The Many Lessons I’ve Learnedĭuring my eight years at Radford, I connected with some of the most incredible little humans of my lifetime. Not all gifted children walk around with a scientific calculator in their pocket quoting quantum theory. He knew that gifted children needed a different kind of education, and he made it his mission to give it to them. After tiring of the frustrations in the traditional school system, he founded the gifted school (about 20 years before I joined). Over my time at Radford, I was mentored and guided by a profoundly talented person. It also let me embrace my own giftedness, which had been alluded to all my life but relegated due to intervening circumstances I was the epitome of a tall poppy. It was the beginning of an eight-year adventure that was transformative for me, allowing me to become the teacher I had always wanted to be. I began my new job bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. 2e children are kids who have the characteristics of gifted students with the potential for high achievement and give evidence of one or more disabilities as defined by federal or state eligibility criteria.-National Center for Gifted Children As I’ve since learned, empathy is critical to meeting the needs of gifted children-empathy, and someone willing to think out of the box. Speaking to my journey with him made the interviewers realize I had all the empathy that was needed. While I knew he was exceptionally bright, the world led me to believe that reading, writing, and arithmetic were the only way of proving it. The National Center for Gifted Children defines 2e as children who “have the characteristics of gifted students with the potential for high achievement and give evidence of one or more disabilities as defined by federal or state eligibility criteria.” My son, who was nine, is dyslexic and on the autistic spectrum. Without knowing it, I was raising a twice-exceptional (2e) child. I was able to sell myself to the school by largely speaking about my experience as a mom. What on earth did I know about gifted children? I didn’t feel smart enough to teach kids who were so bright and talented.Īs it turned out, I had some hidden strengths that helped me sail through the interview. I was terrified when it came time to interview. As soon as they had an opening, she put my name forward. A friend of mine worked at Radford House, the only official school for gifted children in the country. I loved the relationship I had with my students, but I was frustrated and overwhelmed by all the paperwork and red tape that came with the job-the confined curriculum stifled my creativity. By 2013, I had been teaching in mainstream schools for 12 years.
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