What does it mean to be "Gifted"

Our 4th Grade Tech Club students are reading Ungifted by Gordon Korman.  It has brought up some great discussion topics during Tech Club!  The students really got into deep conversation about whether they would take the blame for one of their friends or not!  You can learn a lot about your students by just taking some time to listen to what they think about certain topics!  This weeks reading brought up the topic of 'gifted' students being treated differently than 'normal' students.  That concept brought on a heated discussion about whether being 'gifted' makes you better than someone else and whether you should get better things or not. 

  "The first concept we need to think about it is, What does it mean to be gifted?"

   The first concept we need to think about it is, What does it mean to be gifted?  Everyone has a different idea of what 'Gifted' means, but in education it always seems to pertain to only one thing: Grades.  Are grades the only thing that makes someone gifted?  Are grades the only thing that really matter in life?  How do grades help us in the future?  These are some questions that we need to think about before we can really understand what it means to be 'Gifted'.  

   Being a teacher, I understand the importance of doing well in school, but do we place too much importance on just grades?  I have seen too many teachers only care about math and reading and what their students can do on a test to really see what those students have the ability to do. Every student has a gift of some sort, we need to take the time to find out what that is.  Once we can find out what that gift is, we need to use that to help build out from there.  Students will do so much more for you when they know you care about them and their true gifts.  If you take the time to figure out what they are good at, you will be able to get them to do the other work that you expect from them.  
   The last year that I was in the classroom, my school started a garden.  My class was in that garden every day for one reason or another.  During silent reading time, we read in the garden.  During science, we did experiments and lessons in the garden.  During math, we did math problems dealing with the garden.  So many students that I would not have expected to enjoy working in the garden really came alive when we went out to work in the garden!  It was a real eye opener to see what the students could do!  Those students who really excelled because of the garden were proving that learning is not all about what you can do in the classroom.  They were able to take real life situations and excel in them.  That is what we should be looking for in our students!  Not, can you choose A, B, C, or D!
  The student in our story we were reading was always in trouble, because he did not like being in school and looked down upon because he did not excel in the classroom.  When he was given the opportunity to find something that he enjoyed, he started to show that he truly was 'gifted', just in a different way than most people were looking for!
   As teachers, we need to be looking for all of the ways that students can be gifted, instead of just the ways that we expect them to be.