Nicole Westermann

Foundations
Ann Scott Hanks

Over the last four years I have taught in the general education and team taught setting.
While I have taught students who were classified TAG, I was naive in how to teach them. My
college courses taught me how to get my low kids to pass and how to keep the other students at
passing. We never discussed how to push the students to new levels or how to properly serve the
TAG students. I also was very good at making the work harder but not more challenging, which
I now understand is not what is best for the students. Now that I have four TAG classes, I have
realized I need to change my ideology.
My first year teaching, I taught first grade in Forsyth County. Out of a class of 22
students, 12 were classified as special education, or as English Language Learners. One of those
students was also classified as being gifted. He had severe Autism and was practically non-
verbal. The para- professional that was assigned to my classroom seemed to ignore this boy, we
will call him Tony. Since he was non-verbal she dismissed him. Having graduated 2 months
prior to teaching this class, I was mystified because nothing seemed to reach him. He was
identified as being gifted in kindergarten but in a different state so the TAG teacher had no
recommendations for me. Eventually one of my professors in my MED program offered to come
and help me. After observing him for a few hours, she attempted to communicate with pictures
and words. He flourished and smiled for the first time in months. We made it through the year
communicating through artwork, pictures, and words. This was my first introduction to a child
who was so extremely gifted; I didnt know how to properly serve him.
After a year in elementary school I was ready to head back to middle school. One of my
classes last school year consisted of seven students who were all classified as TAG just not
served in TAG social studies. Luckily our TAG coordinator was amazing and really helped me
learn to differentiate for higher ability students. One of those children scored in the 99
th

percentile on the ITBS and was considered to be one of the most intelligent students in their
grade. Little did I know that this intelligent student never turned in any work and only performed
on quizzes and tests. Not only was our team frustrated but his parents had been dealing with this
for years and did not know how to help him. It seemed like everything we did just did not help or
make him more motivated. Towards the end of the year, we found small items that were
motivating but he still was underperforming. The year ended and I felt like a failure because I
knew that he never achieved what he was capable. This shocked me because I always thought
that TAG students were high achieving, turned in all their work, wanted to succeed, and were
highly motivated. Obviously I now know that there is not one mold that fits not only a TAG
student but any child.
Although I have very few experiences with the gifted, I have come to believe that gifted
students are extremely diverse. A person cannot look at a class of gifted students and think that
they will be just fine with what they usually do in on level classes. Teachers need to feed the
students minds with information that challenges them. I still struggle with making lessons and
activities more challenging instead of just harder. Hopefully throughout this course, I will be able
to better differentiate in a way that will push my students. I believe that the gifted are children
with unique characteristics and interests and because of that they need to be taught differently.
One observation that I have made this year is that gifted children should not just be presented the
information in a traditional way; I find that they typically like to facilitate their own learning.
Connecting the standards with real world information allows the students to see how the material
is relevant to their lives. TAG students seem to have different emotional, academic, as well as
social needs. As teachers of the gifted we need to foster all of these characteristics and push
students to become self-directed learners. In one sentence, the gifted are diverse and therefore
needed to be taught in a variety of ways. We need to foster these students unique interests and
further their learning.