Amanda Puryear

A significant issue in the Hearne ISD gifted and talented program is the lack of gifted-specific instructional strategies utilized in the classroom. This issue stems from the lack of gifted certified teachers in the district. Out of the 71 teachers employed from k-12, only 14, 19%, have completed the gifted and talented training course (A.Puryear, personal communication, December 26, 2022). This lack of enrichment can lead gifted students to become bored in the classroom. It is imperative to the gifted and talented program that more teachers become trained in gifted instruction and accommodate our higher-achieving students.

The first strategy I would use to target this issue is forming a professional learning community focused on gifted education. According to Fullan (2016), teachers need purposeful interaction like skill training workshops and time to converse with one another in order to give and receive help in learning new instructional strategies. Another strategy that I would use is applying the right pressure for change. Making training and the implementation of strategies a job-embedded requirement shows that gifted education is just as important as general education. This pressure can be applied through the use of a focus on the data, which shows an increase in the number of students classified as gifted. However, as Fullan(2016) describes, pressure should also be accompanied by time for teachers to process and react to the change and collaborate with others to find success. By creating a district-based gifted and talented training program, our teachers will be able to learn from each other on the best methods to reach our gifted students.

References

Fullan, M. (2016). The new meaning of educational change (5th ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Katheryn Gonzales

The primary issue concerning the “Reading Wars” is that teachers are not being taught specifically how to teach reading in their schools. Many teachers are learning through school curriculum, professional development, and experience. However, many teachers are unaware of the science behind reading and the importance of teaching students to look at a word and decode it properly. The research suggests that 33% of teachers learned how to teach reading through professional development, 17% through experience, 14% through curriculum, and 15% said other and so on (Loewus, 2019).

The first strategy I would use to address this issue, according to Fullan (2016), is to “assume that lack of capacity is the initial problem and then work on it continuously” (p. 46). The assumption, to begin with, is that people in education do not know how to improve the situation regarding the best way to teach reading and also acknowledge that teachers need to be taught in college the science behind reading and how best to teach it before leaving for the classroom. Once the lack of capacity has been acknowledged, work hard every day to improve.

The next strategy I would focus on effectively addressing change is establishing positive pressure (Fullan, 2016). The crisis with the “Reading Wars” is not isolated to one school or school district; this is a problem nationwide. According to Fullan (2016), we need to take the excuses off the table to establish positive pressure. As resources, capacity, and positive examples of successful reading programs are working and distractions removed, positive peer pressure is essential to see actual change.

References :

Fullan, M. (2016). The new meaning of educational change (5th ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Loewus, L. (2019, December 4). Data: How Reading Is Really Being Taught. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-Links to an external site.

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