Ilam School Introduction The following story is about the gifted and ...

Ilam SchoolIntroductionThe following story is about the gifted and talented class at Ilam School in Christchurch, NewZealand. It comprises diary reflections by a teacher involved in the programme. Studentreflections are presented in Diary of a super gherkin, which is a personal account about thelearning centre. The section on evaluation includes both comments from the teachers andthe results of a questionnaire completed by students and parents. The page numbers inbrackets are cross-referenced back to the original Ilam School: Our Story document.Summary of the programmeThe programme ran over three years: 2003 to 2005.In 2003, the first three phases of a negotiated inquiry were implemented. Thesewere: deciding, exploring and recording.In 2004, the emphasis shifted to more higher-order thinking in the next phases:making sense and making a difference.In 2005, the programme was adapted so it could be sustained into 2006. Thisinvolved organising small groups, each comprising 3 to 4 children into 'PODs'. Forthe first half of the year the children's programmes were negotiated and supported bythe full-time gifted and talented coordinator and monitored by classroom teachersand parents.In 2006, it is expected that teachers will continue to involve parents as activepartners in the teaching process. Parents as co-teachers are a valuable source ofexpertise and also help in a monitoring role.To read about the programme, go to sections listed on the right-hand menu.A negotiated inquiryThere were six phases to the negotiated inquiry:decidingexploringrecordingmaking sensemaking a differenceevaluation.To introduce a negotiated curriculum the teacher used an inquiry process. For the first yearthe teacher worked mainly in the deciding, exploring and recording phases. In the first oneto-oneconference, learning goals were negotiated and recorded. For each of the phasesthere was a "toolbox" of learning resources used.To download a weekly timetable, go to Learning centre timetable (PDF 98kb).Deciding phaseDuring this phase the teacher reflected on these questions:

What do I want these children to learn?What does it mean to decide, explore, record, make sense, evaluate, and make adifference?How can I scaffold this learning for my learners?How can I engage them in thinking about thinking and becoming reflective learners?What is powerful learning and teaching? [p. 4]Toolbox resources used in the deciding phase:Task map, Resource suitcase, KW map, Questions the keys to the treasure. [p. 5]Exploring phaseThe teacher sought answers from:the children and their parents through three-way conferencesreading resources by the following authors including 'Learning to Think, Thinking toLearn' by Michael Pohl, 2000 (Hawker Brownlow Education 2000), Lane Clarke,Benjamin Bloom, Tony Ryan, Wiliams, Renzulli, Linda Silverman, June Maker,Sandra Kaplan, Francois Gagne, 'Information Toolkit', User Friendly ResourceEnterprises Ltd. [p. 4]Toolbox resources used in the exploring phase:Treasure digger, Five senses, Picture think, Video think. [p. 5]Recording phaseTo scaffold the children's learning, the teacher developed a range of organisers andpresented them as tools to be used at each stage of the inquiry process. The children usedan inquiry wheel, developed from the work of Lane Clarke, to plan their inquiries. The insidecircle [of the wheel] gave them the triggers to write meaningful inquiry tasks and the outsidecircle gave tools to support learning. The children used a task map to track their progress. [p.4]Toolbox resources used in the recording phase:Experiment think, History think, Animal think, Story board. [p. 5]Teacher reflectionsThe teacher reflections have been organised into the following categories and by schoolyear. (The page numbers in brackets are cross-referenced back to the original Ilam School:Our Story document.)On this page: the overall programme | the participating students | the learning process | theselection of topics | parents and staffTeacher reflections about the programme2003Dawn of an epic journey: I feel buoyed up by the programme and its fluid nature. I lovebouncing ideas with the children. There is a lot of energy in the room, their thinking isamazing. It's like dipping into a deep well – you never know what will come up or how fardown you will go (February, 2003). [p. 1]

The learning jungle: It's so hard to accommodate six teachers, 30 parents (times two) and 30children! (Week 9). At the moment there is no team approach to issues and a lot of behindthe-scenesdiscussion between staff and I am not involved. All the issues seem to be myproblem. There needs be a collective approach to children but at the same time we need acollective philosophy to guide that approach and it needs to reflect in part the power-sharingphilosophy of the learning centre. [p. 6]One-to-one conferences, twice a term – although time consuming – are also time well spentbecause of the learning power. In the first conference we negotiate and record the learninggoals. The second conference is a means of negotiating the learning outcomes. Parentalinvolvement enables another perspective a form of triangulation. [p. 8]Teacher reflections about the students2003Gifted learners know themselves. They know what they want to know and how they prefer tolearn. They need help to develop strategies to think at the level of analysis and creativeproblem solving. [p. 3]Are gifted kids naturally great thinkers or are they fantastic sponges that need to be taughthow to think with the information they absorb? [p. 11]2004The children developed a common language to describe their gifted characteristics. I ambeginning to see that there are more perspectives than their own and that misconceptionscan explain many moments of conflict. Some children felt very exposed and dissatisfied withthemselves. Some children didn't engage and remained flippant. [p. 19]Generally the children wanted desperately to be included and seen as normal. They alsowanted to be kids not brains. [p. 19]My role is changing and I am becoming more involved with individual social/emotionalneeds. There are still huge power issues for some children as they struggle with adults andpeers who are controlling. Children with heightened sensitivities are incensed byrelationships that are less than fair or not respectful. They respond with a degree of emotionwhich is often unexpected and misunderstood. I'm not sure if I help or hinder the process byacknowledging their feelings and perspectives. [p. 18]Perceptive children may need help in understanding that other people are less perceptivethan them. [p. 20]Divergent thinkers have difficulty with linear organisation structures (classrooms) and appeardisorganised and absent minded. [p. 20]2005Celebrations of learning: Gifted kids respond to positive and constructive feedback. Theyneed to know that what they know is valued and appreciated even more than regular kidsbecause often they feel unsure of themselves because they are different. I believe that youcan never praise these children enough. A good dollop of praise is as effective as a dose ofMaxi-crop. Like the plants they flourish and strive even harder to reach their goals. [p. 25]

Teacher reflections about the learning process2003Finding our way: Curriculum maps and task maps were introduced as a way of planning ourinquiries. Initially the children and I were overcome with the enormity of the process. Initialtrigger words had to be simplified – possibly had too many choices at each stage of theinquiry. I need to be more confident with some triggers so that I can guide the children morepurposefully. [p. 1]Children are having problems switching between a teacher who is willing to give choice andteachers who aren't. I am missing out on the communication loop somewhere and I have tocontinuously juggle timetable clashes! The children and I both feel that this reflects teacherattitudes to our programme. [p. 1]Establishing that level of independence means that these children have to unlearn theculture of dependence that the education system has imposed on them since they startedschool. The skills needed to be independent learners are not learnt over night, or in oneterm, they develop over time. [p. 7]We don't give children a book and expect that they can read within a term so why shouldinquiry learning skills be mastered in a term? Also I am learning too. I'm creating thisprogramme as I go. I have a vision, but I don't have all the tools or all the answers. Somethings will work and some things will need to be reworked. [p. 7]Keeping track – the eternal nightmare: With 36 children from six different class groupscoming and going at different times, there has to be a degree of trust and personalaccountability. There are some who are abusing this trust and therefore the question has tobe asked as to whether they are suitable candidates for a negotiated programme. [p. 8]My issue is determining whether these children's non-engagement is a motivation issue or aself-discipline issue. If a motivation issue, then learning choice should be a solution. I needto challenge their choices. [p. 8]If a self-discipline issue then short term goals may help. But if children require closemonitoring, I am unable to do this and negotiate 30 individual programmes and establishscaffolding for those programmes. [p. 8]This is a learner problem and the solution lies with the learners. I am thinking that ArtCosta's 16 Habits of Mind may have some structures to guide children's self-reflection andbehavioural change. [p. 8]Ok! The kids are starting to know stuff and use the inquiry process. How am I going to recordprogress in a meaningful and manageable way? I am totally committed to involving thelearner in the whole learning process and therefore the assessment and evaluation also hasto be a transparent process. [p. 8]Scaffolding is foremost in my mind. How can I create generic organisers to scaffold learning?Lane Clark's Think sheets offer a source of inspiration. To explore and develop for term 2:Science Think, History Think, Techno Think, Future Think, Arts Think, Author Think, DesignThink, Communication Think, Community Think, Geology Think, etc. [p. 9]Sandra Kaplan describes similar scaffolding as thinking like a disciplinarian. [p. 9]

I also need to establish an assessment system that actively involves the children and whicharises out of their learning, while linking with the schools assessment system. [p. 9]Higher level thinking – how do we get past comprehension and understanding to analysisand creative thinking and evaluation? [p. 9]Skills need to develop within the context of knowledge. But at this stage of the programme Iam emphasising skills and consequently, I am not chasing depth of understanding. The endproduct will not be a child who stands in front of the class and amazes everyone withendless facts and impressive figures. The end product will be a child who has explored arange of information sources, thought analytically and critically about the findings andworked to apply their understandings to solve an issue or create a masterpiece within ameaningful context. And this does not happen overnight! [p. 10]Altitude Cruising: I am still struggling to lift the emphasis beyond knowing and understandingto analysis, evaluation and synthesis without controlling the learner. The children's choice oftopics seems simplistic (animals, space, ghosts, dinosaurs). I guess it's what they know issafe. Their questions are narrow (How many? Where? What?) They don't seem particularlyinquisitive. I wonder if this is the nature of gifted underachievers. Is it a product of the system(systematised dependency) or is it a product of these children's personal characteristics? [p.11]My experience has been that pre-school children are naturally curious and willing to exploreindependently. Preschoolers use their five senses to filter through a world rich in information,making connections through trial and error, building learning. The school system seems tochange this as children are shaped to conform to a particular way of knowing. (Auditory) Iguess the challenge here is to provide an environment that encourages multiple ways ofknowing, an environment where it is safe to experiment and make mistakes and in theprocess lift the children's thinking to a higher level where they are more proactive in theirlearning and critical, creative thinkers. [p. 11]Have explored future problem solving (FPS) and community problem solving (CPS) aspossibilities for maintaining altitude. I feel that I need to spend a term focusing on the skillsfor identifying issues and working through problem solving strategies to gain anunderstanding of the processes involved and to develop resources to scaffold the children'slearning. [p. 11]Met with the gifted advisor and linked these processes with Renzulli's Enrichment triadmodel and planned skill development through the vehicle of three current issues. Instead ofthe usual negotiated process this term children will be given a choice of issues to work onusing the FPS, CmPS processes. [p. 11]2004This year the emphasis for my learning shifted to higher order thinking. [p. 12]Download a PDF of the learning centre term plan timetable for term 4, 2004 (PDF61kb).Making sense: My questions are changing from how to implement the process tounderstanding why a negotiated curriculum is such a powerful motivator for gifted kids andwhy this group of learners under-perform in a regular differentiated classroom. The inquiryprocess is well established and underpins all learning. [p. 12]

advocate for children whenever I have the opportunity, while providing a safe place forchildren when they are emotionally charged. [p. 18]I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and anxious about how the learning centre is viewed bycolleagues. At times I feel out of control and it isn't a comfortable feeling. I've felt it beforewhen setting up other independent learning programmes. There were teachers whogenuinely supported my work and were interested in how it was developing, other teachersreserve their judgement and need time to understand and appreciate the advantages ofindependent learning. I needed to put these teachers to one side and work with thoseteachers who were willing to come on board. I believe that teachers aren't in control whenchildren are, and children don't learn to be in control when teachers keep control. It is adelicate balance of power and very dependent on children exercising self-discipline. [p. 18]2005A community of practice for twenty-first century life-long learners: Mentoring – another highlysuccessful initiative was sparked by the children's enthusiasm for the mentoring programme.During the university term time several students were fortunate to have a graduate studentas a mentor for a subject area that they were passionate about. [p. 25]Engineers, computer scientists, zoologists, philosophers, mathematicians and politicalscientists were in hot demand. The children were responsible for the organisation ofmeetings and the direction of the discussions. Parents were kept in the communication loopthrough the use of notebooks. The university grads were very generous with their time andenthusiasm. After several years of successful experiences I wondered how the childrenwould feel about sharing those experiences with younger children in the school and actingas mentors with junior gifted children. [p. 25]The response was overwhelming and an insight into how successful our independentlearning programme has been. Every mentor took complete ownership of the mentoringsessions organising the resources and their younger "mentor-ees" with skills and informationthat were complex and deep. I was ecstatic to see them select organisers to scaffold theirplanning and thinking as a natural component of learning. Like minds connected. [p. 25]Student reflections – Diary of a super gherkinI'm very impressed by some of the work that others are doing and I do feel good aboutgetting something done this week even if it was just the title slide to my PowerPointpresentation. I'd like to go on trips to talk to people who know about stuff. I also have aproblem with the way I organise my time. As a goal I will try to get to school earlier, that wayI can do useful stuff that wastes class time before school starts and I can get myself fixed upfor the day. [p. 1]I'm not getting any info when I search. I find I have too many responsibilities and I'm missingthings in class. I am finding it hard to find out what is going on each day. I think I need towrite myself lists to help me remember. I keep losing my timetable and I need to get moreorganised. Doing task maps is very hard and I need the teacher to explain So What? ideas. Ifound out that you can make music in Quick-basic. I'm a bit concerned about all the things Ihave to do, otherwise I am quite happy. [p. 2]Best things this week were Daniel's visit and his work with robots that learn. It is a scarythought that one day robots may be smarter than us. My interview with Professor Fraser atthe hospital went well and I found out heaps about neuro-transmitters and that interviewswere not only asking questions. I'm enjoying my learning. I'm not sure what I need to do

next, maybe I need to know which inquiry step I am up to. I want to search on the Internetand I could use my word-find words as search words. I want to get more work done.Everything seems to take so much time. I want to make a business card and I don't knowhow. We also need a folder on the common drive where we can put learning centre stuff. [p.3]Reflections are a bit of a challenge. I've started thinking about campylobacter I found out thebacteria are not spiral shaped when you look at them under a powerful microscope but theyare round with tails at each end. I have problems activating my alpha brain waves andwriting things down and I still don't know how to make a business card. I think using acomputer might help but the bells and whistles are a bit of a distraction. I'm ready to startplanning my new inquiry. [p. 3]At first I wasn't so settled but now I am. I feel like I am learning quickly and I am beginning toplan my day. My learning journal is really well organised and I tidied my file box. I plan tohave a tidy session every Friday. I understand the steps for writing an article and I made mybusiness card. I can't wait to use it. Making a model helped me to think more clearly aboutmy information. I enjoyed our class trip to Riccarton Bush. I enjoyed being back with theclass more to do my work even though I am beginning to make new friends in the learningcentre. I finished my curriculum map and I now know what I am doing. [p. 3]The teacher is always going to and fro through the door and does not have time for me. I feelI'm not getting as much attention as some of the other children in the learning centre. Also Islightly misunderstand the teacher and I'm not sure I know what to do. It would be good if wecould work in groups more often. I mucked around a lot this week and I don't reallyunderstand what I am doing. I find it annoying when there are new must dos and by the timeit is the end of the week I haven't got any topic work done. Why do I keep losing things? I'mworried about my report writing for my portfolio and I keep missing the serial in theclassroom. Dad was a great source of information and I learn stuff in the workshops andconferences, but they take up a lot of time that I need for my topic. The learning centre isbigger than the classroom, it goes outside the walls. [p. 7]Tabloid sports were fun. I found out that the vision centre is in the back of the brain. And thevomit centre is in the brain stem. I also found out the difference between a sheep and a pig'sbrain and that I go green when I see them cut up. I feel quite good about learning andcompared to last year it feels very, very, different. Choosing my own topic makes it fun forme but I don't think I am getting enough time to learn stuff. I know a bit more abouttimetabling and how to plan my time, but there are some things about the brain that I can'texplain and I'm not getting answers. The results of the number smart-brain smart test will beuseful for helping me know what I am good at and what I need to work on. I found the testsfun and interesting. [p. 8]Independent learning is easier and more fun because you don't get bossed around by ateacher on what you have to do. You get to choose what topic you think is interesting insteadof a topic that you might know a lot about or which is boring for you. You go where you needto go to find out info. I think I can ask key questions well, but I haven't been using all theinquiry tools. [p. 9]I learnt this week that humour can come with information and I am laughing while learning.This week was hard work and I am tired. I need to remember not to do too much at once. Iam focusing on my work because I can choose when I work. I am excited about my newlearning topic because it will be big! Very big! I need to contact some experts and get someanswers to my questions. The alphabet key helped me to identify how much I already knowand where my gaps are. [p. 9]

I'm having a problem with workshops that are not about our topic. We also need morelaptops because I can't always get one when I need it. I'm missing my mentor this weekbecause she has exams. Dad is also being slow on the glass cage for the mouse. I think itwould be cool to have a pet day at school and computer suite time. I am excited about theamount of information I am finding. Did you know that the centre of a black hole is called asingularity? I need to find out how to do a PowerPoint again as I am getting bored withwriting reports all the time. I want to learn how to use more of the inquiry tools so that thereis more variety to my recording. Sometimes I don't like using organisers. It gets in the way ofmy thinking. [p. 13]I have learnt how to do a fancy PowerPoint to record all the information I have. I have figuredout how to put pictures and sound onto PowerPoint. The sound is good. This week I had areally busy week and achieved heaps. I completed a learning centre passport and I realisedhow independent I am becoming. I have packed my resource suitcase, almost finished myarticle think and I have emailed Ecan to find out about the environmental issues related tothe Feltex Factory burning coal. I've emailed my mentor to organise a meeting next week.Things I'm working on are to use my task map so I don't wander with my thinking and to useSTUCK (stop, think, use initiative, conference with teacher, keep focused). I need help withgetting people in my inquiry group to focus and finding good quality info. [p. 13]Emails are not working and the Ecan email doesn't work. I have lots of auditions for the busproduction this term. We spent 3 days in the classroom this week and I didn't get muchdone. I missed the choice that I am used to in the Learning centre. Our group identified thechallenges related to our issue and I am now working on Up Think. I have lots of ideas forsolving our problem. Some of them are a bit wacky. I searched on the internet today for anemail contact for Don Elder from Solid Energy. He was an expert that I found in my articlethink. I have emailed him and asked him to talk to our inquiry group and he is coming nextweek. The teacher was really impressed with our independence and I am too. [p. 13]Can't wait to start a new inquiry. My three-way conference is this week and I need to get mykey questions organised. ‘Considering all factors' will be useful when I am brainstorming.The futurist work is interesting but I found it hard to think from two different perspectives. Ourfuturist is Voltaire. It was really hard being different from everyone else. [p. 15]The fair test that I planned was a problem because I didn't know where to start. Sometimes Ihave problems thinking especially when there are lots of new ideas. I have to remember notto panic and to try and concentrate. Sometimes just getting started helps even if I don't knowwhere I am going. [p. 15]My fair test worked and I found out which washing powder was more powerful. I included theresults in my scientific report. I felt really sorry for the other student who had to start hisscientific report all over again because the computer dropped the wireless connection andhe hadn't saved his work! [p. 16]I learnt about paraphrasing and how to use an article think properly. Journal search was alsouseful once I managed to download it on to the computer. [p. 16]This has been a really busy term and I have learnt heaps of new tools to support mylearning. Having choice is really motivating. I hope I get into the learning centre again nextterm. [p. 16]Giant squids make sucker marks on sperm whales. Giant squids have beaks. They can growup to 35 million. An octopus escaped from a home aquarium and was found in the librarypaging through books!!! They can have two million babies. I can't do my work too fast in

case I do something wrong and half way through I just find out the mistake. I nearly alwaysgo off task then. I am good at digging deep when searching for treasure. (White hat facts).[p. 17]I am getting better at searching on the Internet but I need some different types of resources.Today I found a really good website and made a link in word. I have used the five-finger ruleand made a setting for a story. I am still doing my brochure and finding information aboutdifferent species. I have nearly finished Animal Think and I now understand what a habitat isand how animals are adapted to their environment. I have some great pictures in a folder formy PowerPoint. I want to find out what the relationship is that makes animals extinct. I wantto use i-Movie for my myth. I found out that scientists use core sampling to gatherinformation about things that have happened in the past. This week I liked doing the learningprofile and now I know what sort of learner I am. The new people in the learning centre seemto need a lot of help! [p. 17]This has been my best week ever. All the ideas are flooding into me and I can't stop themand that's because I don't want to. When I don't know what to do I get off task and then I goblah, blah, blah. When I know what to do I go work, work, work. [p. 22]Today I found out that half of China eats rice every day and the other half eats noodles. Iwonder if this is because half China is best suited to growing rice and the rest of China isbest for growing noodles. How do you grow noodles? I've been thinking about who controlsbehaviour. The people who control behaviour are the people who reward behaviour that isgood and punish behaviour that is bad. The behaviour I want to change is talking when Ishould be listening. I'm thinking that pet owners control the animals' behaviour by rewardand punishment and humans should control their own behaviour. [p. 22]EvaluationOn this page: Teacher comments | Plans for 2006 | Questionnaires | RecommendationsTeacher commentsI believe that the success of the learning centre is because it has become a community ofpractice. We have negotiated our joint enterprise of how best to meet individual learningneeds. We have functioned through mutual engagement of children, parents and teachersand developed and practised inquiry skills together. The process of learning and the processof belonging to our learning community are inseparable. Practising learning is the unifyingfeature of our community. [p. 25]Our relationships are grounded in information exchange and knowledge creation. I havelearnt about the children and who they are and they have learnt how to inquire. We have arange of membership in our community from beginners to experts and learning occurs at alllevels, even the experts have come to understand their area of expertise in a different way.[p. 25]It is clear from the high level of motivation and independence most of the children arecurrently demonstrating, that the negotiated inquiry programme has had a positive effect onchildren's achievement. This high level of motivation and independence is evident incompletion of tasks within time frames, teacher observations and parent observations. [p.26]The individualised inquiry reports used to track and report children's achievements continueto show variations in curriculum level achievement. It is suggested that this result is to be

expected as curriculum level outcomes in science and social studies often reflect choice oftopic rather than depth of thinking. [p. 26]To read an example of an inquiry report, go to individual inquiry report (PDF 74kb).The assessments of essential skill achievement show a consistent increase in problemsolving skills, understanding of inquiry process and learning to learn skills. Theseassessments are based on the professional judgement of the programme facilitator using arubric developed for the programme. The results are recorded on the individual inquiryreports as learning to learn skills, inquiry skills, and work and study skills. [p. 26]Children are consistently moving beyond understanding and comprehension activities toengage in higher level thinking activities which involve analysis, creative thinking andproblem solving processes. The learning centre programme has directly taught these skillsand has provided a range of tools to scaffold learning. The children are now able toindependently select appropriate tools for the thinking processes involved. [p. 26]Information technology has been a vital aspect of the programme allowing children to accessand process information at an appropriate level. Children are developing skills of criticalanalysis when using information and are becoming confident at questioning informationsources, identifying facts and opinions, and challenging assumptions. Again the evidence forthis is anecdotal and recorded on children's inquiry reports. Parent comments on the finalsurvey form confirmed these observations. [p. 26]Children have contributed to the development of the programme from its early stages to itspresent form. It was the children's expressed need to be seen as ‘regular' students thatpromoted the development of classroom based PODs. It was the children's need to haveextended blocks of working time that led to a flexible day. The children's need for greatermonitoring and support led to three-way partnerships with parents. Consequently thechildren's evaluation of the programme is seen as a valid measure of the success of theprogramme. [p. 26]The success of the Ilam programme has been determined using a qualitative approach.Anecdotal evidence has been gathered through children's reflections, teacher commentsand parental surveys. Identified catalysts for the success of the programme are personalchoice of topic giving a sense of ownership, opportunities for extended periods ofuninterrupted work (flow), flexibility encouraging self-direction and parental collaboration.Plans for 2006In 2006 a designated teacher will have .2 release to support classroom teachers withnegotiated/inquiry PODs. This coordinator's role will be to ensure teachers are familiar withthe learning processes and have access to necessary resources to support children'slearning. It is planned that teachers with a POD in their classroom will form a network withinthe school and together these teachers will problem solve issues as they arise and supporteach other as they continue to explore and develop opportunities for gifted learners. It isexpected that teachers will continue to involve parents as active partners in the teachingprocess. Parents as co-teachers are a valuable source of expertise and also help in amonitoring role. [p. 24]

Classroom placements for 2006 have ensured that potential POD children are placed ingroups of 3–4 within a cluster group of gifted children. This ensures manageability ofindividualised learning programmes with negotiated choice for the learner. Teachers will beable to extend this POD group after term 1 if they feel there is a need and if they are able tomanage the extra work load. [p. 24]QuestionnairesThere were two separate questionnaires completed by students and parents about theprogramme. To read the survey results, select the following:PDF of children's questionnaire (PDF 44kb)PDF of parents' questionnaire (PDF 59kb)RecommendationsThey have had opportunities for in-school professional development in the inquiry processand the inquiry tools have been collated and are available for use through the school'sintranet. As the teachers introduce these tools into their classroom programmes they aresupported by the gifted learners and they are able to adapt them for whole class use. [p. 24]Ongoing professional development will need to be available to support teachers as they useand modify the tools to suit their individual teaching styles and the needs of the children. TheIDEA network of Inquiry teachers, supported by Nicola Church from the Christchurch Collegeof Education, is a recommended avenue. [p. 24]It is suggested that an email network is continued through the school intranet to enablecommunication between teacher-learner and learner-learner. This can be used to maintainpace through continual reminding of deadlines and also to offer support for problems. [p. 26]Another suggestion is to develop social and emotional programmes for gifted childrenthrough the schools social skills programme. It would also be positive to include anopportunity for all children to look at giftedness and explore personal abilities as acelebration of diversity. [p. 26]