Being Smart about Gifted Education: A Guidebook for Educators and Parents (2nd Edition)

By Dona J. Matthews and Joanne Foster

Book Overview

Written for both parents and educators, the book presents practical strategies to identify and nurture exceptionally high ability in children. These authors promote the "mastery" (rather than the "mystery") model of gifted education and challenge several common practices and assumptions. They assert that if children are to learn optimally, teachers must provide them with educational experiences that are appropriate for each individual child's level of readiness. An important step in the process of determining a child's level of learning is pre-testing before starting a new unit of instruction to discover the correct level of classroom instruction necessary for each child. The authors also advocate achievement testing for the same reason, and they explain how this works in the classroom.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0910707952
• ISBN13: 9780910707954
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Gifted Unlimited
• Length: 452 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The first gifted book you should read!

Being Smart is a great introduction to giftedness, for the parent, teacher, even administrator, those who are brand new, and those who think they "know all about gifted children." Dispelling myths and answering questions along the way, Matthews and Foster step us through giftedness from identification to education, and into social / emotional. How to answer the tricky questions, how to support gifted kids in today's egalitarian world, and what to tell the kids along the way - Being Smart covers it all. All the while, they meet their goal: share details on how we, parents and educators, can meet the gifted child's educational and social / emotional needs. Much more than just an introduction, Being Smart should be in every gifted book collection...

Great introduction to gifted kids

The preservcie teachers in my gifted education class at OISE/UT have found Being Smart About Gifted Children to be a very good guide in their efforts to understand gifted children. As their instructor, I appreciate the current research and practical ideas, which are communicated eloquently in straightforward prose. Thus, I would strongly recommend this book to teachers and parents interested in learning more about the psychology and education of highly able learners.

This Book is Smart about Giftedness!

This new book is the best resource I have seen for schools andparents about the issues that surround gifted children and their education. If you buy one book about gifted kids, make this the one.

This book is a great resource!

This book, which emphasizes the unique characteristics of the gifted learner and the fact that such children are "not a homogeneous population," presents a big challenge to parents looking for the right 'educational fit' for their children. But it is full of valuable information for those who seek to better understand gifted learners, intelligence testing, educational programs for gifted children and more. I highly recommend this book.

Parents of Gifted Children must read this!

This book is so very informative. It has been written in a way that's easy for parents to read and understand. I just got it a couple of weeks ago, and already I've learned so much! It answers virtually any question I can think of. Its approach to nurturing gifted children is very practical and easy to implement. It addresses many concerns intelligently and sensitively, with the child's best interest in mind. It is definitely a book that I will continue to refer back to time and time again.