Fisher works to empower area gifted children

By Ali Bronsdon / Leader Staff

It's easy to see how much Tamara Fisher enjoys her job. Inspirational posters, shelves of books, games and tiny paper cut-outs with motivational quotes cover the walls of her Polson Middle School classroom. As Polson School District's Gifted and Talented Coordinator, Fisher works with 150 kids in kindergarten through twelfth grade. She pushes them when their minds need a challenge, fights for them when they need to skip a grade or advance in a subject and gives them a safe place to learn without the common misinterpretations among students and even some educators about the term "gifted" and what it means.

"Giftedness is a learning difference," Fisher said. "It does not mean "having a gift." Rather, it means that there's a significant learning difference present in that individual."

While school districts around the country typically start testing for giftedness in third grade, Polson starts in the first month of kindergarten. Fisher meets with every student twelve times a year and works on thinking skills-based activities. She keeps track of which kids seem to have gifted tendencies. By using multiple means, she is able to distinguish between the kids that are exceptionally intelligent and the ones who may just be a bit behind because their background hasn't exposed them to the material.

Characteristics of intellectually gifted students can vary as much as their hobbies, but the SENG organization (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) identified several possible problems that may be associated with each strength.

For example, a child that enjoys organizing things and people into structure and order may construct complicated rules or systems and be seen as bossy, rude, or domineering. A child with a large vocabulary or a broad information base in advanced areas may use words to escape or avoid situations, become bored with school and age-peers and be seen by others as a "know it all". A child with a strong, keen, and fine-tuned sense of humor may eventually become the "class clown" to gain attention.

"It's a real challenge to parent a child who can function at an adult level one moment and the next moment, they're having a teenage or toddler tantrum," Fisher said. "They're at so many different levels all at once."

Often, kids have IQ scores within 10 points of their parents and within 20 points of siblings; but not always, Fisher said. A parent once told her, "I feel like I am constantly playing mental chess with my child — and he always wins."

"On first glance, some may think parenting a gifted child is about as challenging as a multi-millionaire deciding where to go on vacation or what car to purchase," said Kristina Grant from Gifted Books in a press release promoting National Parenting Gifted Children Week, which was July 14 to 20. "Parents of these children along with teachers, counselors, and researchers know this amazing joy is not without its share of struggles. And gifted resources are often the first to be placed on the chopping block during budget battles, thanks to an untrue and counterproductive notion that "gifted children will do fine on their own"."

The consequences of ignoring the educational needs of a gifted student can lead to dangerous and destructive habits for that student. Gifted students who don't receive appropriately challenging opportunities will, as a result, function at a level far below their abilities and will suffer from problems such as anxiety, insecurity, the impostor syndrome, "school rage," and loneliness (Siegle, 2001). Fisher said, 20 percent of school dropouts test in the gifted range.

According to Fisher, who is also the President Elect of the Montana Association of Gifted and Talented Education, only about 40 percent of Montana school districts report to the Office of Public Instruction that they provide a program for exceptional students, even though the state mandates that they all do. Out of that 40 percent, Fisher estimates only 20 percent have a "gifted and talented program". Many schools, she said, simply offer Advanced Placement classes and call it a program for gifted students. Furthermore, one percent of Montana schools actually have a person in her position.

"I feel blessed to be in a school district that has, for years, supported gifted education," Fisher said. "I want to get more schools in the state to recognize these kids and their needs and to put forth the effort to meet those needs."

She offers the analogy of a gifted student in a regular classroom to a car driving down Highway 93 behind a tractor trailer going 50-mph.

"We expect them to sit through it and it amazes me that more of them don't walk out," Fisher said. "If we pull over and get out of their way, they blow me away every year."

However, according to Fisher, the kids who are often so used to getting things right on the first try, don't develop the necessary skills of persistence and perseverance in solving a problem. In order to teach healthy ways of dealing with difficult problems, Fisher will often give students work that is way beyond their ability level. Struggling with something for 20 to 30 minutes teaches them to not give up, ask for help or approach the problem from a new perspective.

"They naturally gravitate toward unhealthy ways of dealing with problems they don't understand," she said. "It's a huge paradigm in their minds to work on a problem for 20 to 30 minutes, but once they get it, they realize it's so much more satisfying to solve something that's hard. They get to the point where they love being challenged. They crave it."

The program also focuses on self-advocacy in the student's education. Fisher teaches her students to speak up for their own learning needs. She says it's okay to approach teachers as long as they keep the "four P's" in mind. The meeting should be in private, the student must be polite, offer proof that they understand the material and propose an alternative.

"When teachers hear it from the kids, they're often more receptive to it," Fisher said.

While it's her job to be an advocate for these students while they are in her school district, Fisher also realizes that when they head off to college, she is not going to be around.

"I train them," she jokes. "And it works."