Please go ahead and finish this statement: a gifted student is like…

What did you say or write? What images did your simile draw upon? Do you view gifted students as “shining star,” “shooting rockets,” or “diamonds in the rough?”

If your similes were predominately positive, you are not alone. A study (Olthouse, 2014 ) found that pre-service teachers mainly represented gifted students in this fashion. The group inaccurately believed, for example, that gifted students almost...

When you have people together for any amount of time, a culture emerges that consists of a set of customs, beliefs, values and norms. This culture can either create a sense of mutual purpose, a mission, a vision, values and goals or perpetrate discord. Every school has a culture whether you work on the culture or not (Barth, 2003). Culture cannot be seen but it is there. It is an important aspect of school.

Culture consists of the beliefs, feelings, behaviors, and symbols...

Principals play a key role in facilitating the work of experienced teachers who serve as mentors, including preparing them for the role. Veteran teachers may have little experience with the core activity of mentoring---observing and discussing pedagogy with their colleagues.

Many teachers, especially those teaching in secondary schools, often work in isolation with little contact with their peers. This isolation, coupled with the lack of opportunity to observe and discuss each other’...