What does your gifted teaching job look like?

[Angie]

I'm wondering what your job looks like. Describe your setting (public, private, contract, etc.) and share what your day looks like. What do you like about your job? What needs to improve? Share your successes and failures.

[Wendy Erickson]

Angie, I teach in a suburban district. I am the building gifted facilitator. This means I am responsible for identifying all the gt students K-5. Also, I write all their ALPs. I have a 4-5 self-contained gifted classroom and I teach all the curricular subjects. I do some enrichment for K-3 and help those grade level teachers differentiate for their children who have been cluster grouped into those classes. And I teach a special class a few times a year for the highly gifted fifth grade students in our district. So basically, my day begins a lot earlier than when the bell rings and extends much after the school day has officially ended. I really enjoy my time with students and I love working with the gifted but it is very hard to do a job which probably should be done by several people instead of just one. However, with funding what it is, I am not sure that is going to change...

[Judy Twetten]

I'm K-6 gifted in a rural, public school setting (I have 4 schools-some are 30 miles apart). I do small pullout groups for those who qualify through testing (we're trying to expand that). I did do some primary enrichment for whole classrooms with the idea of helping with identification later. But I haven't had much time for that lately.

Sometimes I've done whole group lessons (usually technology) in the regular classroom with a tool that is open-ended (such as Scratch programming). All kids can use and take it as far as they are able. Then I encourage teachers (sometimes technophobic teachers) all they have to do in their classroom is let the gifted kids use it. It's been successful occasionally. Most things I do are with the idea of helping the elementary students become as independent as possible. I'm always looking for ideas and promoting ways for the classroom teachers to differentiate. the students are not gifted 45 minutes a week when they come to me.

I have separate math groups. We have a lot of kids who only belong in a math group. We use a lot of Ed Zaccaro's Challenge Math books that has challenging, multi-layered problems. I'm always surprised at how much they like it.

The other group is a language, literacy, 'everything else' group where we do a lot of independent research projects. The last few years I've started to learn more about doing guided reading groups for gifted kids and have enjoyed this a great deal. It's also given classroom teachers more ideas.on how to do groups with those high level students. I hope we never go to a position where I would be a consultant to the teachers and not have pullout groups. I think there are benefits in pullout groups especially for social/emotional development. I always address social/emotional characteristics through our academic work. I really enjoy trying new things with students. And I will be selfish and admit I have no desire to stop working with children and work only with adults. I still want to do this (being past the age 55 retirement age) and have a tendency to do extra. That's a great asset for our program. I have a pretty good relationship with many teachers. There are aspects of our school climate that are frustrating and not going to change. So in order to remain effective and motivated I have to take care of myself and put some boundaries between "I love this job" and "I have a life outside of school". For the most part my weeks are very positive.

[Nancy Bosch]

I teach in a suburban school district, one full day a week pullout K-6. In my stated gifted education is mandated by the state and under the special ed umbrella--all students have IEPs.

[Candace Townsley]

I teach in a suburban public school. I teach at two different schools (two and a half days at each) - 6th Grade Center and 7th Grade Center. I teach one 7th grade class on Monday and another on Tuesday. Wednesday is my administrative day (testing, paperwork etc) so I'm a half day at each campus. I do the same thing at the 6th grade for the last two days of the week. This is an all day pull-out class, and students are not required to make up the paperwork that they miss while they are in my class. Our state's Gifted Policy has done well in not punishing those that are in gifted classes by giving double the work. I am thankful for that!

There is no curriculum or specified state objectives for this class. I do not take grades, but we do evaluations at the end of each semester. I had plenty of materials left to me by the retiring teacher, so, I've used some of her stuff and incorporated some of my own. As a gifted student in the 70's, I've seen Gifted Education come a LONG way. I know what I DIDN'T like - and I do things differently.

As the Middle School Gifted Teacher, I get to wear many hats. I'm in charge of MS Odyssey of the Mind, I help teachers with differentiation, and just like with parents, whenever a gifted student does something in a regular ed class - I have to deal with "one of YOUR kids" did such and such. I'm a constant advocate for my students! My class is usually frowned upon by many teachers since they believe that I'm taking away an entire day of instruction from them. Many times I must remind them that they can't pull little Jimmy out for a test, or they can't give little Suzie a 0 for an assignment that was missed during my class. I am glad that these teachers are just as zealous about their subject as I am about mine.

Some days I want to pinch off their heads (when they are so smart yet lack common sense) but over all - they are a BLAST to work with! We have a great time learning together in class!

[Mary Wells]

Angie, I teach pull-out enrichment clusters for gifted kids in grades 2 through 8. The clusters are pulled by grade-level, and meet with me for a two-hour session each week. We're a Catholic school with 510 students in pre-k3 through 8th grade in Melbourne, FL (city of 80,000 near Kennedy Space Center). I have nine different cluster groups with 6 to 12 students each. That means I provide 18 "instructional hours" per week to 75 students, and endless hours at school and home developing curriculum. I start the year with learning profiles, then Bloom's Taxonomy, creativity and problem solving lessons. The remainder of the year we explore thematic units. Last year was the first year of the program, and we completed units on Ancient Egypt and CSI. We're starting our first unit this year next week, the RMS Titanic. The students will vote to choose the topic(s) for the remainder of the year. Each student keeps a portfolio and is required to develop rubrics and assess each of their work products. I also provide a quarterly assessment that goes home with the portfolios. Students receive a S, N or U grade in my class, in the same manner as they do for other "specials" like music, art, or PE. I collaborate and work with a wonderful group of classroom teachers to help with differentiating instruction (only one on staff with a gifted endorsement). I coach a LEGO robotics team and a Future City team, both after school twice a week. As a former engineer, I'm the STEM advocate for our kids. My classroom is often the scene of organized chaos, and I love it. I have the most fun of any teacher I know, but it takes lots of time and creativity.