When Parents and Teachers Collaborate--A Success Story

As published in Mindscape, the official magazine of the Queensland Association of Gifted and Talented Children

In case no one has yet informed you, the first day of school year for gifted kids also marks the official opening day of advocacy season for us parents.  If you have a gifted child, or better yet, a gifted child with learning disabilities, you already know that the likelihood of your child’s learning needs being met without you advocating for her is slim.  Advocacy for a gifted child or a gifted child with learning disabilities is difficult, but possible; and research consistently shows that the best-case scenario for gifted kids occurs when the parent and the school listen to one another and work hand-in-hand in their respective areas of strength.

I want to share a success story of some collaboration that resulted in great achievement for one of my daughters last year.  Reflecting on this story reminds me about the benefits to my children when I persist in the difficult task of respectfully advocating for their learning needs with their teachers and school.   I hope it encourages you to work with your child’s teachers and school so that your child gets to have some great learning experiences this year.  If you are a teacher, I hope it encourages you to use your areas of strength and to engage the strengths of your gifted students’ parents to create some fantastic learning experiences for students whose learning needs may not be met without creative differentiation.  

In 2013 my daughter started year 7 at a new state school after we moved from Brisbane to the Sunshine coast.  The year before, she had been  "whole-grade" accelerated mid-year from year 5 into year 6 with some additional subject acceleration in maths and science.  She was part of a year 6/7 composite class at a state school, and sometimes the whole class did the year 7 assignments in English.  My daughter loves science and maths.  She plows through stacks of books, expresses herself articulately and has excellent comprehension; but she has historically hated English as a subject and has passionately loathed writing of any sort at school.  

In year 6 she plugged through a memoir assignment and got the "C" that she deserved for completing the project to a satisfactory level.   This year, during her year 7 year, when the exact same memoir assignment came around, she was in tears because she so dreaded having to write a memoir again.  About the time they assigned the memoir project, her teachers also nominated her to participate in a workshop about writing where she met authors of books and listened to how they composed stories and created characters.  As she sat, spellbound, listening to authors talk about their writing processes, somehow, the idea of writing-- not as a compulsory activity to be dreaded, but as a creative enterprise to be enjoyed--took hold.  It was like a light switch had flipped!

I emailed my daughter’s teachers to let them know about how discouraged my daughter was about repeating the memoir assignment.  I asked if it would be possible for me to differentiate the assignment for her so that she did not have to do the same one again. They agreed because they cared about how she was feeling, because they also wanted her to learn something new and because they wanted her to enjoy writing.  We tossed a few different differentiation ideas back and forth on email.  My daughter has always been interested in pre-historic cats, so, at my suggestion and  with her teachers’ approval, she wrote the memoir as a sequence of adventures from the point of view of a prehistoric cat, instead of writing about her own "boring" life experiences.  The result was unbelievable!  Her teachers and I were all blown away, and so excited about her breakthrough in enjoying writing.  By the time she was finished, my child who has always deplored writing had composed a memoir of 2800 words!

That assignment was a creative and an academic triumph for my daughter, but it was also cause for celebration for her teachers and for me.  Her new-found talent would not have been revealed and developed without the enrichment offered by her teachers and school, or without communication and cooperation between her teachers and me.   They used their expertise and resources as educators, and I used mine as a parent who knew what might engage my quirky, fact-collecting, prehistoric-feline-buff.  I really could not thank her teachers Anita and Kate for working together with me to reveal and develop talents that might have otherwise remained hidden.  

Great learning experiences for gifted kids are possible and they are built on the foundation of collaboration between home and school.  This year, as school begins for gifted kids and advocacy season opens for us parents, get ready to roll up your sleeves so that you can respectfully advocate for your kids’ learning needs and collaborate with their teachers.    There is really no end to how much parents and teachers can help gifted children develop when they work together with the child's best interest in their hearts.

Elissa Mizell is president of the Brisbane North Branch of QAGTC and mother to 3 girls who are all gifted with learning disabilities.  She lives with her family on the Sunshine Coast.  In 2013, she launched her company The Learning Architect to provide advocacy, advocacy-coaching, and tutoring for children with diverse learning needs and their families.  She specialises in gifted children and gifted  children with learning disabilities.  Email her at elissamizell@gmail.com.