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My daughter was identified as TAG in the 3rd grade ( she's now almost 21). I felt her intellect was catered to in elementary school, but when she arrived in middle school she had a reading teacher whose sole comment on her TAG plan was this: "Rose turns her work in on time." That practically sent me over the edge. I decided to take control, and asked him if I could pull a small group of high readers for literature discussion. He graciously agreed. From that day on, I worked with a small group once or twice a week. We read "To Kill a Mockingbird", "Seedfolks" and "Out of the Dust". It was a fabulous experience for me, and I think for the kids as well.

Several years later, I decided to become a teacher. As hard as I tried, I never felt I met the needs of my TAG students in my classroom (third grade). There were just too many demands, and I was overwhelmed by the amount of low kids who were practically non-functioning. This year I moved out of the classroom and into the ESL department.

In addition to teaching ESL, I am now the TAG coordinator at my school, a job which has had its level of frustration and of reward. My largest frustration is this: I work at a school that is almost 70% ESL. I am an ESL teacher. Of our 7 students who have qualified for TAG, only one is ESL. Our TAG enrollment should reflect our population, but it doesn't. However, our district is reluctant to use more subjective measures to qualify kids as TAG because that can open up a Pandora's box. Who is truly "talented an gifted?" Where would we make the cut? Thus, we have less kids than we should, but all the kids who are enrolled met the necessary percentile on the tests.

My reward in being the TAG coordinator is seeing our district allocate funds this year for TAG enrichment . This spring, my school's students will have incredible enrichment opportunities, from working with a digital film animator to studying wetlands to designing robots. They'll travel from their rural community to attend the Oregon Writing Festival and to see theater in Portland. These are wonderful opportunities for these gifted kids.

posted 5 years, 3 months ago
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