Memories and Musings: My Experiences with Marcia Gentry and More

ABSTRACTMarcia Gentry personified a life well-lived. In this tribute to her work and legacy, her early ideas are highlighted. The author describes her professional experiences with Marcia during the years when Marcia was a doctoral student at the University of Connecticut. Recalling her initial motivation for a more inclusive form of identification of gifted students, the author shares Marcia’s experiment with cluster grouping while still working in a public school in Michigan and describes how that experience grew into one of Marcia’s major lines of inquiry in her quest for more inclusive and authentic strategies for identifying gifted and talented youngsters. The author relates how this line of inquiry mirrored her own work in identifying twice-exceptional students using more authentic identification methods. Also explored is Marcia’s early experience with authentic learning as she developed curriculum for Project High Hopes, and how this problem-based curriculum was a precursor for Marcia’s extensive work with Enrichment Clusters as a means to extend gifted pedagogy to all students. The author then details her own research in using authentic learning as a research-based intervention for twice-exceptional students.KEYWORDS: cluster groupingenrichment clustersgifted pedagogyMarcia Gentrytwice-exceptional students Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsSusan BaumSusan Baum, PhD, is Chancellor of the Bridges Graduate School for Cognitive Diversity in Education and Co-director of the 2e Center for Research and Professional Development at Bridges Academy, a school for twice-exceptional students. The author of many publications concerning the needs of special populations of gifted students including the award-winning 3rd edition of her seminal work To Be Gifted and Learning Disabled, Susan is a popular international speaker whose message is celebrating neurodiversity. Email: susan.baum@bridges.edu