Month: <span>August 2006</span>

The other day, I sent off for a membership in the Texas Assoc. for Gifted and Talented. I figure that, if anything, I can begin to understand how Texas works by reading their material. Only one of the districts (Tomball or Klein) asked what I would like to seek a position in or even had Gifted on the list. My guess is that Gifted and Talented takes a back seat to everything just like in Louisiana.

What do I mean by a back seat? If you have taught in gifted, you may have experienced the lack of communication between the school as a whole and you. All through my children’s education and my teaching years, I had to claw for information about events and opportunities for my children. Most of the time, I would overhear something or even find out about it the day of the event. Why? These are the brightest and able minds in the country and we impede them and their teachers most of the time. I’m sure there are a myriad of reasons that can be explored at length.

This struggle is not all negative. Gifted individuals and their teachers have become very independent and self-sufficient. Gifted and talented individuals tend to forge their own way (fortitude) and do it over and over again (resilience) both major characteristics of gifted individuals. They can work at solving a problem using unconventional thinking and focus.

There are companies/universities out there who are reaching out to the gifted individual. I applaud them but at the same time, do they really know their ‘stuff’ about how a gifted individual functions, what he/she needs to ‘shine’? I noticed in the Rice Continuing Studies program there was a course entitled, “Creativity in the Office, (It’s not an Oxymoron)”. They may have it right. The activities in the course description sounded much like the Creative Thinking course I took for my gifted certification at SLU. At a large company like Shell Oil, I can tell that they haven’t totally grasped the unique characteristics of their gifted employees. If they did, they would offer more social skill training, allow more time for thinking, create more opportunities for collaboration and brainstorming. Out of all the companies that I experience with (which is limited), Shell comes about as close as anybody in utilizing the abilities of their diverse thinkers and it still falls short.
Someday, maybe, these individuals will be utilized for their potential contribution to society with placing stupid little obstacles in their way. However, gifted individuals must also realize that, even though they don’t mean it, sometimes their behaviors can be misinterpreted as ‘snubbing’. We all have a lot to learn. And with my experience with the gifted individuals that I know, they will find a way!

Gifted Education

I’m in Texas, actually, back in Texas. We lived here over 13 years ago. At that time, I had babies. Then we moved to Louisiana, just north of New Orleans. I educated my children in St. Tammany Parish and eventually, I became a teacher in the district. I studied over 8 years to earn my teaching degree and masters. I also worked on my gifted certification and taught gifted 4th-6th graders for three years. It was worth every bit of effort and time. Gifted children are mostly a joy to teach.

My children are off to college and working now. They were educated in the gifted program in St. Tammany Parish schools. Adam from 5th grade, Amber from 1st grade. In addition to raising two gifted children, I live with a gifted man. If there was a poster child for the creatively gifted in the 1960-70’s, he would have been on it. Actually, learning about the creatively gifted has helped me to understand how he functions. I would have to say that I have been exposed to every stage of a gifted individual’s life up to the mid 40’s.
Now, why did I tell you all this? To give you a background for where I am coming from and where I am now. I’m looking for a teaching job. I want a gifted position like the one I had at Pine View. I can be patient. I can figure out this new system. I plan for this weblog to be a journal of that process.

Gifted Education

I recently attended the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented in Austin Texas.  There were a few quotes that, to me, were thought provoking or funny.  Here they are:

“Show me your passion.”  J. Delisle (This was stated during his key note speech regarding what teachers could say to a student rather than “show me your product.”  As teachers, we are too often interested in what the children can do, rather than what they are highly interested in.  If we give a child the option to do an independent product, we should let it be independent.  Let them show us their passion.)

“How can one be proud of a straight “A” report card when the work involved was so little.”  J. Delisle (This was a quote from a graduating senior that he read from a book he had written.  This student did not have to work hard to get her diploma, she was never challenged in high school.  How many of our brightest minds feel the same way, and furthermore, how many of our brightest minds just quit school, take the GED and get off to college a year or semester quicker.  As educators and record keepers, we may never know.)

“Set your student’s goals very high – so high it makes you nervous.”  M. Thompson (You could tell this man was an excellent teacher who could move kids to that higher level.   In this particular breakout session, he was showing us how learning Greek and Latin stems could increase a student’s vocabulary at a tremendous rate.  He also had a list of 100 classic words that our youngsters should be exposed to early on.  His examples of listing words from a story and asking us what story it was from was thought provoking.  His first example was James Barrie’s “Peter Pan”.  There are many classic words in the story which we, as educators, are told students aren’t ready for yet but they are.  I believe this presenter was ‘right on the mark.’)

“It’s hard to learn nonsense.”  M. Thompson  (Sometimes what we teach is not presented in a way that makes sense to a gifted learner either because it is information they already know or there is no cohesive, organized manner in its presentation.  We have to know our students.)

“We know things that others don’t realize, we are teachers.”  M. Thompson (This statement stands on its own.)

“Enrichment is great but it is not sufficient for the gifted appetite.”  J. Juntone (Gifted students want real life, important work, they want to know that what they are asked to do has some importance, purpose.)

“It takes an awful lot of study to be stupid.”  J. Delisle from a reading from “Star, Bright” a novel.  This student had learned to read well before kindergarten.  In kindergarten, she was told by the teacher that should could not read or cut with scissors yet.  Star decided that to ‘unlearn’ what she had learned was the best way to satisfy the teacher.

“Giftedness is a greater awareness, a greater sensitivity, and a great ability to understand and transform perceptions into intellectual and emotional experiences.”  A. Roeper (J. Delisle likes this quote from his ‘grandma’ in regards to defining what gifted means.  AnneMarie Roeper is 89 years old, she just published a novel about being gifted and being elderly.  She also played a key role in the Roeper Review which now is a respected repository for studies and reports in many fields.

“Being great means tackling every challeng as they come along.”  How often do you hear a teenager say this.  One gifted student in J. Delisle’s studies wrote this.

“Stop paying interest on a bill you never owed.”  J. Delisle (Think about this as it relates to your life….)

Uncategorized

An Update:
Winter 2008
What a learning process! Even with the educational background of working with gifted children, there is always much more to learn. I’m enjoying the challenge but at the same time I’m almost overwhelmed with the curriculum planning to keep up with these ferocious learners and all their aspects and peculiarities. Today, I’m taking the test to become fully certified to teach gifted in TX. Wish me luck!

August 2007
I have found a job! After a year vacation from the field of teaching, I am now the Humanities teacher at Rainard School in West Houston. I had subbed there off and on during the spring of last year. It’s great to be teaching again although the schedule is taking some time to adjust to.

Early 2006

 

I’m in Texas, actually, back in Texas. We lived here over 13 years ago. At that time, I had babies. Then we moved to Louisiana, just north of New Orleans. I educated my children in St. Tammany Parish and eventually, I became a teacher in the district. I studied over 8 years to earn my teaching degree and masters. I also worked on my gifted certification and taught gifted 4th-6th graders for three years. It was worth every bit of effort and time. Gifted children are mostly a joy to teach.

My children are off to college or working now. They were educated in the gifted program in St. Tammany Parish schools. My son started in 5th grade, my daughter started in 1st grade. In addition to raising two gifted children, I live with a gifted man. If there was a poster child for the creatively gifted in the 1960-70�, he would have been on it. Actually, learning about the creatively gifted has helped me to understand how he functions. I would have to say that I have been exposed to every stage of a gifted individual’s life up to the mid 40’s.

Now, why did I tell you all this? To give you a background for where I am coming from and where I am now. I�m looking for a job to advocate for or teach the gifted child. This year is like a personal sabbatical. I’ll be subbing and visiting a whole bunch of schools in the area. I’ll be looking for a gifted position like the one I had in Louisiana. I can be patient. I can figure out the districts in Houston near me. This weblog will be a journal of that process along with random munchings from my brain. I hope you enjoy.

Uncategorized

I will be blogging about teaching and living with gifted individuals as determined by the arbitrary rules and requirements set out by each state. I know this is a bit of a saterical comment so you will have to stick around for discussion on the matter. I’d love to hear about your experience with the gifted individuals you come in contact with and how you would determine if someone is ‘gifted’.

Even after my 30+ hours of training in the subject, I have found that there isn’t a concrete definition of giftedness, no expert out there can truly agree on a succinct, all encompassing definition of what makes an individual unique in their thinking and their problem solving abilities. What do you think?

Gifted Education