BY HOLDEN AGUIRRE

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I attended my first Innovative Learning Conference this past October. ILC is a two-day meeting of top minds who represent varying fields of expertise. They meet to discuss new ways to engage the potential of students from all types of learning backgrounds.

I had a truly inspiring experience attending many different sessions and listening to the passion of the speakers as they spoke about research and remedies to help typically underrepresented, and underserved student populations thrive. The sessions I attended focused mainly on how to better serve gifted and talented children.

The highlight of my day was attending the session led by Colin Seale, “Gifted Education: Being Real About Social Capital and Achievement.” During his session, Seale spoke about how to help gifted students, particularly those who are older and come from a lower SES (socio-economic status), succeed in the classroom when, all too often, social pressures may interfere. Seale used storytelling to masterfully weave the story of his own education journey as a child into the session.

Through his exposition, Seale highlighted how racial identity constructions can not only negatively influence not only students, but also impact how both parents and teachers interact with their students as well. Seale ran his session like a classroom, offering up a curriculum to the group that included practical strategies that allow high-potential students to renegotiate qualities that were once viewed as negative, and use them as educational assets. 

Seale concluded his talk with with three things he would like to see change in education:

1) Give all the Ts (Teachers) the belief that all Ss (Students) can achieve at high levels. 

• This one pretty much speaks for itself. Educators should never underestimate their students, but rather elevate their self-esteem and bolster confidence.

2) Give all the Ts tools to make this possible.

• Here, Seale is advocating for specialized teacher training, extended programming, and unconscious bias awareness.

3) Give all the Ts the time and resources to properly use these tools.

• While advocating for students in need is a top priority, we have to remember to equip our teachers with the necessary skills and tools which will enable them to foster our students’ success.

THE G WORD team met up with Colin Seale at #GiftED18 in Texas in the fall of 2018.

In this clip from our interview session, he discusses how his personal journey growing up gifted in Brooklyn, NY is the kind of story we all hope for when it comes to education equity.

In this second clip Colin discusses the importance of critical thinking. His acclaimed work at thinkLaw is pushing us forward on the importance of critical thinking skills, while helping teachers across the country better understand how to discover and support their most disenfranchised bright students.

Holden-Aguirre.jpg

Holden Aguirre

Holden Aguirre is a Journalism Major at San Francisco State University minoring in LGBT Studies. As someone who thrives in a diverse environment, Holden transferred from American River College in Sacramento to pursue interests in film, music, the arts, and education.

Comment