5 Easy Ways to Support Parents of Gifted Students

Often overlooked, having a solid rapport and system of support with the parents of gifted students is extremely helpful to the classroom environment. In this article, I will relay 5 different ways that you can build a positive system where parents of gifted students (specifically high school gifted students) are able to work with you to support the gifted children in your classroom. 

My first time as a gifted 9th grade English teacher was daunting to say the least. I had been assigned as the only gifted teacher for all of 9th grade English with only a weekend to spare before the first day of school. With no gifted endorsement under my belt (at the time), I didn’t know how to appropriately support my students and their parents. So, as us teachers do, I took to the internet to help! 

There are many resources out there, but I felt like I had to piece together different information and most of it included lesson plans, not ready-made support resources. I was looking for how to support gifted students and their parents. Now, after 3 years teaching 9th grade gifted, a gifted endorsement, a Masters, and some time teaching college-level freshman composition, I feel confident that I can share what I have learned to support the parents of gifted students. As such, I compiled the following list to showcase parents’ needs and how to help. 

You may also want to look at my FREE Resource Guide for Parents of Gifted Students that you can hand out to parents at your next open house or email directly to parents! The guide is ready for printing/digital access and for parents to use to understand how they can help their child and you in their child’s gifted education. 

1. Help parents understand gifted terminology

Sometimes the terms that are used in the classroom for students designated as gifted is the first obstacle for parents. Teachers learn this jargon on the job and through gifted endorsements, but it can be daunting for parents to hear these terms and not know what is going on with their children. 

Not understanding this terminology can also lead to confusion about expectations in the classroom, which is nerve-wracking for both teacher, parent, and student involved. 

Use the print/digital version that is included in the Free Resource Guide for Parents of Gifted Students or send along a link to the National Association for Gifted Children Glossary Terms. 

My guide notes the explicit terms that are going to be more important for parents to know and includes additional information for how those terms are used practically in the classroom. Sometimes, looking at a long list of words can be overwhelming, so my guide only includes what parents will realistically need and focuses on how it is applied.  

2. Set up a system of communication, so parents can ask questions and stay involved (without taking up too much of your time)

I know this one immediately sounds scary. I can already hear it: “But Jewels, I barely have time for lunch and grading! Let alone more parent emails and phone calls!” I get it. Trust me I do. I had 185 gifted students at one time, while also trying to figure out how to teach gifted students and support their parents. So.... I set up a system. 

During the first week of school, and reiterated during Open House, I sent out a newsletter that shared what happens in the classroom, how to get information about daily class sessions through the LMS online, and how to contact me. I discussed how I would not be able to answer emails and phone calls right away because I was devoting my time in class to their children. Establishing clear boundaries and ways to work within those boundaries helps everyone involved. 

I also set up Class Dojo to add points whenever students were participating in class and I could add notes about any positives or even a pattern of issues. This allowed for me to have a track of student behavior as well as allow parents in. I invited them to become observers in our LMS class and added our daily assignments to the website, so that students that were absent could see what was happening, I could reinforce material, and I could direct parents to those pages quickly over email. 

I would also send out a quarterly email about what we have covered that quarter, what the expectations are for students, what resources parents have, and what to look out for in the next quarter. This reinforced the system that was in place and reminded parents where to go when they needed help. 

When parents would email me throughout the semester, I would quickly direct them to the Class Dojo points, the LMS pages, or the online gradebook. If it was a larger issue, then we would add in additional correspondence and create an action plan for their specific needs. However, most parents were able to access all of our resources online and knew where to go, so they did not need much help from me directly over email or phone. 

I will admit, it is a bit to set up in the beginning, however, after I made this change, my email list went from overloaded with questions and inquiries to maybe one parent email every few weeks. I was also able to reuse work the next year (especially if teaching the same grade level or slightly adjusted when teaching a different grade level). It was a saving grace for my time throughout the semester. Plus, I knew that what I was adding online was not only supporting parents, but also my students. If students asked about anything, I could say: Did you check our LMS?

See the Free Resource Guide for Parents of Gifted Students for a ready made resource to send out to parents in the first week of school or hand out during Open House. 

Available Now: I have quarterly Newsletter Templates available in my TPT store if you would like to plug in your information and make your letter a little easier to put together. Follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store or add your email when grabbing the Free Resource Guide linked above to be first alerted when this comes out!

3. Use your online LMS to your advantage. Give parents a window into your classroom

As stated in the previous item, your LMS access can be very helpful to you, your students, and your students’ parents. Instead of having an absent binder in my classroom, I instead added that information directly into my LMS so that:

1. I could use it later to remind myself what we did.
2. I could direct students there automatically.
3. There was a designated place for students to find resources and study materials.
4. Parents had access to what we were covering in the classroom if they had any questions.
5. I had a streamlined written record if anyone were to question what happened on any given day. 

Whether you are using a website, Canvas, Google Classroom, Edmodo, or something else, getting into the habit of adding what you completed that day (or even doing it ahead of time) can be beneficial to yourself and your students. 

Most of the time, I would take my lesson plans and revise them to be geared toward my students. That way, they were already written and I didn’t have to spend more time typing everything again. You can also just give a brief overview of the day or attach PowerPoints or documents that you use in class to streamline the process more. 

Whatever your system is, the LMS just allows students to gain access to it outside of class and makes it so that you don’t have to repeat yourself one more time about what you did while a student was out. 

4. Supply extra resources for support, enrichment, or engagement

In addition, in that LMS, you can add a module or section devoted to enrichment, support, or additional resources. It’s just so versatile, give me a moment while I geek out!

Okay, back to business. 

Extra resources may be to help students that are not gifted in your particular area but have been placed in all gifted classes no matter the subject area they are actually gifted in. Extra resources may look like guides for how to do something or a list of websites to help students find more information. 

For instance, if a student is having trouble with paraphrasing, but you do not have the time in class for 1:1 help, you could add this Paraphrasing Resource that includes a how-to, a video model walk-through, and further examples. Then, you would share this resource with students (or parents) to help them move forward on that skill. 

They may also be helpful to direct students that need further enrichment with a particular topic they find of great interest. You may also have some students who work generally faster than other students in the class. In that case, you can add additional activities, or enrichment activities, to help them continue to work on the same topic but deepen their level of learning. 

Adding enrichment activities can also help parents that would like to work with their children on a particular topic at home. Or if you think that a student needs a little additional help in this area, you can offer that activity for extra practice, extra credit, or to work on with a tutor outside of class. 

Note that adding resources such as these is multi-faceted. You are not just helping in one area, you are helping in various.

If you need additional activities to have on hand for gifted English students, check out my Teachers Pay Teachers Store for ready made resources.

5. Incorporate social-emotional learning in class and at home

Social-emotional learning, or affective curriculum, can often be overlooked in the classroom because there are just so many other things that need to be taught. However, as a standard for teaching students with giftedness, it genuinely needs to be incorporated.

As we all know, gifted students can be very hard on themselves and have different needs than non gifted students. I also think that all students would benefit from some form of social-emotional learning using universal design for learning; however, incorporating this type of curriculum in the gifted classroom is essential.

Since time is limited, it can be challenging to try and incorporate a full curriculum. Instead, I made Well-Being Wednesdays (which was a short day in our school) once a month. The students were so excited to have one day a month to focus on building skills that they would need to cope with the amount of stress they were experiencing. 

Sign up for my newsletter by adding your email for the Free Parent Resource Guide and you will also receive the Well-Being Curriculum Bundle that I included in my high school classroom the moment it is ready to release (Coming Soon!). Read more about social-emotional learning here. My students were always so excited when they came to class and realized it was a well-being day. The Well-Being Curriculum will be sent out in the January 2022 Email Newsletter.

You can adjust the frequency of your lessons depending on the time you have or just use one or two lessons out of it. Each lesson takes about 30 minutes to complete and all have the same routine. They include a short video, an activity, and a brief reflection/meditation. 

If this still seems too daunting, you can always share resources about social emotional learning with parents. Share tips on meditation, organization, stress management, and other social-emotional components directly to parents for them to implement at home. 

And if that wasn’t enough support for you, my stress-management, time-management, and academic success planning courses are available in the Life Skills Academy! Press-and-play to add life skills easily into your classroom.

Overview

There are a multitude of ways to support gifted students, parents of gifted students, and yourself all at the same time. Teaching gifted students is both rewarding and challenging. It takes more work to create these support systems in your classroom and differentiate work and include enrichment. But, you are not alone. You can do this! 

Don’t forget that you also have access to the FREE Resource Guide for Parents of Gifted Students, which is a ready-to-use guide to send out to parents of gifted students. The resource includes sections on:

• What does it mean to have a gifted student?
• Gifted Terminology
• 7 Ways to Support Your Gifted Child in High School
• Social Emotional Learning Activities
• Extra Resources

Setting up systems like the ones listed in this article can alleviate time you would spend later repeating said information. Be direct with all of the areas that parents can find information on the LMS, include resources for them up front, remind them of where things are, and make sure they know gifted terminology. That way, all the bases are covered and you are set up for a homerun!

Now go and gather those resources! Good luck!