Your Passport to Gifted Education

This book is a guide to help teachers, parents, guidance counselors and other stakeholders understand the importance of intervention for gifted children and to become an advocate for those individuals who are developmentally advanced. The reader becomes engaged in the analogy of a three part airplane journey to the world of gifted education: ‘Embarking on a Journey;’ ‘Preparing for Departure’ and ‘Planning for Arrival.’ The author offers insightful case studies followed by strategies for both teachers and parents gained from personal experiences and research to identify and work with different types of children who present unique challenges due to their special needs of high potential. 

By presenting a historical overview in gifted education from a global perspective, Your Passport to Gifted Education provides current internationally-researched information to clarify what is meant by ‘giftedness’ according to various cultures. The book encourages the development of a growth mindset in the reader to seek to identify various characteristics of high ability in all children.

Four international high ability identification models are introduced, including one relatively new to North America, the High Performance Learning Framework (HPL), currently used throughout China, Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia.  Dispelling the myth that gifted children do not need our help, the reader gains insight into the uniquely different types of gifted individuals. 

The book concludes by awarding the reader with a ‘Landing Card’ to serve as a bookmarker that underpins the best teaching practices in gifted education. A directory list of websites for international gifted organizations is also included to offer additional resources for those who want to continue their journey as advocates and learn how other countries support gifted children around the world.

 

“The book is a guide to helping everyone involved in the life of a gifted child to better understand his potential and to the need for intervention, and to becoming advocates of developmentally-advanced individuals. It certainly has an educational effect as it offers, describes, and advises more effective methods and models of working with gifted children. This book is certainly recommended to all those who are entering the world of the gifted for the very first time … .” (Jasna Arrigoni and Maruška Željeznov Seničar, International Journal for Talent Development and Creativity IJTDC, Vol. 5 (1– 2), August – December, 2017)



“Busy teachers need an easy-to-read, comprehensive overview of gifted education, and Leavitt has provided it! Her book, Your Passport to Gifted Education, covers all the important topics using an effective analogy about plane travel. … This book will make a great resource for new and experienced teachers who want to meet the needs of alltheir students.” (Anne M. Beninghof, Amazon.com, December, 2017)

“Your Passport to Gifted Education is impacted with a depth and breadth of applied, practical and theoretical resources presented from the perspective of the author’s firsthand experience as an international gifted education educator.  Chapter by chapter the author accompanies her readers on the gifted education journey as she presents data, research, analyses and findings many will never bother to question or envision as relevant, to their lives as parents or educators of gifted children, specifically.  The book’s layout is indeed demonstrative of a body of fundamental knowledge needed as an entrance to and an embrace of an achievement journey; and finally, embodies a natural progression to recognizing and addressing the needs of gifted and high ability learners as universal.” (Joy M. Scott-Carrol, PhD., International Gifted Education Teacher Development Network, LLC)

“Leavitt's journey preparation metaphor for anyone who is in the process of learning gifted education is a fitting one. There is a lot of preparation work that goes into being fully equipped for the journey of educating or providing services for the gifted. And in that preparation work, there can be quite some confusion, due to, as Leavitt points out, cultural differences between and misunderstandings about what giftedness is and means in the first place. Leavitt does a very nice job at showing the lay of the land in this respect, and providing the first crucial steps for moving forward in spite of a lack of consensus across theories and cultures. Readers will find that they feel more equipped to take action, and will be able to discern what comes next for them in their own "giftedness education journey" preparation.” (Jennifer Harvey Sallin, Founder and Couch, Intergifted)

“In one slim book Monita Leavitt has compiled much of the research and some wonderful stories into ten chapters using travel as a metaphor for exploring giftedness. Monita thoroughly addresses some ofmy most frequently asked questions from parents: With enough enrichment, could any child become gifted? Isn’t the child’s capacity really just about parenting? How can I help my gifted child be more motivated and fit in socially? Parents and teachers alike will appreciate this book for all it offers. Teachers will find the guidelines on effective intervention strategies helpful to meet the educational needs of gifted and twice-exceptional students. Parents will find recommendations in every chapter to support the educational, enrichment, organization, social lives and emotional well-being of their children. I recommend Monita’s book for those seeking ways to work effectively with gifted children and those who love and care about them.” (Marté J. Matthews, MA, MFT 45249, Child & Family Counseling Group)

Monita Leavitt, Ph.D., is an independent international Gifted Education Consultant who taught for over 35 years (25 in gifted education). Her Ph.D. was awarded from Oxford Brookes University in England for research on Giftedness Perceptions and Practices of Teachers in Lithuania (2009). Dr. Leavitt has provided lectures and staff development on giftedness in Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States. A member of the World Gifted Council and ECHA (European Council for High Ability Children), she currently serves on Boards that include IGET (Africa), Aristle School (Hong Kong), Lithuania and the Global Gifted Children’s Center (Germany).


Dr. Leavitt provided online teacher training courses in gifted education for the Summer Institute for the Gifted (SIG) and taught online courses for gifted children for both SIG and the Athena Advanced Academy (USA). She served as a SIG Academic Dean for two summers (Dartmouth College and Yale University) as well as Affiliate Director for California Future Problem Solving (2014-2015). She also provided several virtual lectures on giftedness for the Global Gifted Children’s Center in Second Life as well as for IGGY (England’s Gifted Conference in 2013).

Dr. Leavitt is a published author of journal articles, including:

Leavitt, M. (June 2009). Giftedness - A Problematic Term, Vilnius Pedagogical Journal (Ugdymo Psichologija), No. 20.

Leavitt, M. & Geake, J. (December 2009). Giftedness Perceptions and Practices of Teachers in Lithuania, Gifted and Talented International Journal. Vol. 24 (2).

Leavitt, M. (July 2008). Gifted Education Perceptions and Practices in Lithuania. Asia-Pacific Conference on Gifted and Talented Conference Paper, Singapore.

She is also an author of books about giftedness that include:

Klingner, R.; Leavitt, M. et al, (pending publication 2016). Creativity in Gifted Education. Munster, Germany: LIT-Verlag.

Klingner, R.; Leavitt, M. et. al (2015). Make Them Shine. Munster, Germany: LIT-Verlag.

Klingner, R.; Leavitt, M. et. al (2014). Let it Flow. Munster, Germany: LIT-Verlag.

Leavitt, M., et. al (2010). Exceptional Needs Standards (Second Ed.) National Board for Professional teaching Standards (NBPTS). VA: National Board Certification for Teachers.

Leavitt, M. (2007). Building a Gifted Program: Identifying and Educating Gifted Students in Your School. AZ: Great Potential Press.