My Thoughts

Before beginning this course on gifted education, I honestly had no idea that it was not offered in all schools. I was in the Gifted and Talented Program (G/T), as it is called in Fauquier County, VA, from early elementary school until late high school when I had moved past its offerings and into the Advanced Placement classes. My sister was also in the program and had many of the same teachers that I did.

I think we were both lucky to have gone to school in an area where gifted education is deemed important enough to have in the schools. She and I have talked about our G/T experiences recently and only have positive things to say about them.

Some of my friends are extremely intelligent and display creativity that astounds me, yet they grew up in areas where gifted education was not offered. I never thought I would be the type of person to say, "I want to live where there are good schools," but after learning more about gifted education, I would consider living in an area with a gifted program a priority.

Thinking Back

I was in many gifted classes during my K-12 years in Fauquier County. As a result of this class, I have done a lot of thinking about the types of projects and lessons my own G/T teachers provided.

I think my English 10 G/T teacher, Mrs. Madden, did an exceptional job providing our class with differentiated instruction and modified projects. She often gave us choices for projects and these choices ran such a spectrum that no matter what our interests, we could find something appropriate and exciting to do.

Another teacher I remember well is Mrs. Hall from elementary school. I still talk to her and even gave her daughter swimming lessons a few years ago. Her teaching methods really stuck with me, both as a student and as a future teacher. In 6th grade each class had to prepare for an end of the year presentation and our class, being the G/T class, got to be extremely creative in our approach. She helped to make the mundane very exciting for us.

I think I have a positive outlook on gifted education mostly because of my own experiences with the program. This class has only furthered my position on its necessity.