Oh, and the best of our GT teachers over the years have not been:
a) GT certified teachers without direct GT experience themselves,
b) Parents to GT children-- even HG children,
c) those with a special endorsement/interest in GT.
Nope. The best of them? HG themselves.
Just as DH and I are "close enough to identify" with DD as a learner, those teachers also have a special window into her needs in a way that NO classroom or theory can provide. It really makes a difference. It has made such a profound difference that I've often wondered privately if teachers training for GT specialties really ought to have to meet HG status themselves.
Those people don't seem to regard DD as a 'specimen' (the way the people with the "interest/endorsement" often eagerly do), but as a charming and interesting PERSON and wonderful, rewarding student-- the kind that is a sort of existential reward FOR being a teacher, if you catch my drift. They don't look forward to "observing" or "studying" my child... but to interacting with her and enjoying the ride.
Those teachers are rare. But they are gems.
