Growing up, I always knew I was a little different from most kids. Learning new concepts in school was a breeze for me while others took a little longer to grasp them. I was tested for the Gifted and Talented program in third grade and was switched to higher level English and Math classes once I got in. The GT classroom is so much different from a standard or Honors one; the atmosphere changed when I entered a Gifted class. This became increasingly true when I entered high school as you create close-knit relationships with your teachers and fellow classmates in a smaller environment.
Gifted students think differently than the typical student; we want to know how and why things work the way they do, prefer going in-depth on a subject at a faster pace or we get bored and truly hope to please our teachers in class. Several (but not all) are better at one subject than the other. I never really had to study in high school unless the topic was math-related since I'm a huge English nerd. College has been a much different story.
Going into college, I was fully aware that classes would be challenging and I would have to work to maintain good grades. What I wasn't prepared for was not being able to understand something in class. Growing up as a GT student means that you're expected to make good grades and learn at a slightly faster rate than normal. Biology lab practicals, for instance, are not my cup of tea. I'm not a fan of memorizing names and locations or recognizing something from memory — I would rather talk about it in detail so that the image in my mind is clear. When I didn't understand, I felt like a complete idiot and had a breakdown trying to study.
My first thought was that the testing in elementary school was wrong: I was neither gifted nor talented and should've had my "status" revoked. The truth is that college is hard for everyone, no matter what grade school was like for them. I still get frustrated when I don't make an "A" on a test or understand something well enough to teach the class myself and that's okay.
Wanting to learn more than the basic information offered is a good thing. We live in a generation of procrastination and laziness, but caring about getting an education matters. My GT teachers throughout my life have motivated and inspired me to do the best that I can and to be proud of it. It takes a special person to teach to the minds which crave more from their classrooms and to remind them that learning is more important than earning the highest grade.
