At the end of those canned questions that they ask you at an interview, they also usually ask the canned question: Do you have any questions for us? I have some stock questions I generally ask, but there is one question I wish I could ask, but have never had the courage to actually do so.
Most of the people who have read other posts on this blog know that, while I think differentiation for gifted students is a good idea, I think that it isn't a good strategy for gifted educators to tout it as a GIFTED strategy. Teachers just aren't doing it. They may have been trained to do it; they may think they are doing it; but if they are, it isn't having much visible effect.
So here is the interview question: if you truly believe in differentiation, why are there still learning disabilities teachers, reading support teachers, math support teachers, BD teachers, ESL teachers, ELL teachers, etc.? If we accept that these students need more support than the regular classroom teacher can offer, why do we assume that s/he can offer enough support for gifted students? Why is it that the only outlier students with different needs that don't have special teachers are usually the gifted students?
And, no, extending the curriculum isn't easy for teachers. It requires going beyond what they regularly teach, finding resources and materials that they don't normally use.
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