TAG Mentorship

During last semester, my mentor teacher and I shared a room with the talented and gifted (TAG) teacher when we would have our individual plan. We would always have a little talk with her and she would fill us in on some things she did with her students. The students were 6th graders who competed in educational games and even the Pumpkin Drop. I became interested and was able to help out in her classroom for 3 days. I thought it would be great because I had never worked with 6th graders during my 3 year tenure at Suncrest Middle School, and was excited to see what kind of students she worked with and how she taught.

I loved how her set-up was like a discussion. She did not stand at the front of the class and lecture the students on what they were learning, but rather had them each read their own pamphlet allowed and tell her what was important in the section. During this time we engaged the class in discussions about the topic at hand, which allowed us to branch out into related stories. I thought it was almost like a college class with the way we were discussing everything going on and how the stories were so relevant to the material. I also enjoyed how she managed the class when it got a little too loud and she seemed to have a great rapport with her students. The students felt very comfortable with me in the classroom because they have seen me a lot around the school because they were some of the only 6th graders who were ever on the second floor.

It was great to help students who were beyond their grade level to discuss problems and figure out ways that may help prevent or limit them in the future. I honestly did not think students so young could have such an in depth discussion on vital issues in our society. Students are selected into the TAG program by achieving high scores in the classroom and also scoring high on standardized tests, so it was nice to see that in this particular case, the scoring seemed to have a positive affect. Overall it was a great experience and I had a lot of fun for the short period of time I was helping out this class. I think the students will have great success in their next two years at Suncrest and will continue that pace into high school.