I haven't exactly been lurking, but I don't think I ever properly introduced myself before contributing [cough] 37 posts. Guess I just jumped right in.

I either have no children or 134 children, depending on how you look at it. I am a middle school social studies teacher, and I meet my new students tomorrow. Three of them have been sort of informally identified as gifted. Many more have been identified as disabled, of course.

My career path has been a bit odd, except for lower socio-economic PG types, I guess. I've been a cashier in a convenience store, a researcher on federal contracts, an artist for a major publication, a contact rep for a federal agency, a teacher of English in Asia, and even a page-numberer.

I became a K-12 public school teacher 9 years ago. Since then, I've taught in the inner city, in a rural school where 3/4 of the students were indigenous, and now in a small town where the student population is extremely diverse (and this is not a euphemism for Black and Latino in this case).

I am taking the new GRE in a few weeks and planning to go back to graduate school (again!). Since I live in a remote state with almost nothing in the way of training for teachers of gifted students, I am interested in an online program like those at Georgia and Connecticut.

Hi Beckee,

I am an ex teacher. I think its great to hang around here and learn about things from 'the other side'. There are many things I would have done differently if I had been a parent wen I was a teacher.

Good luck with your studies.

Hi, Beckee! Jumping right in is great, too! What an interesting background you have--we'll look forward to drawing on your wealth of experience.

Best of luck with your new school year (it's showtime! as one of my colleagues used to say every September).

peace
minnie

Welcome Beckee! I'm Asian and have tutored English "back home". Doesn't a stint in Asia give you an interesting perspective on things? Anyway, I wanted to welcome you and agree with a previous poster that your background is interesting and sounds so rich in experience! Looking forward to reading more of your posts here.

Y
Yes. Yes it does! Every once in a blue moon, I get to explain to one of my students why their Asian parents are the way they are!

Though there's a part of me that would have enjoyed growing up where academics are so competitive, I'm also big on creativity, and might just have gotten into trouble in an Asian classroom.