[Izzy23]

I'm on a mission to expand the talented & gifted program at my school. Right now, I have a half time position as a resource teacher for my entire district (PK-12). Needless to say, I don't see this as a very effective position.

What does talented and gifted look like in your district? Is it only pull-out? Are the TAG kids clustered? Is there a special TAG classroom? More than one TAG teacher?

Let me know what you think are the pros & cons of TAG in your district. Thanks!

[Kindercowgirl]

Our district has schools where the GT identified kids are in solid GT classrooms. Our school has at least one GT and 1 GT bilingual class on every grade level. We have some classrooms that are split 1/2 GT/1/2 "regular". The schools that don't have enough GT identified kids to make a class usually do cluster them with a GT certified teacher. We don't have a pull-out program at all.

I know there are pros and cons to having the kids together in one classroom-but I love it! You still really need to differentiate because they are on a spectrum of academic levels. But I love being able to tie the subjects areas together, incorporate the icons throughout the day and do projects with them on a weekly basis. I feel like they really get a deeper instruction when you can do it with the whole class.

We use a variety of services. I'll address gifted at the elementary level, because that's where I teach. Every school has a least a half-time gifted resource teacher, with some having a full time GRT, depending on student population. I spend about a third of my time collaborating with teachers, and giving them resources. Another third, I spend directly with students, either in pull out groups or (rarely) working with a whole class. The rest of my time, I spend researching, planning, testing and in meetings. We provide services not only for identified gifted, but also for high achieving. There are one or two teachers at each grade level who have a cluster of ID'd students.

I also spend some time in classrooms doing talent identification and development for K and 1st grade students. (We don't normally identify until 2nd grade, but there are exceptions for exceptional students.) We use the Cognitive Abilities Test, student portfolios, and standardized tests to determine eligibility.

It's going to be interesting in the next couple of years, because we are just beginning to rewrite our Gifted Plan, and are looking at changing our definition of "gifted" to go beyond general intellectual ability, to possibly include artistically and technically gifted students. Right now, I'm working with a group of 5th graders who are amazing visual/spatial thinkers on a special engineering project.

[Tsoysauce]

I am the elementary itinerant gifted support teacher for my district. I go to one of the five elementary schools each day of the week and pull out students (K-4) who have been identified. Our state considers gifted education under the "special education" umbrella, so each of my students has a GIEP. I don't have a set curriculum, but I teach mini-units, facilitate independent study projects (to later be displayed at a gifted exposition), and I push-in to the regular classrooms to do an upper-level reading program.

[smithleen]

My district has moved our 2-5 G/T program to an enrichment cluster group model. An ECG class has no more than 8 identified kids, and the rest of the class is mainstream. The ECG teacher is expected to differentiate across all areas- in whatever way necessary. Maybe testing out, compacting the curriculum, enrichment units, tiered asssignments. We get the support of a G/T support teacher, but that works out to maybe an hour a week, as she covers 5 schools and monitors testing.