Called and gifted book12/7/2023 Obviously, children who are gifted are going to surprise you early in their development by such characteristics as talking early with a vocabulary well beyond their age-peers, learning to read before kindergarten, understanding addition and subtraction by early in kindergarten, intense curiosity, reduced need for sleep and increased energy level. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.” “The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this:Ī human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.Īdd to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create – – – so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. Giftedness can create problems and conflicts being a gifted child can also mean difficulty socializing with age peers, thinking styles that don’t always mesh well with the demands from the environment, even children who see themselves as little adults, challenging teachers and parents. But Rinderle said her principal read the book, told her there was “nothing wrong with it,” and said she would handle complaints.Gifted Child- Can they be hard to teach and parent? Rinderle said students voted for her to read the book, which she bought at the school’s book fair, and that it wasn’t common practice to get picture books approved.ĭistrict officials argued that Rinderle should have known that books were a sensitive area after parents had earlier complained when she read “Stacey’s Extraordinary Words,” a picture book about a spelling bee by Stacey Abrams, who was then running for Georgia governor as a Democrat. “Can you understand why a family might want the chance to discuss the topic of gender identity, gender fluidity or gender beyond binary with their children at home first, before it is introduced by a public school teacher?” Culves asked at one point.Ĭulves argued that district policies meant Rinderle should have gotten her principal to approve the book in advance and should have given parents a chance to opt their children out. Under questioning from Culves, Rinderle repeatedly said she didn’t know what parents believed or what topics might be considered offensive. She cited Rinderle’s failure to take responsibility for her actions and to apologize to parents and the school principal as further reasons why the district has lost confidence. “The school district has lost confidence in her, and part of that is her refusal to understand and acknowledge what she’s done,” Culves said. Cobb County says it wants to fire Rinderle in part because administrators find her “uncoachable.” Rinderle could appeal any firing to the state Board of Education and ultimately into court.Ĭulves called Rinderle as the district’s first witness, trying to establish that Rinderle was evasive and uncooperative. A panel of three retired school principals will make a recommendation on whether to fire or retain Rinderle, but the school board in the 106,000-student district will make the final decision. The hearing took place under a Georgia law that protects teachers from unjustified firing. Goodmark argued that a prohibition of “controversial issues” is so vague that teachers can never be sure what’s banned, saying the case should be dismissed. “One-sided instruction on political, religious or social beliefs does not belong in our classrooms.” “The Cobb County School District is very serious about the classroom being a neutral place for students to learn,” Culves said. The divisive concepts law, although it addresses teaching on race, bars teachers from “espousing personal political beliefs.” The bill of rights guarantees that parents have “the right to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of his or her minor child.” Rinderle countered that reading the book wasn’t wrong, testifying that she believed it “to be appropriate” and not a “sensitive topic.” She argued Thursday that the book carries a broader message for gifted students, talking “about their many interests and feeling that they should be able to choose any of their interests and explore all of their interests.”Ĭobb County adopted a rule barring teaching on controversial issues in 2022, after Georgia lawmakers earlier that year enacted laws barring the teaching of “divisive concepts” and creating a parents’ bill of rights. “Introducing the topic of gender identity and gender fluidity into a class of elementary grade students was inappropriate and violated the school district policies,” Sherry Culves, a lawyer for the school district argued Thursday.
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