Our favorite definition of giftedness comes from Annemarie Roeper, founder of the Roeper School.
It’s “a greater awareness, a greater sensitivity, and a greater ability to understand and transform perceptions into intellectual and emotional experiences."
If you have a child described in the above quote, you probably realized early on that you’ve had to be on your toes, ready to provide deeper experiences and more complex answers to questions than you ever thought you would.
It follows that when it comes to schooling, gifted students think and learn differently than typically developing peers. We often get the question, “Why Seabury?” It’s phrased in different ways, but people wonder why choose this small, independent school over the other options for youngsters in the South Puget Sound area – public schools, parochial schools, private schools – even the new charter schools?
Seabury School, which serves students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, is unique among schools in the south Puget Sound because its program is specifically designed for gifted learners. Seabury's program is designed around research based on best practices in gifted education.
Here are a few things that research has taught us about how gifted children learn and grow, paired with how we address these needs at Seabury.
Gifted children are often intense and are best served when parents and teachers understand this. Their intensity – or sensitivity – can cause them to be misunderstood or even misdiagnosed. Teachers in public and private schools typically have not had training in recognizing or providing support for the unique learning needs of gifted children. At Seabury, gifted youngsters are supported by teachers who understand them.
Gifted students are typically not equally gifted in all areas. Seabury tailors instruction and expectations to the needs of each individual student. The goal is to provide appropriate challenge in areas of giftedness and support in areas of growth. By individualizing instruction and expectations, teachers can appropriately challenge each child every single day.
Gifted children learn quickly and retain information easily, especially in their areas of giftedness. Too much rote repetition of material they have mastered will decrease achievement levels. Seabury teachers work closely with individual students and adjust the amount of practice with new information according to the needs of the individual student, with the goal of providing enough practice to master the skill but not repetition that is meaningless or unnecessary.
Gifted students understand abstractions at an earlier age than typically developing students, and seek complexity in work and play. They tend to be "whole to part" learners, preferring to start with the big picture or a big idea, and then deconstructing it into its component parts. Seabury's curriculum is developed around integrated, project-based units of study. Because students learn factual information easily, the bulk of our time is spent on higher level thinking and problem-solving.
Gifted students show greater academic and social-emotional growth when grouped with other gifted students. Gifted children, like all children, need peers they can connect with to learn how to make friends, collaborate, and develop self-confidence. Grouping students with intellectual peers provides a rich learning environment, but also an environment where gifted students feel like they fit, can learn the give and take of working with others, and feel safe trying new things.
Research into the success of gifted adults, shows that intellectual intelligence is most likely to lead to success in life and career if it is coupled with emotional intelligence the ability to communicate clearly and navigate socially. Understanding and supporting the social-emotional development of gifted children is as vital at Seabury as academic challenge.
