2e2: Teaching the Twice Exceptional
How does your brain work? Thomas Ropelewski’s 2e2: Teaching the Twice Exceptional, the sequel to his award-winning 2e: Twice Exceptional, follows the teachers of Bridges Academy, a school in Los Angeles dedicated exclusively to educating highly gifted students with learning disabilities or differences, as they develop creative techniques and strategies to prepare these unique minds to find their places in the world.
Praise for 2e2: Teaching the Twice Exceptional:
“2e: Twice Exceptional introduced many viewers to the concept that students can have extraordinary strengths as well as learning challenges. This sequel takes the conversation deeper: now that we’ve identified these unique students, how exactly can teachers effectively educate them? 2e2: Teaching the Twice Exceptional offers innovative insights and strategies designed to help students thrive and learn to define themselves by their strengths instead of their weaknesses.”
– Scott Barry Kaufman, author, researcher, speaker, and editor of Twice Exceptional: Supporting and Educating Bright and Creative Students with Learning Difficulties.
“It’s clear that Bridges Academy isn’t your average school—and a shame that there aren’t more like it. Recommended.”
– Video Librarian
2e: Twice Exceptional
2e: Twice Exceptional examines the concept of “twice exceptionality” –
gifted or highly gifted children with learning disabilities and/or differences – from the perspectives of the students themselves, as well as their parents and educators.
These students have vexed their parents and are often considered “at risk” by traditional school systems. Yet they are our next-gen geniuses, mavericks and dreamers – Malcolm Gladwell’s budding “outliers.”
They may grow up to change the world… if they can survive the American school system and their own eccentricities.
2e: Twice Exceptional focuses on middle school and high school students at Bridges Academy in Studio City, California. Bridges Academy is one of the first schools in America dedicated solely to the education of 2e students. The school has attracted the interest of the international educational community for its inspired approach in looking “outside the box” to develop creative educational solutions to engage these unique students.
Praise for 2e: Twice Exceptional:
“2e: Twice Exceptional is an honest, up-close look at what it’s like to be – or to be the parent or teacher of — a young person who’s both gifted and coming to terms with a learning difference. Essential viewing for anyone interested in understanding where our next generation of game-changing outliers may be coming from.”
– Steven Kotler, New York Times best-selling author of The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance
“…when I watched the new documentary 2e: Twice Exceptional, I couldn’t hold back. I cried openly with tears of relief and recognition… The film reminds me that there are more kids out there like mine… It shows me there are people who understand them and will accept them for their gifts and their challenges. And that gives me so much hope.”
– from How the Documentary 2e: Twice Exceptional Made Me a More Hopeful Parent by Amanda Morin – Understood Newsletter
Child of Giants
“I suppose if one of my children were here discussing their relationship to me they would be able to think of things that were quite horrifying, dreadful, that I did, that I was…”
– Dorothea Lange, from her oral history
DANIEL DIXON is the elder son of two giants of the American art world, photographer DOROTHEA LANGE and painter of the Southwest MAYNARD DIXON.
CHILD OF GIANTS: My Journey with Maynard Dixon and Dorothea Lange is the story of a child who learns that his birthright comes with gifts and curses… the story of every child who must find his own path from under the shadow of formidable parents.
Praise for Child of Giants:
“Genius is readily appreciated on a gallery wall or around a dinner table, but it can be hard going in the role of parent. That’s one lesson learned from Child of Giants, a son’s-eye view of two iconic 20th-century American artists, painter Maynard Dixon and photographer Dorothea Lange. Tom Ropelewski’s docu affords a skillful overview of their work and influence while measuring the toll taken on impressionable young minds they tried to mold in their own image.”
– Daily Variety
“Fascinating… Highly recommended.”
– Video Librarian
“We receive hundreds of films to review but this is the first film to be looked at by this magazine… (the film is) important on many levels, from historical, social and of course art/photography.”
– Silvershotz Magazine
“…immediately pulls the viewer into the world of two great artists from the perspective of their first-born child… While providing an excellent overview of the paintings of Maynard Dixon and the photographs of Dorothea Lange, the family dynamics and social culture of the first half of the 20th century are the true focus… Child of Giants is unique in its quality and broad appeal. Highly recommended.”
– Educational Media Reviews Online