With the Eyes of a Teacher: Spotting Students with High Potential

Teachers are special people – there is no doubt about it. Every day we have the lives of our students in our hands. Every day we have an opportunity to help our students grow and thrive. Every day we have a chance to nurture the potential of our students, helping them to be their best. Potential, “existing in possibility: capable of developing into actuality” (Webster’s 9th, 1987), is both strong and fragile. An acorn has the potential to become an oak tree, but it can also become squirrel food. Potential is not a guarantee of success, rather a promise of hope. As you look at your students this year, think of your role and how their possibilities can become realities.

The eyes of a teacher are so important because teachers are often the first to spot the potential in their students. Teachers also provide the nurturing support and advocacy needed to ensure that this potential grows. Recognizing and nurturing a student’s high potential is the first step to identifying giftedness, and thereby providing access to services and guiding educational planning for the gifted learner. The identification of a student as gifted is a means, not an end (Coleman, 2003). It is a means of ensuring that students receive the support needed to help them thrive in school and beyond. It is also a means of measuring and documenting specific needs to guide your planning and programming for individuals and groups of students. But identification can be a tricky business. In the box on the right are some reminders to help us make sure our identification processes reflect best practice.

Effective Teachers See What Others Miss

Teacher referrals are often the first formal point of entry for the identification process and so the teacher’s perceptions are critical. With a teacher’s eye, we see our students every day and through our observations we come to know them. We also learn about their family situations, their interests, and their habits. Because our knowledge of our students is often deep and comprehensive, we are likely to be able to recognize the indicators of potential that others may miss. We may recognize the “hints and clues” that show that a student has hidden potential (CEC/TAG, 2001). Being able to see these hints and clues is particularly important in the recognition of gifted children who are underrepresented in our programming – those who perhaps do not test well, or do not show consistent patterns of high performance. Students from culturally and linguistically diverse families, those from economically disadvantaged families, and students with disabilities are often missed when we employ strictly traditional methods of identification (Castellano, 2003; National Research Council, 2002). The complexities of these students and their circumstances can make it harder to see their gifts and talents, and this is why the teacher’s eyes are the key.

Be On the Lookout

What kinds of signs should we look for that a student has outstanding potential that is latent and must be nurtured? We might see