Running Head: R & R JOURNAL

Response and Reflection Journal

Tamara Quran
EPSE 516
UBC

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Reflection # 1
(week 2)

Ideas about class

I walked into class last week not knowing what to expect. I have never
worked with children who are gifted, and in all honesty I am not quite sure if that
concept exists in Jordan. Growing up in Jordan I remember people being labeled as
genius when they excelled in academics that is interesting, since genius comes
from the same roots as genetic, suggesting that there may be an assumption that
thinking ability is inherited , as talented when they did well in sports and arts and
as well-rounded when they were above average in more than one area. I have
rattled my brain trying to find a word in the Arabic language that literally translates
into gifted, but have yet to find one.
That being said, since my undergrad in Childhood and Youth Studies and
being here in Canada I have learnt a little bit about individuals who are gifted, and
have come to understand that giftedness is more than being academically superior
(although that was the association I made for a long time). I had no clear definition
in my head for giftedness, and last week I came to the realization that there might
not be one. That is an important realization and good if you can come to feel
comfortable with that ambiguity.
One thing that caught me off guard last week was Sternbergs WICS Model of
Gifted Leadership (2005). I think as educators we forget that children grow up and
move on into the real world, where academic achievement may not determine
success. Also, we forget that children who are labeled as LD, ADHD, ASD or gifted

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grow up to become adults with LD, ADHD, ASD and giftedness. How true! And yet,
most adults would shy away from being called gifted. When we think about adult
discomfort with this label, maybe we should think about how it affects children
when we attach it to them... Taking this model into practice might cause teachers to
create assignments and programs that encourage and develop the kind of leadership
that Sternberg describes in his model. A leader in accordance to Sternbergs (2005)
WICS model is wise, intelligent and creative. We need to teach and encourage
students in our classrooms to generate ideas, assess the quality of their ideas and
find ways to practically implement decisions (Sternberg, R. J., 2003b; cited in Miller,
A., 2012). It is definitely worthwhile to get students thinking about what their
gifts/talents will mean for them as they enter adulthood, also.
Inquiry Project
From my own questions about Jordan and the idea of giftedness there, and
the reading from this week, I am considering investigating how schools in Jordan
define giftedness for my inquiry project. I am eventually going to return to Jordan to
work and help in improving our special education programs and would like to learn
more about this area of special education and whether it exists in our schools.
I was thinking of possibly sending a survey to different principals and vice
principles of schools in Jordan (maybe the survey we took in class last week? And a
few questions that ask for elaborations). I will have to limit the inquiry to include
schools that offer special ed. Services (mainly private schools, that have adopted
international curriculums alongside the Jordanian high-school curriculum).

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What I would like to gain from this, is a general idea of how schools define
giftedness, and what they have to offer children who are gifted, if they offer anything
at all. I think that would be very interesting. You are right to start with the question
of how schools define giftedness since you said there is no one word for this in
Arabic that would convey the concept. It might be interesting to analyze how the
definitions schools give you, link to the services they provide to students.

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Response #1
(Week 2)

Peterson, J. S. 1999. Gifted through whose cultural lens?: An application of the

post-positivistic mode of inquiry. Journal for the Education of the Gifted,
22(4), 354-383.

A couple of my preconceptions

Giftedness as restricted to the

school environment in a way, that

I used to think that giftedness was separate from talent
and creativity. Moreover, I had the idea that giftedness
was defined by academic achievement more than it was
by anything else.

it did not affect the individuals

surroundings, community and
relatives.

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New ideas!!
In my opinion this article
should urge educators to
learn about the values of
the nonmainstream

populations of their
students in order to be
able to assess more
This article pushed me to expand my thinking beyond
giftedness as differing from culture to culture. The article

accurately the talents and

abilities of their students.

took things a step further by investigating the possibility

of nonmainstream populations (from lower socioeconomic status) defining and understanding giftedness in
a way which differs from mainstream teachers. It showed
that these differing definitions might lead to
nonmainstream students being excluded form special
programs due to them not fitting into the definition of

giftedness that the school has adopted. Additionally, it

shows that this exclusion would occur should roles be
reversed (if the teachers were from nonmainstream
backgrounds (minority groups) and children were
mainstream students (middle/upper class). It made me
reflect on how my definition of giftedness would affect my

decisions when referring students for a specialized

program.

This article showed in a way that

Gardners (1983) model of multiple
intelligences is what is reflected in
reality. The paper showed how the
different nonmainstream populations

viewed and defined giftedness in

multiple ways.
Giftedness was extended beyond the
classroom!

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Tamara, Im sorry Ive messed up all your neat graphics and diagrams by inserting
comments! I like that you chose an alternate way to represent your thinking on
these issues and the complexity with which youve started to theorize about the lack
of gifted labels in Jordan. I think your project idea would be very interesting.

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Reflection #2
(Week 3)
Building on class discussion
What would it be like if individuals in charge of creating programs to support
children with giftedness approached the task with a postpositivist perspective??
This is a question that was running through my mind last week after the class
discussion of the Peterson (1999) article. Most of the discussion revolved around
the definitions of giftedness presented in the paper and the use of inappropriate
labels to coin the nonmainstream cultures. But little discussion took place on how to
solve the issues the papers raised with regards to individuals being overlooked
when recommendations for giftedness programs were being made.
The method of inquiry used in the article was a postpositivist mode of
inquiry. This is the first time that I had come across research conducted in such a
manner and I was very intrigued by it. The first thing that came to mind was how
could this mode of inquiry be used in a way that is functional and practical (nonresearch related way)? As it is explained in the Peterson (1999) article, the general
focus of postpositivism is understanding rather than justifying. If professionals in
the field of giftedness approached the issue, in each school/district/province (Im
not quite sure how things work) with an open mind, looking to learn about the
population of students that attend the schools and their cultural beliefs and values
and with a willingness to change and adapt maybe then more suitable criteria can
be formulated in order to include students of all different backgrounds, and to
create a giftedness program that supports all of the different needs of the students.

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In the real world there are many restrictions and personal prejudices that
would get in the way of implementing a mode of inquiry such as the one I just
suggested, but again I say what if?? And saying so is often the pathway into change
I wonder, what would happen if we aimed to form gifted programs that were
perfectly representative of the cultural diversity in our population? We would then
be forced to come up with appropriate criteria for seeking out gifted learners that
related to their cultural contexts.
Exactly! And the ultimate goal is to help teach these children reach their
fullest potential and turn into successful gifted adults, imagine the great outcomes
multi-cultural and diverse societies will get a new generation which appreciates
differences and fosters appreciation for different abilities and gifts, that does not
judge or eliminate those who are not following the status quo a world with no
conflict and hierarchies. I may sound like a nave idealist and I am aware that we
are very far from achieving any of this but sometimes what ifs are the way we
create realities. I agree!

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Response #2
(Week 3)

Article 1
Gross, M.U.M. 2002. Play Partner or Sure Shelter: What gifted children look for in
friendship. SENG Newsletter, 2(2).
Article 2
Robinson, N.M., Reis, S.M., Neihart, M., & Moon, S.M. 2002. Social and emotional
issues facing gifted and talented students: What have learned and what
should we do now? In Neihart, M., Reis, S.M., Robinson, N.M., & Moon, S.M.
(Eds.). In The social and emotional development of gifted children: What do we
know? (pp. 267-288). Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, Inc.
One recurring theme in the discussions we had with the children last week
was the issue of being bored in class due to the topics addressed being, as one
student put it; a review of a review of a review etc. Moreover, the children were
expressing how they tended to learn at a faster rate than their same aged peers. This
often led to them being frustrated in class, because they were sitting through a
break down of a topic that they have already mastered. The Robinson (2002)
chapter describes this issue as being part of the bigger problem of an ill-fitting
learning environment for the individual. It was a little shocking that most if not all
the students we talked to felt this way. The children seemed to express their
happiest moment as those when they were pulled out of class or in a special after
school class in which they were interacting with peers of the same intellectual
abilities and being presented with more challenging tasks.

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The Robinson chapter builds on to describe this ill fittingness as going

beyond the curriculum and extending to a mismatch with their classmates. Again,
the students expressed their preference to interact with peers who were of the same
mental age. In many instances these peers were older. Here I cannot help but to ask;
why not move up a class?? (I hope at some point we will be able to discuss the issue
of switching grades in our seminars).Yes, its coming And I agree, why not?
The issue of friendships and friendship choices was also discussed in the
Gross (2002) article. They stated that: children tend to choose friends on the basis
of similarities in mental age, rather than chronological age. More specifically,
gifted children look for friends among other gifted children of approximately their
own age, or older children of above average ability (Gross, 2002). Although this did
not come as a shock to me, I was surprised that a grade 1 student was able to make a
distinction between the peers he felt more comfortable with and whom he preferred
to have as friends. When I asked this student who he preferred to interact with, his
response was older children, because I can learn more from them. I believe this
proves the idea that gifted children are not only mentally advanced to their peers in
some areas, but they are emotionally more mature as well. Maybe teachers and
parents should take into account the students opinion and preference when
considering the possibility of moving up a class, or changing schools etc? What if
students were allowed to have some say/input into which class they would be
placed into? Which teacher they would be with? Not that they would make the final
choice, but that they would be allowed to explain which classrooms/teachers they
would have a good fit with, and why.

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There is a method we use with children with Autism and other

developmental disorders called Person Centered Planning Is this used with
children who are gifted?? It is a great way to understand more about the childs
needs and wants. Most times it is an eye opener for both parents and teachers, who
assume they know what is best for a child but in reality the child may be leaning
towards a completely different path. I have not heard of this approach, but it sounds
like it would be great.

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Reflection #3
(Week 5)
Sociocultural World view: People behave, and are perceived differently in
different social contexts. What a person is depends on the social environment.
(EPSE 516 Week 4 Lecture slides)
Looking at this statement and considering schools as the social environment
one could argue that different labels exist in the same way all around the world.
Consider what schools around the world are designed to do; they teach
children information they need in order to become successful adults in their society,
they tackle different subject areas through set curricula and tasks, they have preset
expectations of their students. All schools require children to be able to read, write
and comprehend information they are given. Yes the methods in which information
is being presented may differ slightly or even greatly, but the ultimate goal is that
the students be ready for university, and later on the work force. Students
knowledge is tested and quantified using formal assessments all around the world.
The information students are being presented with may differ but the mode of
learning and the outcome expected is the same. All students who attend schools are
expected to learn certain things that help them grow into adults who can participate
actively in society.
Following this train of thought might lead to one saying that LDs look the same all
around the world. A student who is given a label of LD in Canada might travel to a
school half way around the world and still have the same problems. Most probably,
yes.

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I know that I am making a broad assumption. I have been exposed to the Jordanian
education system, the British education system, the American education system and
now the Canadian education system, and although there might be some small
cultural differences in definitions the broader more general characteristics of
different special needs seem to be the same. So you are in a position to do a bit of
generalizing, with your experience! What is really interesting is that you find it
possible to generalize between Jordanian schools and the others as the rest one
would expect to be sort of Western in orientation. I should have been more specific
here and said private Jordanian schools as there is a great discrepancy between
private schools and public schools. Most private Jordanian schools offer a different
alongside the Jordanian curriculum and they adopt western ideologies and
implement them within the school. This could explain how although there is no
literal translation for the word gifted the concept still exists in our schools. Thats
really interesting. I would love to visit those schools!
Globalization might be blurring the lines a little, and unifying cultures in a way that
is very subtle yet undeniable. Schools from different parts of the world are now able
to adopt different high school programs (IB, GCSEs etc.) that they were unable to do
in the past. Accordingly, I am making a big assumption here, but one could say that
within the environmental context of schools and education systems, existing labels
may well be more globalized in a sense. In which case one would say people are a
certain way and that does not change (at least within the educational context). Or
that school systems around the world are designed on a similar succeed/fail

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premise (as described by McDermott) so the results/experiences for students who

struggle with reading and writing would be similar in any of those contexts.

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Response # 3
(Week 5)
Gallagher, S.A. 1998. The road to critical thinking: The Perry scheme and meaningful
differentiation. NASSP Bulletin, 82 (595), 12-20

Benefits of PBL

PBL is aimed at connecting learning

Drawbacks of PBL

Some learners might not be ready for

to the real world. This benefits all

independent learning and will need

students in their learning not only

more support. Yes, definitely. Some

those who are gifted. Subjects

may need a lot more coaching than

become more relevant and practical,

others. Task differentiation is key in

they are no longer just abstract ideas

order for this to work in a general

students are memorizing.

classroom.

PBL fosters qualities in students that

PBL might highlight the differences

will help them become critical

between students. Teachers need to

thinkers and enable them to tackle

make sure to explain that different

problems outside of the educational

students learn in different ways to

context.

avoid issues arising between

Fosters independent learning and

students.

exploration. It encourages students

PBL might present difficulties for

to go beyond what they are taught

teachers it is a complex process

and to follow their own line of

that requires the teacher to have

investigation.

many skills in order to keep up with

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Gives students the chance to defend

the students, give them their space

their resolution. This is especially

to work independently and be able

important for children who are

to tie all learning to real life. The

gifted, in that it gives them a voice

teacher does have to be willing to

and helps them show teachers what

take on a complex role much more

they are capable of achieving when

complex than just identifying right

challenged. Great point.

and wrong in students work.

Helps gifted students in that it allows

Finding a problem that will be

them to focus on their strengths in

satisfying to all students is a very

order to achieve their goals.

difficult task. I agree that is a

It will challenge the typical learner

hesitation that I have as well.

and possibly even help them

Defining strengths and weaknesses

advance through Perrys scheme at a

might be a challenge for some

faster rate.

students.

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Reflection #4
(Week 6)
Inquiry Project:
There might be a slight chance that I may need to change my inquiry project.
I have only had 1 school send back the survey and questionnaire. I have sent out an
email to the other schools that approved taking part and I am waiting to hear back
from them. If I do not hear back by the weekend I will be forced to change my
project.
I have thought of 2 topics I could look into:
1.

I can send the survey and questionnaire to a number of teachers at the

school that has replied (it was my school as a child and teen and the
principal has made it clear that they are willing to help in any way
possible). I am certain I will get them back quickly. If I decide to do this I
will be comparing teachers perceptions and responses to those of the
administration team to see if they are compatible. The final product would
be a workshop developed for those teachers in order to reconcile any
differing perceptions about giftedness and to clarify what the school
vision is (to have everyone on board and looking for the same things
etc.) Well, that sounds pretty fantastic!

2.

My other option would be to investigate Autism and Giftedness. Look for

similarities, differences and possibly create a to go to list for teachers who
suspect a child with autism of possessing dual exceptionality. This would
be fine, as well.

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Please let me know what you think. It is just my personal bias, but I would be
so interested to learn about the Jordanian teachers perspectives. If you felt
you could actually get the information from them in time to work sense of it
and pull it all together, that is. However, I will not judge you negatively if you
decide to go with the autism/gifted topic You have to do whatever feels
best and most manageable for you.

Comments from last week:

Throughout our class last week I was thinking about how are teachers
expected to do all the things we discussed without formal training?
Going over PBS or even Cluster Grouping methods, I truly believe that
an individual teacher with no prior training in either will struggle greatly to
implement these strategies. I think you are right. Not because they dont have
good intentions, but because they dont have the knowledge of the strategies
to try. And I think the reason so many teachers are against making changes
and trying new strategies is that they were not supported when they tried to
do so in the past and ended or they feel that they would be in over their head
(specially for older teachers who are very set in their ways). I think there is
also a fear of losing control of ones classroom if one has very structured
routines and programs, trying something new can introduce an element of
the unknown/chaos that might turn out very well but also might cause
disruption to the norm.

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If a school is making a shift towards adopting one of the strategies as a

school wide approach, staff training is key! Not only to make teachers feel
supported, but also to ensure that the students are getting the great quality
teaching that they deserve.

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Response #4
(Week 6)

Winebrenner & Brulles Webinar on Cluster Grouping Model Pt1 and Pt2

Useful

Hesitant

Differentiation of practice work: I

Compacting one week at a time:

think this strategy would be very useful

(pretest/alternate work)

in a classroom with students of differing

Although I believe this strategy would

levels. It is a subtle way to make sure

most likely be very effective, I am

that students are working at a level that

hesitant to use it because of how time

is appropriate for them, without making

consuming preparing for it can be. Also,

anyone feel like they are doing less work

the fact that there is no revision of the

or more work.

class content makes me worry. This

I also feel like this would be less time

maybe a very traditional way of looking

consuming for a teacher to prepare and

at a classroom but I feel like 10-15 mins

could easily become part of the daily

going over course content for younger

routines of the class. Yes, it is really

students is more beneficial than

surprisingly easy to implement

damaging, even if they did know the

content already. (Just because you know
it does not mean you shouldnt revise
it).I think her point, though, is that if you
are aiming to find out what students

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already know, you should save the
revision until after the pretest;
otherwise the very bright kids might
memorize everything from the review
and feed it back on the pretest, so you
couldnt be sure if they knew it before or
just memorized it during the review.
Ah! That makes sense then.

Extension Menu:

Differentiation of new content:

This is a great way to ensure that each

I am not sure I how I would be able to

student has options for tasks to engage

use this strategy with primary students. I

in during extension work. It also helps

feel it would be more appropriate to use

the student self monitor. Moreover, it

with older children. There is far too

allows the teacher to give the student

much self-monitoring involved in this

independence, which in turn gives the

process and I do not know if that would

teacher more time to help students

be appropriate for younger children.

rather than spend a chunk of class time

Good point.

trying to agree on what a students

extension project can or can not be.
Do not expect gifted students to help
in teaching the other students in the
classroom!

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This was one idea that I truly feel
strongly about, especially after talking to
the children who visited us at the start of
the course. Most, if not all the students
expressed how they really disliked
having to help other students in their
grade learn something that they
themselves had mastered a long time
ago. And it is for this very reason that, as
Winebrenner & Brulles point out, many
gifted children are actually not very good
at teaching their peers; they are not
wanting to be doing it and thus they may
be impatient and skip over key steps. Its
not really beneficial for anyone!

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Reflection #5
(Week 7)

General Thoughts on Presentations

Last weeks class was a great one! It was nice getting to learn a little bit about
what the others are doing for their projects. Over all, I think everyone did a great
job!

1.

Carly it was great how Carly was able to adapt an activity that is
typically used with children who are gifted and used it with her students
in order to foster creativity. We all signed up for this Masters degree in
hopes that we can transfer what we learn to our work Carly was able to
do just that. The activity in itself made me nervous (I wanted to be
creative because I felt like I had to) reflecting on how that felt for me
will make me stop and think about how to make students feel like their
work is what is precious, no matter what level (specially for those who
struggle more), the important thing is the effort and making a connection
to the task. It is so good for us to experience this from time to time, isnt
it? (absolutely!)

2.

Taura throughout our masters we have been looking at what is going

wrong in the special education system and how we are going to try to fix
things Tauras project brought the positive back to light. When working
with students we always say utilize their strengths but we forget to do the
same when working with each other sometimes. So true.

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Lisa It was, in a way, shocking to see how little support is offered to
students with the dual exceptionalities of Gifted and LD. And it seems that
even the programs that are out there are aimed more at raising
awareness than at helping the students through their education.
Moreover, those programs that are aimed at helping students
academically seem to be put in the hands of one individual who is in
charge and needs to perform tasks that no one individual can do on their
own (I believe you are one of these individuals? On paper, yes, but
remember there are gifted contact teachers at each school who do a lot of
great work with students and their teaching colleagues. I dont have to do
it all on my own, thankfully! ) (I am glad you are not alone in the
trenches!) A great topic for an inquiry!

4.

Ali I truly admire how Ali has been using our Cohort not only to benefit
her work but also to help her understand more about her son and be able
to support him better. I am personally very interested in her topic as I
work mainly with children with autism and even with this course find it
confusing to differentiate between high functioning autism and
giftedness I think I might need to dig in deeper and do some research
myself! Well sometimes they go together so the answer may be that you
cant differentiate between them because they are both happening in the
same person at the same time!

5.

Darran Darrans work only further highlights how some groups maybe
left out when it comes to referrals for giftedness. His activity is a great one
to use in the classroom to get children to look at things from a different
perspective!

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Response #5
(Week 7)
Colangelo, N., Assouline, S. G., & Gross, M. U. M. (Eds.). 2004. A nation deceived: How
schools hold back America's brightest students, Vol. II. Iowa City, IA: Belin &
Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development.
Assertions about accelerations and conflicting popular opinions or beliefs:
1. It is commonly believed that students who skip grades due to their
giftedness suffer at a socio-emotional level. This report contradicts these
beliefs. They state that should students be accelerated at a suitable rate, with
the right amount of support, the likelihood of socio-emotional issues arising
are slim to none. They also comment on how holding back students who feel
like they do not fit within their age group may be more damaging than
helping them move up grades and be surrounded by peers who share the
same interests. I personally think that students should be involved in
making this decision, as they are the best when it comes to making
judgments regarding where they fit in. great point. Although the adults can
help with long-range perspective, whereas a child may not have the full
picture of how acceleration may affect their decisions in the long term. yes I
completely agree adults should help the student make an informed
decision or at the very least take their opinion into consideration. The
students we spoke to in our earlier classes seemed to be very aware of their
strengths and weaknesses and also of the peers they preferred being
around. The authors also suggest strategies that may decrease the likelihood
of grade skipping causing any trauma to the student, these include:

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advancing at the start of the year and advancing at natural curricular or

administrative breaks (advancing to middle school at the end of 5th grade
instead of 6th grade). [Page 8 of the report].
2. Another misconception is the idea that students would have gaps in their
learning if they were to accelerate through it. I am one of the individuals
who argued that, especially at a young age, students need to be present
during class time instruction for 2 reasons: a. they learn that just because
you know information does not mean you do not need to revise it. And b. to
insure that they actually do know all the information. After reading this
article I understand how the latter can be argued against. In order for
students to be accelerated they need to demonstrate mastery of the
materials and curriculum at hand before being moved on, that way the
teacher insures that the student has not missed any basic yet vital
information. I am glad you are open-minded about it!

Ya I am here to learn in order to be able to be a teacher you need to be

able to be a student! So true!
Although I had my reservations when it came to accelerating children through
school (mostly because I didnt know how it could be done in the right way), I
believed that holding a child back can at times do more harm than moving them
forward. This notion was confirmed by this report and after meeting the students in
our earlier class and hearing how they at most times did not feel like they fit in with
their same aged peers, and they felt better when they were in the company of those
who were older than them and at the same level intellectually.

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Reflection #6 & #7
(Week 8 & 9)

Week 8- IEPs for the gifted

Among many things that were interesting was the point made about IEPs for
children with dual exceptionalities. We spoke in class about starting with the
students strengths rather that the areas which they struggle with. I think this
should be the way IEPs are written for all students- strength based planning. I really
feel that approaching students and working with them on their strengths first helps
them achieve more in schools for many reasons: 1. They gain confidence, 2. They
believe that they can achieve positive outcomes at school, 3. They learn to support
their weaknesses using their strengths and 4. Teachers do not dwell on what the
students cannot do, rather they focus on what they can and help them through the
more difficult tasks.
Types of acceleration
I was very surprised to learn of the many different kinds of acceleration to
me acceleration meant skipping a grade. I am glad that we read about these because
now I feel that I can help demystify acceleration should I ever be asked about it. Oh
good!
Presentations
Generally I was extremely impressed with the presentations in this course.
But I was especially impressed with Kirstins project. She created an extremely
resourceful tool for the teachers at her school to use, not only to gain information
but to share ideas talk about collaboration and team work!

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Kate also presented a great and easy way to get students to set goals and selfevaluate. And the best part about it is that you can apply these strategies with any
student not only gifted learners.
I was extremely nervous presenting about Jordanian schools last week
partly because I was excited to share what I had learnt and a little bit about my
experiences, but mostly because I did not want to send the wrong message about
Jordan. I love Jordan, not only because it is where I was born and raised, but also
because it has so much to offer. Although we are behind in inclusive education and
special education programs, our schools offer some of the best educational
opportunities in the Middle East (private schools). Our public schools are also good
when it come to educating students through the Jordanian national curriculum, but
students who take this path are more limited with regards as to higher education
options. They tend to only be able to go to universities in Jordan and some in other
Middle-Eastern countries.
I am proud of what our schools have accomplished so for and I look forward to
hopefully playing a great part in the changes that are to come (in the not so far
future! Fingers crossed ). They will be lucky to have you! And I think you left many
of us with a desire to come and visit you there! It was so enriching to have you share
with us about a very different cultural setting for education. Thank you.

Tamara, you were thoughtful in your responses and showed strong engagement
with many of the topics/activities/discussions through your journal writing. 26/30
L-1 25/30

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