Age 8 or Third Grade
I am at a total loss when it comes to Third Grade. I can remember almost nothing about this year!! I remember I was in a team-taught classroom with Mrs. Sampson from Second Grade & a new teacher, Mrs. Robertson. I remember Mrs. Robertson had me say the ABC's backwards one day & I did it! I remember feeling a major surge of accomplishment. But literally, that is everything I remember about Third Grade!
I have thought & thought about this for the last week & I have nothing. So I decided to tell you a little about the Quest program I was in, although it may or may not have happened in Third Grade. I was in the Gifted & Talented group of students at my school. I was always ahead in things at school & so my mom had me test for this & I was placed in the program. Once a week I would go to another elementary school in our county & would spend the day with a group of about 15 students doing more accelerated activities. I remember doing things like logic puzzles or accelerated vocabulary. The word I remember in particular was loquacious. I always loved that word because it was a much cooler way to describe myself. I've always been a talker, but after the Quest program, I could say I was loquacious. So glamorous!
Ever since being in this program, I've always felt a desire to work with the gifted & talented students. I also have a special place in my heart & my lesson planning for the students who are struggling to keep up, but I was the student who was ahead & bored in the classroom. I think a lot of times students who are gifted are assumed to be other things like ADD or uninterested when really they are just beyond whatever level their activities are & therefore are bored. I think students need to be met where they are at - high or low. Lower students need some special attention to get them where they need to be & higher students need to be given activities that keep them engaged & interested & challenged. I remember being challenged in the Quest program & I remember loving every second of it!
My previous Mommy's Piggy Tales posts
Comments
What a wonderful word for a kid to choose to describe themselves!
suchakingdom.blogspot.com
Thats good though that this has given you a passion now to meet students where they are at like you said! I am sure you will make a great teacher just having that extra perspective!
Love reading about the American school system (in your state). Ours is so different here in Aus, although we do have GAT programs too.