My Page Title

[Linda Sorg]

I'm calling my page "...and you think YOU can work with the gifted?" because that's what my husband and grown daughters say anytime I do something rather dumb, or when I can't figure out a simple mathematics calculation. They giggle when I pull out my cell phone to figure out a tip. Once a middle-school math teacher blanched and made disapproving remarks when I counted on my fingers during a meeting. If I'm in the teachers' workroom at my school, and other teachers are standing around, someone will often say, for instance, "I have to teach ________today, but I'm not sure about this term/concept/whatever. Linda, you can explain it, you are the gifted teacher after all."

In my first year of being the "gifted teacher" I was terrified that I wasn't smart enough. Questions like that in the workroom made me break out in a sweat, because I wanted to prove I was smart enough to work with the gifted.

Am I a gifted teacher, or a teacher of the gifted? Does one have to be "gifted" in some way to work effectively with the gifted?

These questions presented themselves in another public forum--during a sub job in the years before I got a teaching certificate, before I knew I would one day be a gifted teacher or teacher of the gifted.
I was subbing in an eighth grade gifted language class. When I opened the class, the kids eyed me suspiciously, and asked me "if I was qualified to substitute in a gifted class." I might not be gifted, but I am shrewd, so I replied, "Yes, I am gifted myself." To my chagrin, one of the kids pursued it. "Oh, what area are you gifted in?" Every head popped up--they were truly interested now.
On the spot, I answered, "Teaching." They all relaxed, murmured approvingly, and were lovely the rest of the hour.

I am fifty years old. When I was a kid, I believe IQ testing was standard in my Los Angeles-area schools, but dire secrecy about our scores was also standard. In Junior High I went to an experimental school where they grouped and regrouped us in "pontoons." I was always in the "pontoon" that included the other kids whom I knew were smart, because I know my tribe. The pontoons were labeled with colors or numbers--the 1's and 2's, the Purples and the Reds. In High School, the kids who'd been Purples/6's were periodically called out of class, herded into a room, and briefed by the guidance counselor. We were ordered to fill out applications for SATs and California State Scholarships. I assume these Purples/6s must have been the top 5% or so of our class.

But I don't have any record of an IQ score. I never took a CogAt or an OLSAT or an NNAT or a Ravens. Am I gifted? Do I seriously think I can work with the gifted?

[Roberta Braverman]

And we all feel somewhat inadequate when faced with those questioning minds. I always tell students right up front,"I do not have all of the answers, but I can point you in the right direction to help you find answers."

[Sandi Sherman]

Linda,
This posting makes me think of an essay question I had in Dr. June Maker's Intro to Gifted Class in 1986. We were supposed to comment on the statement," Teachers of the gifted must be gifted themselves". I said something to the effect that "No, they do not have to be gifted, they just need to understand gifted students". At the time, I think I was reluctant to recognize that I was a gifted person, but it was the beginning of my self discovery. I In the 22 years that I have worked in gifted education, I have come to realize that the best Gifted Specialists are those who ARE gifted, because they possess the depth of understanding that is needed to work with our special needs students. And you are one of those people.