Planning to unmask potential through responsive curriculum: The “famous five” exercise

Barriers to the identification of gifted students from traditionally underserved groups have been well documented. Although contemporary definitions of giftedness give heed to both performance and potential, the literature provides little concrete direction for how “potential” can be recognized, particularly in underperforming students who have lacked access to the kind of high-quality, personally relevant, and appropriately challenging curriculum likely to bring their talents to the fore. It is argued that high-quality curriculum can serve as an effective catalyst for the emergence of diverse talent but that such an objective must be a deliberate focus of curriculum planning. The “Famous Five” exercise presented in this article is a heuristic procedure that has been used with experienced educators and is designed to stimulate the thinking of curriculum developers as they design opportunities for unmasking diverse gifted potential.