by Shanan King

Created on: August 26, 2008

No one likes to be labeled, especially children. They like to just be themselves. They do not want to stand out among their peers they want to belong with their peers. School is already a hard place to be yourself. There are many expectations put on a child as they attend school. Parents, teachers, friends and family all wreak havoc on our children to be the best they can be. Maybe they are taking longer to learn to read. Perhaps they just can't get that math problem. That is obviously quite normal and as such why we have schools and teachers.

What about the child who finishes her assignments before the others in her class and has nothing to do? What about the child who is not allowed to sign a book out from the school library that isn't in her grade level? What about the special attention the gifted child in a classroom full of kids receives? That is what this article is about. The struggles that gifted students must contend with, before and after the gifted student designation.
When my daughter and I attended the parent, teacher and child orientation for her senior kindergarten year, her teacher asked her her name and to write it down. My daughter did indeed write her name on that piece of paper but not her given name. The teacher, a little confused looked over her registration papers and asked her why she wrote what she did. My daughter's response was that her name was a boy's name and the name she wrote is what she wants to be called. She also added that everybody already calls her by this shortened name and how she spelled it is how she would like it spelt. Keep in mind that she is only 5 years old. The orientation continued and my child's teacher was shocked that she could already read and understand the little books that they are required to read at her grade level. That year my daughter became a teacher's helper. She thrived in her play environment as that is how senior kindergarten is taught. In grade one after reading Charlotte's Web in no time flat, I asked her teacher to allow my daughter to choose chapter books from the school library and was turned down. Every year until her gifted designation in grade 4 I had to repeat this request and was repeatedly turned down. I didn't let up though and they eventually every year allowed her to do so but mostly during the final semester of school. The other problem was the number of books she was allowed to take out in a two week period. Two or three books just weren't enough. She was and still is a voracious

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