Toward a Definition of a Gifted and Talented Teacher

What shapes an individual into a teacher who is gifted and talented? How does one identify gifted or talented educators in education classes or in the schools? In an exploration of these questions, the authors review related gifted education literature to ground the synthesis of auto-ethnographies and case studies in what is known. Using grounded theory, the researchers analyze the stories of GATE teachers in Chapters 4 – 15 and identify common themes. The researchers use these findings to create a definition of the individual who is a gifted and talented teacher.

Emotional Intelligence

Within the United States, almost 50% of teachers leave the field of education within the first five years. Teachers who remain in the field have been shown to be able to demonstrate career competency skills. These skills are related to emotional intelligence (EI), which refers to competencies in recognizing, managing, communicating, and understanding emotions in one's self and others. Previous literature suggests gifted students, due to specific characteristics associated with giftedness, struggle with EI, which impacts their ability to utilize the skills they have, including cognitive intelligence. For gifted individuals entering the field of education, difficulty with EI could potentially impact their ability to feel successful and remain in the field long term. This chapter provides information and resources related to meeting the emotional intelligence needs of gifted students in preservice teacher training programs.

An Educator's Journey

The goal of this chapter is to contribute to the investigation of teachers that are gifted and talented (GATE teachers) by shedding light on the experience of immigrant GATE teachers. The authors position the case within Canadian graduate education and within the context of education of immigrant teachers. More specifically, they present the case study of a GATE teacher as she navigates through the masters of education program at a major Canadian school of education. The presentation of the case study is followed by the discussion of how it contributes to the conversation about GATE teachers and immigrant teachers within Canadian context. The chapter ends with the overview of implications of the study for the United States' context.

Jen's Story

This chapter describes the experiences of a first grade teacher who was classified as gifted and talented during her school years. Currently, she teaches classes with a diverse group of students (e.g., English language learners, gifted and talented students). Adopting a qualitative case study method, the authors conducted an in-depth interview with the teacher and share her story related to how her giftedness affects and enhances her professional work as an educator. Further, this chapter illustrates the teacher's story related to her personal interactions and relationships. Finally, based on the literature, implications for other educators who are gifted and talented are discussed.

Passion, Perseverance, and Purpose

This chapter is about a multicultural GATE teacher, Jennifer Waldron, and her circuitous journey on becoming the educator that she is today. Having lived on three continents by the age of 13, she struggled with cultural identity exacerbated by the inevitable awkwardness that accompanies key developmental junctures. Central to this piece are acculturation, assimilation, self-determination and self-efficacy, and learning to manage the awareness of belonging nowhere, yet everywhere at once. This is an educational journey of finding, appreciating, and using one's strengths and growth mindset in the pursuit of re-educating oneself to become a more empowered person and educator. This chapter underscores the relevance of cultural competency and the need for tolerance of difference at all levels of education. Jennifer Waldron embraces research based and innovative approaches to thinking and learning. She strives to break down barriers through design and creative thinking so as to find relevant connections between seemingly disparate subjects.

Getting the Dialogue Started

This chapter provides a description of Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) teachers and supports that description through research and a professional discussion between two experienced educators at the university level. A brief literature review is first provided with an emphasis on how established research in the field of “gifted” students informs research on GATE teachers. The chapter then focuses on a professional discussion between two teacher educators who specialize in science education. During the discussion, which is interspersed and framed in educational research, the educators identify the elements of GATE teachers, analyze how GATE teachers are identified, and how to maintain GATE teachers during teacher preparation and as professionals in the field. Finally, implications for education preparation programs are provided.

Where Are You From?

This chapter describes the author's experiences as a student and teacher in the context of the various relationships and backdrops of my development, including rural South Carolina, the suburbs of Long Island, and Center City Philadelphia. School was the one constant that she could count on between frequent moves to new places throughout her life. She quickly developed a desire and a need to fit in to her surroundings wherever her family was located. This awareness helped her see past the differences of those around her, forge relationships, and adapt to the variety of cultural and physical environments despite any struggles. Throughout all of her homes and schools, her goals were always the same: be a good person, try not to be too competitive or bossy, and one day become a teacher. Now that she is a teacher and teacher coach, she uses these experiences and memories to help foster her new goal: to make sure her students and their families feel comfortable in the school community.

The Noticers, the Mentors, and Me

This chapter reveals the development of a middle school teacher who savors the opportunity to share a long-standing admiration of science. Her ultimate goal is to develop future generations of curious, discerning, and informed world citizens. The author describes how a passion for noticing the world around her was ignited decades ago in her childhood and how mentors in early adulthood guided that passion into a career that she loves. Finally, she explains how the joy of discovery, her curiosity about the natural world, and the lessons she learned through immense support from her mentors combine to create a classroom environment in which all students find science accessible and inviting.

Finding the “Funny Bone” in the Class Skeleton

Some teachers have the natural ability to captivate their students, while others struggle to maintain classroom control. Utilizing comedy as a tool to deliver and maintain an audience's attention is something that comics and GATEs have in common. Some teachers use videos, memes, or one-liners to their class laugh. For the author, a career in comedy began with family joke telling. It was when a high school student enrolled in standup comedy class that he unlocked his comedic talents and better prepared himself to become a teacher. The highs and lows of joke writing, stress of a performance, and its connection to teaching are described in detail.

Do Teachers Who Are Differentiating Show Evidence of Their Own Giftedness?

The classroom observation scale-revised (COS-R) was used to analyze characteristics of the teachers who might be gifted and talented (GATE). Existing data sets are reviewed and re-analyzed to ascertain the use of differentiation in classrooms working with gifted learners. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and effectiveness of differentiation practices in selected classrooms across K-12 in three districts on the East Coast, each with well-established gifted programs, to see if the use of these practices shows a relationship with the most effective teachers. The evidence suggests that teachers who work with the gifted in particular types of programs appear to be more effective in their use of differentiated teaching behaviors. Are these teachers gifted or GATE? The pattern evident throughout the data is that few teachers are observed using more nuanced differentiation strategies, raising the question of whether specific behaviors on the COS-R could be identifiers of gifted teachers.