effective Teachers of Gifted Students: Teacher Background and Personality Styles of Students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 47 (4), 272-281.

In a nutshell, the best teachers for the gifted are gifted themselves and have pursued advanced study in the field of their passion. They share with their students a style of thinking and a passion for learning.

The Right Analogy

For bright kids, education is more analogous to passing a flame than the traditional drumming in of lessons.

Bright students deserve suitable teachers.

Joseph Renzulli, Professor at the University of Connecticut, Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, and Director, National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented:

“The enthusiasm and excitement that the scholars displayed when talking about the methods they used for investigating a topic led me to the realization that an ideal model for the education of gifted students should be the "turned on professional" or "first hand inquirer" in any and all areas of study…I feel one of the easiest ways that we can escalate the level of the gifted person's learning environment is to escalate the ways in which he or she goes about selectively retrieving, managing, and using various types of information in the process of first-hand discovery and creativity.”

Renzulli, J.S. The enrichment triad model: A guide for developing defensible programs for the gifted and talented. Mansfield Center, Conn.: Creative Learning Press, Inc., 1977, P. 9, 11.

John Holt, late 20^th century education reformer, noted the irony of teacher selection at our nation’s elite prep schools.

“… our most selective, demanding, and successful private schools have among their teachers hardly any, if indeed any at all, who went to teacher training schools and got their degrees in education. Few such schools would even consider hiring a teacher who had only such training and such a degree. How does it happen that the richest and most powerful people in the country, the ones most able to choose what they want for their children, so regularly choose not to have them taught by trained and certified teachers? One might almost count it among the major benefits of being rich that you are able to avoid having your children taught by such teachers.”

John Holt, Teach Your Own: A Hopeful Path for Education. Chapter 2. New York: Delacorte Press, 1981.

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