I taught gifted and talented kids for thirty years, and in that time I had a lot of changes. My very first year of teaching was in a K-8 school. I taught the kids with learning disabilities for most of the time, but my last hour of the day involved model building and fun with a pair of bright eighth graders. After that tough year, I was asked to move full time into the gifted program.
The Gifted Program
My first few years, when young, I was teaching grades 1 - 4 at multiple schools. One year, I even had a different school every day. On Thursdays, I'd start at the elementary school and walk the grassy field to the middle school just before lunch. One day, my principal tells me to move out of my portable because a teacher from the middle school will be using it. I had to have everything out of the room before leaving the school. I darted around taking posters off the walls, boxing the little I had, and carrying it to my new classroom. Phew! I finished just in time and headed to the middle school where I was told that I'd be teaching out of a portable at the elementary school. I bet not many teachers can claim they moved out of a classroom for themself.
In the early years, we placed a lot of emphasis on teaching creativity and having fun. But, as the years progressed, the program evolved into academia. Eventually, the little ones were phased out with the end of our enrichment program, and I found myself enjoying third through sixth grade. However, with a full swing of the pendulum I eventually taught K - 5 with a repeated 9th grade sub job.
Math, Reading, & Historical Fiction
Depending upon the school, the subject emphasis varied. I've been at schools that tell me, "We need to up our math scores," while others want me to focus on reading. Social studies instruction through reading became important, too, since the testing did not involve social studies, so kids did not know about the past. So I wrote a lot of historical fiction stories. I've always loved writing and even have five unpublished novels. I've considered publishing one of my middle grade novel with questions on TpT. Although my novels aren't published, I have a plethora of historical fictions tales complete with vocabulary and comprehension questions. Reading Passages
Teachers Pay Teachers
I recently attended the TpT conference, which was all about branding and finding a niche. With my experiences through the years, my store is like one big department store with an emphasis on challenge! I even have some of my daughter's clip art in my store.
Since schools focused on the gradual release teaching method, that looks a lot like TIMs from my early years, my PowerPoint lessons are fit for evaluations. Memphis did a lot of pop in evaluations, for everyone, during my final teaching years, so my lessons were always made ready for the unexpected.
I'm excited about my newest bundle because it fills a need for those, like I was, vested into an entire gifted program with multiple grade levels. It seems like getting a discount only applied to one level, but not anymore. In fact my huge bundle is 50% off for the rest of the day, so hurry!
Ghost Tours
Now that I've put in my time teaching, I enjoy giving historical ghost tours for Historical Haunts in Memphis. I wear a Victorian dress and fix my hair as in the olden days. I feel like an actress as I deliver stories of murder and mayhem. If you are ever in Memphis, hop on my bus and join the tour!
Sign up for FREE Catch My Products Sampler Pack
#TpT, #TeachersPayTeachers, #iteach, #iteachgifted
3 comments:
Giving tours sounds right up your alley, if i am ever in your neighborhood i would very much want you teaching me the history of your area!
I think you could write a novel about your teaching adventures!
Tours are fun. As for writing a novel, I sure could! Getting it published is a bit harder.
Post a Comment