Further Thoughts about Yesterday's Post

I said yesterday that, "I would describe our job as educators to be to take the raw giftedness and gradually turn it into talent.  And there are a huge number of areas in which talent can be developed.  My goal would not be eminence, but rather self-actualization." Although I still mean that, I agree with Delisle, Silverman, and Betts that understanding the social, emotional, and intellectual being of the gifted individual is the most important orientation for teachers.  The goal is, again, self-actualization.  Not fame, not fortune - those are limited to the few, the connected, and the lucky.  But a self, developed and developing in areas of growth and mastery.