Book Reviews
Dr. Small’s book Serving the Needs of your Smart Kids is an insightful resource packed full of practical information to help your gifted students.
The use of real-life situations is extremely impactful and empowering for parents, educators, and administrators. Dr. Small explains how to best service gifted students academically, socially, and emotionally so they can reach their full potential in clear achievable steps. She describes how adults can use teamwork to instill responsibility in each other and their students in order for everyone to get the tools they need to thrive. I highly recommend this book as a tool to help create student-centered schools where each students’ complexities are nurtured so they can reach their full potential.
Sarah McInnis
Elementary Educator
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your book. Reading it brought me right back to many hours spent in your office absorbing your knowledge and wisdom! As parents of four gifted children who benefitted from the nurturing and dynamic school communities created by Dr. Small, we can attest to her ability to lead both staff and parents on a path to best serve these remarkable learners.
Melissa and Adam Putnam
Parents
What if we were to nurture and challenge our smartest students? How do we do that? This book provides answers to both questions and gives educators a roadmap to follow in meeting their needs. In Serving the Needs of Your Smart Kids, a highly successful school leader shares a step-by-step process to engage, nurture and challenge them. Dr. Small has knocked it out of the park! School leaders will be dog-earing this book and carrying it around as a guide for meeting the needs of their gifted youth.
Jerry Lawhon
Retired Principal, Educational Consultant, Smart Teams
Shelba Lawhon
Continuous Improvement Consultant for Collegiate High Schools, Smart Teams
It was my pleasure to serve as a gifted teacher while Brenda Small held the position of administrator at my school. Serving the Needs of Your Smart Kids
This book is a practical, no nonsense look at the process behind building an educational support system addressing the needs of gifted students. Dr. Small provides a comprehensive list of the why’s and how to’s that are essential in developing a truly functional gifted program. The information is practical and achievable. I have witnessed first-hand how Dr. Small has put this information into use and very simply put, it works.
Diane McCall
Itinerant teacher of the Gifted, Bartow HS, Summerlin Academy, International Baccalaureate, Westwood Middle
This is a go-to book to see what is behind the educational curtain! I have yet to come across a read that gives such a succinct perspective and approach to the needs of gifted students. I highly recommend this book for educators who believe in the positive, intentional culture that is truly student-centered for excellence.
Gemile Fleming
School Counselor - 2018 Colorado School Counselor of the Year
Dr. Hardman (Small) is a true advocate for students, one of the most impactful administrators with which I have had the opportunity to work. Serving under her truly changed how I view education and helped me become the best version of myself as a school counselor. I worked under Dr. Hardman (Small) when she served as Principal of Bartow International Baccalaureate School. She had previously served as an Elementary IB Principal which from my experience gave her a diverse, in-depth knowledge for dealing with accelerated learners.
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She taught me the true purpose of education is about putting the needs of students first, which often gets ignored because of the cumbersome processes and paperwork required, or school politics.
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Dr. Hardman (Small) always, and I do mean always, fought for what was best for students. She was not intimidated by any obstacle and was always ready to go into battle for what she believed was in the best interest of her students. She often said, “You can never be wrong when you put students first.”
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Dr. Hardman (Small) believed that all students deserve every opportunity available to them and she worked diligently to use every resource available to find ways to enhance a student’s education and open wider doors for their future.
In public education, change is often frowned upon, but Brenda believed that change is necessary to make things better.
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On countless occasions I remember her telling me, “Just because it has always been done this way, doesn’t mean this is the best way.” Many of the policies and procedures I had been taught as a teacher and counselor under previous administrations proved to simply be the easy way out and not actually what was required by the Florida Department of Education or even the district.
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Building class schedules for IB students always proved to be a challenge and as the school counselor I was charged with trying to make the puzzle pieces fit. When I would come across a schedule conflict that I was sure wasn’t solvable I would ask her how she wanted me to proceed, even though I knew what she would say, “If that is what is best for that student, then we will make it happen.” She led with passion and dedication; purposeful to overcome anything that could stand in the way of a student’s education or future for opportunity.
Autumn Moyer, International Baccalaureate School Counselor