I created this blog to help me keep track of the new and exciting things I am learning about being a teacher of gifted & talented students. This is a year a transition and this blog will help me see what worked and didn't work quite so well.  Follow along on m y new adventure. Hopefully, I will learn something and may be you will too.

Background: The county I am currently teaching in has started a new program to help grow the gifted and talented program. One teacher in each grade level in every elementary school will go through the gifted endorsement program and be the gifted teacher for that grade level. This means that our gifted students will go from having gifted education one day a week to every single day of the week. We spend so much time focused on our struggling students that these students often miss out on activities that could strengthen and enhance their gifts and talents.

I am currently taking the classes. I have completed classes one and two. Class one was the background of gifted education. It was also a review of Bloom's Taxonomy, Multiple Intelligences, Learning Style, and Interest Surveys and Inventories. It also introduce School Enrichment Models that help promote high achieving and gifted students. It was an excellent class. Loving it so far!

Class two was all about how to plan meaningful experiences for our gifted students and differentiate our instruction so we are meeting students on many different levels. We had to work with choice boards, learning modalities, learning styles, blooms taxonomy, and integration of curriculum. This class was much harder because we were really working with the curriculum. It made us look at the use of art, literature, problem solving, technology, and motivational issues. I learned a lot of really interesting concepts in this class. My students are addicted to playing SET online and solving logic elimination grids. It also helped me to incorporate more challenging follow on activities for my students. Overall, another really beneficial class.

When we go back to school in just over a week, July 25th,  I will begin my third class for the gifted endorsement. It is all about assessment and the gifted student. I am looking forward to learning more about assessment and ways to embed it fluidly into the gifted curriculum and the common core curriculum. For now, I am still setting up my classroom. I am using a games theme and having a fabulous time! I will post some pictures as I get around to finishing each area. School officially starts on August 1st. Wish me luck!

TGT