Gifted

Do you ever go to something because you have to, like say, a meeting, and you think it'll be pretty standard and boring, only to find yourself staying after to talk to the speaker and coming home more energized than you previously thought possible?

No?

Well, that happened to me tonight. That gifted and talented meeting that I thought was last night was actually tonight. So I stayed afterschool again, 2 days in a row. Now, there are days when I stay just to get work done. But it's a different feeling when you have to stay for conferences, or a meeting.

So I had low expectations for this meeting of the Discovery program teacher and the parents of students she taught. Fortunately, I have to say, they grabbed my interest right away with the field trip planning. First field trip in December is to the Huntsville Space Center. And while I've been to the Kennedy Space Center more times that I can count, and while my dad has THE coolest job fixing arrays and gyros on the space shuttle, *I* have never been to the Huntsville Center. Much less with students I've taught for the past 3 years, who are now in the gifted program. Yes, I can see it now: $65 and a sub and I'm so there! With luck I can get it to count somehow as a field experience for my certification course.

After that came some routinely boring stuff about how class is done, but toward the end my attention was captured again. This teacher has taught for over 30 years. She has such an incredible passion for her kids. And it's not just about "having fun". Her purpose in the program is to shape the leaders and thinkers of tomorrow. They study stock market, editorial cartoons, space program, medicine, but most of all- the prime directive is to Discover Your Passion. Because if you get a child to come up with say, 10 things they are passionate about, or think they may want to do when they grow up, chances are they'll pursue at least one of them. And don't we all everywhere want a doctor that is passionate about what he/she does when it comes to our own health? Don't we all want a country that raises thinkers and inventors and leaders rather than people that don't go vote because they think one person won't make a difference?

The meeting ended at 6:40. I didn't end up leaving until the teacher walked me out at 8:20. 8:20 PM!!! When I'd been at school since 7am! And now, instead of being sleepy, I'm all jazzed about that passion of teaching, and teaching students that really amaze you with their thinking and creations.

Maybe someday I'll end up being a Discovery teacher. I didn't intend it when I started on this certification path. But who knows. I'm just a weirdo anyway.