The gift, a framed metal butterfly. A symbol of transformation. It came to my wife and I at the end of Vlad’s Grade 8 year. My wife, Ann (Kirkhope) Truss, had him in her class for Grades 6 and 7, I had him in my class for Grade 8. As you can see by his letter, Vlad is a very gifted young man. That giftedness comes with challenges in a traditional school model.

It’s not our job to make a kid like this fit the system, it’s our job to make the system work for a kid like this… While still teaching important (life and social) skills that hopefully aid students like Vlad in their future. Because a kid like this isn’t learning content from you, that comes too easy to them. They aren’t going to ask you typical clarifying questions, but they will challenge your knowledge on a topic, they will ask extension questions that go well beyond the learning outcomes, they will get bored waiting for others to learn.

I’ve had a few Thank You’s from students over the years, my wife gets a lot more than I do. For both of us, this Thank You fits into a category all on its own. Enjoy!

We get many different versions of Vlad’s in our classrooms. Each one unique, without a recipe for how best to connect and support them. Sometimes, we get it right.

* I have a very funny story about Vlad, and another gifted student in the same class, whom I met for coffee with about 3 months after they left grade 8… I’ll save that one for another day.