Entering the unknown: A teacher's narrative of a gifted enrichment program

Abstract

This paper provides a narrative account of a generalist teacher involved in an enrichment middle years program. The teacher's story provides an account of the tensions and rewards of dealing with students in a selected gifted classroom. Analysis of the teacher's reflective diary reveals the teaching strategies employed by a generalist teacher. In the process of reflecting the teacher was required to make salient the biases and preconceptions he held about the nature of teaching, and in particular, the nature of teaching this particular group of students, i.e., teenage girls identified as gifted and talented by their teachers at an affluent all-girls private school.