“Black History Month is a celebration of important people and events in the history of African-Americans and is commemorated in the United States in February. But both black and white critics raise the question: Is Black History Month still needed?” – Richard Beck

“A teacher of high school honors English, I had always enjoyed the lively discussions related to my students’ reading of Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Walden.’ Everything about Thoreau’s life intrigued them. But there was one big downside: Thoreau’s layered, dense, nineteenth-century language, with all its subtleties, was hard for them to penetrate. They ‘got’ him, but his writing was quite another matter.” – Anne Faigen

“As a classroom teacher, I always tended to have high standards, and to give enormous assignments and challenges, but to be generous about grading. I think, deep down, the generosity was based partly on appreciation and admiration of the work the students were doing, but also on deep concerns about the reliability and validity of evaluation. And yet—here’s the thing—we have to do it.” – Michael Clay Thompson

“Between 2% and 20% of schoolchildren have some type of reading problem. Educators are starting to recognize the importance of the visual system and eye-tracking skills for reading, but these skills must be trained before a child with reading problems can be successful..” – Dr. Kenneth A. Lane

Being a parent of a gifted child can be stressful. You have to cope with constant questioning all day long, unusual behavior that is difficult to understand, and negative comments from other people, including relatives. Here is some advice from the mother of a profoundly gifted boy.

“In my language arts classrooms, I did not teach reading; I taught literature. I assumed that students knew how to read the literature we tackled, and for some students, that assumption was true. But for others, it was not. Teaching sound literacy skills not only will create successful language arts students, but it will create successful science, social studies, and math students, and it will create successful employees in all industries.” – Steve Loe

“If we are to have something truly worthwhile to offer children, it seems to me that it needs to be not just child-centered but life-centered. We humans have vast individual differences, which is, arguably, how we have survived on this planet as long we have. Life here operates on the principle of biodiversity. Every difference has a place. Every life has meaning. EVERY life.” – Stephanie Tolan

“Having taught about and written a novel on genocide, I have often wrestled with the ‘why’ of teaching about genocide. Yes, students need to know the history of genocides to understand where unchecked discrimination and prejudice can lead. But more importantly, they need to be able to act when they recognize warning signs. What we can all do is to call out smaller injustices when we see them.” – Brian Crawford

“The Common Core standards have been adopted in the majority of states, to our relief or disappointment, depending upon our understanding of the standards. My impression is that some of the negative reactions to Common Core have not so much to do with the standards themselves as with how they are interpreted or implemented.” – Michael Clay Thompson

“As we seek support for educating gifted students, we must accept the fact that our advocacy efforts have been largely unproductive. We need a persistent and convincing effort to change our environment. Our job is to get the decision-makers to want to help gifted students and then to provide them with a path to do that.” – James J. Gallagher

“Venn diagrams have become a staple of ‘analysis’ exercises. However, it is not the Venn diagram but the questions that accompany the Venn diagram that determine whether or not an exercise engages students in analysis. A lesson must have a goal beyond simply completing the diagram; the diagram must serve as a stepping stone to a new insight.” – Dr. Shelagh Gallagher

“I am sometimes asked, ‘What are we supposed to do with this? Just read?’ It is true: my curriculum is different, particularly in its philosophy of assessment. I think we must change the terms from what students can FIND to what they can THINK after careful reading.” – Michael Clay Thompson

“We must include the formal study of poetics as one of the core components of language arts. Using the sentences of great novelists as their models, students can begin to experiment with poetic devices, not only in their own poems but in their own prose sentences.” – Michael Clay Thompson

“For gifted children, the development of verbal talent is among the deepest joys and most critical preparations of life, but the talent will not develop on its own. If we provide access to books, enlightenment about grammar, and enthusiasm for words, then children will move forward into exciting experiences in language that will be catalysts for the development of verbal talent.” – Michael Clay Thompson