Get lots and lots of publicity for the achievements of your
students, but do not have your picture made with them often.
Mostly stay in the background. A professor suggested this when
I was working on my gifted certification, and she was spot on.
Colleagues notice such things. Human nature is human nature.

Be on the look out for people in the community who can be
valued resource people. It is especially amazing what "older"
citizens could share with your students. Get the permission of
the powers that be for this, though.

Have a sense of humor. My kids got along well, but if a rare
fuss came up, I would begin singing loudly and very badly, "Let
There Be Peace On Earth and Let It Begin With Me". They would
say, "Mrs. el ed, if you will stop singing, we'll stop
arguing." After one such "song" time, my little bright bulbs
would say, "Stop, or she will start singing." Or, I would
say, "Do I need to sing?" My little bright bulbs had great
senses of humor, some quite subtle and unique. We had fun!

Be a life long learner. I loved to learn new things and the
kids knew it.

I asked for and appreciated their input. We planned units
together.

I knew I was doing something right, when after I had made a
suggestion to a student on an individual art project, the
student said, "Yes, that is a good idea, Mrs. el ed, but I
think I like my idea better." I was thrilled by that response.
Do you understand why I was thrilled?

Some days when things were going great, I would tell my kids
how fortunate I was to be their teacher and how they were such
a joy to teach and know.

I apologized, when apologies were appropriate. If I jumped to
conclusions or over reacted to something, I told the kids I was
sorry and asked for their forgiveness. They appreciated my
attitude. Seems I was doing "modeling" before it had a name.

Every person and teaching situation is unique, but these things
worked for me.

Deanie, thank you for your response to my post.

> I taught IG(Intellectually Gifted) Enrichment to grades 2-8
> students for 21 years. I have a masters in gifted education.
>
> I was very fortunate to work with an administration and
> faculty and staff that supported gifted education. I loved
> my kids and my job, most of the time.
>
> Some things that worked for me:
>
> Be a team player.
>
> Ask for suggestions and ideas. Classroom teachers often
> passed on great materials to me, saying that these might be
> good for my class, but not for their whole classes.
>
> Stay out of the teacher lounge as much as possible.
>
> Try to stay out of any dramas.
>
> When in ANY doubt, run projects by the powers that be. They
> don't like surprises.
>
> I loved it when my kids could come up with improvements on
> my ideas. It never bothered me that I might be teaching
> some students with a higher IQ than me. I had more life
> experience and a broader range of knowledge.
>
> I will always be grateful for the class that taught me the
> basics of chess. I loved it when a student could teach me
> and other students new things.
>
> I always told a new class that if I made a mistake to please
> let me know in a kind(respectful) way. I always thanked
> them politely when they did so. No "Got'cha" moments for me.
>
> This makes it "easier" to correct their mistakes.
>
> My kids and I had mutual respect for each other, but they
> always knew who was in charge. That would be me.
>
> Everybody and every situation is unique.
> These are just some suggestions of things that worked for me.

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