We recognize that exceptional ability knows no boundaries, yet that inequitable access to resources may prevent gifted students who are disadvantaged from reaching their potential. Providing adequate and appropriate resources, and identifying and meeting the needs of all our students is central to our mission.
Welcome
Maintaining a diverse community across dimensions is a priority, and we believe that justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) are essential aspects of providing an optimal education for our gifted students. Our school utilizes research-based curriculum and pedagogical strategies to integrate these tenets into the foundation of the programming of our school. Through culturally responsive instruction and ongoing opportunities for interaction with diverse peers, both within school and the broader community, a Grayson education will promote the citizenship, development, social awareness, complexity of thinking, and communication skills essential for our students to thrive in an increasingly multicultural nation and global economy.
For more information, please read our non-discrimination policy and process.
From our Gifted Blog
Resources
Affirming Black Lives is a featured resource from Albert Academy that provides over 150 racial justice resources. This curated list of books, videos, articles, etc. is sectioned for Teachers and School Administrators, Creating Curriculum, and Students and Families. Click here to bookmark this ever-growing list of references on Google Drive so you can always access the most current list.
Below are a few more resources that we have found valuable in our work. We will continue to update this page with fresh perspectives and resources you may find useful at home and in the classroom.
- Chana Joffe-Walt shares a reading list that helped her understand what she saw and learned over the course of her reporting Nice White Parents, a new podcast from Serial Productions.
- Dr. Jennifer Harvey is an award-winning author, educator, and public speaker. Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America is her most recent book, and Dr. Harvey offers an online course on raising anti-racist white kids. Read NPR’s Michel Martin’s interview with Dr. Harvey on talking about race.
- This 20-minute audio provides tips for Talking Race With Young Children as well as links to more resources.
- EmbraceRace has ten tips for parents of all backgrounds to teach and talk to their children about race.
- Subscribe to CodeSwitch, a weekly podcast from NPR that explores how race intersects with every aspect of our lives.
- 10 ways to de-escalate political discussions with friends and family who disagree with you (CNN)
- Purdue Global shares Five Activities to Promote Diversity in the Classroom that will lead to a number of social and academic benefits in your classroom.
- The Conscious Kid is dedicated to equity, disrupting racism, and promoting positive racial identity development in youth and has curated a list of books to help build inclusive classrooms. Created with Google for Education support, books range from Pre-K through grade 12, most with supporting materials. You will also find recommended helpful guidelines and questions to use when selecting inclusive and identity-affirming content.
- Download this Guide to Racial and Restorative Justice from the Abolitionist Teaching Network.
- Critical consciousness: A key to student achievement is a research-based case study from Phi Delta Kappan.
- Edutopia has published a few articles worth reading on Reflections on Becoming More Culturally Responsive and A Guide to Equity and Antiracism for Educators.
- Cult of Pedagogy has a great podcast and blog for teachers, with searchable articles by topic area. This post on Why White Students Need Multicultural and Social Justice Education and their podcast transcript on How Teachers Can Support Students of Color are recommended.
- Visit Teaching Tolerance for a wide range of resources, or download Teaching as Activism, Teaching as Care.
- Tools and examples from Teaching Channel can support educators and schools in Taking on Culturally Relevant Real-World Learning.
- Here are a few resources to combat the perceptions of native people. Typically the narrative around indigenous people in the U.S. is presented as the past only. This often has a lot of consequences on how people understand public policy.
- Lessons in Good Trouble for Minecraft: Education Edition helps educators explore social justice topics with their students.
- 9 Resources for Women’s History Month (Facin History)
- “How Are You Diversifying the Stories You Teach?” from Learning for Justice is a great resource for critical literacy.
- Intersectionality and the Making of a Movement (PBS LearningMedia)
- Listen to this podcast on Increasing Disabled/Other-Abled Representation in Media from Pretty Much Pop hosts Mark Linsenmayer, Erica Spyres, and Brian Hirt, join playwright Kayla Dryesse to talk about hurdles to representation, disability culture, whether “disability” is even the right word, negative stereotypes, and issues in portraying disability related to theater, comedy, horror, and superheroes.
- The Elegance of the Gray Area (Cult of Pedagogy)
- Can teaching civics in schools help break down barriers in American society? (PBS NewsHour)
- What does it mean to offer our students both compassion AND high expectations? (Teacher2Teacher)
- What Can I Still Learn About My Students? (Teacher2Teacher)
- This article from Presently Invisible shares the Uplifting Arab American Identity in Classrooms and tools for combating negative stereotypes.
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Beyond Fasting: What We Can All Learn From Ramadan (Yes Magazine)
- Championing Equity and Supporting Social Justice for Black Students in Gifted Education (NAGC)
- Black Lives Matter in Gifted Programs from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
- Growing Up Gifted and Generation Z: Vision for Equity from NAGC
- It’s A Social Justice Issue by Joy Lawson Davis in NAGC’s Teaching for High Potential, August 2019
- A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus (Teaching Tolerance)
- Building Resilience & Confronting Risk in the COVID-19 Era: A Parents & Caregivers Guide to Online Radicalization (Southern Poverty Law Center)
- COVID Resources that Take Race Seriously (EmbraceRace.org)
- Leading Through COVID-19: Key Questions related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Heads of School to Consider (National Association of Independent Schools)
- The racial impacts of COVID-19: Regularly updated news articles (EmbraceRace.org)
- Speaking Up Against Racism Around the New Coronavirus (Teaching Tolerance)
- Taking care during another COVID Surge recommends trauma-informed practices and culturally responsive teaching methods—including supporting Muslim students, families and educators who begin Ramadan observance next week amid the pandemic. (LearningforJustice.org)