The learning environment that we establish in our classrooms is an essential element in each child’s development. In Gagne’s (2020) DMGT, the Environmental Educational (EE) and Environmental Intrapersonal (EI) catalysts are two elements that directly impact the developmental process that foster a child’ gifts and talents.
Gagne (2020) describes the Environmental Educational (EE) catalyst as having two parts: enrichment and administrative provisions. As teachers of advanced learners, we have influence of the ‘enrichment provisions’ by providing our students rigorous pedagogical curricula and instructional practices. The strategies we use create opportunities for talent scouts to observe how students think in different ways. The use of interactive, authentic instructional strategies promotes creative and critical thinking that we can see and hear, including: Socratic Seminars, engineering design challenges, Primary Education Thinking Skills (PETS™), and inquiry-based learning.
We also have influence of the administrative provisions when we partner with our administrators when designing the master schedule, clustering students on class rosters, planning for adequate space needed for your instruction, and discussing what policies and procedures your district sets for topics like grade acceleration and access to Honors, Advanced Placement or dual credit courses.
Being a talent scout involves collaborating with other professionals at your school. Gagne (2020) talked about the Environmental Intrapersonal (EI) catalyst as the child’s “parents and siblings, but also the larger family, teachers and trainers, peers, mentors, and even public figures adopted as role models by the talentee” (p. 4). As teachers of advanced learners, we recognize we only see our students a fraction of the day. To invite our colleagues to be talent scouts, we must widen our ‘web of communication’ (Siegle, 2023). Siegle (2023) states that teachers become talent scouts when there are “opportunities for all educators to observe students under different situations where students demonstrate their creativity and critical thinking skills” (00:45). As multiple teachers see a child demonstrate their thinking, they need to interact in a web of communication so that all teachers (e.g., general education, subject specialists, gifted & talented education, special education, English language education, parents/guardians, and administration) are engaged in ongoing conversations with the goal to share their observations and find talent.
The web of communication should be constant, occurring daily. These conversations might occur:
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During MTSS data meetings – discuss students who are demonstrating advanced thinking, problem solving, creative thinking, and high achievement in addition to students that need additional support,
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During Student Assistance Team meetings – request the team’s help in finding enrichment resources to meet a student’s learning needs as well as conversations about a child that might be underachieving or acting out because they are bored or disengaged,
- With community resources – discover what enrichment programs are currently planned in your community or school, or
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During grade level/team/department meetings – ask your colleagues to complete a teacher rating scale (e.g., Renzulli, HOPE, or Slocumb-Payne) to gain deeper insight on the characteristics of gifted learners.
Acting as ‘talent scouts’ is a shared mindset among educators. As a collective, we should endeavor to work together to provide an enriching and safe learning environment for all students to develop their talents.
Email Dr. David Wolff at dwolff@pittstate.edu to connect and have further discussions or share how you used this resource in your practice!
This article was vetted by members of the KGTC Executive Board of Directors.
Dr. David Wolff is an Assistant Professor in Teaching and Leadership in the College of Education at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. Prior to PSU, David was an Elementary Teacher, Gifted & Talented Interventionist, District Coordinator of Gifted & Talented Services, Instructional Coach, and Principal.
References
Gagne, F. (2020). Building gifts into talents: A brief overview of the DMGT. https://gagnefrancoys.wixsite.com/dmgt-mddt/the-dmgt-in-english
Siegle, D. (2023) Be a talent scout not a deficit detective. National Center for Research on Gifted Education. https://vimeo.com/596617943
Resources
Nichols, J., Wolfe, M., Thomson, S., & Merritt, D. (2012). Primary Education Thinking Skills 1 (PETS™): A curriculum for higher level thinking. Pieces of Learning. ISBN-13: 978-1937113032
Engineering is Elementary (EiE™) https://www.eie.org/
Renzulli Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students (Sample) https://gifted.education.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/612/2014/08/Scales-for-Rating-the-Behvioral-Characteristics-of-Superior-Students.pdf
HOPE Teacher Rating Scale (Sample) https://tandfbis.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/rt-files/GGeorgi/HOPE+Scale+Sample.pdf
Slocumb-Payne Teacher Perception Inventory (Sample) http://www.washtwpsd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Slocumb-Payne-Teacher-Perception-Inventory-WHMS.pdf