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What Makes a Gifted Educator? A Design for Development

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International Handbook on Giftedness

Abstract

What characterizes the ability to work with students in ways that appear to surpass notions of effectiveness or competence? What is the quality that makes some teachers “a teacher” in a deep sense? Research and conceptual frameworks that attempt to answer these questions are examined and a model is proposed for understanding and researching gifted teaching. The model is developmental, suggesting a hierarchical progression in the integration of understandings of self, other, and pedagogy. Central conceptual understanding is key to the model, providing a centrepiece for characterizing what makes a gifted educator. Implications for research and teacher education are discussed.

May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth.

Deuteronomy 32:2

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Marion Porath

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  1. Marion Porath
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Correspondence to Marion Porath .

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  1. Département des sciences administratives Pavillon Lucien-Brault, Université du Québec en Outaouais, 101, rue Saint-Jean-Bosco, Case postale 1250, succursale Hull, J8X 3X7, Gatineau, Québec, Canada

    Larisa V. Shavinina

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Porath, M. (2009). What Makes a Gifted Educator? A Design for Development. In: Shavinina, L.V. (eds) International Handbook on Giftedness. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6162-2_40

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