Gifts from a Letter

I came across an article today from SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted).  It's called "September Secret", and I'm putting the link to the article with this entry because it really is something everyone should read.  But it got me thinking about all of our students, and the gifts and challenges each one of them brings to the classroom.
In this "letter", a young student writes to his teacher (I'm using "he" collectively here - I don't know what gender the writer was) at the beginning of the year about what he already knows coming into the classroom; how he has an Aunt Martha who told him the story of the aliens with seven fingers who did math in base seven; how he gets conflicted in class, because he doesn't know if he should raise his hand or not raise his hand - that he doesn't know what everyone expects of him; that his learning must be in base two because it only has two fingers - either "on" or "off".  The letter is a beautifully written example of the myriad thoughts going through the minds of our children every day in our classrooms. 
We don't have enough hours in the day - as teachers or as parents - to react to and provide for every single need of every single child every single day.  So we have to pick and choose.  We do so as parents: whether it's about the use of TV or Nintendo; where to live, what activities to join, the amount and kind of vegetables to serve (and in increasing numbers - the type of food we are able to buy to serve).  Schools are no different...well, actually they are, because each classroom is headed by one person who has to make those choices for 24+ children.  The easiest thing to do is to find all the similarities of the students, because then we have less choices to make.  But once children are seen a collective entity, rather than individuals, we lose sight of the shore.  It doesn't get easier.  When children are seen as the same, we end up making more work for ourselves, because there WILL be some children who are not learning.  And every student in school has the right to learn.
The child who writes this "letter" talks about being "autopedantic".  This is the type of student who, left to his own devices, will continue to learn.  How lucky for him.  Not every gifted child is like that.  Neither is every non-gifted child - but we don't expect them to be.  We have to make sure that even with our limited time, we are making choices that will result in equitable learning for all.  For all.  Gifted children deserve the same educational expectations we have for regular education children, and special compensation that we have for special education children.  Sometimes I wish we could get rid of the term gifted.  Seems that sometimes that term often comes with its own disdainful emphasis placed on it, as though when we say it there should be an extra sigh.  "He's a *sigh*gifted student, you know. *sigh*"
Well, when you read the letter written to a teacher - at least when I read the letter written to the teacher - the sigh disappeared and I saw a face of a real child who just wants to learn.  That's a gift in and of itself.  I encourage you to follow the link and read the letter.
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/september_secret.htm